Transcript
Jennifer Gulizia: Welcome back to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Today I have two special guests, and they're actually best friends. Emily Von Trapp grows flowers in Waitsfield, Vermont, and Linda D 'Arco grows in Jay, New York. up in the Adirondacks. Both of them are cold climate growers in places where the ground is frozen for a good part of the year. And both of them have built their businesses on a crop most of us think of as only a spring flower.
Jennifer Gulizia: They both force tulips in the dead of winter. Emily grows. Over 200 ,000 tulips in crates moved between greenhouses and cellars and a buried shipping container. She keeps cool with snow.
Jennifer Gulizia: Linda came down to Vermont for one of Emily's very first workshops back in 2018. went home to the Adirondack. Adirondacks and set herself a goal. of a thousand tulips for valentine's day and She sold every single stem.
Jennifer Gulizia: But here's the part I love. They found out at a workshop that they share a birthday and that they had spent their careers as teachers before flowers. Together, they now teach. the tulip workshop.
Jennifer Gulizia: Emily and Linda are here today to share about their experience growing tulips with all of us on the Backyard Bouquet podcast. Welcome, Emily and Linda. I'm so grateful to have you here today.
Emily von Trapp: Thanks for having us.
Linda: Thanks for having us.
Jennifer Gulizia: Absolutely. Well, let's have you both share with us a little bit about who you are for our listeners. We could give a 30 second overview of you and your farm. Emily, do you want to go first?
Emily von Trapp: Sure. Yeah, um so I'm Emily and I grow in Waitsville, Vermont. I am growing my flowers on land that was originally part of a dairy farm that my grandparents bought in the late 50s. And then my parents ran a retail nursery for 42 years there. and I kind of.
Emily von Trapp: organically grew up around flowers and fell in love with them um as a little girl and then around the age of 12 started making bouquets to sell at the local farmer's market and then the local grocery store and um at our farm.
Emily von Trapp: As you said, we focus. very heavily on tulips. but we're flower farming year round and prior to taking on tulips I was always growing you know the high season. So May through September until first frost. um And then ah tulips really took our business to the next level.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's incredible. so Flowers have been really a part of your life since you were a kid.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's amazing. And what's the name of your farm?
Emily von Trapp: It's called Bontrap Flowers.
Jennifer Gulizia: Von Trapp flowers. Awesome. And Linda, how about you? Same question.
Linda: Sure. I started flower farming about 10 years ago, dabbling with it during summer vacations. I was an art and design teacher. faculty dean. I held a number of different roles in independent schools, but came to Love Flowers mostly during my... my summer breaks and eventually it grew into a hobby or passion that sort of. overtook.
Linda: Um, my my other livelihood, my my my normal livelihood, I guess. And I was ah borrowing space in the school's greenhouse that wasn't being used.
Linda: And it came time to sign up for the next year to sign the following year's contract. And I decided that I would take a leap and start flower farming and try it out.
Linda: And I noticed that there might be an opportunity. In our area, which is um heavily driven by the tourist industry to offer locally grown flowers rather than imported ones. So that's how I got started.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. And that was 10 years ago?
Linda: About 10 years ago, yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: Do you still farm on the school land or you left that land to farm on your own?
Linda: So I used the school greenhouse only to get some seedlings started that first year before I even had land to grow on myself. So I turned the the contract down for the next school year. Had my little seedlings going in the greenhouse.
Linda: and told my family that we needed to hurry up and find a place to plant them into the soil somewhere. So we found a two and a half acre plot of land that had a um renovated little farmhouse. That's where the name of my ah business comes from on it. and nothing else except sod and weeds. So really got started here you know without... even a place to store my shovel or rake.
Linda: Um, and broke ground with the help of a local dairy farmer who drove their tractor over to turn over the soil for the first time for us.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's incredible. And that was as soon as you quit. Teaching. You gave your notice and you found the land right away.
Linda: um Not quite right away. we gave I gave notice in the winter around January or February. And then I think we closed on this. property May 1st.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Linda: of that year. So while the school year was tying up, we were simultaneously moving. and trying to... um I was trying to figure out how to.
Linda: put things in the ground. for the first time.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. And Emily shared that she grows flowers beyond tulips. Do you also grow more than just tulips on your farm?
Linda: We do. We have a pretty wide collection um over time. um i've you know kind of moved on from Working mostly with annuals to favoring perennials. I think they're a lot easier for us and on our bodies and for our climate because we have a very short growing season. So we work mostly with perennials and with bulb crops because with bulb crops, we can grow very easily in successions.
Linda: And we find that their their production is very reliable. So those those were... our our focuses are those are the the crops that we focus on and within those Two areas I love too.
Linda: um try new things and explore and see what's possible, especially here in our climate.
Jennifer Gulizia: I love that thank you both for sharing. Okay, so... You both are good friends and business partners now. but you originally met as a teacher student. Can you share a little bit about how you two met and how?
Jennifer Gulizia: your new business partnership came to be.
Emily von Trapp: Sure. um Yeah, i we were in a Facebook group together and I had posted a photo. of tulips blooming in january and linda kind of commented and said you know like what is this magic how are you doing this you've got to teach us how to do this and she kind of like pushed me to to start the workshop. And so I offered an on -farm version that first.
Emily von Trapp: October in 2018 and we met there and we were you know walking the property and chatting and during that time we found out that we had the same birthday we had dogs with the same name which we now have another dog with the same name Um...
Jennifer Gulizia: Oh my gosh.
Emily von Trapp: And, ah yeah, there was just all these kind of like do -do -do -do, like twilight -y connections. and um you know, I could tell that Linda was a hustler and that she was really curious and ambitious. And um we both had drive to. try new things and be creative and um
Emily von Trapp: MacGyver stuff and work with what we have. And um so there was like a lot of commonalities ah with our personalities and our drive and our backgrounds. We were both teachers. Yeah. So we met there and.
Emily von Trapp: um I think that first year Linda was like so eager that I ended up. giving her, we arranged for her to have some of the pre -cooled bulbs that I had come in so that she could try to get those going right away the first year. um and you know she's been my my number one A student from the very beginning. Um, and yeah that's how our relationship started and then um
Emily von Trapp: We went to Holland together and did some more research, visited lots of farms over there. And that's where we saw hydroponic growing. and um You know, Linda really dove into that. and I've stayed mostly in the the lane of soil forcing because that's just...
