An overflowing vase of unseasonably fiery flowers is the perfect antidote to winter. But if you worry about how far imported blooms have travelled, and at what cost to the environment, brightening up your room needn’t be a guilty pleasure: a cut flower producer on the south coast may have the answer.
Ben Cross grows alstroemerias all year round in West Sussex. Even in midwinter, long beds of these tropical-looking flowers, native to South America and commonly known as Peruvian lilies, rise up defiantly in the energy-efficient greenhouses at Crosslands Flower Nursery, where they are picked to supply British flower markets all through the seasons.
“From Christmas to February, we harvest three times a week,” says Cross. “In March, the plants will go berserk: from then to Christmas we harvest seven days a week, at least 1,000 bunches a day.”
His alstroemerias look as exotic as hothouse orchids: trumpeting blooms with speckled and tiger-striped throats. They can be near-white or baby pink, but are most recognisable in the hot tangerine, gold and ruby-red shades that are ever-present on flower stands. They are ubiquitous because alstroemerias make excellent cut flowers; the sturdy stems won’t snap as you put them in a vase or flop after a few days, and each is topped with a spray of six flowers or more, often lasting two to three weeks in a vase.
They aren’t all that hardy, though. Alstroemerias need shelter to flower all year round. The plants grown at Crosslands are hybrids created for their flowers, but probably contain some genes from hardier species such as A. ligtu and A. aurea. These originate from the Andes, where conditions are cool and dry; similar to a British greenhouse for much of the year. “Where we are, sandwiched between the English Channel and the South Downs, we have the perfect growing conditions: the perfect light, the perfect warmth,” says Cross.
The greenhouse is kept at 13C though the winter. Heat is provided by a biomass boiler powered by renewable wood pellets – a sustainable source of fuel, as long as new trees are planted to replace those cut. Water consumption is minimal; plants are watered for 20 minutes once a month in winter. In summer this increases to 20 minutes every 10 days – still very low compared to usage in countries such as Kenya, where most cut flowers sold in the UK originate.
Cross grows without pesticides, using biological controls, such as the tiny Encarsia wasp to take care of whitefly, and the predatory Phytoseiulus persimilis to control red spider mite.
The focus on energy efficiency is not new here. Cross is the fourth generation of growers to run Crosslands Flower Nursery, which once grew various crops. His grandfather and father decided to focus on alstroemerias during the energy crisis of the 1970s. “It was the time of rising oil prices – you could no longer grow lots of things. It was time to specialise,” he says. “Grandad chose the British alstroemeria because it is a good sustainable crop.”
The nursery was started by Cross’s great=grandfather when he arrived from Abertillery in Gwent in 1936 as part of the Land Settlement Association, a government scheme to resettle unemployed workers from industrial areas on farming land. These new market gardeners transformed much of West Sussex into a network of small farms growing produce to sell, including thousands of seasonal cut flowers. As the economics of market gardening became harder over the decades, most closed.
Cross spent 10 years as a marine biologist before returning to Crosslands, but realised he could, potentially, make an impact as a grower. He is well-placed to, because it’s an optimistic time for the British cut flower industry, now worth £121m – up from £82m in 2015 – after years of decline due to imports. The uplift is driven by increased consumer demand in response to concern over produce-miles and sustainability.
Last year, homegrown flowers accounted for 14% of all stems sold in the UK, still a small slice compared to imports from overseas, but up from 12% three years ago. “I did my first talk in 2014, to a flower club of 100 people,” says Cross. “I was amazed that no one knew that most of the UK’s flowers are imported from all over the world. Now I’m fully booked for talks until 2021 – I think the message really strikes a chord.”
Who would have thought a vase of these fiery blooms could clock up as little mileage as a head of broccoli? Sometimes, the most exotic-looking flower can find its niche here in the UK.
