While the rest of us are soaking up the sunshine, enjoying the hot weather and barbecuing on the beach, Ron van der Zalm is thinking about Christmas.
He’s a greenhouse flower grower in St. Catharines, Ontario and the height of summer is when he starts growing popular Christmas plants in his greenhouse, like Poinsettias, Cyclamen and Frosty Ferns.
Together with his brother and two cousins, Ron runs Colonial Florists, a second generation family wholesale flower business with 11 acres of greenhouses that was started by his father and three uncles more than 50 years ago.
The Frosty Fern is a fairly recent addition to their Christmas line up and it’s one that is growing in popularity.
“Frosty Fern is still fairly new, we’ve only been doing it about five years,” he explains. “It’s still a growing market as there are still many people who haven’t heard of it. We’re one of four main growers of Frosty Fern in southern Ontario and we propagate the cuttings for most of the other growers.”