Flower News: November’s Articles and Blogs of Interest from Around the World

Power Up Your Protea

With alluring colors, exotic shapes and rugged woody stems, proteas are the new ‘it’ bloom. The family tree originates in South Africa and these blooms are vibrant and hardy. Vase life is always a concern for flower farmers, wholesalers, florists and consumers. Proteas have a reputation for having a long vase life, and they do, but even most resilient cut flowers will not last if they do not receive proper care.

Farmers see proteas when they are at their best - in the field on the bush! Once harvested, proteas slowly start deteriorating. It's slowing down that waning process that makes all the difference!

Read more here.
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Australian native flower industry looking for growers
to stock booming local, international markets

As demand for native flowers booms across Australia, the flower industry is lobbying for new players to enter so they can reclaim sales into their lucrative export markets.

With wedding and event trends favouring natives and florists pushing the product, demand is at levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. According to Flowers Australia, sales have increased five-fold since 2010 and the industry is now worth about $350 million.

It has brought smiles back to growers who have stayed in the industry through tough times.

But there are challenges ahead.

Renewed demand is now being driven by domestic consumers and as export markets like Japan look to source from Australia, growers are concerned about lack of supply.

Read more here.

See more here.

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Petal It Forward Generates 90 Million
Consumer Impressions

The hits keep coming for the Society of American Florists’ 2018 Petal It Forward. This year’s initiative didn’t just create goodwill and good feelings around the country — it’s also generated 90 million consumer impressions and counting, including high-profile placement in national publications and on highly trafficked websites and social media pages.

Among the biggest hits? An upbeat one-minute video compilation of the day, created by the team at USA Today’s Humankind Facebook channel from video footage provided to SAF by local member participants. The video, titled “Unexpected gifts bring strangers joy” had more than 400,000 views at press time.

Read more here.

Petal it Forward 2018

The floral industry hit the streets once again on October 24th to Petal It Forward, and Temecula was among 410 cities in all the 50 states, plus Washington D.C. where florists, wholesalers and farmers brightened the days of random merchants, passersby and even firefighters. It was part of the nationwide ‘Petal it Forward’ program, sponsored by the Society of American Florists which calls attention to the variety of flowers and foliage grown in the U.S. and the positive, instant impact of giving and receiving flowers. This feel-good campaign helps farmers, wholesalers and retailers connect with their local communities and generates positive PR, for their businesses and the industry at large.

Petal It Forward teams from 410 cities not only spread happiness to lucky people who received the flowers but arms the recipients with the tools they needed to Petal It Forward and spread happiness to others: An extra flower bouquet to share with a friend, co-worker or someone they don't know. The idea: That it's not only fun to receive flowers and kindness, but it feels good to give. We joined in on the fun and headed to Old Town Temecula to help revel in the power of flowers and spread some happiness too!

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

China Visit: Promoting American Grown Flowers

One of our favorite parts of being in the floral industry is having the opportunity to travel and experience this amazing industry in other parts of the world. From South Africa to Australia, South America to China, there are an abundance of flower farmers, wholesalers, florists and designers to learn from - which has translated into many inspirational trips for us!

On June 23, Mel and I were part of an American delegation that was formed to travel to China and host seminars on American Grown Flowers in both Beijing and Shanghai. This trip was developed out of a USDA Foreign Ag Services grant program. Certified American Grown received a Market Access Program (MAP) grant and a Quality Samples Program (QSP) grant to go to China and develop market opportunities on behalf of their farms.

The China delegation included:

• Jim Omoto, Kendall Farms 
• Robert Kitayama, Kitayama Brothers 
• Mel Resendiz, Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers 
• FJ Trzuskowski, Continental Floral Greens 
• Lane DeVries, Sun Valley Floral Group 
• Kasey Cronquist, Certified American Grown 
• Diana Roy, Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers 
• Christy Hulsey, Colonial House of Flowers 
• Cathy McClintock, Kendall Farms

Also pictured:

• Fiona and Sylvain from PR Consultants, our Guides & Interpreters 
• Teng shu qing, General Manager of the Yunnan United Floral Transport & Marketing Co. (next to Lane)

The seminars in Beijing and Shanghai were attended by wholesalers, importers, retailers and floral designers. Over 40 people attended each of the seminars, providing the opportunity for each farm to showcase their flowers and discuss business opportunities within China's floral industry. Christy Hulsey, from the Colonial House of Flowers, dazzled attendees during her design presentations that served as the finale to both seminars. In addition, we had the opportunity to visit wholesale flower markets in both cities.

Beijing:

Shanghai:

Our last stop was Kunming, where we went to learn more about China’s growing regions. China boasts over 1.3 million hectares of fresh cut flowers and foliage, growing over 12 billion stems per year and generating over $22 billion. More than 180,000 farms grow for the floral industry, with the average farm being less than half a hectare and the larger farms over 20 hectares. In Kunming, we met with the general manager of the Yunnan United Floral Transport & Marketing Co. The company was established in 2002 and represents approximately 80 percent of the production sold within the industry. They manage the floral auction, which operates similar to the Holland auction of the past. We also visited two farms while in Kunming (more on that in our next blog).

Our thanks to the USDA Foreign Ag Services grant program for making this trip possible.

Petal it Forward 2017

The floral industry hit the streets on October 11th to Petal It Forward, and Fallbrook was among 459 cities in all 50 states, plus DC and Canada 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). 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.

Petal It Forward teams from 459 cities 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 the person of their choice. We joined in on the fun and headed to the local cafe where we spread some happiness too!

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

Back to the Floral Future

This summer the California State Floral Association took fair goers back in time at the California State Fair in Sacramento! Sharing the stories about the California flower industry, its history, and how flowers go from the farm, to the wholesaler, to the florist and finally to the consumer.

All fair long protea were seen at the CSFA booth, used in competitions, and of course decorating the entire State Fair. However, Resendiz Brothers was the featured farm for the fair’s finale weekend. We were there sharing our flowers, our history, and information on where we are today!

Many thanks to our friends at the California State Floral Association and Flora Fresh Inc. for being such amazing hosts during our visit and to designer, Terri Berbena, for the beautiful booth display.