Emily von Trapp: what has worked the best for my infrastructure. um But yeah, so we... you know have these commonalities and have worked together to build this and not only have we done the tulip workshop but we also did the lily workshop as well so It's been a fun fun journey creating this for other growers.
Jennifer Gulizia: I love it Okay. Our listeners on the Backyard Bouquet podcast are a mix of flower farmers and backyard gardeners. So can one of you help explain for anyone who's listening that's not familiar with what you mean by forcing a tulip?
Jennifer Gulizia: what does the process entail? What is it?
Linda: Sure I can take that. Basically what we're doing when we are forcing or coaxing these flowers to bloom, we're... We're working with them to sort of trick them.
Linda: scientifically. into thinking that they have um experience their winter dormancy. um earlier and that we're creating some kind of artificial springtime so that they think it's time to bloom. So everything that we do is heavily. based on science.
Linda: um and on creating different. um environments. that will help the tulip experience the the timing and the temperatures that it needs in order to reach its best potential.
Linda: And we're doing that sort of outside the natural bloom cycle. which is, I think, pretty fascinating.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for that explanation. hydra pro hydroponic and soil so there's multiple methods that you can force the tulip to bloom.
Linda: Yeah, there are. So when Emily and I went to the Netherlands. which was a wonderful trip. We had the privilege of being sort of on the inside and on seeing what the the larger producers... are working with um in terms of tulip forcing over there. And interestingly to me,
Linda: is that the majority of tulips that are grown outside of the natural season. So outside of the tulips that you see. you know in the beautiful.
Linda: sweeping photos of fields in Holland are actually grown hydroponically in greenhouses there. And that got me wondering and curious about how it worked. And I started to tinker with um incorporating and being inspired by the processes that I saw there and trying to um create some
Linda: methods for using them on a much smaller scale because I have, you know, a little farmhouse. It really is a little farmhouse and I'm growing a lot of these tulips, at least initially in the basement. um of this small house. Um,
Linda: And, and just working on my processes and getting better and better every year. And eventually it made sense for me to reach out to Emily and say, Hey, like. this is this this is another method and we can now offer both.
Linda: opportunities. to our students, which is wonderful. They have the opportunity to learn why. one method might be better for them than the other. and to decide which route they want to go with.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for that explanation. um I love that we're having this conversation right now. And one of the reasons I wanted to invite both of you on the podcast. this time of year is because So many flower farmers are getting their bulb orders coming in.
Jennifer Gulizia: um And so I thought this was a timely conversation. And a lot of backyard gardeners will also be receiving. their bulb orders this fall as well. How did you first even realize that you could force tulips? Was it something you discovered on your own? Did you see someone else doing it? What sparked this curiosity for you?
Emily von Trapp: um I think for me I was trying to figure out how to. move away from teaching and flower farm year round. And I'd been buying lily bulbs from my bulb rep for many years and I said to him, you know is there anything else that I could could be growing in the spring? And so the first year... um I tried to order 10 ,000 tulips from him and he thought that was too much. And he cut my order down to three. And
Emily von Trapp: I grew them on, but they came on kind of. more along. as if they were like grown in ah in a hoop house. Like I hadn't realized how much earlier I could play with them.
Emily von Trapp: but I got the tulip bug and it made me start to wonder like, you know, how much earlier could I have them? um And so I started doing some research and Had a lot of conversations with him um and The next year, I just kept trying to push the envelope a little bit further.
Emily von Trapp: earlier into the season. So, you know, instead of having them bloom in April, like how could I have them bloom in March and just kept asking more and more questions and, you know, understood that there was pre -cooled preparations of bulbs and begged and pleaded with them to start sending me some of those. And eventually I got my hands on those and we kind of.
Emily von Trapp: You know, it's always like, how do we push the envelope just a little bit farther so that we can have tulips blooming from the end of December all the way into like this year I had. tulips blooming in mid -June. So how do you... really capture.
Emily von Trapp: the longest season possible. um Yeah, so that's that's kind of how I started playing with it. um I grew my first 3 ,000 tulips in 2011. And I really. experimented and played with it and trialed lots of like over a hundred different varieties.
Emily von Trapp: um Until I took all the information that I had gained and all my you know research and notes. and popped it into you know a document that we used for that first workshop. in 2018. So it wasn't like... I learned it and was like, oh.
Emily von Trapp: I'm an expert. I'm going to share this right away. I made sure that I did all the work, had all the trials and errors and had it really dialed before I felt like. I have enough information here that I can confidently share this so that someone else could be successful.
Jennifer Gulizia: Great. You mentioned... Pre -cooled. Can you explain to our listeners what that means?
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, so like how linda was saying the um you know, bulbs are kind of tricked that the temperature treatment that they are given, which is pre -cooling, they're either treated at 5C. or 9C. And I don't know, Linda's importing lots of bulbs now through her company. So maybe she wants to talk more about this, but there's two preparations. and
Emily von Trapp: um with that with the method of pre -cooling them we can get them to bloom earlier. Linda, do you want to add more to that?
Linda: Sure. I would i would say, you know just to demystify it a little bit more. 5C and 9C. C stands for Celsius. So. um we're working with our European suppliers and they use. Celsius as measurement for the temperature. So five degrees Celsius is.
Linda: um the temperature that the bulbs are cooled at. And for that treatment and that. um colder setting um is best for faster or earlier blooming tulips.
Linda: that we typically see blooming in December and into January. Nine degrees Celsius is a little bit warmer cooling setting. And generally bulbs that are coming in at nine degrees Celsius also have ah less cooling upon arrival in the United States. There are so many different.
Linda: settings. and And one thing that is interesting is that each variety of tulip, you know, there are over 3000 varieties of tulips. Each tulip has a different preferred. number of cooling weeks.
Linda: So. There are a lot of factors that weigh into the timeline of ah forcing a tulip. and um developing consistency in your program and in the flowers that come out on the other end. And every variety is different. every lot of bulbs is different so you know i can't um you know, promise everyone, hey, you know, this particular variety, we can say, you know, Columbus, it's very popular tulip. has had this much cooling. um
Linda: That particular lot of Columbus that came from that farm that was harvested on that day that went into cooling on that day. has this amount of cooling before it gets to the customer. But any other lot or any other um bulbs from any other supplier.
Linda: are going to be different in terms of what they've received. So there's so much variability and a lot of data. And one of the most fascinating things.
