When the floor in the sales office kitchen is speckled with chunks of dirt, portions of bulbs are in the the sink and there are vases full of tulips with all sorts of cryptic notes on the bloom table; you know our new tulip varieties are in full swing. This is such a wonderful time on the farm. Our growers, Lane, Tim and Tanner, will come into the sales office proudly holding a new variety; usually leaving a trail of dirt, since the tulip was literally just pulled from the soil.
We are lucky to see the new varieties first hand. It's an adventure to see how they open up, the shape of their petals and how the colors mature.
Then the conversation starts. What people like, what people don't like, some days it feels like an art critique class as sales reps. and growers voice (and defend) their opinions on a certain tulip. Its funny how people can connect so passionately with a flower they are just seeing for the first time.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk