SAF’s Sylvia Cup Competition…Top Designers… A Mystery Assignment

The Sylvia Cup Design Competition is the longest running, live, national annual floral design competition. It's sponsored by Certified American Grown and Smither-Oasis and coordinated by Professional Floral Communicators-International. The 2018 competition, the contest’s 50th anniversary, paid homage to “The Wizard of Oz.”

This year the Sylvia Cup Competition tested the skills of 19 designers. Among them were 12 members of the American Institute of Floral Designers, eight past Sylvia Cup contestants and three contestants sponsored by state floral associations.

Rey Rodriguez, AAF, AIFD, TMFA, of The Gypsy Florist in Austin, Texas, won the grand prize on Sept. 15th during SAF 2018 in Rancho Mirage, California. Congratulations to Rey and all the contestants!

It was exciting to see all the wonderful Conical Designs, Imaginative Wands and Monochromatic Container Designs that were created using the same product assortment of beautiful American Grown flowers and foliage, including Protea Pink Ice and Leucadendron Safari Sunset! Here's a glimpse of some of these creative designs - Enjoy!

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.

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.

Hortiflorexpo Shanghai: The Banksia

The brighter the better in some cases, and that’s what we’re loving these days when it comes to banksia.

The banksia is a bold and textural bloom that’s displayed in many of our favorite designs. For any season, there’s always a way to make them work no matter what the occasion is. I think the uniqueness of a banksia is what makes it loved by so many of us. When it comes to designing with banksia, the options are seemingly endless. Such an exceptional flower can be transformed by the designer, projecting a different look depending on what else it is paired with it. You can go with natural burgundy, orange or green hues, or add more color to the stems and create a virtual rainbow. I attended the Hortiflorexpo in Shanghai this month, and while in the Lynch Group exhibit, banksias were all the rage.

Here are some of the ways they were displayed throughout the booth.

What color combination do you like best?