California Report
We are now in full wedding and special order mode! Summer production is coming on. Stock is still unfortunately in very limited supply. Dahlias are now in production and will ramp up in the coming weeks. Lilies are still in good supply. Gerbera production is also strong. Delphinium Belladonna is in good supply, Hybrid Delph is in good supply. Snapdragons are in good supply and great quality. Larkspur is available but not in huge volumes. Anemones, Ranunculus and Waxflower are done for the season. Kale is still showing color but when the night temps warm they will all be more of green hue. Glads are in good supply. Tulips and Iris (mostly dark blue) are still in good supply. Godetia and Lisianthus are also in good supply. Solidago, Matsumoto Aster, Queen Anne’s Lace, Chocolate Lace, Dianthus, Matrecaria, Bupleurum, Statice and Green Mist are all available. Sweet Peas are now available as well. Greens are in good supply except Seeded Euc is out of season and Silver Dollar and Baby Blue are very limited. As always please let us know if we can help with your customers special needs.
– The Transflora California Team
Basics and Greens
Gladiolas- – 41199 DVFlora Assored 130 packs are available! California Glads are in good supply, with the exception of Peach and Salmon. Mexican are in good supply. Local & Michigan are expected to begin shipping the week after the July 4th holiday, weather permitting.
Eucalyptus- Eucalyptus continues to be difficult to source. Silver Dollar is in high demand and supply is very limited. Cup Seeded is ending but Regular Seeded isn’t quite on crop yet, so this is very difficult to find. Gunni is the hardest to find. Parvifolia is a good sub, available from California and Italy, but it is going fast since there is no Gunni available. Feather Willow and Baby Blue are the only varieties that are readily available. Your best bet is to get your orders in EARLY and try to be FLEXIBLE about what variety you use.
Leatherleaf- We are in good shape here finally. Pricing is still higher than it used to be but availability is there.
Huck, Salal, Oregonia, etc – Western Greens are heading into the period where the product is being stored. This is why we have seen lower than usual levels of inventory on some of these items. Please be aware that for the next 6-8 weeks the availability of Western Greens may be sporadic.
Roses
Colors– Basic varieties are priced high, but still are reasonable and for the most part, accessible.
Wedding varieties- These are a completely different scenario. Prices are through the roof IF we can find them. These varieties are mainly:
Amnesia
Fado
Quicksand
Sahara
Sweet Eskimo
Esther
Mother of Pearl
Playa Blanca
Reds– Still plenty available at good prices.
This week’s ROSE OF THE WEEK “Country Home” was a grand slam!! Madison did an outstanding job taking photographs and putting together a great marketing piece. We sold out so I am sure you loved them. Peach Finesse is becoming a thing of the past so you may want to give this rose a try.
Novelties
Flowering branches, Lilac and Lily of the valley- Flowering branches, Lilac and Lily of the valley are officially done for the season. Next up will be Blueberry and Cranberry Viburnum in August.
Anemon- eAnemone is a hot commodity right now. We are sourcing from California, Ecuador and Chile, but Anemone from all regions are small, expensive and limited. New York is finished. Remember that the earlier you get your order in the greater chance it will be filled
Ranunculus- This is extremely limited. We have California, Chile, and Ecuador in season. Holland, Local, Italy are all finished. This means no more Clooneys, no specific varieties, nothing big. We will have the basic colors only (Orange, Peach, Pink, Red, White, Yellow).
Dahlia- Dahlia is flushing in California. Locals will likely be delayed because of the cooler spring, but we will give you updates once we have some concrete dates.
Tulips- Cheap tulips are almost finished for the season. California Tulips are available but relatively expensive.Van Dyk is finished. Virginia is still available but only providing Assorted 15pks. Holland is coming to a finish and they will only have basic colors and Assorted boxes from here on out. Doubles, Parrots, Frills are all nearly finished.
Lisianthus- The California season is starting to pick up and local will start in July. I July and August we will not be carrying Lisianthus from Israel because we start to see lots of quality issues due to excessive heat in Israel during these months. We will have mostly California, Dutch and Local these months. Our Canadian supplier is still recovering from crop issues with their Lisianthus. They hope to be back on track by the fall. For the next couple of months, they will fill what they can on a day by day basis.
Callas- There is a good supply of mini callas loaded for next week. Light pink will be a problem but there is a great supply of dark pinks. We have a good supply of large white callas but it is rainy and cloudy in the areas where these grow. Once we are out, we may not be able to reload.
We also learned last week that one of our Calla suppliers will only be growing Callas 6 months of the year, from mid-December through mid-June each year, at their farm in Baja region of California. They will no longer be growing in the Central Coast the other months of the year. While we can replace the volume from our other suppliers, some items will only be available at higher price points, and a few varieties will no longer be available, notably Pink Giant.
Stock- The growers in the Baja are coming to an of their season and the California growers are still gapping, so prices have increased and availability has decreased. We will see shortages in colors that you want, and will have more than enough for colors you don’t want. Please keep in mind that to get white, lavender, and purple the growers ask that we take a full array of colors. Please try to do the same.
Peonies- The Local Peony season is well underway. Some early varieties are finishing and later ones are coming on. We are still filling in with French and Dutch for some varieties, and you can find some good prices from Dutch Direct of DV Grower Direct Holland.
Larkspur- There seems to be a fairly good supply with the exception of light pink. We should be in good shape on all other colors.
Waxflower- California has come to an end. What you see for next week is probably the last. Peru is beginning and we should start to see more by June 11th.
Gerbera- This time of year the Canadian growers are starting with their new crops of Gerbera. After 3 years the plants stop producing and they get pulled. Some varieties get replanted but some get pulled completely and replaced with new varieties. You will start to see some varieties that are not available any longer, and some new varieties showing up. As always, be careful selling specific varieties for future parties. Sell a color, and a Light or Dark center if necessary, but be flexible.
