FAQs

We believe that Elmgrove Flower Farm is one of the most sustainable sources of cut flowers in Ireland.

The most recent data for flower imports into Ireland are quite shocking. Bord Bia estimates that €271m is spent on cut flowers in Ireland annually. However, 2021 figures from the Department of Agriculture estimate that a paltry €10m of this is produced in Ireland. That’s less than 4% of the total spend, suggesting that a whopping 96% of all flowers sold in Ireland are imported. Elmgrove Flower Farm is very different. While we also buy imported flowers to ensure a range and variety throughout the year, Irish flowers account for over half of sales at our flower shop. In fact, over three quarters of all the stems we sell are Irish (which is also proof that Irish flowers are better value than imports).

Our story on Irish flowers doesn’t stop there. When we add in all the flowers that Elmgrove Flower farm sells domestically and internationally, a massive 98% of all our flower sales are actually Irish grown. This is possible because we export over 10 million stems of daffodils to countries with longer winters than Ireland, such as Poland.

Locally grown flowers almost always have a lower carbon footprint than imported stems. There’s the obvious issue of transport, with many blooms being flown into Europe from Africa, Central America and South America.

Even if they are ‘only’ trucked in from glasshouses in Holland, they have still used up a fair bit of energy on the 750km trip in the form of diesel in the truck and chilling in the cold-rooms that facilitate the international trade.

The other issue is the sustainability of growing water hungry flowers in places like Kenya where water supplies are under severe pressure. Countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Columbia provide superb growing conditions for many flowers with their sunny, dry climates, cheap labour and plentiful space. But in an era when burgeoning populations exert ever greater demands for clean water supplies, the sustainability of using scarce water for flowers becomes debateable. Elmgrove Flower Farm has invested heavily in sustainability measures to ensure that we are doing our best to protect the environment. These include:

1. The installation of €50,000 of solar panels to remove over 14,000kg of annual carbon emissions. This calculation incudes the ‘cradle to grave’ emissions associated with the manufacture and disposal of the solar panels themselves.
2. The use of trickle irrigation systems to minimise the amount of water being used on indoor and outdoor crops. The irrigation systems double up as fertiliser systems, by transporting fertiliser directly to the roots of the flowers. These ‘fertigation’ systems allow us to minimise both the water and fertiliser that is being used to grow the crops.
3. Our participation in Bord Bia’s Sustainable Horticulture Assurance Scheme ensures that the farm is independently audited to ensure that we are responsible in the use of all our inputs and outputs, from packaging and pesticides to waste and water.
4. The GPS system on the sprayer ensures accuracy to less than 20cm in every application to the crops.
5. Robust EU environmental directives ensure that farming practices within Europe are by far the most tightly regulated in the world. This includes obligations that at least 4% of the farm is provided as space for nature. In this regard, Elmgrove Flower Farm goes far beyond the basic minimum requirements, with close to 10% of the farm left uncropped for nature to thrive.

We source all kinds of imported flowers throughout the year. Winter is a time when we are dependent on Irish lilies, brassica, daffs, tulips and foliage. However, customers still expect to be able to buy roses in the winter, the same way they expect tomatoes and pineapples 365 days a year on the shop shelves. However, even in the summer time we find ourselves importing some flowers. Why? Here's an example: if we get an order for a wedding in the summer, and the bride requests a specific colour rose or lily that we haven't got in our tunnels or available from other Irish growers, then we resort to imports. And because we can't buy in single stems, we often have a few stems from the bunch of imported roses left over to incorporate into our own bunches.

These flowers almost all come via Holland, but in reality they can be grown anywhere from Kenya to Cost Rica, Turkey, Spain, etc. Basically, anywhere that gets more sun than Ireland! Flowers love sun, and many species simply won't grow outdoors in Ireland, and even if they do, they can be very prone to the damp weather diseases that are a feature of the Irish climate.

Yes. We endeavour to have a 100% Irish option available to buy all year around. In the wintertime we are reliant on other growers that have heated glasshouses which produce flowers such as lilies and tulips.

We have lilies available throughout the year, with daffodils and tulips stretching from January through to May. In between, Calla and Alstromeria lily come on stream, followed by Sweet William and peony in May. Roses, sunflower and cornflower get into gear in June, followed by gladiola and dahlias. In the autumn we rely on ornamental brassica and sedum, along with berries from hypericum, symphoricarpus and roses.

Every month we also have a range of foliage to choose from our orchards, such as eucalyptus, viburnum, laurel, cupress, eryngium, birch and contorted hazel.