“Costa Rican Mother's Day is a nice bonus”

Today is Mother's Day in Costa Rica. The holiday is every year on August 15 celebrated with lots of flowers. For lily grower Rene Kuiper of Expoflora it is a nice bonus. “We usually export to the United States. That is our main market. American holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are the most busy days for us. But for Costa Rican Mother’s Day we also increase our production.”

Kuiper in the greenhouse. Expoflora cultivates lilies in a 20ha greenhouse.

Year round, they export about 95 percent of their production volume (300,000 stems a week during high season and 150,000 stems a week during summer) to the US, but particularly for this holiday they grow an additional 100,000 lilies. "Usually, the second quality lilies stay on the local market as they are too ripe to export or have some small flowers, but for this holiday we also offer some premium quality lilies on the local market. Some local buyers come to our farm to pick up the flowers."

In Costa Rica, the lily is the second most popular flower for Mother's Day after the rose and followed by the tulip. Roses, however, are not cultivated in Costa Rica anymore and are therefore being imported. “On a weekly basis, we import around 10,000 roses from Guatemala. And for Mother's Day, this volume increases to about 70,000 to 80,000 stems", says Kuiper.

More information
Expoflora, S.A.
René Kuiper
Email: rene@expofloracostarica.com
www.expofloracostarica.com