I’m a third generation farmer. I raise cut flowers for Central Market in Houston, and I strive to have a continuous supply of blooms for my customers. My business is really affected by the weather. We all want rain but this year we got all our rain prayers answered over and over again in a short period of time.

Heavy rains over the Memorial Weekend and Tropical Depression Bill made this year one that everyone in Texas will remember — especially if your occupation is being a cut flower grower. I’m certain that we broke every record there is, if they have something to do with rainfall. I think back and remember the days we thought the drought would never end. Well that time has come, with flash flood after flash flood.

I’m also the south central regional director for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and I keep in touch with a lot of the members in Texas. They are all in the same boat as our farm was. Week after week we got too much rain so we couldn’t get our beds plowed and ready for the early spring crops. Some of our fall planted crops, like larkspur and Bells of Ireland, just rotted in the fields. It depended on what part of the state you were in for varying degrees of loss. Here on our farm, the rain started in November and didn’t stop until the last week of June.

Not only did the tremendous amount of rain destroy the outside crops, but it also affected greenhouse crops because of all the humidity and really low light conditions due to cloud cover. Crops were seeded on schedule in greenhouses but then held in trays because the ground was too wet to work and put them out. Some growers went ahead and tried to plant those long overdue plants and just ended up with stunted plants that will never produce like they should.

Somehow we were able to get 4,000 sunflowers planted and the Monday Tropical Depression Bill blew in they were just starting to pop. We were able to pick around 20 and that night the 40 mph winds blew in and flattened them, making them useless to sell. Winds also blew drip tape out in the fields all over the place and destroyed a greenhouse. We were able to harvest that Monday and make bouquets but were unable to deliver into Houston because the roads were flooded. This happened to us two weeks in one month. All this happened just on my farm but it happened all over the state to different growers.

Hopefully now the weather will straighten out so we can get back to growing flowers and put all this beyond us and grow from our experiences. Profits were down for most months this year due to all the rain, so now we have to push hard to make up for the losses.

Rita Anders is the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers’ South Central regional director. She can be contacted at [email protected]