Miscellaneous
California Wildfires– After a difficult week of fires throughout Southern California most fires are under control except the Thomas fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The Thomas fire is going to end up being the largest fire (in area) in California history. They are not expecting it to be fully contained until after Christmas. It has affected many of our growing areas; Santa Paula, Oxnard and Camarillo. Fortunately our California office has not been affected except by smoke outside. Some members of our team here were evacuated but they are back home now. What you have been seeing on the news is a fraction of how bad the fire has been out here.
Important Reminder– Looking beyond the Christmas Holiday, it is VERY important for you to be thinking about your flower needs for the week of Christmas and the week of New Years Day NOW. If your orders are not placed in advance you may be disappointed by waiting until the last minute to order. Due to holiday schedules here, at the farms, at trucking companies and airlines, we have limited opportunities to source product, so out buyers have to “guess” what we will need.
Holiday Service and Delivery Schedule
Christmas
- Monday 12/18 through Thursday 12/21 Normal Hours & Schedule
- Friday 12/22 Sales staff is on duty until 6:00PM, After Hours Staff until 7:00PM at 800-676-1212 and DVFlora.com will be open until 7:00PM for Saturday 12/23 delivery
- Saturday 12/23, DVFlora will be delivering. Limited Sales staff will be available until Noon on Saturday
- Sunday 12/24 & Monday 12/25 Christmas day DVFlora is Closed, NO deliveries
- Tuesday 12/26 we will open at 9:00AM but there will be NO deliveries
- DVFlora.com and the After Hours Staff will be available until 7:00PM Tuesday 12/26 for Wednesday 12/27 Deliveries
- Wednesday 12/27, Thursday 12/28 and Friday 12/29 will be our Normal Hours & Delivery Schedule
** NOTE ** Customers in the New England, Syracuse, Richmond and Western PA delivery areas have a 6:00PM order cut off time to place orders for next day delivery.
Dutch Direct Schedule
- Order by Wednesday 12/20 for delivery Wednesday 12/27
- Order by Sunday 12/24 for delivery Friday December 12/29
Standing orders
- Standing Orders for Monday 12/25 & Tuesday 12/26 will be delivered on Saturday 12/23
- Standing Orders for Wednesday 12/27 Thursday 12/28 and Friday 12/29 will be delivered on Their NORMAL delivery days
New Years
- Sunday 12/31 We will be closed and there will be NO After Hours Staff
- Monday Jan 1st New Years Day DVFlora is Closed, NO deliveries
- Monday Jan 1st dvflora.com will be open until 4:00PM and our After Hours Staff at 800-676-1212 will be available Noon to 4:00PM for Tuesday Jan 2nd Deliveries
- Tuesday Jan 2nd through Friday Jan 5th will be our Normal Hours & Delivery Schedule
** NOTE ** Customers in the New England, Syracuse, Richmond and Western PA delivery areas have a 6:00PM order cut off time to place orders for next day delivery.
Dutch Direct Schedule
- Order by Thursday 12/28 for delivery on Tuesday Jan 2nd
- Order by Sunday 12/31 for delivery on Friday Jan 5th
Standing orders
- Standing Orders for Monday Jan 1st will be delivered on Tuesday Jan 2nd
- Standing orders for Tuesday through Friday will be delivery on their normal delivery days
Evergreens
We still have some Evergreen items but we are starting to run out of some items. For the most part, we can’t get any more, except possibly some local Boughs, but that will end soon. We do have plenty of some items, so watch for those items to pop up on your list of Daily specials.
Fillers
Most fillers are in good supply with a few exceptions:
Laceflower is somewhat limited. A large South American supplier recently stopped growing Queen Anne’s Lace, so California is really the only source, and that is limited this time of year.
Statice is in good supply for most colors, except for White. Statice produces year round, so growers only grow enough white to meet demand all year. Demand for White far exceeds supply for a few weeks in December.
Limonium is similar to Statice- Most colors are plentiful except White, which is in very high demand now.
Waxflower from Australia, Peru, and South Africa have finished. We are transitioning to California but varieties come and go and are limited. Make sure you are flexible and sell colors not varieties.
Heather from California hasn’t been available for over year. We were happy to see it back but so far demand has been slower than we expected. It won’t be around for long so grab it while it’s available.
Basics
Alstro– As expected, holiday colors like White and Red are in high demand.
Carnations and Mini Carnations– We look to have a fairly good supply of all Holiday colors in both. We expect to begin to sell out of Holiday packs on Tuesday/Wednesday, but we will continue to have the colors that make up Holiday packs as solids colors.
Lilies– We have good supply of most lilies. Production of White Oriental Lilies is somewhat limited, but we have a pretty good supply coming in. Production on all 2-Bloom lilies continues to be low, and we expect that to continue.
