A season of extremes! We’re late-June, which means we are closing out another outdoor flower season in Canada with the introduction of the red-and-white petunia and Calibrachoa hanging baskets, complete with a Canadian flag in it, especially for Canada Day on July 1st! And the 2025 season proved to be so interesting yet again, in Western Canada.
Here in the west, during early 2025 people did not know what to expect of the coming spring season. For months they did speculate: how will the current US-Canada relation have an effect? Will there be Canadian greenhouses unable to export due to tariffs, potentially resulting in them having to attempt to get rid of their plants in the Canadian market, possibly oversaturating the Canadian market? What will the weather be like, will we get an early, warm southern wind from Texas or a prolonged cold from the north? You see, not many know this, but from North to South, the middle of the North American continent is very flat. A 30-degree temperature difference within 24 hours due to the direction of the wind, is very normal in Central Canada.
So too this year: on a Tuesday I sent a ‘heat-warning’ to the staff in Winnipeg, where temperatures touched 37 Celsius mid-May. Just two days later I sent a ‘frost-warning’ to the same staff, where by Thursday morning they saw frost and light flurries!
