Roses

If you purchased a bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or Costco recently, most likely they were bred, grown and packaged in Colombia.

The United States imports 79% of its flowers. 65% of those flowers are from Colombia. Colombia is the 2^nd largest exporter of flowers behind the Netherlands. 20,000 acres of land are committed to growing flowers. 79% of that area is in the Bogota Savannah and the remaining area is near the city of Medellin. These two cities are prime candidates for flower growing because of their high, sunny plateau regions. Colombia's nearness to the equator provides consistent long days of sunlight which makes the heads grow brighter and bigger and the high altitude grows better quality roses. Fertile soil, mild temperatures, cheap labor and close proximity to America have caused the Colombian flower industry to flourish.

This week I had the opportunity to visit “Rosen Tantau”, a German rose breeding company. Rosen Tantau in Germany is one of the most important rose farms in the world bringing many new varieties to the rose market each year.

How does a new variety of rose make it from imagination to your dining room table? Rose experts in Uetersen, Germany at the Rosen Tantau farm cultivate, select and test new novel varieties of roses throughout the year. New varieties are then sent to their greenhouses in Colombia for further cultivation and testing before hitting the market. The stem that arrives in Colombia is called a “code”. The rose does not have a name yet, only a number identifying it. The 3” code stem with a leaf is grafted into a rose root system to create a hybrid. The two plants will grow together to create a new variety. Rows of each variety grow in the greenhouses.

Rose Grafts

If a rose achieves the desired qualities for a market it will be given a name by the owner of the greenhouse, receive a patent and go on the market. The Russian market desires solid, large heads that are open whereas the American market desires small, closed heads. Different colors are also in demand in different markets of the world. Once you have a hybrid rose you can not use that breed to graft another plant into. The new plant would be too weak and have problems because the gene pool has been altered.

Other farms will now come to Rosen Tantau to place orders for flowers they would like to grow. A farm may request 100,000 plants of one variety and 1,000,000 of another. Rosen Tantau has greenhouses where they grow commercial plants as well for sale on the market.

Roses, carnations, chrysanthemums and alstromeria are the main types of flowers grown here in Colombia.

When the stems have reached the desired “cutting stage”, the stem is cut and the flowers go into the warehouse to be packaged. The cutting stage is how the flower head opens. The U.S. Market desires a closed head whereas the Russian market desires a partially open head. Length of the cut stem is important in the quality as well.

There are rows of workers in the warehouse preparing bouquets to be shipped out. Each station has a paper with the “ingredients” for the bouquet listed. Piles of each type of flower are in front of her. She takes the required amount of stems for one bouquet, puts them together, uses a machine to cut the stems, then places the loose bouquet on a conveyor belt where another person will pick it up, rubber-band it, put in a packet of flower preserver and the final plastic or paper wrapping around it. She then places the bouquet in a bucket of water. Each bouquet maker has a flag at her station. As she begins to get low on flowers she replaces the flag with a colored flag to indicate more flowers are needed for the order she is working on. A runner places more flowers in the bucket next to her and as she needs them she can move them to her work area.

The completed orders of bouquets are placed in refrigerated trucks and transported to the Bogota airport where they will fly out during the night. The majority of the flowers head to Miami where they are inspected upon arrival. 10% of each shipment is taken out and destroyed by beatings and thrashings to be sure no unwanted pests or disease are let into the country. The inspectors are also checking to be sure no drugs are being smuggled with the flowers.

90% of Colombia's flower export is to America. Within 48 hours of a flower growing in a field here in Colombia it is in a warehouse in the United States. Give it another 48 hours and it is at your local retailer's and possibly in your home. Once you have received the flowers into your home there are a few things you can do to help prolong their life and keep them looking as gorgeous as possible. Cut the stems on a long 2” angle. This will help keep the flower stem from being blocked by bacteria. Remove all leaves that will be in the water. Place the stems in fresh, warm water. A drop or two of bleach will prolong the flowers and a teaspoon of sugar will help the heads to open sooner. Keep the water fresh so the flowers don't get choked by sludge.

The flower houses around Bogota provide work for more than 100,000 people. The majority of them are women. The flower houses encounter the same problems that any other factory job encounters. The women are on their feet the entire work day. There is some machinery present where accidents could happen and where do the children go when their mothers are working? Rosen Tantau farms have strict quality control rules to keep the working environment safe. The floors are continually swept clean of petals and stem pieces. The plants scraps are swept into a channel of water in the center of the floor when they flow out of the buildings and into a filter system. The plant waste is then composted for future use on the farms. Rosen Tantau in Colombia has also set up 2 foundations to encourage the continuing education of its employees. The first foundation allows the workers to receive more education. The second foundation provided education for the children of the employees. A very small fee is charged for each child to receive day care and schooling while their parent is at work all day. If you purchase flowers at Whole Foods, you will be happy to know that a % of your cost is going to this foundation to educate the children.

- Kris