Linda: um for me, has been being sort of on an inside track and learning how to collect that information for our buyers so that they can be really informed in the decisions they're making as they're growing.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for explaining that. So if someone wants Christmas tulips. they're going to probably want to buy the 5C. Amen.
Linda: They're going to want to buy the 5C, but they're also going to need... specific varieties of tulips that can bloom that early because a lot of tulips need more cooling weeks than men what will allow them to bloom that early. um And they're also going to need to have a supplier that can ship them.
Linda: their bulbs early enough. with the proper cooling already achieved in order to be planted, in order to grow in that timeline. It's a very expedited process to try and Reach Christmas with Tulips in North America.
Linda: And it's um it's not for the faint of heart. It's definitely not something that... um we recommend as a bulb company to... a new grower or someone who's just trying forcing like let's just try forcing and see if you can be successful with bulbs that bloom by valentine's day that's a more reasonable goal because you're also trying to figure out
Linda: how to set up your infrastructure and how to combat various problems that might come up in the process of. of growing, but yes, 5C and specifically. um certain varieties.
Linda: of tulips. And. a supplier that can get them to you very quickly those are all really important if you're trying to get To Christmas.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's good to know. So it's not just the number, but it's also The variety. and making sure your supplier, which is such a... Important things. My order was delayed last year and I think I had my tulips.
Jennifer Gulizia: like the first week of December, I'm going. Are they even going to bloom this next year?
Linda: There are, and and we see a lot of challenges, especially in the last couple of seasons in terms of shipping. Some of them have been strikes both on our side, the ports on our stride.
Jennifer Gulizia: Mm.
Linda: on our side of the Atlantic and last year the Dutch. Port workers went on strike and those delayed some shipments too. um With ah my bulb company, it's called Ampersand Bulb Company. We have a specific category for people who are working to achieve Christmas tulips.
Linda: of flower. And we give priority shipping to this small category of bulbs. you know They basically come in, we ship them all out within one or two days because we know that those growers need those. um those varieties. Now, any other 5C prepared bulbs that they order. um Are sent a little bit later So it's not like ordering the early 5C gets you priority shipping for all of your tulip bulbs, but we make sure that we get those ones that people need out right away.
Jennifer Gulizia: Gotcha. So you are. Selling. Cut. tulips, and also selling the bulbs through your farm.
Linda: um Sort of. At my firm, Little Firm House Flowers, we're growing tulips mostly as samples for the bulb company.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Linda: And we sell some cut flowers. it's It's not our focus right now. Our focus right now is... on testing our product and making sure that it's a good product and using our samples to help answer customer questions. also but we do have a stand here and our local community can order flowers for pickup.
Linda: from our stands. And we do, you know, small events and and stuff like that.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay, so your main focus is working with... over in Holland. to bring in the bulbs to the US to provide your customers with the bulbs to grow in their gardens.
Linda: Yes, that that would be the primary source of income for my business at this time.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Linda: Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: And then Emily, your main focus is growing them as cut flowers. Is that correct?
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, so we're...
Jennifer Gulizia: With the tulips.
Emily von Trapp: group Yeah, we're growing those 200 ,000 tulips. They're grown either for our CSA membership, of which we have this past year we did. 350 memberships with 13 different pickup sites throughout central Vermont. And then we have up to 15 markets and boutique stores, bakeries, places like that, that we partner with where we're selling wholesale to them and they're retailing our flowers for us.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. And when do your tulips start blooming for you, Emily?
Emily von Trapp: a Beginning of January.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Emily von Trapp: Typically, if bulbs if bulbs come on time.
Jennifer Gulizia: so
Emily von Trapp: and And the other piece, you know, when you were asking about hitting Christmas, everything that Linda said. is is like what you need initially but then once they're in your hands and you're growing them to hit a quick bloom time you also have to make sure your environment is stable and consistent because a tulip can take you know
Emily von Trapp: weeks to bloom if your temperature is too low. So if you want things fast, you have to have your temperature up higher. So, you know, and sometimes here in Vermont. trying to hit that really, really early mark.
Emily von Trapp: It's... It's not really something that is viable for us because the amount of money you have to spend to heat your space to get those tulips that much earlier, it kind of, it creates a wash. So for us, we're trying to be really mindful of what's happening with mother nature and the temperatures and kind of.
Emily von Trapp: you know, coax everything along at ah in a timeline that works so that we're not putting too much out. to get those to bloom quickly. so With that in mind, we we usually end up blooming like around you know January 7th to January 10th, somewhere around there.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay, so you're not promising Christmas flowers then.
Emily von Trapp: No, I'm not.
Jennifer Gulizia: Probably nice to have Christmas. Well, you're probably not off on Christmas because you have tulips growing, but.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah. I mean, I sell lilies at Christmas, so i I still have.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amen. Oh, you do. Okay.
Emily von Trapp: thousands and thousands of lilies that were growing in greenhouses that you know the two crops dovetail for me so the lilies go from usually Sometime in April, they start blooming and they finish up in January and the tulips start in January. And they finish up in June. So we have this nice. dovetail year round.
Jennifer Gulizia: and 200 ,000 tulips. is so many. My biggest year I did 10 ,000. Walk us through what does it look like to grow 200 ,000 tulips?
Emily von Trapp: um It's a lot of work, especially with soil -based. you know we're mentioning soil versus um hydro soil is not for the faint of heart because it's very labor intensive. You know, the crates can weigh up to 65 pounds when soaking wet. um But so essentially our bulbs start arriving usually around the third week of September for our just regularly prepared bulbs.
Emily von Trapp: And then we are planting all through October and into November. um Sometimes when bulbs have been delayed, we're planting in early December, which is miserable here because it's freezing rain and it's snowing. and um but i have a really great crew of people who come and help during planting season and so we've got it dialed and we can get about 20 000 planted in a day with a team of seven to eight people um
Jennifer Gulizia: Wow.
Emily von Trapp: We have a lot of systems in place that help us. be really productive on those planting days. We pre -fill our crates, being mindful of not letting the soil you know sit out and become hydrophobic, so not letting it get too dry.
Emily von Trapp: um We have systems in place for labeling things. um All the crates are cleaned and ready to go before they're pre -filled. And then we have the spaces allocated for where they're going to go after they're watered in um and ready to root out. so um It is a lot of work and a big undertaking, but we've developed these systems that make it go pretty smoothly as long as the bulbs get here on time.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's amazing. So you're growing 200 ,000 all in crates.