Cymbidium- The Dutch Cymbidium Season is ending. We are starting to make the switch to Cymbidium from New Zealand. This is the beginning of their season so varieties and colors will be limited for another week or two. Please keep that in mind when quoting prices that these are considerably more expensive than the Dutch ones.
Delphinium- There seems to be a good supply of Delphinium with the exception of Volkenfreiden and the Hybrid River varieties.
Heather- This is finished from everywhere, all colors, and all varieties.
Iris- There is plenty of dark blue but colors will be limited. Iris from North Carolina and New Jersey are finished for the season.
Snapdragons- Once again there is plenty of white but some colors may be limited. We have increased our White Snap purchases for next week to make up for the lack of White Stock.
Asters Matsumotos- There is a good supply except hot pink. Demand for Matsumotos has fallen off the pace.
Dianthus- Dianthus amazon and the sweet varieties, are in good supply and ready to go.
Protea- Lower than normal temperatures in Southern California stalled our supplier’s plants. The Protea was too immature to cut so California Protea is limited. We have supplemented with Protea from South Africa. Demand seems to have slowed, perhaps because of the higher price of the South African. Demand for King Protea has ramped up.Orders for Kings need to be placed a minimum of 10 days ahead. If you are placing an order a week or a few days ahead you may find that we can’t get what you need.
Sunflowers- Rain, cold, and cloudy weather has cut into the production of our South American growers. Vincents in particular are the biggest problem, mainly because that is what everyone wants. We are supplementing inventory with California Suns until locals start, and S.A. picks up. We are starting to see our local supplier begin to harvest.
Hydrangea- Be sure to check out some of the new colors we have been bringing in.
57553-Hydrangea Antique Rose
34417-Hydrangea Antique Blue
57567-Hydrangea Ultra Violet Jumbo
Periwinkle (available in Jumbo 57546, Premium 57547 and Select 57545)
Beauty Berry 10pks (available in Jumbo 57250 and Fancy 57251 grade)
Botanicals
We are still seeing inconsistent sizing coming up from Florida. This is still due to the impact of Hurricane Irma as well as several extremely busy plant sale months. We are hopping around, all over Florida, to get what we can. What was available from one vendor last week is not available this week so we have been alternating where we are getting most of our items from. We expect sales to slow up around the last two weeks of June, leading into the July 4th holiday. It will be at this time where plants should be able to grow into their full sizing and availability will increase and be less difficult.
Thank you for all of your patience during these last several months. We know it has been complicated, disappointing in areas where product just did not meet expectations. It has definitely been a challenge sourcing what we were able to get. However, we are starting to see a glimmer of light. We are anticipating that product availability and size will continue to improve over the next several months!
Boston Ferns 10″- We have 2 batches: B1839 – We are into a new crop on these. Their spread is running about 24 – 28in. B1775 – We will have a small amount of these, with a spread of 30-32in, but at a higher cost of course.
Succulent Step Garden – This item will be unavailable, once we sell our current inventory. The grower has sold out of the Step Garden container and has also sold out of succulents. They will N/A for a while.
Local Terracotta Combos – Finished.
Local Hanging Baskets- These are still available in limited quantities but demand has dropped off, as expected. We will be backing off of these as well. If you have availability questions on these, please ask your sales rep and we will find out what’s available.
Tropical Blooming – We are finishing up with these items now. Some products are sold out at the grower level and demand has begun to drop off. We will have a very light inventory on Hibiscus, Mandevilla, etc. for the next two weeks.
Gardenia Standard – Currently sold out.
Jasmine Vine Plants, Cascading/Wreaths from California – These have become popular since cut jasmine is no longer available. Unfortunately, these are now sold out as well.
SPATH –
4″- very nice
6″- Blooming, looking good!
8″- Blooming; very good quality and size.
10″- Our Regular 10″ Spaths are currently off crop. They are way too short to ship next week so, we will not have any 10″ until further notice. We will have a small amount of B5974 Spath Crystal 10″. These are extremely limited and not available on a consistent basis.
Aglaonema- Availability is slowly increasing.
Palms – Majesty and Areca are moving very quickly. Growers are moving through crops at record pace, so the specs are getting shorter now. Please be advised that we sold mostly all of the tall material on the Majesty and are now into the newer, shorter palms.
10″Areca- N/A
12″ Areca – Sold Out
12″ Areca – 5ft + available but limited
10″ Bamboo Palm- will be available for delivery 6/11 – 6/15. They will be running approximately 4.5ft tall.
10″ Majesty –3 – 3.5′ tall
12″ Majesty – 6-7′ tall, will be available for 6/11
14″ Majesty – 5 to 5.5′ tall (sold out for a while once we sell our current inventory)
Dracaena Mass Cane –
10”, 3-2-1 – 4 to 4.5ft
12″, 4-3-2 – 5 – 5.5ft
14″, 5-4-3-2 – 5.5 – 6ft
ZZ plants – Very limited and are being brought in as they become available at a reasonable cost and size. Please note that these are running small, short.
Canadian Blooming
Begonia – available
Cyclamen are available but please remember, they do not like the warmer temperatures.
Kalanchoe – Good availability, with the exception of 4″ white. Please use 4″ White Calandiva in its place.
Hydrangea – California supply only. Product is very nice.
Mums – Available
Phalaenopsis We seem to have good availability, from all suppliers.
Miltonia, Nobile Dendrobium & Lady Slippers – available in small quantities on a bi-weekly basis. The next arrival is expected to be Tuesday, 6/12 – for customer delivery from 6/13 and after.
