Farm Tour: The Poway Valley Garden Club

For many farmers and gardeners fall is considered "the forgotten season." It's the time when they put away their tools and equipment and kiss growing things goodbye. But that's certainly not the case here in Southern California and for the Poway Valley Garden Club. Given the abundant varieties of protea, leucadendron and banksia in bloom, you can liberate a neglected interval in the gardening cycle. That was the inspiration I hoped to pass on to these gardeners during their visit to the farm this week. With over 95 members, this club's mission is to promote interest in gardening, improve and beautify their community, and provide garden education and information.

During the tour they stopped by the packing house to watch as our crew packed flowers for shipping, made protea bouquets and created festive autumn wreaths. I made it a point to teach them about the amazing array of colorful proteaceae being currently being harvested, showcasing the protea and introducing them by name - Pink Ice, Pink Mink, Sugarbush, Ceres, Silver Tip, King and more.

We ventured into the nursey where I gave them some growing tips, demonstrated how to correctly plant protea in the ground and had time for a little Q & A. Armed with plenty of information, many of the gardeners left with plants for their gardens and even a special treat, a protea bouquet, of course!

Many thanks to the PVGC for visiting – I now have 25 more fabulous flower and garden friends!

Instagram: Photos We Dig

Ten fabulous photos from Hello May - A new kind of bridal magazine + blog + directory for Australian + NZ brides. The creation of Hello May came about for one very simple reason. There are lots of awesomely talented and insanely creative people out there working to make the quirks of a wedding day every bit as unique, fun, and inspiring as they can be. And, while there are plenty of bridal magazines and websites to be found, Hello May felt none quite connected wedding vendors and brides-to-be so that they can really get to know (and like!) the photographer, stylists, stationery designer or makeup artist involved in the intricacies of their day. That’s where Hello May comes to the party.

#petalitforward

The floral industry hit the streets on October 19th to Petal It Forward, and Fallbrook was among 225 U.S. cities in 50 states where florists, wholesalers and farmers brightened the days of random passersby. It was all part of the nationwide ‘Petal it Forward’ program, in partnership with the Society of American Florists (SAF) of which Resendiz Brothers is a member. ‘This program is in response to SAF’s 2015 omnibus research which showed that while 80 percent of people said flowers make them happy, even more, 88 percent said that giving flowers makes them happy.

Each Petal It Forward team not only spread happiness to lucky people who received the flowers, but armed the recipients with the tools they needed to Petal It Forward and spread happiness to others: An extra flower bouquet to share with a loved one, coworker or even a stranger.

Spreading the positive message about flowers, through the unique strategy behind the “keep one, give one” giveaway, as well as generating news coverage and social media buzz, is the goal of SAF’s Petal It Forward campaign. SAF’s happiness ambassadors encouraged bouquet recipients to spread the happiness by gifting their extra bouquet and sharing their experiences on social media with the hashtag #petalitforward.

This was a win-win for all the happiness ambassadors but, more importunately, it was a win for creating positive buzz around flowers in the communities that were reached.

Field to Vase: A Garden Inspiration

Amidst a scenic Wine Country backdrop in charming barns full of beautiful “garden-inspired” floral arrangements, Mel and I joined Sunset Magazine’s Garden Editor and dinner host, Johanna Silver, along with 120 guests for a chic Field to Vase Dinner on the grounds of Cornerstone Sonoma, home of Sunset’s new test garden. Johanna started the evening off with a tour of the beautiful 11,000-square-foot garden that includes a “flower room” designed by San Francisco florist Alethea Harampolis of Homestead Design Collective.

Sunset Magazine’s Garden Editor, Johanna Silver

During the reception and dinner, we enjoyed an array of savory cheeses and charcuterie while sipping on wine provide by Dry Creek Winery. Chef Kyle Kuklewski of Ramekins Culinary School, Special Events, and Inn captivated our taste buds with a four-course family style dinner dishes showcasing Sonoma’s amazing bounty.

However, the flowers were truly the 'main attraction' of this event! There were beautiful garden inspired floral installations and arrangements throughout each barn created by Alethea Harmapolis. In addition, a fun D.I.Y Boutonniere Bar offered us a chance to get creative with floral favorites while crafting personalized accessories – flower crowns, boutonniere and corsages.

Everyone left the dinner with an arm full of colorful tulips and iris courtesy of Stargazer Barns (which I’m still enjoying now) and a Field to Vase tote filled with floral goodies.

Farm Friends

The way we see it, everything is better with farm friends, including work. We’re proud to count quite a few two and four-legged animals among the Resendiz Brothers team - shout-out to JJ and Zorro, our Chief Perros, 25+ free range roosters, hens and chicks and 50+ adorable goats - which got us thinking: Why not share them with our flower friends? Not only did they have fun posing for the photos, but we think they go great with all our flowers. Thanks for all the hard work, guys and gals!

And, we’ll never forget our beloved friends, Lucky & Zorro!

Zorro

Lucky