Emily von Trapp: Mhm. Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: I think most of...
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, I... Go ahead, sorry
Jennifer Gulizia: Oh, I was going to say, I think most of our listeners are familiar with the process of growing in crates. but Could you just give a quick rundown of what that looks like for someone who's not familiar with the process?
Emily von Trapp: Um, It's. essentially just, you know, it's like having them in the ground, but they're mobile, you know, so you're using for us, we use a compost base that we grow on. our property or we're you know taking everything and we're reusing it as it's composted. So we have a base and then we plant our bulbs in that and we top off with a sterile mix and water everything in.
Emily von Trapp: um Like Linda was saying, every variety. You know, I have to be thinking about what the preparation of the bulb is, what the individual bulb is, how many cooling weeks that bulb needs. And so everything kind of goes to its...
Emily von Trapp: rooting and cooling area based on all those pieces of data about that bulb and when they're going to need to bloom. So for us, We're planting our non -cooled bulbs first um in those crates. and ah
Emily von Trapp: Those take the longest in the cooling area and the rooting area. And then the pre -cooled bulbs that come in, they are getting planted and they're immediately rooting out. And those are the ones that as soon as we see three things, which we call the tulip trifecta, we want to see like decent roots.
Emily von Trapp: and tip growth and know that they've achieved their optimum cooling weeks. At that point, we can bring that crate into our grow space and they start growing on. and you know, in the beginning of the season when we don't use any supplemental light at our farm. So in the beginning of the season when light levels are lower and temperatures are a little colder, colder things take more time to progress on to bloom. And then as the days get longer and... um
Emily von Trapp: you know, the the bulbs are just more eager because they've been rooting so long. We start to see that window start to get smaller from when you bring them into the grow space to when they bloom.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for explaining that. so You mentioned the trifecta and you're looking for root growth. Are you digging them up or are you just looking on the edges of the crates to see the roots growing?
Emily von Trapp: You just looking on the edge and the bottom of the crate you can see like if you've had a healthy root mat that's established.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay. And where do you have those crates before you bring them out to grow out?
Emily von Trapp: um So they can be in our cool garage or in our root cellar or any place that you can keep at an optimum temperature for rooting and cooling. So for some of our students, that is. you know like uh garage, barn, trailer things like that, a space where you can keep your temperature very stable. um And.
Emily von Trapp: have the ideal rooting temperature.
Jennifer Gulizia: What is that idea?
Linda: And i just want to pop in I just want to pop in for anyone who's new or for whom is unfamiliar with the term crate.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah.
Linda: as we're we're using it, we're talking about bulb crates. And this is a... typically black plastic crate, and it's what our tulip bulbs are shipped to us in.
Linda: when they come from the Netherlands. So they are um roughly 16 inches wide by... Two feet. long and either seven or nine inches tall.
Linda: That's the sort of crate that we're talking about. I'm not talking about milk crates or, I don't know, crates that you might find at Target or something.
Emily von Trapp: Right. Wooden crates.
Linda: um Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: Yeah.
Linda: Yeah. yeah
Jennifer Gulizia: Perfect. Thank you for adding that. because As a farmer, I'm I'm instantly thinking of the crates, but yes. Thank you for that clarification. um
Emily von Trapp: And the beauty of those crates is that they stack, right? So like when we are... putting them into our garage for cooling our pre -cooled bulbs. in one bay I can get 30 ,000 bulbs all stacked up and cooling at the same time.
Jennifer Gulizia: Wow.
Emily von Trapp: So, yeah, they're. they're very useful
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. So are you... When you're cooling them, do you have to water them also or they're just staying in that cooling room?
Emily von Trapp: um So everything gets watered in really well in the beginning. And so things that are pre -cooled, the turnaround from when they go into cooling to when I bring them into the grow house is so short that they don't need any supplemental water. um Some of our other crates, things that are non -cooled that are going to be in cooling for a much longer period of time, we will give them some supplemental water. You know, we check on them.
Emily von Trapp: couple of times a week, make sure everything's looking. good and like it's staying nice and moist.
Jennifer Gulizia: Awesome. So you're mimicking basically the ground, but putting them in a very climate controlled space.
Jennifer Gulizia: And can you leave some of them in there longer to stagger the blooms or do they all come out once the roots form?
Emily von Trapp: um so we're staggering and we're staggering based on though. the different bulb preparations right so having the 5c versus the regular were also staggering. because each variety is a different number of optimum number of cooling weeks right so some of our bulbs only need 15 weeks of cooling where some of them need 18 and some of them need 20 and so that creates its own natural stagger And then for me, I am doing something where I'm like holding them.
Emily von Trapp: a little bit colder and suspended animation so that I can hold them off longer. um which sometimes will suggest for students you know not to root everything at the you know, optimum quick rooting temperature, but to root them a little bit colder so you have a little more control over.
Emily von Trapp: you know. them not all kind of needing to go into the grow house at the same time.
Jennifer Gulizia: And is there a... single optimum temperature that everyone needs to route their bulbs at? Or does that vary from place to place?
Linda: It actually it varies throughout the season. So it depends on...
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Linda: um when you want your Um, first bulbs to bloom and then also how late you're trying to go in the season. So when Emily was mentioning suspended animation there, she was talking about working with bulbs that have been. rooted out already and then actually slowing down the process by dropping the temperature in your cold holding space so that you can um prevent them from breaking dormancy. and
Linda: you know have flowers blooming later and later. um into the spring One of the really interesting things about working with um tulips and pre -cooling is that once you have given your... bulbs wintertime and enough wintertime. they start to get more and more eager. So one of the challenges that we see as tulip foresters is that as spring comes along, as we start to get you know past Valentine's Day into early March and certainly into April, um bulbs that have been tricked into thinking they've experienced their full winter, they all start to get really excited and they start to grow and bloom a lot faster.
Linda: so There's, um, There are so many so many different things that happen throughout the forcing. cycle, the forcing season.
Jennifer Gulizia: half
Linda: both in terms of temperatures and playing with temperatures to to extend your work and then also um learning. how the days to bloom are affected by the amount of cooling that a bulb has had. If a bulb has not had enough cooling, its days to bloom are longer. It takes longer to flower. If it's had the right amount, it takes...
