Thursday, March 28, 2024

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Jordan greenhouse growing new Christmas blooms

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When you think of flowers at Christmas, you likely think of a familiar potted plant from Mexico. But in the small Niagara town of Jordan, a Dutch family that emigrated to Canada has cornered the market on a South African flower that’s putting a fresh new bloom on Christmas.

It’s harvest time in Niagara for something special — and unusual.

“This crop nobody was growing in Canada.”

Jan Prins and his family grow something that was common in his native Holland, but unfamiliar in this country. “To be honest with you the first couple of years we couldn’t give them away because nobody knew what to do with it.”

The amaryllis is that “other” Christmas flower — but unlike poinsettia — amaryllis doesn’t look like much when it’s being cut and packaged, for shipment to your local florist.

There’s a reason for that. The key to the amaryllis are the outside leaves. Most Canadians don’t like to buy them because they can’t see the flowers — but these leaves protect the flowers — and in a few days they’ll fall off, and give you a beautiful flower.

“The tighter you buy them the longer vase life you have. So these will last about two weeks. ”

Fabiola Prins: “That’s the hard part. When you buy them in the store they are still so tight that people don’t know how they’ll look when they’re in full bloom.”

“Cut amaryllis is really nice because you can do so many things with it. It’s like if you only take a vase and you take just three stems and you put them in — you have a gorgeous centerpiece.”

Jan agrees. “If you want something new, this is a nice alternative.”

It takes an entire one year cycle to grow these amaryllis — and like the time and effort that go into them, it takes some patience for them to bloom. But Fabiola says it’s worth it.

“I love the amaryllis. It’s just, it’s such an elegant flower. It’s gorgeous.”

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