Events: Farm Tours

Farm tours are a wonderful way to celebrate the spring!

This month, we had the pleasure to host two farm tours. These fun events provided us a welcome break from our normal day to day activities and give us the opportunity to make new friends.

We picked the perfect April mornings for both tours, blue skies and about 75 degrees. The tours started off by providing guests with a little ‘insider information’ on our farm and what we’re up to this time of the year. Then off to the greenhouse and nursery they went to see where everything begins, sprouts and develops its roots here on the farm. Next stop, the packing area for a quick peek inside the cooler and to watch our crew create bouquets and wreaths.

UCCE Master Gardeners of Riverside County - April 2nd

Public Farm Tour - April 13th

From sharing protea inspiration to shopping for plants for the garden, the tours served up the very best of the season, and here are a few of the highlights.

Spring Faves: Leucospermum

Video click here.

Leucospermum are the eye candy of our spring protea harvest, and if you’re not already reveling in their splendor, we’re betting you will be soon. Who can resist all the beautiful flowering heads with masses of styles that look like pins bristling from a pincushion? Fanciful blooms atop long sturdy stems create colorful focal points not only in the field (or garden) but when displayed in floral designs. It’s magic time! And now it seems every year, we get to enjoy a new variety or cultivar as many of the Hawaiian Hybrids are becoming more readily available.

You see, back in the 1970's the University of Hawaii started working on an exclusive collection of new and improved cultivars of pincushions. The goals were aimed at improved color, increased vase life and good stem length. The results - some amazing hybrids, many of which have quite complex ancestry, some with even ten species parents.

In the Field: Leucospermum Erubescens

Within the wonderfully diverse world of Leucospermum or more commonly called pincushions, Erubescens ranks among the most distinct, captivating and eye-catching. They’re so easy to spot, petite oval flowerheads 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter and clustered in four to eight together at the end of the stems. They are somewhat asymmetical with the styles leaning a bit towards the stem. Each individual flower starts out yellow, gradually opening to reveal a bright crimson, from which long styles stick out, giving the flowerhead as a whole the appearance of a single pincushion.

Other common names for this intriguing Leucospermum are Fruit Salad, Langeberg pincushion, and orange flame pincushion. Blooms are produced early spring into summer and can last on the bush for up to two months.

Event: The Wine Country Table Launch

This week we ventured to Sacramento to help celebrate the launch of the Wine Institute’s new book, The Wine Country Table – a book we’re so excited to be featured in. Bursting with wine, food and our flowers, this tome conveys a fresh, meditative, and beautifully-photographed celebration of California, its natural beauty, its unrivaled bounty, and its determination to remain just as productive for generations to come. It’s all about sustainable farming, taking readers on a visual tour of 23 stunning farms and wineries throughout the state, introducing them to some of the vintners, winemakers, and farmers (like Mel) whose harvests are profiled.

Pictured above: Diana Roy, Francesca Marchini, Janet Fletcher,
John Taylor, Nick Matteis & Vincent Ricchiuti

Grape Harvest

Olive Harvest

Protea Harvest

Written by award-winning author Janet Fletcher with photographs by Robert Holmes and Sara Remington, the book highlights California's key wine regions, its eminent fruit, vegetable and flower crops, with suggestions on how to select and use them. It also includes fifty rustic-elegant recipes covering all bases, from breakfast to dessert and pairs them with the perfect California wines.

Roast Chicken with Lemons, Paprika & Olives - this recipe is fabulous and a perfect Spring weeknight meal!

Heirloom Apple Galette with Honey Ice Cream

And, there’s no doubt in our minds… Great food, wine and flowers make for the perfect pairing.

Click here to order your copy – Cheers!

Flower News: March’s Stories of Interest from Around the World

South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom Has More Diverse Plant Life Than the Rain forest and Must Burn to Survive

South Africa's Cape Floral Region is a group of protected areas that have the highest concentration of plant species on Earth. With triple the number of plant varieties as the Amazon rainforest, the UNESCO World Heritage site is unique in another way — it must burn periodically to survive.