Linda: and you're growing them in the optimal conditions, then you have some pretty predictable results. But if it's had extra cooling, then you can expect it to. grow and bloom. even faster. So.
Linda: It's very interesting
Jennifer Gulizia: There's a lot of science behind growing the tulips this way.
Linda: A lot of science and a lot to learn and some things you have to kind of figure out by growing into your own infrastructure and your own space and learning how it, um you know, is affected by.
Linda: daylight, as Emily was talking about, as a greenhouse grower for her and also in spaces like what I have here, an indoor grow room, in which I'm able to really control the amount of light that the flowers get.
Linda: um And, uh... you know. kind of play with the extremes on that end, giving them more light than they... They need... um to even speed up the process.
Linda: more.
Jennifer Gulizia: Totally. Tulips seem... at first glance like they could be a really cheap crop. when the bulbs are less than a dollar a piece but if you don't know how to manage them they can become a very expensive.
Jennifer Gulizia: crop that you can lose a lot of. I hear a lot of growers. make a lot of mistakes and struggle with growing them. What are some of the common mistakes you see people making when they're growing tulips?
Emily von Trapp: I would say um one of the biggest ones is just not. not understanding. these different preparations or that you know this we We see a lot of people like on other forums, you know, tulip forcing forums saying like, oh, you know, tulips only need 12 weeks or tulips only need 15 weeks. So not understanding that each tulip variety has its optimum number number of weeks.
Emily von Trapp: The other really big mistake that we see, whether they're forcing their tulips or growing their tulips in high tunnels or outside, is not using enough water. like That is a really, really big one. And if people's tulips are...
Emily von Trapp: you know, desperate for water and not getting enough, they're going to bloom early, they're going to bloom short. And we see that happen a lot. Those would be the two that I see most often. What do you think, Linda?
Linda: um With tulip forcing, I think one of the... problems that we see as a bald supplier is the um and the feeling or the Um,
Linda: need that some growers have to over plant. their bulbs to put too many bulbs in. Uh... an area and then we run into problems like not enough light for the flowers not enough ventilation which can lead to stem topple. um So you have these hydroponic trays or these crates, and just because you can
Linda: you know. pack in all of these bulbs and fit them all in there physically doesn't mean that's the thing you should do. And we sort of, I think people sort of forget that these plants, they need the same, they have the same kinds of needs as plants that are outside. They need, they need good ventilation. They need lots of sunlight and water as Emily was mentioning, and you can only grow so many of them within. a space before you start to see some really big problems like you were describing they can be costly if you're um
Linda: not sure what, if you're not sure what you're doing or you're not paying attention or you try to be a little too greedy in terms of how many flowers you might grow in a given area.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for explaining those. I've had my share of tulip losses and... failures. And they always seem to bloom right when I only grow outside in crates. We're not set up to do anything else. They always seem to bloom right when the dahlias are growing, which is our main crop.
Jennifer Gulizia: So, um but. One of the things that I know Dave Dowling has always talked about is how tulips get you to market. before anyone else. um which I think is really appealing to a lot of farmers. And now the fact that you can grow them and force them indoors.
Jennifer Gulizia: It sounds like. Emily, you especially, you're growing. year round. So you're in Vermont. Right?
Emily von Trapp: mm -hmm
Jennifer Gulizia: And you have flowers.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: every month of the year for your customers.
Emily von Trapp: I do, and my...
Jennifer Gulizia: Not tulips, but...
Emily von Trapp: No, but I have flowers year round and my best months are February, March, April, and May. And those are all tulips.
Jennifer Gulizia: Which is incredible.
Emily von Trapp: like you know july and august i No, thanks. like i I should. I only continue to grow flowers in July and August to make sure that my employees stay employed. and the markets that we've worked with for decades still have our caliber of flowers on their shelves aside from that like to me it's it's not worth it to grow really worth it to grow flowers in July and August.
Emily von Trapp: Bye. Those winter months. are where it's at. And there's a few things that play into that it's, you know, people don't have gardens blooming. in.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Emily von Trapp: you know, February, March and April. um They don't have their own flowers. People are you know, kind of desperate for something beautiful and lush and unique. And that's what we're growing. And um there's something magical about being able to get a locally grown flower during that time of year, getting these.
Emily von Trapp: Beautiful blooms when there's this contrast of snow outside and we're all desperate for a little bit of color. um Yeah. it's I sell five times as many flowers during. the winter season as I do any other time.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's amazing.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: Now you mentioned.
Linda: And the the value for tulips is higher than two. If, you know, we're just waiting for tulips.
Emily von Trapp: Mm hmm.
Linda: Waiting, but I know you know when they come in the spring naturally outside They're coming at the same time as everyone's tulips in everyone's gardens and every other flower farmer's tulips are also coming.
Jennifer Gulizia: Right.
Linda: And we see the market value of tulips go down in the spring. So. having them earlier. in the winter when they aren't available even on the wholesale list to the florists in our region.
Jennifer Gulizia: mm -hmm
Linda: um gives them a ah higher market value.
Jennifer Gulizia: I love that. It gets you to market sooner and it gives you a whole different season. Emily, you said that July and August are your least favorite months to sell flowers. Is there a reasoning behind that?
Emily von Trapp: ah It's just the market. tanks in a way, you know, people have flowers in their own garden, people are going on vacation and, you know. there's now a plethora of small flower farms and backyard gardeners so there's the market is saturated so you have people buying less flowers and then you have people producing more flowers so it's
Jennifer Gulizia: Mm hmm.
Emily von Trapp: Oh. it's not an ideal time i don't feel like as a flower farmer to be really leaning in heavy in my crops um and it's a tricky time of year for many reasons right where you know you can have droughts you can have um We have flooding, which we've had for a couple of summers. Thankfully, this past summer, we didn't. um the The pest issue is a major one. um weeds you know when we're forcing tulips we are not pulling weeds we are not
Emily von Trapp: dealing with pests. Rarely are we dealing with pests. Maybe a stray aphid gets in but it's really easy to manage. um it's it's a lot simpler and the rhythm is really smooth.
Emily von Trapp: um like linda was saying bulb crops are predictable they're easy to time and We're doing these successions and so we are mapping it out and we know that we're going to be harvesting X many thousands of stems every single week for 20 to 22 weeks.
