But for movies and TV specials, we don’t see much of what goes on in Santa’s workshop. The North Pole is pretty far away, after all.
Anyway, it’s closer to Royer’s corporate complex in Lebanon, which includes our offices, distribution center, greenhouses. It’s also home to our own workshop — central design — where dozens of our elves are busy decorating poinsettias and other plants, and handcrafting thousands of holiday arrangements in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Consider this photo tour our gift to you!
A natural Christmas tree eventually loses its needles, but giving it daily drinks of water will dramatically slow the process.
Unfortunately, you can’t do the same with a natural Christmas wreath.
But here’s the next-best thing: seal in the wreath’s moisture using hairspray, which acts like glue and holds the needles on.
To avoid any messes, do the spraying before you hang the wreath on a door, window or wall.
The result will be a wreath that looks shiny, green and full throughout the holiday season.
We typically think of the North Pole when it comes to Christmas, but the most popular holiday plant originates with our neighbor to the south.
Poinsettias are native to Mexico and were introduced to the United States in 1825 by Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
In fact, Poinsett’s death in 1851 is commemorated every Dec. 12 as National Poinsettia Day.
Some other facts:
The colored parts of poinsettias aren’t flowers but bracts (leaves).
Poinsettias have been called the lobster flower and flame leaf flower.
Poinsettias are not poisonous, to humans or pets.
An Ohio State study found that a 50-pound child who ate 500 bracts (leaves) might have a slight tummy ache.
If you’re Fox 43 Morning News and you want to talk about Thanksgiving flower and gift trends, you know that Barry Spengler is happy to oblige.
Barry, Royer’s vice president of operations and a regular guest on Fox 43, shared ideas for centerpieces, giftware and hostess gifts with Heather Warner. You can view the segment by clicking here.
Photos from Barry’s appearance:
Carnation turkey centerpiece
Fox 43’s Heather Warner and Royer’s Barry Spengler.
Traditional centerpiece
Ceramic turkey centerpiece
Barry Spengler, right, getting his microphone set before Fox 43 Morning News segment.
Roger Esbenshade, president of Esbenshade’s Greenhouses Inc., with a poinsettia cutting and the pot it will grow in.
Retailers and consumers might count down the number of shopping days left until the holidays. At Esbenshade’s Greenhouses Inc. in Lancaster County, it’s a calendar of growing days.
One of the 100 biggest greenhouse operations in the United States, family-owned Esbenshade’s is a significant grower of poinsettias. Royer’s Flowers & Gifts is one of Esbenshade’s biggest poinsettia customers, to the tune of 30,000 plants each year.
In order for Royer’s to have poinsettias to sell starting around Thanksgiving, Esbenshade’s has to start growing the traditional Christmas plants during the summer.
In fact, poinsettias account for 75 percent of Esbenshade’s summer workload and 15 to 20 percent of the company’s annual sales. Esbenshade’s sells poinsettias to customers throughout Pennsylvania and into surrounding states and sometimes as far away as Boston.
This helps to explain why Roger Esbenshade, the company’s president, has a young poinsettia spilled out on a desk in his air-conditioned office in mid-July, when the outside temperature is approaching 90 degrees.
A computer controls when mist sprays on young poinsettia plants.
Three stages of root growth on poinsettia cuttings.
Poinsettias grown for the 2012 holiday season.
He has been looking at the plant’s roots under a microscope, “to make sure nothing funny is going on.” Besides proper root development, he tests for levels of pH and fertilizer in the “growing medium,” a mixture of composted bark, peat and the mineral perlite, which appears as tiny white rocks.
“If you wait until the plant itself starts to show the problem, then it’s usually much wider spread and much more difficult to make a correction,” Esbenshade said.
His parents – Lamar and Nancy – founded the company in 1960. Today, Esbenshade and brothers Fred, Scott and Terry own and operate the wholesale business from a complex of buildings on Route 322 just north of Lititz. A sister (there are seven siblings in all) works part-time for the company.
Every week throughout most of the summer, Esbenshade’s receives poinsettia cuttings from three different suppliers. These cuttings are two and one-half inch stems that will become the hundreds of thousands of poinsettias that Esbenshade’s will nurture in its greenhouses.
The cuttings have no roots; those will come in short order but only after Esbenshade’s workers stick them into the bark-peat-perlite mixture in pots. (Esbenshade’s also grows starter plants for other growers; these roots develop in a foam cube). The plants will stay in these pots right up until they are delivered to Royer’s.
The pots are in Esbenshade’s “Gilbert” greenhouse, which is named in memory of an employee who died. They are lined up, row upon row, on tables and under automated misters.
A pinch to unleash potential
A cutting by itself is fragile: left in the sun for 20 minutes, Esbenshade said, it will die. Regular misting is necessary for the cuttings to sprout roots. A computer considers plant and air temperature, humidity, light intensity to determine each burst of mist for each table.
It takes four weeks for the plant roots to grow fully. At that point, Esbenshade’s “pinches” – snapping off the tip – the cutting to force lateral branch growth. Everywhere there is a leaf is the potential to grow a new stem. This potential is unleashed by the pinching.
“There’s a hormonal change in that plant that stimulates that growth,” Esbenshade said.
At up to 100 degrees, poinsettias will grow faster the higher the temperature. Above 100 degrees, growth tapers.
