We will periodically be bringing you highlights of what’s going on across the markets – fresh and hardgoods alike. We’ll touch on topics like supply & demand, season beginnings/endings, weather forecasts and everything in between. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Enjoy!
Miscellaneous and Schedule Items
Petal it Forward- Last Reminder: The Petal It Forward program is happening on Wednesday, October 19th. Petal It Forward is a “random acts of kindness” type of flower giveaway, where consumers on the street receive two flower bouquets (or flowers)—one to keep and one to share.
We will have some specially priced bouquets if you want to hold an event in your community. These bouquets can be ordered through DV Grower Direct for delivery Friday, October 14th. Orders must be placed by Monday, October 3rd. To quickly place an order, just search “Petal It Forward” on the DV Grower Direct page.
Evergreens Prebook and Annual Cream of the Crop– Last Reminder: Make sure you get your evergreens orders in by October 3rd to get the best early prebook pricing. And contact your sales rep about the Cream of the Crop program- the deadline is October 2nd.
Roses
In a nutshell, the rose market is CRAZY!!! There are no signs of this market changing anytime soon. We expect that by the third week of October we will start to see some level of relief.
Colors – it is no coincidence that when production is down, stem length is compromised. Colors in general are extremely limited so to get any decent stem length has been a challenge. At this point, we are buying whatever we can in order to get the stem count we need.
Reds– Still no problems here. Availability is good and prices are low.
Spray Roses- Prices are increasing almost daily from farms and brokers. Try not to be married to a specific variety. For example, we have 10 different varieties of Yellow Sprays available for next week. If we don’t have Yellow Babe, try one of the gorgeous new varieties- Bora Bora, Somerset, or Golden Sensation.
Bora Bora:
Somerset:
Golden Sensation:
Novelties
Viburnum Berry– The Blueberry Viburnum season is coming to an end. This year was shorter than last because of crop damage from the frost earlier this year. It stunted the growth for the local crops. We will have some short red/purple available from New Zealand for the next couple of weeks.
Lisianthus– As we head into October California Lisianthus will be coming to an end. Availability will start to become limited, specifically with white. We will have plenty available from Holland, Israel and South America
California Grown– All southern regions of California had several hot days earlier this week. It was not extreme heat, just hot enough to push some flowers into a small flush..Stock is in good supply. Larkspur is still in tight supply along with Snapdragons. Lilies, Gerbera, Sunflowers and Hydrangeas are in good supply and of excellent quality. Summer flowers like Scabiosa, Yarrow, and Delphinium are in good supply. Filler like Bupleurum, Solidago, Queen Anne’s Lace, Green Mist, Chocolate Lace are also of good quality and supply! These few hot weather days may push the field Dahlias to end in October instead of November this year, although there are more farms growing Dahlias in hoop or greenhouse now, so that will stretch the season.
Basics
Limonium and Statice– All types of Limonium continue to be in relatively short supply but there is a good supply of Statice.
Lilies– White LA Lilies continue to be limited in the market due to lower production levels for fall. Also remember that the color of Sunset Lilies can vary from farm to farm. We will have a couple of Hot Pink lilies we haven’t had for a while:
Metropolitan:
Tarrango:
Mums and Pom Pons– Demand for fall colors is now matched pretty well to supply.
Alstro, Carns, Mini Carns– Keep in mind that fall colors of these items are much harder to procure and come at higher cost.
