Our Story...

Okanagan Organics is located in Lake Country, British Columbia, Canada, in the heart of the Okanagan Valley.

The Okanagan region is famously known for it’s picturesque scenery. Lush green mountains, beautiful lakes, orchards, vineyards and world-class wineries define the Okanagan.
The climate is hot, sunny and semi-arid, with the lowest annual precipitation in southern Canada. This makes it the perfect climate for growing poppies, as it closely resembles that of middle-eastern countries where poppies are native to…

My partner and I have been interested in horticulture our entire lives. We come from a long line of generational gardeners. I had my first garden at age 11, growing fruits and vegetables for my family.
I began growing poppies in the early 2000’s and what started as a mild interest grew into an obsession once I acquired my Izmir Oil & Spice poppy genetics. I had never seen such a vast array of vibrant colours and patterns on a flower before. Having such a diverse palette to work with, I became fascinated with the concept of breeding the different cultivars to create new, unique hybrids that didn’t previously exist.

Growing poppies, and especially breeding them, to me, is an art form that I Iiken to an artist with a painter’s palette full of colours, mixing and blending them to create something beautiful.
I’m always amazed that I can take one strain that has a particular trait that I like, cross it with another strain that doesn’t have that trait and then get to see that trait show up in the offspring. 

Breeding, in general, takes an incredible amount of patience. You don’t get to see the results of your work until the following year, when you grow the seeds out. You must then observe, carefully choose and isolate the very best F1 phenotypes and begin the job of stabilizing them, which can take another 4-5 generations (years).

We have grown many types of poppies over the last two decades and it's our opinion that Izmir's genetics are the best in the world. We use them in all of our breeding endeavours. As of this writing in 2023, every strain in our catalogue is either an original Izmir strain that or a hybrid we created using Izmir seed stock. 
We do grow other "brands" of poppy occasionally but they are grown far away from our Izmir poppies, as we don't want to risk cross-pollination. We want to keep the genetics as pure as the day we received them from Izmir Oil & Spice in the early 2000’s. 

We started Okanagan Organics selling seeds on eBay and Etsy in 2018 and did very well. We quickly became a Star Seller, were 5-star rated and received a ton of glowing reviews on Etsy.
We modelled our business centred around two things: High quality seeds and great customer service. Unlike many other seed vendors out there, we stand behind every seed we sell. Our seeds are always fresh and stored properly so you can expect as close to 100% germination as possible.
The flowers you see in the photos are what you can expect from your seeds. We use original, untouched, unfiltered photos.

We believe the quality of our work speaks for itself. Highest quality poppies is a given, we wouldn't grow anything less. We try to be as creative as possible and offer unique hybrids that you can't get anywhere else.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to anything I grow. As the breeder here, I obsess over the tiniest details that most wouldn't notice, but in the end I believe it's the details that makes all the difference and is what sets our flowers apart from other vendors. 

We're extremely grateful for our customers that support our business. Between the time in the garden, harvesting, sorting, weighing, packaging seeds and answering emails, we put in a lot of time, for not a lot of pay, and that's fine by us. The main goal has always been to preserve these genetics and spread them around the world. 
More than money, it's our reputation that matters most to us. We want to be know as one of the best in the game. We don't ever want someone to feel that they wasted their money. Personally, I've felt that many times ordering seeds online and I know how frustrating it is. 

Our goal has always been to have no unhappy customers and so far I think we're doing a pretty good job of that.
If you ever have an issue, don't hesitate to reach out. We will always be willing to work with you to come to a resolution. 

While we're known for poppies, we actually grow a lot of things. Over the next few years we plan to offer other types of seeds