Red poinsettias are the traditional variety and account for 70 percent of the plants the company grows, although they come in many varieties and sizes. When asked what his favorite variety is, Esbenshade at first quipped:
“By December 25th, my personal favorite is an empty greenhouse.”
Really it’s the “marble star,” whose leaves (or bracts) feature a “bold pink center” and white edges, Esbenshade said.
Esbenshade’s follows strict growing schedules to ensure that it produces the highest-quality plants it can for Royer’s, which holds Esbenshade’s to exacting standards. What’s more, Royer’s is based just 15 miles away in Lebanon, which makes it easy for co-owners Mike Royer or Tom Royer to get a first-hand look at the crop.
Variety (some grow faster than others) and hoped-for size determine the growing schedule.
“If we want a plant that’s 30 inches tall, then we have to start that in June,” Esbenshade said. “If we want one that’s 8 inches tall, that doesn’t get started until August.”
It’s possible to force faster growth, but then the plant lacks the stem strength and big bracts that distinguish the Esbenshade’s plants from, say, the poinsettias found at big-box retailers.
“It has to look different,” Esbenshade said of his company’s poinsettia crop. “The average consumer has to recognize that it’s something substantially different. We don’t try to explain to them that it’s different, we grow something that they recognize is different.”
M is for the many (so many) floral arrangements that we’re busy making for Mother’s Day.
Royer’s team members will handcraft nearly 14,000 arrangements May 1-7 (off May 5) in our central design department at 810 S. 12th St., Lebanon. You can get a glimpse of the activity in the slideshow below.
Even after the Easter Bunny has visited and the last eggs are hunted, Easter plants will bring beauty and color into your home. In fact, you can make the flowers last a lot longer by following some easy steps.
What’s more, after your bulb plants – such as daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, crocus and narcissus – have finished blooming, you can transplant the bulbs into the ground and watch the flowers come up next year.
The key to making the flowers/blooms last longer – perhaps twice as long – is to keep the plants in a cool place, such as at night. This will stall the normal aging process, extending the life of the blooms.
While you’re sleeping, place the plants in your garage or out on your porch (but don’t let them freeze), and then bring them back inside your house in the morning. For smaller plants, such as a single-bloom hyacinth, you might even have room in your refrigerator.
Of course, it’s also important to keep the plants watered.
Once the blooms peak, let the plant die back into itself, nourishing the bulb. Keep the bulb in its pot and store in a cool, dark place. In early fall, separate the bulbs and plant them in your garden in anticipation of their blooming again next spring.
Leave the hiding to the Easter Bunny. We love showing off all of the Easter activity taking place this month at Royer’s.
Visiting our corporate complex in Lebanon today was Blue Ridge Cable 11 News of Ephrata, specifically reporter Peter Taraborelli and photographer John Hershey. They spoke about hyacinths, lilies, hydrangea and other flowers and plants of the season with Barry Spengler, Royer’s vice president of operations.
Did Easter sneak up on you this year? Being on March 31 [this post originated in 2013], it is earlier than usual.
As a florist, we don’t have the luxury of being surprised by the calendar. Planning and logistics are the lifeblood of our business; they are fundamental to giving our customers high-quality products and excellent service.
Easter is a great example of this.
While most flowers today are grown in South America, Royer’s continues to grow its own hyacinths. Forcing the bulbs (as this is called, essentially getting them to grow on our timetable), is a family tradition that dates back 50 years or more.
As with every holiday, timing is of the essence when it comes to Easter hyacinths.
The process actually began in June, when we ordered some 13,000 hyacinth bulbs from a wholesaler in Holland. In October, a two-person Royer’s team planted the bulbs in pots, which were placed in a refrigerated trailer (set at 40 degrees) at our corporate complex in Lebanon.
The goal was to get the bulbs to grow, but just a little bit. In December, when most people were running around getting ready for Christmas (Royer’s included!), the bulbs were sufficiently rooted such that we could lower the trailer temperature to 34 degrees. At that temperature, the bulbs are more or less in a state of suspended animation.
Soon after Valentine’s Day, we began to transfer the pots into a greenhouse. We gradually increased the temperature so as not to shock the bulbs and to mimic what occurs in nature as winter turns to spring.
The bulbs emerge from the trailer as small, yellowish plants just breaking through the soil. Within days, sunlight turns the plant green and it starts to grow. Soon, the flower blooms: pinks take a few days longer than blues and whites.
We have to be careful, though, because if the plants get too much indirect sun, they begin to stretch for light. In no time, they can get too tall and lanky – and customers won’t want them. Sometimes we have to cover them in black plastic to keep that from happening.
When Easter is early as it is this year, temperatures outside tend to be colder. As a result, it takes longer to “force” the bulbs. Of course, we know this going in and factor it into our schedule.
We want the hyacinths to reach 10 to 12 inches in height, at which point they are ready to be sold in pots and decorated baskets.
Don’t worry if Easter snuck up on you. Our stores will be ready when you are, filled with beautiful, colorful hyacinths and other Easter plants and arrangements.
Just as we planned it.
Royer’s Kids Club will get the Easter season hopping with a free event on March 16 at all Royer’s stores.
Children ages 5 to 12 will be able to decorate a hyacinth basket for Easter. They can take the plant home and watch it bloom. Participants also will receive a balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at each of Royer’s 17 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Royer’s store. Click here for locations and contact information.
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