It has been almost six year since a greenhouse operation set up shop between Iron Springs and Turin.
Rainbow Greenhouse Alberta Inc. opened its third location, the first in Alberta, five and a half years ago. The other two Rainbow operations are located in B.C.
Local Manager Evert Van Hierden, working for owner Stan VanderWaal, started out on the floor at the greenhouse and worked his way up to manager. The local operation is the biggest of the three Rainbow greenhouses with 14 acres all under roof.
Van Hierden says 95 per cent of what is grown locally is sent to Alberta Costcos, with a small amount shipped to Costcos in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The other five per cent is tropical plants for Home Depot and bedding out plants for Wal-Mart.
He says each of Rainbow’s greenhouses focuses primarily on the needs of one customer with the B.C. greenhouses supplying Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
Busy season for the local greenhouse starts the end of November as they start to stick cuttings. They will remain busy up until the end of May.
“Everything is out the door. May is crazy busy.”
He says it’s not uncommon in May for some staff to put in 100 hour weeks. There are 25 to 30 semi-trailers a day leaving the greenhouse for about three weeks in order to get all of the plants shipped out to the stores. The greenhouse  crop is all perennials, hanging baskets and bedding plants.
After they are shipped out the greenhouse shifts its focus to a smaller season for fall Mums, shipping in October, and Christmas Poinsettias, shipping in November. These two areas account for about 10 per cent of the greenhouse’s gross sales each year.
Staff at the greenhouse number five to 30 depending on the season. During the busy time from January through May the company makes use of the foreign workers program, bringing in workers on a seasonal basis.
They live on site and return home once the peak season is completed.
This winter has proven to be a bit more challenging than other years given the sustained low temperatures. Van Hierden says the greenhouses are set up to handle -40C for a solid week.
The plants actually require the same heat as humans, if it’s too hot or humid in the greenhouse for a person, than the same holds true for the plants.
When Van Hierden first started working at the greenhouse he knew nothing about flowers but has learned on the job. He says greenhouse expertise is actually hard to find in Alberta.
He says he has a good staff in place, with most of them having started with Rainbow when the local greenhouse opened.
“I love what I do here.”

He also lives on site in the original farm house. He grew up in agriculture and completed his green certificate as part of his high school studies. His father owns Bert’s Lagoon Service. After school he tried his hand at a number of agricultural jobs including hogs and custom farming but now he sees a future in greenhouses.
Growing flowers comes with its own unique challenges with timing being the biggest.
“We have a two week window to get into the stores.”
Unlike other crops, which are harvested when they are ripe, flowers have to be ready at a specific time in order to fill store needs.
It’s one thing to grow a plant but another to get it to flower at the right time.
“There’s a bit of science to it.”
Van Hierden says setting up a greenhouse in Alberta makes sense as purchasing land is more economical than B.C. and southern Alberta actually has more light wattage during the day, just about double the average of the company’s B.C. sites.
One of the newest innovations at the local greenhouse is the implementation of 100 per cent water efficiency. All of the water used at the greenhouse is recycled and reused. Even the rain water collected off the 14 acres of roof is collected and used in the greenhouse.