Orchids at Cal Coast are grown in bark, far left, to mimic the flower’s natural environment and promote longevity. At left and above, Ignacia Chavez helps nurture each showy plant through its final 20 weeks of maturity.
shows no sign of slowing down. Today the greenhouse sells 100,000 orchids every Valentine’s Day and triple that amount at the Mother’s Day peak. But van Eijk “doesn’t like boring” when it comes to agriculture—which led him to his next goal of reviving the scarce Cymbidium variety of orchid. The Cymbidium produces a slender, oval-shaped petal, stacking several large blooms on a thin stem. This variety also has thinner, grassier leaves than the Phalaenopsis orchid and comes in deep colors and striking variegations. California was the “Cymbidium capital of the world” in the 1980s, van Eijk says, but the variety has since become a high-end collector’s item. The flower takes three and a half years to reach full maturity, driving up its price. Cal Coast Orchids plans to debut its first crop of cool- weather-loving Cymbidium orchids in the fall of 2025. The co-owners are taking a risk on this specialized variety of orchid, already securing a third greenhouse in Carpinteria and planting the flowers that will be sold in 2029. “It takes a lot of patience and making sure the customer has patience as well,” van Eijk says. “I’m excited to reintroduce the crop to the masses and make them more readily available for consumers across the country.”
“When a lot of people chose to halt production, we kept going,” Glasco says. “We thought people would want to buy something for their house to cheer it up.” Their instincts proved right: Three weeks before Mother’s Day, one of the greenhouse’s busiest days of the year, their customers came back. “They said, ‘We’ll take everything you have!’” Glasco says. “And that freight train never stopped.” As shoppers sheltered in place, they chose to feather their nests with flowers from Cal Coast Orchids, which began selling houseplants to keep up with the demand for plant therapy. Now the greenhouse sells nearly 600 varieties of houseplants. “We hadn’t planned on producing (houseplants). We were going to be strictly orchids,” Glasco says. “Now we offer a full one-stop shop of houseplants, succulents— everything from a 2-inch plant to an 8-foot tree.” The frenzy of the pandemic ultimately boosted business for Glasco and van Eijk, who opened a second greenhouse in Half Moon Bay. Both locations combine for a total of 7 acres of greenhouse space, producing 3 million orchids per year. Cal Coast Orchids fulfills wholesale orders, delivers to independent garden centers and sells to individuals online, loading a trailer with orders daily. Raising the stakes After six challenging years in business, Cal Coast Orchids
Caitlin Fillmore cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com
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