Kicking off 2017 California Grown

A crisp and cool New Year’s Day set the perfect scene for kicking off 2017 in Pasadena and acknowledging the Rose Parade float teams who made it a priority to feature California Grown Flowers. These special certifications recognize those teams who worked to ensure that over 85 percent of the flowers on their floats were sourced from California. Being able to present each team with a Pennant is one of the perks of being chair of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), and I say perk because I can’t imagine a more wonderful honor than to be at these ceremonies representing over 250 flower farms from throughout the state.

This year's festivities were the best-ever thanks to Cal Poly Universities, Miracle-Gro, the California Milk Advisory Board (our dairy farmers) and FTD for their continued commitment to California Grown Flowers.

Cal Poly Universities’ float, A New Leaf, took home the “Founders Trophy” for most beautiful float decorated by volunteers of a community organization (1500 volunteers total). There were over 60,000 stems of CA Grown flowers used on the float covering over 2,255 sq. ft. This was Cal Poly’s sixth year Certified.

Miracle-Gro’s float, Everything is Coming Up Roses, won the coveted “Queens Trophy” for best use of roses. Miracle-Gro sourced over 32,000 roses this year, celebrating the California Grown rose as part of their design. This was Miracle-Gro's second year certified.

The California Milk Advisory Board’s float, Legacy of Generations, represented more than 1,300 dairy farm families, 1.7 million California dairy cows and 200+ years of rich heritage that make California the No. 1 dairy state. Making this a fabulous partnership, since flowers and cheese top my list of favorite things. This was the CMAB’s second year certified.

FTD’s most visible contributions to the Rose Parade were the beautiful floral décor on the 11 antique cars and carriages that transported parade VIPs down the historic parade route. Keith White AIFD and his team worked tirelessly to adorn the 11 VIP vehicles with 10,000 California grown flowers. This was FTD’s 3rd year certified.

Congratulations to all the teams on another successful and beautiful start to the year!

Kick off to Parade Season: Everything is Coming up Roses

There was no better way for us to help celebrate Miracle-Gro’s kick off to the 2017 Parade Season than by creating some beautiful centerpieces for guests to enjoy during Muir Ranch’s field-to-vase luncheon. Mel whipped up his own special recipe of roses, protea, leucospermum, leucadendron, grevillea and a sprig of serruria, and off to Pasadena we went.

The day greeted guests with blue skies and warm temperatures, making for a perfect afternoon to help to expand the farm's footprint. Throughout the morning volunteers kicked off parade season by helping students install 100 California grown rose bushes that will become part or Muir Ranch's new rose garden.

This is the third year Miracle-Gro has supported the program through their Tournament of Roses Partnership. Miracle-Gro representatives and Ty Pennington, Miracle-Gro’s spokesperson, were on-hand to help plant the rose bushes and reinforce their commitment to the community. As an added surprise, during the luncheon attendees were the first to see Miracle-Gro's 2017 Rose Parade float design.

'Everything's Coming Up Roses' is Miracle-Gro's Rose Parade salute to America's National flower and the most popular grown flower in backyard gardens. From tiny miniature roses to large vibrant blossoms, over 25,000 California grown roses will be featured throughout this beautiful float.

This year's parade theme: 'Echoes of Success' celebrates those people, organizations and institutions that have made an impact on someone's life. Miracle-Gro’s 2017 float will honor the very flower for which the Parade is named!

Special thanks go out to Harry Van Wingerden from Myriad Flowers International for providing the roses for the centerpieces and the bushes for the school’s new rose garden.

January 26th Declared “Mel Resendiz Day”

On Tuesday, January 26th the County of San Diego, California declared the day “Mel Resendiz Day”. Congratulations Mel! We couldn’t be more excited to share the news! The Proclamation was presented by Supervisor Bill Horn and all the members of the County Board of Supervisors. Mel was recognized and honored as one of those individuals that are dedicated to the best ideals of public service. Mel received this prestigious award with his brother, Raul, by his side.