Emily von Trapp: um And so that That to me is like. why it's worth it, you know, physically. The way I'm doing it is very demanding on our bodies, but it also helps us to stay pretty jacked. so you know, we're staying fit.
Jennifer Gulizia: I always joke with my employees. I'm like, you don't need CrossFit if you're working here. You've got FarmerFit.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, we call it Tulip CrossFit at my farm.
Linda: mm -hmm
Jennifer Gulizia: I love it.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: That's a lot of crates to move.
Emily von Trapp: Mm hmm.
Jennifer Gulizia: How many crates do you use for 200 ,000 bulbs?
Emily von Trapp: A lot. thousand A couple couple of thousand. Um, I would have to.
Linda: I was like, reach for the calculator.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, i have I have to do the the math.
Linda: Hey.
Emily von Trapp: it's It's a lot. we We have so many crates on our property. um
Emily von Trapp: Yeah. A little over three.
Jennifer Gulizia: And you're probably.
Emily von Trapp: 3000.
Jennifer Gulizia: Are you?
Emily von Trapp: crates.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay. Are you planting in succession planting the tulips also, or do they all get planted at the same time?
Emily von Trapp: So for me doing soil based. You try to plant everything. as soon as you can. um
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Emily von Trapp: The bulbs. the bulbs are but better like i could store things dry like the dry bulbs in their crates. I could try to do that and plant them out over time.
Jennifer Gulizia: mm -hmm
Emily von Trapp: But the reality is. you know, they're actually going to be happier and healthier if they're locked into the soil with their moisture seal and the roots can start um getting established and then like I said I'm using different cooling spaces to root them in.
Emily von Trapp: And based on those preparations. and of the bulbs and the cooling spaces. I'm able to pull things as I need them. so I don't have to worry about doing more succession.
Emily von Trapp: plantings in that way that my successions are more everything's planted and I pull each succession as I need it.
Jennifer Gulizia: Gotcha.
Linda: Yeah, that's one of the things that makes hydroponic growing challenging because you need to have an extra space for dry storage or you need to have a supplier that can drop ship.
Jennifer Gulizia: What would
Linda: bulbs to you periodically throughout the winter so that you're not responsible for trying to maintain Bob. health because and With hydroponic growing, we do plant throughout the winter in successions, um which I enjoy because it breaks up that. planting routine for us and we just plant some each week and eventually we're planting some and we're harvesting some each week and we're able to reuse our hydroponic trays with some cleaning in between.
Jennifer Gulizia: So, Linda... With your company, do you offer that success? That's a hard word for me to say for some reason today for the succession planting.
Linda: Meh.
Jennifer Gulizia: Are you offering that shipping options to your customers?
Linda: Yes, we have drop shipping options and we offer both full crates of bulbs. uh 500 bulbs to a crate or 100 ball bags so it's um there's a little bit of a
Linda: a lower you know minimum to enter into bulb forcing also. So we do that for untreated bulbs in our nine. C pre -cooled bulbs and our Phi C pre -cooled bulbs. And our customers can set up their own ship dates through our wholesale platform, or they can ask us for some help and let us know you know which um quantities and varieties they'd like shipped to them at which times. And we ship from when we receive the bulbs in the fall through um the end of February. The end of February is when we're tying up our our tulip bulb shipping.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay. And. How... Right now is often when people are getting their bulbs that they're planting outside. When should they be ordering bulbs from you?
Linda: We open bulb ordering in March.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay.
Linda: And that's for pre -orders. And at that stage in the game, pre -orders are like reservation. And they are based on estimates for the bulb harvest that are to come in the summer.
Linda: but Between when someone places a pre -order and when the bulb... bulbs are harvested. Um, mid to late summer, a lot of things can happen for the farmers in the Netherlands. They can experience natural disasters, floods, or in the case of this summer, extreme heat waves that knocked back the plants before they had.
Linda: time to really invest in the growth of the bulb. There's a lot of science involved in that too. um So once we actually learn what has... come out of the ground and been harvested. you know around this time of year we're starting to hear from our suppliers like this is what we're actually going to be able to put on your shipping containers to come over here here where the crop
Linda: shortages. And here are some alternatives. um you know We want to make sure that the shipping de containers are coming over full so that everybody's bulb prices stay as low as possible. um Now we can start to talk with our customers about substitutions for things that experienced a crop failure or came in short for some reason. so March is when we take the pre -orders and those are all based on estimates and good guesses. That's the right time.
Linda: to place an order with your wholesaler. in order to have the best selection for the coming season.
Jennifer Gulizia: So that's why. farmers hear about it this time of year when their orders are canceled on them or varieties are canceled it's because they've just been dug from the field and they're finding out that there was a loss
Linda: Right. Exactly. Yep. Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: I just got an email this morning that three of my varieties were canceled.
Emily von Trapp: Oh, no.
Linda: Oh.
Jennifer Gulizia: Hiya!
Linda: It's hard. um one One of the things that we try to do with our customers is make sure that we have alternatives on hand. So we work really hard to secure alternatives. um And you know I think part of being a grower. is recognizing that you know it's next to impossible for us as farmers here. in
Linda: the states or anywhere in the world to exactly predict how many flowers or plants we're going to be able to harvest from the ground because every season is different and the timing is a little bit different every year and the farmers who are growing the the bulbs over there they're farmers as well and they're experiencing the same kinds of challenges that we have and nothing is ever a perfect, you know, exact.
Jennifer Gulizia: uh -huh
Linda: um guess in terms of how a season is going to. ultimately turn out.
Jennifer Gulizia: Absolutely. Well, I invited you guys here to talk about tulips. You're obviously very knowledgeable about them. and you teach the tulip workshop. Tell us a little bit about your workshop. What do people learn when they take your course?
Emily von Trapp: Tiana.
Linda: Sure. So the tulip workshop, as Emily mentioned before, it started as an online as an on farm program. And that's where I first learned tulip forcing after begging Emily to start teaching other growers, went there and learned in person. And we both very much. as former teachers. Appreciate. um hands -on in -person learning so we offer our program in hands -on format
Linda: This year, it's October 4th to 5th, and there are still a couple of spaces left for anyone who... um wants to join and is getting this message before that date.
