Flowers by the Fraser

Flowers by the Fraser A mother daughter run cut flower farm in the Fraser Valley. specializing in flower subscriptions + wedding florals

Elegant white and cream bouquets for M + L in early May
09/05/2026

Elegant white and cream bouquets for M + L in early May

08/28/2026

Can you tell it’s been a bit of a week? 😅 I think my outfit and literally making this up on the fly speak for themselves.

This is the question I’ve been getting asked about the most. What do you transplant and what do you direct sow? More difficult and sporadic germinating crops go in trays and the rest gets direct sown.
I’m in zone 8 in southern bc, Canada.
Timing:
Start seeds for transplants in August and transplant in early October. A cold frame can extend this window but if you’re using low tunnels in the field I wouldn’t push it much last mid October.
Direct seed outdoors in late September through early October- the soil is the best temperature then and usually there’s enough rain to germinate the seeds. In a cold frame direct seeding can be done through the entire fall as the soil won’t be as cold or wet as the outdoors.
A cold frame gives wiggle room but low tunnels and field planting creates a tighter timeline as plants are more vulnerable.

Any more questions? Got a crop I didn’t list? Drop the question below 👇🏼

Sunday field walkThe best flowers out there Sunrich Summer Provence Round 4 of snapdragons looking surprisingly gorgeous...
08/24/2026

Sunday field walk

The best flowers out there
Sunrich Summer Provence

Round 4 of snapdragons looking surprisingly gorgeous
Potomac orange

Annual phlox
Phlox of Sheep

Gomphrena

Popsocks cosmos

Hanging amaranthus

Flowering to***co

Love in a puff vine

Zinnias succession 2

Hops arbour

Pansies

Zinnias

Celway celosia

Lisianthus Advantage Cherry Sorbet

Lisianthus Voyage light apricot and pink

White swan marigolds

Feverfew Magic Single

Rose Pink Ruffles

Cream Solidago with a cute little bee

Delphinium Cliveden Blue

August is the season of abundance on the farm. The flowers are pumping out the blooms and the field looks good! If you’r...
08/20/2026

August is the season of abundance on the farm. The flowers are pumping out the blooms and the field looks good!

If you’re getting married in August or September of 2027 now is your chance to get booked in with us and come and see the farm! Every full service couple gets a free farm visit as part of their wedding process! Visit flowersbythefraser.com to inquire with us 🌸

08/18/2026

If you’re struggling with germinating your starts for fall planting here’s how we get almost 100% germination in our fall sown hardy annuals and perennials:

It’s time to start cold hardy plants for fall planting but we’re still in the heat of summer and a lot of cold hardy plants prefer a period of cold to break dormancy.

That period of cold is a process known as cold stratification.

A lot of people just store their seeds in the freezer and call that their cold stratification period but seeds prefer to go through that cold period in moisture, as it mimics how they would be in nature in the cold damp earth.

We cold stratify our seeds by sowing our seeds into trays and keeping them in the cooler for a week or two depending on time (before our cooler we had a fridge dedicated to this).

You can sow your seeds without this step but I will warn you now that germination will be much lower and much more sporadic.

Perennials and biennials are more picky when it comes to requiring a period of cold stratification, however a lot of cold hardy annuals will still germinate fine if they don’t recieve it.

After a couple weeks in the freezer we’ll pop our trays onto our seed starting rack with a humidity dome to germinate - our shop is around 22-25 degrees in the summer so it’s the perfect temperature for most seeds to germinate without the need for a heat rack.

They’ll grow on in the shop for a few weeks before getting planted sometime in October!

08/11/2026

Fall planting has generated the best spring income for our farm and it can for yours too!

The most important thing I want to emphasize is that what will work for your farm might be different from what works for mine.

My farm is in the lower mainland of BC, Canada, in the Fraser Valley. We are in zone 8 which means our winters are mild and the ground barely freezes. We also have two unheated hoophouses so we can get away with starting seeds for transplants through September and planting into November, but if you get colder winter weather and early fall frost or no infrastructure to protect the plants through winter it might be better for you to start your plants in July or right now.

The general “rule” though is to get plants in the ground outside 4-6 weeks before your first fall frost or direct seed your seeds into the ground 4-6 weeks before fall frost. If you work with that timeline, start seeds for transplants 4-6 weeks before that planting date and you should be good to go for the most part.

Different plants have different cold hardiness. I’ll highlight what we can plant into our zone for overwintering in a future reel but it might be different for your zone!

I cannot stress this enough so it gets to go in all caps 😉: DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH + EXPERIMENTATION FOR YOUR OWN MICROCLIMATE/ZONE! You cannot just do what I do if you have a different climate than me!

Happy planning/ planting 🫶🏻

Address

35563 Gallagher Road
Abbotsford, BC
V3G1P6

Opening Hours

Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17782015203

Website

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