Growing Flamingo Lilies in Neimen Li Ji-lai’s “True Beauty Garden” / 內門火鶴 李基來的真美花園
Growing Flamingo Lilies in Neimen
Li Ji-lai's "True Beauty Garden"
◎English written by Peng Hsin-yi ◎Photos by Pao Chung-hui
Li Ji-lai's True Beauty Garden is an enormous 5 hectare field of colorful anthodium flowers known as flamingo lilies or flaming cranes. Located in Neiman, the flower exhibits more than thirty vibrant shades, creating a stunning, fantasy world. With more than 30 hectares of anthodium fields, Neimen is at the heart of Taiwan's flower farming district.
Mr. Li spent 15 years farming guava and lemon, but his true passion was flowers. He then began to study the growth cycle and economic value of the flamingo lily. In 1998, he began farming them exclusively. He was one of the first flamingo lily farmers in Neimen District. Mr. Li was born with a passion for flowers. As a child he would use his allowance to buy as many flowers as he could, spending all his free time tending to them. Soon a beautiful garden emerged around his family home. He treats every flower like his own kids, and he could easily distinguish each one of them.
The secret to growing flamingo lilies includes sunlight, water and nutrients. It takes a great deal of experience to find the perfect balance. He believes Fantasia is the queen of flamingo lilies due to the fact the colors change as they grow. They are also unique because their patterns and colorful blending of each flower. The Fantasia flower is quite difficult to grow, however Neimen's farmers have invested in technology and growing techniques that produce great quantities of the flower. Environmental and temperature controls are the key to producing good Fantasia. By mastering the skills to growing good Fantasia, other specimens have proven not to be such a huge challenge.
Mr. Li's garden produces approximately one million flamingo lilies a year, 50% are exported to Japan and 0.1% to the United States. The rest are sold to wholesale markets in Taiwan. Japan's recent earthquake has caused a 20-30% drop in sales and market price. This has forced Mr. Li to change strategy, directing more flowers to the domestic market. Mr. Li hopes the government will assist farmers in accessing alternative sales channels.
Recently, Mr. Li has developed an interest in agricultural tourism. He is putting a lot of his ideas into practice. His vision is to create a scenic flower farm, offering a relaxing country atmosphere, gourmet food and flower arrangement demonstrations. He is currently looking for a suitable location that will allow him to fulfill this dream. He is also planning on filing a patent for True Beauty Garden's flamingo lilies. Mr. Li works for more than 10 hours a day, but says it doesn't feel like work because it is his passion. On top of the demanding farm work, he also enjoys leading tours around the garden. Fueled by an unparalleled passion for his flowers, Mr. Li continues to get closer to realizing his dream.
※True Beauty Garden
For more information, to order flowers or to make an appointment for a tour, call Mr. Li Ji-lai at 0928152269.
內門火鶴
李基來的真美花園
◎文／侯雅婷 ◎攝影／鮑忠暉
內門火鶴花農李基來推開「真美花園」的門，三十多種彩色繽紛的火鶴在眼前展開，綻放著夢幻般的色彩，置身其中，彷彿踏進一個火鶴的奇幻世界。
內門火鶴栽植總面積達30多公頃，為全台火鶴指標性產區，其中李基來的火鶴花園總面積廣達5公頃。累積15年栽種芭樂和檸檬的務農實力，李基來評估火鶴長年性的生長特質，加以經濟效益穩定，自1998年轉而投入火鶴栽植，也是內門火鶴產銷班最早投入的創始元老之一。
愛花的李基來透露，從小他就愛與花草為伍，會把零用錢拿去買花，在自家房子周圍種滿花，怡然自得。也許是沉浸花海使人快樂，他臉上總有一種氣定神閒的快樂表情。穿梭火鶴園中，就像是對待自己的孩子般，他總能清楚分辨每一種火鶴。這位火鶴達人說，火鶴需要陽光、水和肥料，然而照顧的關鍵在於要拿捏得「恰到好處」！他指著名為「夢幻」的火鶴說，這是內門的鎮區之寶，夢幻的特別在於她的顏色會隨著成熟度不同而改變，展現漸層般的色彩，別的產區養不好的夢幻，內門區火鶴產班學員以優良的設備及技術，將夢幻照顧得水噹噹。嬌貴的夢幻怕冷也怕熱，李基來直言，園區內的設備都是為了夢幻而量身打造，一旦能照顧好夢幻，照顧其他的火鶴品種自然駕輕就熟。
年出貨100萬支火鶴花，李基來栽種的火鶴5成銷往日本，0.1成銷往美國，其他則銷往全台五大拍賣市場，而日本311地震重大災難連帶重創火鶴銷日，銷售跌幅達2～3成，且售價偏低，因此李基來調整銷售策略，將銷往日本火鶴量轉回台灣銷售，他期盼政府協助拓展火鶴的行銷通路至其他市場，分散市場風險。
李基來對推展觀光很有願景及想法，他正積極籌畫結合田園風光、美食及花藝的火鶴觀光農場。萬事俱備，惟獨欠缺一塊地，來圓滿他的火鶴夢，一旦觀光農場上路，屆時「真美花園」這個火鶴品牌也將正式掛牌。每天工作超過10 個小時，但他說因為樂在其中，所以一點也不覺得辛苦，還充滿幹勁的免費提供民眾預約導覽他的火鶴花園，這位內門的火鶴達人，以無比的熱誠，拿出愛花的溫柔力量，堅毅地朝他的觀光農場方向前進，他笑著說，圓這個夢是為了自己，也是為了大家。
※真美花園
購買火鶴花或預約導覽，請洽：李基來0928152269