Rose Parade 2016: Behind the Scenes with the Miracle-Groers

While I’m usually content curling up on the couch to watch the Rose Parade on New Year’s morning, this year Miracle-Gro and their Miracle-Groers made the holiday an adventure! If you’re big on floats, flowers, farmers and gardeners, follow me to Pasadena, where the float Life Starts Here was unveiled. With a recipe calling for California grown flowers and foliage (plus 2 well-placed license plates), Miracle-Gro showcased California's awesome blossoms and "nature's pollinators" that keep the beauty of magnificent crops so abundant throughout the state. The float's sensational display of flowers represented all farming regions of California. I invite you not only to take another peek at this amazing float, but to glimpse behind the scenes as the Miracle-Groers prepared for their ride down Colorado Blvd.

Dubbed the "Miracle-Groers": school garden director, Mud Baron; flower farmer, Harry Van Wingerden; writer, Bonnie Jo Manion; blogger, Susan Phillips; TV host, Ty Pennington and our very own, Mel Resendiz arrived with flowers for the float.

A Welcoming Reception - Mel, Mud and Ty.

The Press Event: Float Decorating at Fiesta Float Barn. During this event, media was there to capture the Miracle-Groers arriving to the float barn with their flowers and then applying their own flowers to the Miracle-Gro parade float.

KTLA Live - Bring them on!

Not only a farmer – An artist as well!

Float Judging Day and CCFC Certification Ceremony

California Secretary of Food and Agriculture, Karen Ross, certifying the Miracle-Gro float "California Grown."

Ready for the ride of a Lifetime!

Miracle-Gro was awarded the prestigious "Governor's Trophy" for "Best Depiction of Life in California"

Click here to see the float being built.

That is how you build a parade float! With a full-on salute to California Grown flowers and nature's pollinators, the 2016 Miracle-Gro float was a real show-stopping stunner.

Inspirational Floral News:

Amazing It Was The Best Year Ever
For CA Grown Certified Rose Parade Floats

I can remember vividly the conversation with flower farmer and CCFC Commissioner June VanWingerden over seven years ago about how the Commission needed to make an effort to be a part of the Rose Parade again. She felt that the Rose Parade was a natural place for us to raise the profile of our farms during the biggest one day floral focused event in the country, that just so happened to be in our own backyard.

So, with promotion committee’s blessing, we went to work.

Read the rest of this article at Field Position.

Floral News: Inspirational Stories of the Week

US: Rose Parade to promote Californian grown cut flowers

This year's Rose Parade will feature three CA Grown floats, which are being sponsored by Cal Poly, California Milk Advisory Board, FTD and Miracle Gro. The 127th Rose Parade presented by Honda and themed “Find Your Adventure,” will take place Friday, January 1, 2016, followed by the 102nd Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual. Read the rest of this article at floral daily

Kick off to the Rose Parade

There really was no better way to celebrate Miracle-Gro’s kick off to this year’s Tournament of Roses Festivities than enjoying a beautiful field-to-vase luncheon, while giving back to the Pasadena community.

At John Muir Ranch High School, the day greeted guests with blue skies and warm temperatures, making for a perfect afternoon to help support the Pasadena School Garden Program. This is the second year Miracle-Gro has supported the program through their Tournament of Roses Partnership. Miracle-Gro representatives and Ty Pennington, Miracle-Gro’s spokesperson, were on-hand to help work with the volunteers in the garden and reinforce their commitment to the community. This event was also a volunteer opportunity for members of the community to install a new pollinator garden (that includes Proteaceae and Australian wildflowers) at Muir Ranch and help distribute 100 Thanksgiving dinners.

Miracle-Gro is also the Official Rose and Flower Care Company of the Tournament of Roses for the fourth year in a row and this year their float with be certified as “California Grown”. This means more than 85% of the flowers and plants on the float will be grown here in California. We’re honored to have been chosen to contribute Protea to this year’s float. Miracle-Gro is the very first brand to invite flower farmers and customers to supply flowers for their float. In addition along with Ty Pennington and four other “Miracle-Groers”, Mel has been chosen as one of the California farmers to ride the float on New Year’s Day.

Looking forward to celebrating all things California Grown on New Year’s Day!