Posted at 12:00 p.m.
On a Wednesday morning in July, it’s harvest day at Picaflore, a flower farm in Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu, in Montérégie. Farmer-florist Valérie Goulet is busy in the alley of zinnias, a small pruner in hand. There are pale pink, orange, peach and cream, gold, lime, lilac…
Valérie Goulet launched its official production in 2019. That year, at the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ), agronomist Caroline Martineau saw several flower farms appear in the province. In 2019, she had identified around forty by searching the internet and social networks. Last winter, it had more than 100. “After COVID-19, it started to skyrocket,” says the agri-environment and ornamental horticulture advisor at MAPAQ.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Valérie Goulet, farmer-florist and founder of Picaflore
Everything attracts me to the profession of farmer-florist. Flowers, working at my own pace, outdoors, in all kinds of conditions, sharing on social media, meeting people at farmers markets, making bouquets…
Valérie Goulet, founder of Picaflore
Some Picaflor flowers
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Zinnia
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Dahlia
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Rudbeckia
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PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
row of zinnias
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Behind this enthusiasm, we find the influence of the movement slow flower, which emerged in 2014, in the United States, and which encourages local and responsible production of cut flowers. “Several producers in Quebec have taken training and have made it a mode of production, a way of life,” explains Caroline Martineau, who points out that the movement is mainly driven by women.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Picaflor’s field
Social networks have popularized the trend, so much so that other entrepreneurs – including market gardeners – have also started growing flowers, without necessarily espousing the philosophy of slow flower.
Some flowers from Yvanne, peasant flowers
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
ammi magus
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
giant columbine
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Digital
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Sweet Pea
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Knapweed
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Immortal
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the slow flower
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Yvanne Maurel, founder of Yvanne peasant flowers
Yvanne Maurel is another worthy representative of slow flower. Trained in visual arts, with 17 years of experience as an entrepreneur on an agricultural farm, she sees in the production of cut flowers the meeting of her two passions. She launched her company Yvanne fleurs paysannes in 2019 and today produces around fifty varieties in her field in Saint-Jean-de-Matha, in Lanaudière. Its production is ecological, like that of the majority of farmer-florists.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
A white pierrot… and a grasshopper
What I like the most is to have the impression of being part of a whole. When you work organically, you have to be really on the lookout: observe, lose nothing, give everything back to the earth. This is a logic that makes even more sense today.
Yvanne Maurel, founder of Yvanne peasant flowers
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Zinnia
Farmer-florists sell their flowers at farmers’ markets, on the farm or by subscription, and also at certain florists. At Binette et filles, at the Jean-Talon market, 80% of the flowers offered in summer are from local sources. “It’s my nature, first of all, and the customers asked for it,” explains the store’s co-owner, Myriam Binette. I love it when we receive our local flowers. At each period of the season, we feel like children in front of an ice cream counter. They are magic flowers. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Freshly picked flowers
Blooming in season is like eating in season; it requires changing our perception of things a bit. There is work to be done with customers, but people are very ready. I feel them touched by the local flower, by the slow flower, which has something to express and which is far from the imported flower, botoxed, lifeless, which no longer touches people’s souls.
Yvanne Maurel, founder of Yvanne peasant flowers
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Snapdragon (left)
Huge challenge
Caroline Martineau, of MAPAQ, also sees a favorable situation for local cut flowers, which she likes to call the “Belles du Québec”. “Now, we will have to maintain customer interest and aim for product quality,” she says. According to the agronomist, it will also be necessary to reflect on the difficulty of ensuring year-round production. In Quebec, of course, this requires greenhouse production. “There were already some in the 1980s and 1990s, but with heating costs and overseas competition, it has decreased a lot,” explains Caroline Martineau, according to whom we could involve market gardeners who already grow vegetables. in the greenhouse during the winter.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Valerie Goulet
The flowers of Quebec are not fixed flowers that are often found in traditional florists. They are rustic, rustic flowers that have movement and are adapted to our climate. Flowers you may have seen in your grandmother’s gardens.
Valérie Goulet, founder of Picaflore
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
nigella
It is first of all a natural flower, which has a story to tell, because it has had its mishaps, it has bent, it has twisted. All that is part of the flower and that’s how we manage to create. It is a slow flower, which has developed its own magic, its own poetry.
Yvanne Maurel, founder of Yvanne peasant flowers