Pitt Meadows greenhouse gears up for Mother’s Day with energy-efficient blooms

PITT MEADOWS — A family-owned greenhouse in Pitt Meadows is getting ready for the last-minute Mother’s Day rush without all the need for flower power.

Hollandia Greenhouses, Western Canada’s largest gerbera daisy grower, is producing more than 30 million blooms using less electricity and improved growing conditions.

The once-two-acre Maple Ridge family farm has now grown into a 22-acre greenhouse that has participated in six BC Hydro projects over the past 11 years, resulting in nearly seven gigawatt-hours of electricity savings. 

That’s enough to power 700 homes for a year.

“BC Hydro’s incentives were instrumental in helping us adopt state‑of‑the‑art LED lighting and we get about 70 per cent more efficiency out of our LEDs compared to high‑pressure sodium lighting,” said Terry Pastorek, Hollandia’s operations manager. 

“The full‑spectrum colour also gives us better results. In the shoulder seasons, we can run LEDs without overheating the greenhouse, which helps us pick more flowers and use less energy.”

The greenhouse also has a rain-collecting roof and climate controls that manage humidity, irrigation, carbon dioxide, and more, which are especially key to keeping flowers fresh during the two weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, when the team processes between 800,000 and one million blooms each week.

“With decades of family ownership, a commitment to innovation and measurable energy savings, Hollandia Greenhouses is a shining example of how B.C. businesses can lead the way in energy efficiency while staying globally competitive,” said Energy Minister Adrian Dix.

“Their commitment to innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement reflects the values we want to see across the province as we work toward a cleaner, more resilient energy future.”