Linda: um And we're doing it it in a two -day format this year. The first day at Emily's Farm, as it always has been in the past, and a second day here at Little Farmhouse Flowers, where we'll do hands -on work with hydroponic growing so people can really get a sense for how that works. In the past, I've sort of gathered my supplies and taken them for a field trip over to Emily's, to the workshop, to show people there. but
Linda: this year they'll actually be able to see how all of our different spaces work here. um for hands -on learning and then we offer an online version of our program that teaches both soil and hydroponic. um growing and that is available um for registration at any time and it comes with unlimited access. um So people can log in and review that program whenever they like.
Jennifer Gulizia: So your first option is in October in that they actually get to come and meet you and go to your farm.
Emily von Trapp: And.
Jennifer Gulizia: Is that correct?
Emily von Trapp: Yeah. Yep, they get to come to my farm on that. Sunday and Linda's farm on that Monday. um When they register for the on -farm, they also are given access to all the online content and then we have a beautiful hundred plus page course book that outlines
Emily von Trapp: all of the content of the course for people to refer to as well. So it's very comprehensive. And then there's a Facebook group where students can ask questions, receive receive support from other students, which That's. like the way that that space works it's pretty neat how other growers who've taken the course are supporting um some of the newer growers and there's a lot of great information exchange there.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. So who would be your ideal candidate for taking your course?
Emily von Trapp: I think anybody who is really interested in starting to force. Tulips, I mean The investment that you make on the front end to have all of this information at your fingertips and access to.
Emily von Trapp: the resources and all of it. is I think a ah good investment to help you be successful. talk to our students in the past, that investment, if you force, you know, 3 ,000 bulbs your first year, you will cover that investment. You will get...
Emily von Trapp: um the confidence and the knowledge you need by learning your infrastructure and learning how things work that you can then up your number the following year. I think we've done.
Emily von Trapp: all of the trial and error and have had all the headaches. for everybody. So if you want to avoid doing all of that, you can take the workshop and we can spell it out for you so you don't have to punish yourself that way.
Linda: Hmph.
Emily von Trapp: um Yeah, I think there's just. As we said, through there's so much science and there's so much nuance. to how this is achieved successfully. And. um You know, it's like. But in anything, if you want to learn how to do something and do it well, you do the research, you do the work, you find the information. And so what we've tried to do is... get all of that information in a nice.
Emily von Trapp: um manageable, digestible. you know like tidbit whether it's online or in at our farm and so that people can learn and be successful at their own farms.
Jennifer Gulizia: Amazing. Well, there is so much to know about forcing tulips and it. It can be a very expensive way to learn if you try and teach yourself. So it sounds like.
Linda: this is
Jennifer Gulizia: an awesome opportunity to learn from both of you and so cool that people can actually come to your farms.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: Now Emily, I...
Emily von Trapp: Yeah. and
Jennifer Gulizia: Go ahead.
Emily von Trapp: Sorry. I was just going to say, it's and it's it's more than just growing in our course. you know We're talking to them about sourcing bulbs. We're talking about marketing. We're talking about... you know ah retail versus wholesale. We're talking about disease issues, you know, so.
Emily von Trapp: It's very comprehensive. You know, a lot of the things that someone might be like, oh, I'll try tulips this year and then not really think about. all of those pieces that you need to be able to plant your bulbs and then be able to get them to market and actually get a fair um price for them.
Emily von Trapp: It's like everything's included. So I think that's where. it's It's a positive thing for people to invest in. instead of the trial and error version.
Jennifer Gulizia: I think education is so important. The faster we can learn things, the faster we can be successful with our businesses. and Like you said, not make those expensive mistakes. Um.
Jennifer Gulizia: We've talked a lot about tulips today. Is there anything that I haven't asked either of you that you wanted to make sure you shared today?
Emily von Trapp: um
Emily von Trapp: i don't I don't think so. Is there anything you can think of, Linda?
Linda: i came ah I came with a tulip mindset.
Emily von Trapp: ah Yeah.
Linda: on. But I think, you know, when Emily mentioned the importance of lilies. and other bulb crops in our programs. And so when she's describing her season going from June or January all the way to June with tulips. that's dovetailing with her Lily.
Linda: season lily crops that were she's succession planting so that's a whole nother wonderful way and we have you know figured out for ourselves that between just those two flowers alone, we can be year -round flower farmers.
Jennifer Gulizia: mm -hmm
Linda: And you know we have very different setups. um Emily described the nursery. um facility that she has access to is working at um at for her farm um when i came here and started my business. There was you know nothing besides this little farmhouse, no greenhouse. And the thought of even having a tunnel or trying to build one was completely daunting. and a place that I never thought that I'd get to.
Linda: um So I started all of my growing at a different scale. in um my basement for the winter flowers. and just sort of piecing it together um There are so many different ways to figure things out. And I think both of us.
Linda: and sort of see ourselves as a sort of MacGyver of flower farming we like to tinker with things we like to help people make the best of the infrastructure that's available to them, help them find a way to support their businesses. And for us, being in cold climates with short growing seasons, learning how to do that year round was so important.
Jennifer Gulizia: I love it. Thank you. Um. That's great advice. Emily, did you have anything you wanted to add to that?
Emily von Trapp: No, that was great.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay. um I have been asking this year all of my guests a series of quickfire questions. Is it okay if I ask you? a few last questions before we say goodbye today.
Linda: Sure.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay. I'll ask the question and then each of you can answer if that works. So the first question is, what is your favorite flower to grow or work with and why?
Jennifer Gulizia: And it doesn't have to be tulips, but it can.
Emily von Trapp: ah For me, it would. like Hands down, be tulips. For so many reasons, they just bring so much joy in the winter. um and The variety that you can have, you know from parrots to fringe to doubles to singles and all of the colors.
Emily von Trapp: It's. It's one family of flower, right? It's tulips, but you're getting so many different flowers. um And so that to me is like. pretty magical. that I can offer my customer a flower that's going to last for 10 days for them and be beautiful. And every week they're getting something different. Um,
Emily von Trapp: So hands down tulips.
Jennifer Gulizia: Do you have a favorite tulip variety?
Emily von Trapp: I really don't. It's like, it's like too hard for me to answer that.
Jennifer Gulizia: Huh.
Emily von Trapp: because It's almost like I have a favorite tulip of the week when we're harvesting.
Jennifer Gulizia: Aha.
Emily von Trapp: like I'll say that to my staff. I'll be like, oh, this is my favorite this week. um There's just so many to love. and uh you know anytime I say I have a favorite then all of a sudden that variety disappears off the list so I'm just going to say they're they're all they're all stunning and beautiful.