Mums and Poms– We have a fairly good supply of most Mums and Poms for next weeks delivery. Please be aware production of Red Disbuds is now finished. It is very doubtful we will see any more Red Disbuds until Fall of 2018. As previously reported, White Polaris Poms are being grown by fewer and fewer growers due to production difficulties. In the future we expect Polaris to disappear from the market place.
Novelties
Gardenias– Production has dropped AGAIN. We saw a little increase for a week and now supply is back down to barely anything. Growers have turned the heaters on but they are still not getting many blooms. What we have coming in this weekend is already sold.
Stock– The growers in the Maricopa and Lompoc area have all experienced their first frost and CA stock may be limited for a while. The good news is that some growers will be transitioning to the Desert, and The Baja has started early this year. This week there was ample supply in Ecuador we should have a good supply for those that order early. Late comers to the game may find themselves locked out. High demand colors are White, Lavender and Purple.
Larkspur– As always this time of year the crop in Central CA come to an end and we wait for the Baja to begin. There may be a stretch with little to no larkspur in the coming weeks. This is quite typical. We did pick up some Ecuadorian Larkspur 80/90 cm are excited to see how it looks. We saw this on a visit last year and were impressed. It’s possible this can help fill the void until the Baja production is up to speed.
Gerbera– This year we are seeing a shortage of red Gerbera coming out of Canada. Production is about half of what was available for us last year from one grower due to their Red plants being 3 years old. They will be replacing these plants for next year and hope to have more red available for the 2018 Holiday. The Reds out of Holland are at an all-time high. We are bringing in a few cases but have scaled back because the pricing is about double what it was last year. As of right now we are sold out of Mini Red Gerbera for this beginning of next week but hope to have more for the end of the week. We do have plenty of Holiday Mini Gerb packs.
Delphinium– The demand for has dropped dramatically. The availability from CA is limited but Ecuador has a good supply. We will be purchasing a lot less for next week.
Snapdragons– What a difference a week makes. Cold weather and short days has reduced availability so Snaps are in very limited supply. White in particular could be a problem. Its possible that we may see shortages later in the week. Those late to the party may find the party over. We are hoping for a rebound of the winter varieties in the coming weeks.
Ranunculus– We are seeing the beginning of Ranunculus from California but not huge supply. We continue to see more Clooney varieties, and still have regular Ranuncs from Holland and Ecuador, as well as some Japanese.
Matsumotos– These seem to be in full production but demand is limited. Lavender are still limited and not always available.
Dianthus– The Amazon and Sweet varieties are limited with the exception of purple. All other colors will be limited and possibly not available. The demand for Burgundy and Red is high this time of year and we will continue to struggle to fill orders for these.
Scabiosa– There is a better supply of Burgundy and Black Knight . Blackberry Scoop remains limited. There has been no White Scabiosa or Vanilla Scoop available. We continue to have plenty of Lavender and Pink, so watch for deals on these colors.
Leucadendron and Protea– The supply of Pink Protea from California has improved and we will have a good selection for next week. We have a good supply of Leucadendron in a variety of colors.
South African Products– As in the past years South African farms will soon to close for a month. The season is coming to an end and production is at its lowest. This is the dead of summer for them and they will use this time to give their employees time off and replant. What does this mean exactly? It means Brunia, Berzelia and Coned Leucadendron is finished. You can already see a smaller selection in the coned leucadendron. Many varieties that we saw a few weeks ago have already come to an end. The shelf life for this product is very long. We suggest you consider taking it next week for New Years Eve weekend. Availability for the week of Dec 25th will be much more limited. Silver Brunia is about to wrap up for the season. In its place we will begin with Spray Brunia which has a much smaller berry.
Roses
The Market for Red Roses is very high and additional product is tough to procure beyond what we have prebooked. We expect that to continue into the beginning of January.
Greens
Eucalyptus is of good quality and in good supply- Seeded, Feather, Willow, Silver Dollar and Baby Blue.
Botanicals
Poinsettias and other Holiday Plants– We still have a pretty good supply of Reds, but some Novelty colors are sold out for the season. The 10″ sizes are selling out quickly. We still have some 4″ and 6″ Norfolk Island Pines. Zygo Cactus are about sold out. We also have some other Holiday items such as Cyclamen, Narcissus, and Cypress.
Spaths– The 4″, 6″ and 8″ for next week will NOT be showing any color, no blooms or spikes. The blooms/spikes on the 10″ material are minimal. It will be a few weeks before all are blooming again. This situation is the same for most Spath growers at the present time.
Supplies
We have a good supply of Plain and Velvet ribbon still available. We have a good selection of Pine Cones still available.
