Flower World flood damage won’t stop expansion

Published 1:30 am Saturday, January 10, 2026

MALTBY — Last month’s historic flooding put Flower World’s planned 80-acre expansion, Marshland Orchards underwater, delaying new attractions like blossom tours to see apple and pear trees.

There will still be tours, but they won’t occur until spring 2027 — not 2026, said Lisea Postema, whose father John started Flower World back in 1970 with her mother, Marijke.

Lisea Postema said the orchards will still open at an undetermined date in the spring as planned, offering new farm tours to see sheep and lambs and a produce market, the second on the Flower World grounds.

Another program will involve renting individual acres for events in a natural setting, Postema said.

Towards the end of 2026, she said the orchard area will offer visitors the opportunity to buy and cut their own Christmas tree.

She said other activities like pick-your-own fruit could be available to Flower World customers this spring, depending on how many of the thousands of fruit trees are still viable.

John Postema said it won’t be determined which trees produce fruit until the spring growing season starts.

An early December atmospheric river pushed water in the Snohomish River above flood stage at more than 34 feet, triggering evacuations, rescues and shutting down roads in Maltby, Snohomish and surrounding communities.

John Postema said, with the winter hibernation, it’s unclear just how much long-term damage occurred at Marshland Orchards.

“We don’t know the damage estimate,” the Flower World owner said on Dec. 31. “The apple trees were underwater for two weeks now, and they are just surfacing now. So, the question is, did the roots get damaged? We don’t know.”

Lisea Postema said of January 6, even as most of the trees resurface, 5% of Marshland Orchards remains underwater.

She said new trees will be planted to replace those whose roots are severely damaged, starting the several year cycle of fruit bearing.

Flower World previously operated a produce market in the Marshland Orchards but closed it around 2010 to concentrate on its main campus several miles away, Lisea Postema said.

Over the years, Flower World has spent several million dollars to build up Marshland Orchards, she said.

John Postema did not have flood insurance for the land off Marsh Road, but he is not deterred. Some of his acreage flooded before in 2005 and 2009.

The Flower World owner said that diversification is the key.

“As long as you don’t have all your eggs in one basket, you’re OK,” he said.

He said Marshland Orchards is just part of the 200-acre Flower World enterprise he and his wife started in 1970.

The Postemas are immigrants from Norway who fell in love with the beauty of the Maltby area. They started with just 4 acres and have developed Flower World into more than a place to buy flowers, plants and fruit trees in their greenhouses and gardens.

It has become a tourist attraction in its own right.

A turtle pond, walking trails, a fountain and the original produce market, which sells fruit grown by Flower World, complement the 15-acre main campus with its large areas for buying flowers and plants.

John and Marijke also own a small winery on Flower World land — the Hard Work Winery — which features wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. There are no winery tours, but the wine and apple and pear cider are sold in the complex’s original produce market.

It can get busy at Flower World once the warm weather starts.

“On a busy weekend day in May, we can see 5,000 visitors,” John Postema said.

He said there is a purpose to all the different elements of Flower World, outside of any profit motive.

Postema said he loves the beauty of his land and wants to share rural agriculture with people, many of them urban dwellers.

“The principle of it is we are growing things or raising things to share the beauty of the farm,” he said. “We have a park area, people can go and picnic. They come on Mother’s Day weekend and bring their whole family and play football, and they have a picnic out there. That’s all available for them to experience. We don’t charge for it.”

The Postemas also own a second farm on 1,100 acres in the Central American country of Belize with cattle, sheep and other animals.

Near the farm in 2022, Postema said the couple also opened a nine-room resort hotel and restaurant atop a small mountain.

Marijke Postema said they discovered the beauty of Belize during a vacation trip in the early 2000s and that she and John plan to retire there eventually.

But that’s all in the future because John Postema, 84, and Marijke, 82, said they have too much work to do continuing to build Flower World, which has about 40 full-time employees. Postema said he and his wife have started giving stock in the company to its employees to ensure that the enterprise will continue after the couple is gone.

Initial stock grants are worth $10,000, but Postema said workers will get additional grants each year.

“We’ve been in business for more than half a century, and we want Flower World to continue for another 50 years,” he said.

Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.