California Flower Growers Prepare For Busy Spring

Each year, on Valentine's Day, many gift givers seek out the brightest hues and most aromatic bouquets of cut flowers featuring roses, lilies, snapdragons, gerberas, gardenias, tulips and more, to show loved ones that they care. Most often, cut flowers of the highest quality come from California growers, which supply 20 percent to 25 percent of all cut flowers sold in the United States.

Cut-flower grower Robert Kitayama of Kitayama Brothers Inc. in Watsonville said that with the Valentine's Day sales period coming to a close, the nursery's focus turns to growing and preparing cut flowers for other spring holidays such as Easter and Mother's Day. Mother's Day represents the most important holiday in terms of volume, he said.

With Valentine's Day occurring on a Saturday, Kitayama said, the flower business expected to see softer sales. When the Valentine's holiday happens on a weekday, sales increase as people surprise loved ones at the office with bouquets and arrangements—and that opportunity is greatly diminished when the holiday falls during a weekend. However, he reported improved pre-Valentine's demand for his flowers, which include gerberas, lilies, lisianthus, miniature callas, tulips and hydrangeas.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: California Farm Bureau Federation