Tulips in Waimarino's export flower repertoire

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 659, 22 October 1996, Page 3

Tulips in Waimarino's export flower repertoire

Business is blooming for hus band and wife entrepreneurs David and Jenny Waldron, and their Waimarino-based company 'Cold Mountain Flowers.' Twenty five varieties of tulips and two of delphiniums are grown on the Waldron' s property — plants chosen because of their suitability to the region's sub-alpine climate. An advantage of growing in a cool climate is the extended growing season, particularly so for delphiniums, which are still being harvested by the Waldrons in autumn, well after other areas have finished. Another advantage is the reduced numbers of insect pests. The decision to grow flowers for export came after lengthy consideration by the couple who had also given some consideration to a bull beef operation. Their move to become a member of the country's $100 million flower industry, in retrospect, seems to have been an inspired one, with the company already having eamed a strong reputation on both the local and overseas markets, in just three short years. With competition from France and Chile, New Zealand growers like the Waldrons are committed to producing the highest quality blooms. So this year they have halved last year's 60,000 crop of export tulips, concentrating on quality rather than quantity, which included fine-tuning the packing process. Some 30,000 tulips and another 20,000 delphiniums will be grown, picked, packed and couriered this season, destined for America, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the Philippines, and some also bound for main centres in the North Island. At the height of the growing season — from May until October for tulips and a small overlap from mid-October until June for delphiniums — the Waldrons' flower farm is transformed by a mass of colour.

Some of the Waldrons' tulip varieties bear names as colourful as the bloom: 'Attila' (mauve), 'Abu Hassan' (mahogany yellow), 'Dix Favourite' (light red), and 'Kings Blood' (blood red). Tulip bulbs are currently sourced from New Zealand, but will next year be imported from the tulip mecca of Holland. The Waldrons' delphinium stocks — both 'Pacific Giant' that grows to two metres high and the smaller 'Belladonna' variety are propagated by Wanganui' s Bristol Gardens and supplied as seedlings. The six colour varieties they currently grow were> carefully selected for their market appeal. They employ one full time and three part time staff who have considerable skill at picking the stems at precisely the right moment. A few hours can mean the difference between an export quality tulip and one that has 'coloured up' to the extent that it is below export market standard. The timing for picking delphiniums is less critical, but the bloom requires more preparation for market, including a period of cool storage and treatment with preservative to prevent the flowers falling off. Having played a major role in both picking and grading, including last season' s 'bumper' crop of tulips when staff were picking continually, Jenny is happy to reduce her hours this season and spend more time home-schooling two of their four children. For David, computer programming takes second place to the start of the delphinium season. The Waldrons have the expertise of a Danish agricultural exchange student, Anne Mette Fruekilde, 19, on a six month programme run by the International Agricultural Exchange Association. Anne Mette' s insights into European techniques including chemical use, companion planting and propagation techniques add another dimension to the Waldrons' blossoming company.