Vitebsk "Zelenkhoz" grew about 35,000 flowers specifically for March 8
Employees of the state enterprise "Zelenkhoz" started planting flowers before the New Year, which will decorate the regional center with the arrival of warmth.
On the eve of March 8, following a good tradition, we visited the greenhouses of "Zelenkhoz" to find out what the team will delight the fair half of humanity with in the hopeful and smiling spring days. For the women's holiday, the enterprise's team, as always, has prepared a huge number of multi-colored fragrant gifts.
— We plan to sell about 30-35 thousand flowers a week, — said the first deputy director Nina Eremenko. — The main part of them will be roses — about 18 thousand. Tulips, freesias, chrysanthemums, and carnations will also be on sale.
At the eight retail outlets of the enterprise, you can now find a bouquet, as they say, for every taste and color. For example, you can choose roses not only in the usual red shades but also white, pink, cream, yellow, and even lilac. Early in the morning, they are still growing in the greenhouses, and a few hours later they are already on the counter, where in the skillful hands of the sellers they turn into spectacular compositions. Many organizations, by the way, try to take care of such gifts for the female part of the team in advance, knowing that on the eve of March 8, flowers are among the most popular purchases. Therefore, a significant part of "Zelenkhoz's" products is sold out, in fact, before the holiday, according to preliminary orders. For example, while I was there, one of the retail outlets received an order for 450 scarlet roses at once.
If it is important for the enterprise's employees to deliver a bright and fresh bouquet to the customer, then our task is to try to preserve it in this condition for as long as possible. How can this be done? Vera Gvozd, the manager of the retail outlet located at 2 Lazo Street, shared some subtleties with me. Vera Mikhailovna has been working at "Zelenkhoz" for 27 years, she started as a florist-decorator, and for the last five years she has been helping clients navigate the variety of colorful products and arrange them beautifully. She explained that only carnations require special care: they do not like to be near other plants. All other flowers get along well with each other. Today, freesia is often an organic part of a stylish bouquet: it looks appropriate both next to roses and in the company of tulips.
To ensure that such a gift does not lose its freshness for as long as possible, it is important to first place it correctly in a vase. According to Vera Mikhailovna, first of all, it is necessary to refresh the cut of the stem. For a rose, it is extremely important to do this under water. The queen of flowers generally loves moisture, so high containers should be chosen for it, where the stem will be maximally immersed in it. But carnations, tulips, and chrysanthemums do not require so much water. At the bottom of the bouquet, all foliage must be removed, otherwise it will get wet and begin to rot in a warm room.
The frequency of changing water in the vase depends on the temperature in the room. The warmer it is, the more often you will have to do it. Moreover, Vera Gvozd recommends trimming the stems every time so that the flowers stand longer.
There is another option for lovers of live greenery. You can initially purchase not a cut flower, but a potted one – "Zelenkhoz" also grows such products. Then you definitely won't have to worry that a striped chlorophytum or a blooming kalanchoe will wilt in a few days.
However, it is not only the plants given away on Women's Day that require the attention of the enterprise's employees today. Seedlings occupy a significant space in the greenhouses, which will have to move to the streets of Vitebsk with the arrival of warm weather. And although the residents of the regional center will see the first results of this work only in May, it begins in December. Raisa Svetova, a master at COH No. 1, explains that begonia and cineraria seeds, which have the longest vegetative period, are sown in the ground even before the New Year. In mid-January, they are pricked out, then weeded and fertilized until their "move" to the city flowerbeds. Alyssum and gazania are next in line. At the same time, potted plants are being propagated by cuttings.
— Then, in April-May, we start sowing ageratum, petunia, and salvia, — Raisa Vladimirovna continues. — At the same time, we propagate iresine and alternanthera by cuttings. A little later, in early May, we sow asters and summer dahlias.
In total, employees of "Zelentkhoz" plan to grow 1.5 million seedlings for the landscaping of the city and the territories of various enterprises.
Liliya Ivchenko, "Vitebskiye vesti"