Get up to speed on the state of the Flower Market as we head into the thick of the Valentine’s Day shipping period.
Valentine’s Day Schedule and Hours
See below for a summary of our hours, extra delivery days, and ordering cutoffs for the holiday.
California Report from Marc Robinson
Marc runs our California Brokerage office in Carpenteria CA. He’s in close contact with all the farms in the region, and can bring you a real “boots on the gound” perspective on the California flower market.
We are in full swing for Valentine’s Day shipping here in CA. Weather looks promising for the next 10 days and should be favorable for the farms. So far availability has been good we are seeing some shortages in a few flowers and greens. Seeded Euc has ended, although it did stretch later than usual. Larkspur is unfortunately in short supply as are Snapdragons. Bupleurum has been a production issue as well, farms were expecting more availability for holiday shipping but it looks like it will be after the prime shipping time.
Waxflower is in full production now and we are seeing a multitude of colors and varieties available with a few warmer days earlier this week the opening stage should improve especially for hybrids. Stock is in excellent supply and of very good quality this year. Snapdragons are still limited and will not increase in production until late next week. Kale is abundant and showing good color. Heather is in season but could gap if rains hit that region. Gerbera has also continued to be limited and will be that way until early March.
Tulip, Iris and Lily production are strong. We are seeing good quality Sunflowers, Matsumoto Asters, Dianthus and Ginesta. Anemones and Ranunculus are slowly coming back into production but very limited this week. Fillers are limited to Solidago, Green Mist and QA Lace.
All Eucalyptus are in good production except Seeded, that has turned to cup already. With the weather issues in Florida in recent weeks there are some alternative greens options here in CA. Myrtle, Olive Branch, Salal, Acacia, Agonis, Grevillea and African Boxwood.
Be sure to take advantage of the Friday Fresh offer for delivery 2/9 or 2/10. Here’s a few of the items on the offer:
Snapshot of some Friday Fresh Items
Basics
With BASICS, most farms are cutting everything that is showing color to cover Valentines demand. What does this mean for supply from 2/14 – 2/28? Please continue reading.
Alstroemeria– Farms are cutting any Alstro showing color in order to meet Valentines demand and they are not taking additional orders for Holiday colors. In general, it takes production two weeks to come back after a full cut for Holiday demand. It is highly likely that Alstro will continue to be limited after Valentine’s Day. If you have wedding work from 2/14 – 2/28, be open to moving from one variety to another. Solid varieties of Alstro will be limited immediately after Valentine’s Day.
Gyp– We expect we will have a good supply of Gyp for the Holiday. Availability will be somewhat limited after Valentines for a week or so. This shouldn’t cause problems as demand decreases drastically after the holiday.
Limonium/Statice– Limonium is about sold out for Valentines delivery, as are Lavender, Pink and White Statice. These items will also be in very tight supply through the rest of February due to the nature and production cycle of the crops.
Carnations and Mini Carnations-We look to have a pretty good supply for the Holiday. There could be problems getting Novelty varieties for delivery after the Holiday. Many will be unavailable due to the fact that all production was cut to cover Valentines orders. You may need to be open to using different varieties for a week or two after Valentine’s Day.
Lilies– We look to be in fairly good shape moving into Valentine’s Day. As noted in previous reports, 2-Bloom production is VERY limited and mostly sold out. One problem area is the Mexican Glads. They are experiencing production shortages and have cut some of our orders. We will have more arriving for delivery Friday.
Gladiolus– Production of Glads is extremely limited from all regions right now. California was already in a production gap, and we can only get a small amount of Assorted Hampers. Now weather is delaying production in Mexico and Costa Rica. Our Mexican supplier had to cut our order coming in this weekend and move it to our second shipment arriving Thursday.
Leatherleaf– Unfortunately, this continues to be extremely limited. So far we have only been gotten confirmation for about 60% of what we need for Valentine’s Day, which is the highest demand period of the year. We advise strongly that you use other types of greens, and if you still want Leatherleaf you should order as soon as possible. We will sell out.
Novelties
Callas– The demand for pink and white mini callas is where it is at, so we are focusing on making sure we have enough of those colors. White large callas are very hard to find, with growers cancelling our orders or asking us to take our orders later. Today our inventory looks good for next week, but we expect to sell out fast.
Stock– At the moment supply looks good for stock with the exception of Lavender and Light Pink. It is still too early to tell but we may have trouble keeping up with demand for these two colors.
Larkspur– Larkspur production is lacking to say the least. The crop is coming back, but White is very limited. White is the last color to come back into production, so we expect severe shortages. Purple is the first to come back and it seems there is more than we need. Our pre-orders for Lavender and Pink are being reduced drastically by the growers.
Waxflower– There is a good supply of Waxflower from California for next week. Warm temperatures have brought on the Hybrid Pinks and has also opened a lot of the Wax, so expect great quality for this holiday. Make sure you check out the pricing on the regular colors. Pricing on the Hybrid varieties remains high and the regular colors are much more reasonable.
Delphinium– Delphinium is limited from all growing regions. We expect shortages similar to this past week.
Heather– There is still heather from CA available for next week in both pink and white.
Snapdragons-Production so far from California has been okay. We expect the supply to tighten up dramatically over the next few shipping days. Customers that wait to order late may find some difficulty getting what they need. Canadian production was also a little better and all our Standing Orders were filled. However, we expect the Canadian supply to tighten up as well.
Brunia– Silver Brunia is about to wrap up for the season. The Brunia for next week is what we call immature or young. (See photo below) Now we will begin getting the Spray Brunia, which has a much smaller berry. We will have some of that available for next week.
Silver Brunia (Immature)
Protea– We have a new supplier from the Canary Islands. This is just beginning and we are looking forward to adding the Canary Island to our arsenal. There will be a few Arctic White Kings and White Knight for next week. There will also be a few Pincushions- Red Tango, Orange Succession, and Orange Soleil.
Protea White Knight
Botanicals
Cymbidium Plants– We are currently sold out of Cymbidium plants for the holiday. The existing crop in California is very limited and too tight to ship right now. They would be unusable for several weeks. There will be a small quantity available at the end of February/beginning of March.
Dish Gardens– Our supplier of the Deluxe Dish Gardens in the 6″ by 7″ and 10″ x 11″ sizes is sold out of the baskets for these gardens for approximately 2 to 4 months. We will bring in other flowering Dish Gardens to compensate.
Spathiphyllum– (Repeated from the last report, in case you missed it.) Please be aware that these are shorter than we are used to, and shorter than we’d like them to be. Also, most plants do not have blooms. They have been treated to help them bloom again but it will be a while until that happens. However, since all nurseries lost their shade cloth, they have not been able to plant new material so there has been nothing coming up that is sized to our satisfaction.
