Flowers grown in Valley Center were featured on the Miracle-Gro float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. The float won the Governor’s Award, one of the biggest trophies of the parade. The protea were grown by Bill Boyett, vice president of the VC History Museum, who was in Pasadena for the event.
Boyett told The Roadrunner that a small group of protea farmers from the North County area were invited to be ambassadors for the float because the head of the California Dept. of Agriculture along with the California Cut Flower Commission, were going to certify the Miracle- Gro Gloat as a California cut flower float. That meant that 85% of the flowers that were used on the float were grown in California.
“The responsibilities of ambassadors are to introduce the float and protea flowers to the tours that went through the float barn prior to the parade on December 29,” said Boyett. “The people were from all over the country and many had never seen or heard of the protea flower.
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