Do you know where your flowers come from?  If you are buying them from the local grocery or florist they were probably grown overseas.  Only 40 percent of U.S. demand for flowers is met domestically. The majority of floral imports are produced in South America.   Even though we don't eat flowers it's important to remember we absorb poison through our skin.  Floriculture consumes more pesticides than any other agricultural sector.    Flowers produced in countries such as  Colombia and Ecuador, are sprayed with highly toxic pesticides, fungicides, and fumigants. Many of these chemicals are banned in North America because they are extremely carcinogenic.  Columbian and Ecuadorian workers, many of them women and children, suffer from problems associated with pesticide exposure.  The environmental price for growing perfect blooms is poisoned soils, rivers and streams which has contributed to species decline.  Furthermore,the energy requirements to fly and truck flowers across great distances is huge and contributes to climate change. Even flowers grown in the U.S using conventional methods can contaminate groundwater and streams through fertilizer and pesticide run-off, with deleterious effects on wildlife and human health.

Because of strict agricultural laws even sustainably grown or "green flowers" are fumigated before they can be shipped to the United States.

At Lilies and lavender, our goal is to produce beautiful flowers in a way that doesn't harm people or wreck the planet.  We are serious about using sustainable farming practices.   Sustainable farming works with nature, not against it, by utilizing agricultural techniques that build soil fertility and protect the surrounding air, water and wildlife.  It emphasizes building healthy, rich soil to produce plants that are resistant to pests and diseases.  The ultimate goal of sustainable flower farming is to have a healthy living plant/soil ecosystem that does not need added pesticides of any kind, artificial or natural.

At Lilies and lavender we are constantly working towards this goal.  Some of our practices include the use of cover crops for weed control and protection from water and fertilizer run off.  We also use farm produced vermicompost, (worm compost), and compost from plant and rabbit waste to enrich our soil.  To protect flowers from insect damage and fungal diseases we use biological controls such as beneficial insects, companion planting of herbs and beneficial funguses which grow on plant roots and leaves protecting them from harmful fungal diseases. 

By buying local, sustainably managed flowers from Lilies and lavender you are helping to maintain a healthy environment, vibrant community, and a strong and sustainable local economy for you, your children and grandchildren.