American Grown Flowers Garnish First Lady's Luncheon

This year’s First Lady’s Luncheon was the latest inspiration for designing with all American Grown Flowers. Farms from across the country shipped over 18,000 stems of gorgeous American Grown Flowers to a team of over 20 volunteer floral designers led by Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore, Christy Hulsey of The Colonial House of Flowers and Margaret Lloyd of Margret Joan Florals.

The Certified American Grown program for the second year in a row sponsored this iconic Washington, D.C., event. An annual bipartisan tradition hosted by the Congressional Club since 1912 to honor the first lady of the United States, the luncheon was attended by a record 2,100 people, including Congressional spouses, associates of members of Congress and cabinet members.

During this year’s luncheon, I had the pleasure to meet and speak with the first lady and to encourage the White House to adopt an all American Grown Flower policy. My request was reiterated by the Congressional Club’s Luncheon Chair who took a moment during her remarks to acknowledge the beautiful American Grown Flowers and asked that “everyone, including the White House, support American Grown Flowers.” The request from the podium was met with resounding applause.

The White House has a long-standing tradition of featuring American wines and food at the White House and it’s my hope that such a commitment will be extended to sourcing all American Grown Flowers as well. It’s a wonderful practice that every room of the White House is filled with vibrant flowers 365 days of the year. I believe it would be an affirmation of American farmers, American agriculture and of beautiful American Grown Flowers if they committed to sourcing 100 percent American Grown Flowers in America’s home.

When the luncheon concluded I also had an opportunity to speak to second lady Karen Pence who had made special note of my request and encouraged me, as did the first lady, to write a letter requesting support for an all American Grown White House.

I had the pleasure of joining a wonderful group at the Certified American Grown table during the luncheon. Pictured left to right is Margaret Lloyd, Kurt Weichhand, Beth VanSandt, me, Rep. Ted Yoho, Christy Hulsey, Kelly Shore and Travis Rigby. Also seated but not pictured: Bill Frymoyer, Kasey Cronquist, Tim Dewey and Jerry Hagstrom.

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!