LILIES - RHS Lily Group

Commercial lily production in tunnels to protect the crop from chilling winds and
field grown bulbs in the foreground in Western Australia.
A lilium delight – Downunder
Charles and Lee Reynolds write about their commercial lily farm,
Florescence Quality Cut Flowers, in Albany, Western Australia.
LORESCENCE QUALITY CUT FLOWERS was originally established in Albany 2001,
Fundergoing
considerable expansion before winding down in late 2003, when
we bought it. Since then we have developed it into an effective small business
producing an average of 1000 bunches of lilies per week.
Both Lee and I have gone through a very steep learning curve as our life
before the farm was as officers in the Australian Army. I also have to be honest
and say that we only looked seriously at this business because we wanted a true
‘sea change’ in a seaside city that provided good educational opportunities for
our two girls (we were originally on the other side of the country in Canberra).
We did not consider the business because we had any background or knowledge
in lily farming!
The farm itself is situated 10 minutes from Albany. It consists of 4.2 ha of
land, with plenty of water (something unusual for Australia at the moment) and
an infrastructure capable of operating a moderate sized floriculture business.
The primary product produced is lilies, although zantedeschias (calla lilies) are
also grown and we have planted some 350 cherry trees.
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