Florist Friday | an interview with: Ivy, Bloemen in stijl
Today we’re teaming up with Tamara from Ivy, Bloemen in stijl for a friendly take-over of our social channels. We met Tamara during our floral designer meeting in March and we instantly [...]
ALEXANDRA FARMS
ABOUT ALEXANDRA FARMS
“Alexandra farms is our other farm specialized in David Austin Roses. Alexandra farms likes to call itself a ’boutique rose farm’ because they are dedicated to growing nostalgic, romantic Garden Roses.
“They are located in the incredibly fertile savane of Bogota, high in the Andes mountains of Colombia, where the weather is perfect for rose growing: warm days and cool nights. Because of the high altitude Alexandra Farms produces roses with thick stems and large blooms.”
“The people of the Alexandra farms are all flower industry veterans. They got together in an effort to bring back some of the romance that flowers used to represent. Searching world wide to find products that weren’t industrially engineered for longevity and uniformity.”
The Alexandra farms has besides David Austin roses many other beautiful roses to offer; romantic, classic, Victorian Era roses that bring back images of Dutch Masters’ paintings and Victorian Era weddings. “
The Alexandra farms executives (from left to right): Elizabeth Perez, Catalina Jiménez, Nancy Montealegre, Sandy Saenz, Maria Inés Venegas, Maria Paula Córdoba , Joey Azout.
After cutting the roses, they are wrapped together for protection for the internal transport to the packhouse.
People from the Alexandra farms attend many horticultural fairs around the world, in this picture you see Maria Paula talking to a prospect
Read More About Alexandra Farms
More about Alexandra
“Like the other farms we source roses from, Alexandra is licensed to grow David Austin Roses. Also they grow beautiful roses from Tantau, Kordes, Meilland, Delbard and many other high quality rose breeders from around the world.
“Alexandra Farms varieties of garden roses are being grown for the cut flower market. Roses are bred in England, France, Germany, Japan, Denmark, and other countries all over the world. They have over 100 garden rose varieties planted with over 40 of them in production. Many of these varieties are very special rose plants, some of which are from the garden of Empress Josephine Bonaparte’s Malmaison home in the south of France from the 1800’s! Alexandra farms roses either have a strong fragrance, a terrific old fashioned shape, or both. They are all hand-cut, hand-graded and hand-packed by caring, rose loving people.”
“Some of the Garden Rose varieties from Alexandra are introductions to the cut flower market. And all of the roses are garden varieties either specifically bred for, or selected for the cut flower market, which means that they have longer shelf and vase lives than the older varieties.
Alexandra farms is certified by Florverde Sustainable Flowers. Florverde Sustainable Flowers helps flower growers to improve their production processes by adopting Good Agricultural Practices – GAP. It develops, promotes and implements responsible codes of conduct, standards, and sustainable agricultural practices.
The Alexandra farm also became an ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative) member. ETI is a leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers’ rights around the globe
Video handling and packing at Alexandra
A video showing the roses and the whole process of hand cutting, hand grading, hand bunching and packing them at Alexandra Farms in Colombia.”
“You can see in this short video what effort is made to make sure the roses can be transported throughout the world to arrive in the best conditions possible”