Auckland spring trip

This year's spring trip was to visit some of our commercial growers in Auckland and while there, some of our growers had time on the Thursday to go to the NZ Flower & Garden show at which which OFFGA sponsored an event in the Apprentice Florist of the Year Competition.

It was an early start for many of us on the Friday morning and those who were in Auckland before the birds woke up headed along to the UFG auction house to check out the range of product on offer. Summer crops were just starting and the first of the hydrangeas were seen on the auction floor, It was standing room only at the auction as many florists were there filling orders for the weekend.

The first of the commercial growers we visited was Van Lier Nurseries which has two sites.

The size of both operations was impressive with almost all their product grown for the local market. Van Liers are know nation wide for their roses (now mostly grown on the new site) but it was also interesting to see the number of other crops grown to fill holes in the NZ market . from gypsophila to hellebore .

Their new site in Riverhead left many of our growers impressed by the technology and automation used on such a large scale rose operation. It has been a big investment for Van Liers so they can supply top quality product to the NZ market all year round.

Our second visit was to Jacco & Susan uit de Boschs. Their property is a multi cropping property for the NZ and export market with their main crop being hydrangeas. Jacco and Susan have both indoor and outdoor production of hydrangeas and this allows them to supply product almost 4 weeks earlier than other growers with the aim of getting higher early season prices and also spreading the work load as they are a husband and wife team. Jacco is a big fan of the NZ market and tries to supply as much locally as he can, as long as prices are competitive.