‘We really do it out of our heart’: Couple has been growing tulips in Alberta winters for 26 years

One central Alberta husband and wife hope their unique batch of flowers will be a bridge to spring. CTV News Edmonton's Gates Guarin has the story.

Spring might still be weeks away, but the weather doesn’t stop Jac and Trudie Theelen from growing beautiful tulips.

The Theelens have been growing tulips for more than 40 years, partially in Holland and now in Red Deer after they emigrated in 1999.

“We bought bare land with nothing on it, no road, no nothing, and slowly but surely built what we have right now,” said Trudie. “It was a very hard struggle to get started, but over the years, we’ve learned how to do things, how the climate is different.”

They’ve been selling their tulips at the Strathcona Farmers’ Market for about 16 and typically sell out of the perennial flower before noon.

“We think we grow the best tulips that you can get, and we’re the only ones in Alberta,” said Jac. “Nobody else is growing tulips in the middle of winter … but we’re kind of unique in that way.”

Despite having a small operation of just Jac and Trudie working the greenhouse in the winter and the fields in the summer, they are starting to experience higher costs like many other businesses.

But they’re hoping to pick more tulips so they can keep their prices low for their loyal customers without sacrificing quality, or without expanding as Jac nears 65-years-old.

“We don’t go up and down with our prices because we can control what we put in, so we don’t have to go up and down as the stores have to,” said Jac. “People love that.”

Their greenhouse holds about 30,000 tulips, which they rotate every three weeks, allowing them to pick about 10,000 flowers a week.

They’ve been asked about expanding or growing more tulips in their current greenhouse, but Jac said it isn’t worth it for them.

“If we do more, we lose quality because our temperature has to go up, and if our temperature goes up, our quality goes down,” said Jac. “We really stand for what we want, and that’s the best quality.

“We really do it out of our heart, and that makes it for us.”

The Theelens hope to be operating for at least five more years, at which point they’ll look to sell their business to someone who is as passionate as they are.

“We’re kind of addicted,” said Jac. “We’d do it for 40 more years.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Gates Guarin