Blewden’s lilies bloomingbeautiful

Who doesn’t love lilies? The colourful, fragrant blooms are suitable for many occasions.

Among the many stallholders at Cambridge Farmers’ Market is Blewden Lilies, located at Pukerimu Lane only a few minutes from town. Mary and Colin Birch bought Blewden two years ago from original developers David and Anne Blewden.

Managing director Mary Birch said large numbers of smaller growers have fallen by the wayside over the years to the point where Blewden and two or three other growers are the only remaining major producers of lilies in New Zealand.

The company grows four types: Scented Oriental, Unscented Asiatics, Longiflorum and Rose Lilies – a hybrid of lily and roses. From these arise thousands of varieties. Some do better in summer and others in the cooler months relative to light levels.

Lilies are grown from bulbs, which are imported frozen in peat from the Netherlands.

Blewden grows in four heated tunnel houses. Turnaround from planting to harvest can be six weeks in summer and up to 16 weeks in winter, producing about 100,000 stems a month; between 1.2 and 1.4 million stems annually. The high season is over Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mothers’ Day.

Lilies have a vase-life of around three weeks and Mary and Colin share the work of selling lilies at the Cambridge, Hamilton, and Tauranga farmers’ markets. Mary concentrates on the weekly Cambridge market and Hamilton every second Sunday in winter.

Blewden also supplies the big flower auctions in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; regional markets at Palmerston North and New Plymouth; the Hamilton Flower Market; florists around the North and South Islands; New World supermarkets; and directly to private customers.

Mary says supply-chain issues driven by the Covid pandemic remain a problem, especially the key supply of frozen bulbs which relies on the international supply of containers. ‘‘Freighting costs have increased by 500 per cent over the past two years. We can’t get 20-foot containers so now we have to book 40-foot containers. As the bulbs have to be kept between -1.5 and 2 degrees, we need more freezer space.

‘‘The Government didn’t see flowers as fresh produce

(essential food supply). So as part of the restrictions on transport to reduce the potential spread of the disease, we were not able to transport cut flowers to markets.’’

As a result large quantities of blooms were ‘mown’. ‘‘A big group of cut-flower producers have asked the Government, ‘‘Did you get that wrong?’’ Fortunately we have a strong customer base in the local markets and a lot of people working really hard to support the business.

‘‘Pre-Covid there were around 90 million stems of roses coming in from India. Most people don’t realise when they buy cut flowers that they may have been flown half-way around the world.’’

Blewden employs up to 16 fulltime and part-time workers; more in summer and mostly locals. ‘‘It’s a fantastic team, from teenagers to people in their 70s. We are quite labour intensive. We pick and grade each stem individually; checking quantity and quality of buds, stem length and straightness and if there is any disease or imperfection.’’