Flash Report Week 11

Miscellaneous and Schedule Items

Spring Cream of the Crop- Reminder that the Spring Cream of the Crop program deliveries start this week. We hope you are excited to start to see these items in your store for the next few months.

Palm Sunday and Easter- Palm Sunday is just about a week away. We still have some Palm Bud as well as most sizes of Palm Crosses- both Plain and Decorated. And there is still time to lock in some items from Grower Direct or our Holiday Prebook. Visit us at www.dvflora.com or contact your Sales Rep today.

Easter Lily Plants- There is definitely a shortage on 6in & 8in Easter Lilies this year.  This is due to several Canadian greenhouses selling out to Marijuana, combined with a bulb quality issue.  It has had a very large impact on the Canadian as well as the Local supply. Be sure to place your orders soon. We are already sold out of some selections.

Novelties

Gladiolus- California Glads are starting to slowly make a comeback!  Some solid colors will be available, in small quantities, for delivery next week, and we will have some Assorted as well. Mexican glads are still available to fill in our needs.

Stock- There is a good supply of stock and prices are good. We expect this to be the case for a couple of weeks as long as Mother Nature cooperates. There was rain this week in California and we had to do a little dance around the raindrops.

Larkspur- California Larkspur production, other than purple, is still limited. There was a germination problem with the pinks and lavenders and those colors are still giving us problems. We expect numbers to start to rise as the weather warms and the growers begin to cut from newer plantings. We could see shortages on all but purple this week. Ecuador Larkspur has finished.

Delphinium- There has been quite a turnaround in the last week or two. 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 season in Ecuador wraps up and demand starts to pick up, we will start to see shortages.

Snapdragons- Production in California and Canada has really tightened. It’s possible we will see some shortages in between our truck arrivals.

Ginestra– California Ginestra is finished for the season.  Italian is still available and we should have more arriving this weekend.

Matsumoto Asters – It looks like Matsumoto production is back and we should be back on track.

Protea- The supply of Pink Protea from California seems to have tightened up, with fewer 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 and we have started to see some from California.

Iris- Dark Blue Iris is back and demand has been on the rise. There is also a good supply of Light Blue, Purple, Yellow, and White.
We have a great price on Telstar Iris from Mexico for next week. Prices are good while supplies last. For all you North Carolina fans, production is in full swing. We will have Dark Blue, Purple, White, Light Blue and Yellow.

Snowberries
Snowberries from Chile have begun. Below are some photos from the grower. There will be White, Light Pink, Dark Pink, and Picotee, which is a variegated pink and white. We hope to add Lemon in the next few weeks. It is very important to note, this is a very short season and they will end sometime in April.

Dark Pink

White

Picotee

Light Pink

California Farm Report

From Marc Robinson- It has been a rainy week, finally! We had the Summer Celebration winners here all week and managed to squeeze in come CA sunshine also!

Larkspur is finally back to weekly availability, not huge supply but enough to fill demand. Bupleurum has been a production issue but is now more readily available. Sunflowers are back and increasing in volume. Waxflower continues in full production now we are seeing a multitude of colors and varieties available opening stage has improved especially for hybrids. Stock is in excellent supply and of very good quality this year. Snapdragons are also good supply and quality. Kale is abundant and showing good color. Heather is done for this season. Gerbera has started to become more available and we will see this continue through April. We are seeing a good supply of Cymbidiums from farms in Carpinteria. Huge blooms and excellent quality. Their season usually finishes up around Mother’s Day.

Tulip, Iris, Hyacinth and Lily production are strong. French Tulips are in full production along with several novelty and parrot varieties. The short season on Narcissus varieties like Cheerfulness are here but will wrap up next week. We are seeing good quality Matsumoto Asters and Dianthus. Anemones and Ranunculus are coming back into production. Fillers are limited to Solidago, Green Mist, QA Lace and Orlaya. Genista is done for the year. Flowering Branches have been affected by the rain but are somewhat limited. Diosma and Lepto are now available. Pincushions are in good supply.

All Eucalyptus are in good production except Seeded that has turned to cup already and Spiral. Myrtle, Olive Branch, Salal, Acacia, Agonis, Grevillea and African Boxwood are in good supply.

Basics

The BASICS market has really tightened up.  Production is limited by weather and demand has increased for Bouquet production.  We have a pretty good inventory coming for next week with a few exceptions.

 Liatris of all lengths are limited.

White Queen Anne’s Lace is more limited than normal.

Statice in general will be higher in price due to higher demand for the Easter Holiday period.

Tuberose will continue to be limited in availability.

Carnations- Spring Bi-colors, Hot Pink, Lavender, Peach and Purple will all be more limited for the next two weeks.  As we move towards wedding season, the various varieties of Peach Carnations are limited in supply due to lack of year round sell through.

Lilies- As we have been saying for quite a while, 2 Bloom Oriental production is VERY limited.

Pom Pons- While we should have good quantity available for delivery, Pom availability is limited in the market.