Despite the cool climate and the short growing season, flower farming is done in Iceland in greenhouses in large part due to cheap geothermal energy. Low energy costs also help by using artificial lighting to extend their growing season. About 25% of Iceland’s greenhouses are used to grow cut flowers.

We got a personal tour on a Sunday morning from the flower grower/owner’s son. He said that there are only eight big flower growers in Iceland and two of them are his father and his uncle.

Geothermal hot water is used to heat the greenhouses and to water the plants. You can also see the lighting hanging above which extends the growing season. The greenhouses were huge and there were lots of them. These are Gerber Daisies growing in this greenhouse.

They buy seedlings from Holland and use beneficial insects and many environmentally friendly methods to grow flowers. They grow eight kinds of flowers on their farm.

These are roses which our guide said were his least favorite because they were a lot of work. He said he liked roses that are fragrant but the ones they grow are not that fragrant because they are grown "to keep" in flower arrangements.

Lest anyone were to think that this was a simple and easy operation, it wasn't. The piping of water for heat, the use of water to distribute nutrients and fertilizer, the lighting to extend the growing season, and so on makes this quite a complicated business with a lot of technology involved.

Our guide also taught us a bit about the worldwide flower market. All their flowers are grown for cut flowers or for bouquets with bouquets being the bigger money product.