Tulips of the Valley

The Fraser Valley is known for its fresh local agricultural products and famers markets but in spring, the fields in the valley are lined with locally grown tulips. The fields in the valley are not as common and extensive as the ones in the Netherlands, however, the snow-capped mountains add a dramatic background.

One of the farms near Agassiz hosts a Tulip Festival each year and visitors can walk around their rainbow-colored field after paying an entrance fee of $3.00. Not being able to bike through the Dutch tulips fields this year, the tulip festival was a nice alternative and I got my tulip fix for another year :-).

Here are some facts from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture relating to the flower industry:

B.C. is the largest producer of cut tulips and bulbs in Canada and within the province the tulip industry is a major player. Tulip market sales account for more than one-quarter of B.C.’s entire cut flower industry. In 2009, B.C. tulip growers hand-harvested approximately 21 million tulip stems. That same year, the entire cut flower industry contributed nearly $41 million to B.C.’s economy. 

·         Tulips are the main cut flower grown in B.C., with over 21 million stems produced in 2009.

·         In 2009, the cut flower industry contributed nearly $41 million to B.C.’s economy.

·         B.C.’s cut flower industry grows a diverse range of field and greenhouse-grown annuals, perennials, bulbs, ornamental grasses and woody cut flower crops.

·         Gerbera daisies are now the second major cut flower crop grown in B.C.

·         Other popular cut flowers grown in B.C. include alstomerias, spray chrysanthemums, daffodils, freesia, irises, standard roses and snapdragons.