The Sun Valley team is just back from the International Floriculture Exposition (IFE) in Miami Beach, Florida. This show is a great opportunity to mingle with other industry people, see what our friends and competitors are up to and see how the other half live. Arcata, California is about as far as you can get from Miami Beach, both geographically, weather-wise and ideologically. While Arcata is fuzzy sweaters in June and gray, foggy clouds; Miami is string bikinis and the Miami Heat.
One of the best lessons to be learned in Miami is which of our products are people buzzing about? I see beautiful flowers all day long, and I am fairly spoiled by seeing first hand all the cool stuff happening on the farm. It is a great exercise to take a solid collection of all our products, arrange them beautifully, then sit back and watch which items our customer’s gravitate towards. Even after all these years, the Starfighter Oriental Lily still gets a huge draw and our stunning Rose Lilies were constantly being admired and photographed.
People also like to learn what is “new”. Industry wide Sun Valley is know for the highest quality lilies, huge soil grown tulips and our elegant Telstar iris. At a show, our customers usually want to see what’s new, because with Lane and the rest of our growers, there is always something fresh and innovative in ground or in the cooler.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley's Flower Talk