The group of eight protected areas that comprise the Cape Floral Kingdom outside of Cape Town is the smallest of the world's six floral kingdoms. The flammable ecosystem must burn every 10 to 20 years in order for the plants' seed to germinate and to destroy invasive species, BBC.com reported.

Read more here.
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Eruption of color is a rite of spring at
Carlsbad's Flower Fields

After a wet and wild winter, the Flower Fields in Carlsbad are shaping up for one of the best seasons ever.

For 10 weeks each year, the working farm lets the public wander its carefully manicured rows of white, red, yellow, purple, pink, and orange blossoms perched on 50 gently sloping acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The flowers are ranunculuses, a member of the buttercup family. But generations of cultivation have made them unlike any ranunculuses in the world.

Read more here.
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Gardening Matters: Iconic Banksias call Australia home

The banksias are iconic Australian plants and are members of the Proteaceae family in company with the grevilleas, hakeas and South African proteas.

Banksias are almost uniquely Australian.

Banksia dentata, from the Northern Territory, is also found in New Guinea.

Over 70 Banksias call Australia home with the lion’s share of species occurring in the southwest corner of Western Australia.

NSW is well represented with 16 varieties. Until recently there was thought to be 15 NSW species, then a new banksia was discovered on the south coast. This new species is very rare and vulnerable with only 14 plants found so far.

Read more here.
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Certified American Grown Flowers Star
at FTD World Cup 2019

The FTD World Cup 2019, considered the Olympics of floral design, was held last weekend in Philadelphia, marking the first time the competition has been held in the U.S. since 1985. But perhaps even more exciting than its return to the U.S. is the fact that global participants in the competition created some of their designs with over 14,000 Certified American Grown Flowers and Greens donated by American flower farmers!

Read more here.
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10 Spring Wedding Themes That Are in Bloom for 2019

Springtime may call to mind fresh blooms and pastel hues, but those aren’t the only inspiring details for spring weddings. This year, modern couples are combining traditional elements with stark contrasts, including black accents and futuristic details, for their spring wedding celebrations.

For more ideas, top planners and designers are sharing with Brides the biggest spring wedding themes for 2019.

Read more here.

Nature’s Window

Creating a Nature’s Window is another simple way to bring a touch of nature indoors. This trendy, chic design showcases the entire flower, from stem to bloom transforming any space into a blooming botanical exhibition.

Our arrangements are only a start. In just a few simple steps you can create your own windows; and there are many ways to display them. One idea is to place several clear vases of the same size, or even different sizes down the length of the table versus using a traditional centerpiece. Or put a vase or two on a windowsill that faces the sun, allowing the light from outside to shine through the vase and through the blooms.

1. Pour 2 or 3 inches of water into the vase. Cut the flower stems to varying lengths. 
2. Position the shortest blooms in the vase. 
3. Repeat with all the flowers, adding them by height and inserting the tallest last.

Leucadendron Tango

Banksia Coccenaea

In the Field: Buttonbush

Berzelia, a genus of the Bruniaceae family, is one of the few plants endemic to the Cape floral kingdom and the Western Cape of South Africa. Berzelia or also called ‘Buttonbush’ is typically harvested when the clusters of round flower heads are still closed and green or cream in color, looking like masses of colorful peas attached to a sturdy stem. Below the flowering heads are wispy side shoots of small needle-like foliage which are grouped in whorls going up the long, woody stems.

This gorgeous and other-worldly botanical muse of plant lovers and floral designers around the world, is a longtime favorite of ours here on the farm. For all the visual impact these bobbles offer, their unique element of texture not only appeals to the sense of sight, but also to the tactile senses as well. Whether it’s Berzelia Lanuginosa or Red Jelly, these small, round buttons are engaging, making you want to reach out, touch and feel them.

Berzelia Lanuginosa

Berzelia Red Jelly