Miscellaneous and Schedule Items
Mother’s Day– We are starting to book for Mother’s Day. Check on Grower Direct for the best prices- lots of farms are loaded already. Your DV Fleet driver should have delivered your Mother’s Day packet, which includes your history from last year and lots of supply flyers. Monday is the last day to double your Standing Orders for the holiday, so make sure you check with your sales rep.
Administrative Professional Day- This is coming up fast- start planning your offerings. We will have a full selection of fresh product including some interesting novelty botanical items. Ask your sales rep.
Botanicals
Easter bulbs are now finished with the exception of some 6in Tulips. For Mother’s Day we will have all of the basic blooming items: Begonia, Calandiva, Kalanchoe, Gerbera, Rose Bushes, Violets, etc.
Tropical Blooming – Start watching for offerings of Tropical Blooming Plants. (Hibiscus, Madevilla, Dipladenia, Gardenia, Eugenia, etc.) Pre-booking material has been tough this year. Growers are not interested in committing to specs and sizes that we are accustomed to seeing. Their reasoning is that product is moving out so quickly that they cannot be sure what the specs will be until the week they are shipping. This also goes for availability; growers are reluctant to hold any material for the same reason. They are able to sell them so why hold them, is basically their reasoning. We are going through the natural conversations on these topics but be prepared that these items may sell out quickly or could be shorter/smaller than normal.
Palms – Majesty and Areca are moving very quickly. At this time, we are unable to project the specs for May but will advise as soon as we are able. 10in Areca’s are N/A at the moment. Might not see them until May/June.Specs for other items are:
12in Areca – 5ft +
14in Areca – 5.5 – 6ft
10in Bamboo – N/A
10in Cat Palm – 34 – 36in
14in Cat Palm – 5ft +
10in Majesty – 4-4.5ft
12in Majesty – 6 – 7ft
14in Majesty – 7 – 8ft
Hydrangea – we will have limited amounts from Canada… limited! The majority of our inventory will be coming from California.
Florida Foliage Update –
Aglaonema availability is still very low, especially in 8, 10 and larger sizes.
Alocasia – available
Ferns – plenty of varieties and sizes available, including the Boston Fern 10in HB on the Distinctive Values for next week – B1839 @ $15.99
Bird of Paradise (No Flowers) –
10in – 3ft
14in – 4.5ft +
Dracaena Mass Cane –
10in, 3-2-1 – 4 to 4.5ft
12in, 4-3-2 – 5 – 5.5ft
14in, 5-4-3-2 – 5.5 – 6ft
SPATH –
6in – blooming, looking good!
8in – still no blooms but they should be coming very soon
10in – most are blooming but there are some that do not have flower at this time. They look awesome though!
ZZ’s plants are also very limited and SMALL
6in – 10-14”
8in – 18-22”
10in – 18-22”
14in – 32-36”
Canadian Blooming
Begonia – 6in are limited right now. This should only last about a week. We have plenty on hand for next week’s sales.
Cyclamen are limited right now, probably for the next week or so.
Kalanchoe – No Red! Everything else is available.
Hydrangea – Most growers were wiped out by Easter. Those growing for Mother’s Day should be ready to go for week 16, 4/16. These are extremely limited and sell out very quickly.
Mums – Easter has wiped out all of the product showing color. We will have some for next week but the staging will be on the tighter side. If you need them open, then you will need to get them early!
Orchids
Phalaenopsis Plants- We seem to have good availability, from all suppliers.
Cymbidium – we currently have orange and pink on hand and available now. We stumbled upon these last week, so we brought them in. Cymbidium season is basically over so we do not expect to be able to get more. They will return in October.
Novelties
Gladiolus –DVFLora Assorted 130 packs are available! California Assorted hampers are all we are able to rely on at the moment. There haven’t been any pink, orange, red or white available at all to ship this week. This means that these colors will be limited to Mexican Glad availability or not available at all. We are hoping to see a drastic improvement next week. Availability from Mexico seems to be good. Costa Rica has limited availability. We will only bring these in to fill in when necessary.
Stock- There is a good supply of stock and prices have come down. We are in the awkward time of year where the weather is warming and the days are getting longer. Production is improving, but demand is not. We will see some lower prices for the next couple of weeks. This past week we saw a few quality issues with a few of the growers. We have addressed it with them and hopefully have resolved some of the problems. This is to be expected given the amount of rain CA has been having.