Jennifer Gulizia: Sure.
Emily von Trapp: um Yeah.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you. What about you, Linda?
Emily von Trapp: Mm hmm.
Linda: i I love tulips, but I also... love trying all kinds of different things. and um One of the bulbs that I've really been enjoying last season and this season as well is called Eucomus. It's also called...
Linda: known as Pineapple Lily. And it's more of ah a tropical bulb, but it's very fast to bloom. and it has a really unique kind of like a small pineapple.
Linda: Shape. to the flowers.
Jennifer Gulizia: Huh. huh
Linda: um So we're we're playing around with learning more about that and and growing it in succession. and I think it's a really cool plant.
Jennifer Gulizia: I have not heard of that one. I'm going to have to look that up, but that's so fun.
Linda: yeah Hmm.
Jennifer Gulizia: I love hearing about new flowers. Okay. The next question for both of you is why do local flowers matter to you?
Emily von Trapp: i I think on so many levels, you know having something local, it's... Not having the same high carbon footprint for us on our farm. Our commitment is to growing things clean, um growing things as sustainably as possible. That's really important to us and making sure our customers are getting a.
Emily von Trapp: you know beautiful long -lasting healthy product. um The alternate of local is something conventional that's coming from far away, has a huge carbon footprint, who knows what kind of...
Emily von Trapp: uh pesticides it's covered in what else it's been exposed to that's toxic and the base life isn't even gonna be long and it comes usually with lots and lots of garbage and plastic So local flowers.
Emily von Trapp: are supporting local farms and they're supporting our community by giving them beautiful clean flowers.
Jennifer Gulizia: Love it. What about you, Linda?
Linda: I would say my my answer is very similar. um My farm is in a unique location. It's in a six million acre state park, the Adirondack.
Jennifer Gulizia: Wow.
Linda: park is huge. And the people who live here and the people who visit here come here to celebrate the natural beauty of the park and the high peaks region. And being able to contribute um our locally grown flowers to people who really value sustainability and the park, um I think only only creates or only it adds to the culture.
Linda: of this region and it's a great selling point for our firm as well.
Jennifer Gulizia: Love it. Thank you. What is one thing you wish more people understood about the floral industry?
Emily von Trapp: how important local flowers are. and how much work it is to grow flowers you know for farmers here and valuing their products.
Emily von Trapp: I wish...
Jennifer Gulizia: Mm hmm.
Emily von Trapp: stores that we were selling wholesale to. had a bigger heart for the farmer and would not. insist on absurd margins which make it that our products don't sell well because they're needing to make x amount of dollars on a bouquet but instead finding a nice happy medium so that everybody wins the customer gets a fresh product the farmer is getting a fair price and the store is still selling flowers That's a big one for me.
Linda: And I would say that I wish more people
Linda: knew or appreciated the interconnectedness of even local flowers with the global economy and what's happening in the world. You know, a lot of farmers are realizing that that now with the import tariffs on our bulbs, but there are a lot of other things that um local U .S. flower gar growers depend upon that are foreign products or that come from other places like our machinery, like our growing mediums, like our fertilizers, like our... you know pots and crates and things like that.
Linda: There is so much interdependence. upon um the world. economy and appreciation that we really need to hold for our trade partners in order to be able to have American grown. cut flowers and to be able to resurrect.
Linda: um our industry as we as we work to rebuild from essentially losing. most of the American flower farms to a cheaper product from other places.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you for sharing that. I don't think anyone has ever said that with that question. That's a really interesting perspective that I think we all need to definitely consider more and appreciate.
Jennifer Gulizia: Okay, last quickfire question for both of you. What are you most grateful for that flowers have given you beyond the blooms?
Emily von Trapp: I think connection with other people. for sure the customers, the... relationships with other flower farmers. um It's, I think, enriched probably both of our lives just making all those connections over flowers.
Jennifer Gulizia: Love it.
Linda: And I would say like wonder.
Jennifer Gulizia: Hmm.
Linda: You know, they... All right. I've been growing flowers for almost a decade now. emily for most of her life and I think both of us would say that they still spark wonder in us that when we see something, we're still amazed by it.
Emily von Trapp: Mm hmm.
Linda: And I think that that's the beauty of. of growing something, of seeing it. come to life right in front of your eyes and to being able to see new and different things grow and to have the the ability to.
Linda: to search out those things and to try new new things and see what happens.
Jennifer Gulizia: Oh, well that's beautiful. Thank you. Okay. Where can people find you? And where can they register for the tulip workshop?
Emily von Trapp: So if people are looking...
Linda: They can. Go ahead.
Emily von Trapp: go ahead Linda Good.
Linda: Sure. So we have our our individual businesses and Emily will mention hers in just a minute. You can find us at the Tulip Workshop at the tulipworkshop .com. And that's where you can register for the upcoming On Farm program or for one of our online workshops. You can sign up right there.
Linda: And then my business, Little Farmhouse Flowers. Mostly serves local customers, but ampersandbulbco .com. That's where growers can join our wholesale community and source bulbs from us.
Emily von Trapp: And my business is Von Trapp Flowers, and they can find me on Instagram at vontrappflowers or vontrappflowers .com. for my website. and like i said we sell flowers all throughout central vermont so yeah people locally are interested That's where I am.
Jennifer Gulizia: Perfect. We will include links in today's show notes for everyone so they can click over. to both of your websites and the workshop and check that out. Thank you both so much for joining me. I learned so much about tulips today and have such an appreciation for what you do in the middle of the winter.
Jennifer Gulizia: I... I grow so many dahlias that I'm dividing tubers all winter long. so Without a bigger team, I couldn't take on the winter tulips. But we have several farmers. How I first heard about you was because several of my friends who are farmer.
Jennifer Gulizia: flower farmers in our area have taken your workshop. And have the most beautiful tulips in January and February. And I think it's so wonderful that.
Linda: Okay.
Jennifer Gulizia: We can have local flowers year round. in our town. So thank you for sharing your knowledge with our community.
Linda: Awesome. You're welcome. Thanks for having us.
Emily von Trapp: Yeah, our pleasure.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thanks. Happy growing.
Emily von Trapp: Thanks.
Jennifer Gulizia: We'll see you later.
Emily von Trapp: Bye.
Jennifer Gulizia: Thank you. Bye bye.