Larkspur- Larkspur production has improved and we should have plenty available for the next few weeks with lower prices.
Bells of Ireland- The supply is great and prices remain low.
Waxflower- Availability of GOOD wax is harder and harder to find. At the moment we am asking the growers to tell us what looks good and that is what we are buying. As a result, a variety that is here today may be gone tomorrow. All growers are wondering if the Waxflower crop will make it until Mother’s Day. Stay tuned!
Delphinium- There has been quite a turnaround from last week. Availability has become drastically reduced, especially the hybrid varieties from Ecuador. California has not really kicked in, though we are seeing a few hybrids popping up here and there. This is quite typical this time of year as the high season in Ecuador wraps up and demand starts to pick up. We may see shortages next week.
Heather- What is left of heather in California is bearded, so that’s our signal to stop bringing it in. The good news is New Zealand has started and our first shipment of Erica Pink Bliss is due to arrive this weekend.
Boronia- This has started. Who doesn’t love this amazing smelling beauty? Please keep in mind that this is a very short season and does not usually make it to Mother’s Day.
Snapdragons- Once again there is plenty of White but colors may be limited, with Yellow being the most difficult.
Matsumotos and Dianthus- It looks like Matsumoto production is back and we should be back on track. Demand has slowed. Dianthus Amazon, and the Sweet varieties are available and ready to go.
Nerines- We are starting to see Nerines from Chile. Check out these beauties. We will have them in White, Pink, and Hot Pink.
Scabiosa- The Scoop varieties are starting to gain traction, most likely because of the time of year. We have added another grower to the mix and will see how that works. That being said, production from our Colombian and California growers remain limited. So order early if you are looking for large quantities to give me us an opportunity to try to cover your order.
Brunia- Silver Brunia is finished for the season. In its place we have Spray Brunia which has a much smaller berry, but that will also come to an end soon.
Protea- The supply of Pink Protea from California seems to have tightened with very few varieties available. We will start to look to our South African suppliers in the next few weeks. Prices from South Africa are much higher than domestic Protea. This is mainly due to the cost of shipping. King Protea from Hawaii is back but there was a gap in production from our California grower. We are starting to see a few Banksia Protea Prionotes:
Iris- Other than dark blue, Iris colors were limited this week and will be next week as well. You could possibly see shortages again next week on colors. Our North Carolina supplier as been struggling with production mainly due to the many storms we had this March. Hopefully as the weather warms he will get back on production schedule. In the mean time we will see shortages next week.
Sunflowers- The demand has been low, but this past week it was less than expected. We are certain this will pick up, but production is still low in South America especially the Vincents variety. Apparently there is a shortage of seed for the Vincent Suns from the breeder. Our grower has been expressing concern for some time now. The effect of this will start to kick in in the next few weeks.
New Arrivals
A few items starting up this week:
Euphorbia Dog Eye- 28876
Foxglove Illumination- 31078
Leucadendron Discolor- 10304
Icelandic Poppy Assorted- 28903
Basics
Carnations/Mini Carnations- White Carnation demand is high and production is somewhat reduced. While we are trying to prevent this from happening, we may sell out of White Carnations towards the end of next week.
Alstroemeria- As we move into wedding season, please be careful on promising specific Alstro varieties. A lot of the varieties we have each week are on Standing Orders with the farms. The only way for us to get additional product is to have 10 days’ notice. Also note that Peach Alstroemeria is generally not available. The only true Peach variety grown commercially is Lorena. We have roughly 9 bunches of Lorena available per week.. Check out the SUPER DISTINCTIVE VALUE for next week, Item #65188, Alstro Assorted Premium NEW Varieties, 8 packs. Each box should have the following varieties: Pink Hot Rome, Pink Lt Kristel, Purple Real, Red Romance, White Akemi, Pink Cherish, White Bianca and Yellow Costa.
Lilies- As we have reported in previous weeks, we are now at the point where 2 bloom Lily production is simply not available. Where bulb production years ago yielded a 30% 2 bloom and a 70% 3+ ratio, bulb quality has improved to yield a 95-96% 3+ bloom and only 4-5% of 2 bloom. It would be in your interest to start basing your pricing on 3+ bloom Lilies.
Mums/Pom Pons- We should have good numbers available for delivery next week although pricing is moving somewhat higher.
