Weather Continues to Rear it’s Ugly Head

Miscellaneous and Schedule Items

Weather Update– Weather in South America continues impact much of the flower market. This is expected to continue for two or three more weeks. See below for more detailed information.

Upcoming Holidays– It’s quiet now, but the holidays will be upon us before you know it. Keep your eyes open for information about changes in our service schedule, prebook deadlines, Standing Order Double Ups, etc.

• Palm Sunday is April 9. We have Palm Bud, Palm Crosses, Palm plants, and plenty of flowering plants.
• Easter is April 16. There are lots of great product loaded on the Grower Direct page of dvflora.com, so start shopping now to save some money. The order deadline is March 31 for our regular holiday prebook, and also for out Dutch Direct Easter Prebook.
• Mother’s Day is May 14. Your Mother’s Day packets will be delivered by our drivers the week of March 27. Make sure your Standing Order Double Ups are set up with your sales rep before April 10. Prebook your bouqetsWatch for other information in the coming weeks.
• Administrative Professional’s Day is squeezed in there on April 26.

Roses

There has been no relief in the Rose Market. The continued poor weather is wreaking havoc.  Production is never great this time of year but because demand is always low, we don’t usually feel the effects much. But this year production is as low as it will be all year. Prices are increasing every day and availability is very poor, especially on the current favorite varieties like Playa, Pink Mondial, etc. This is an industry-wide problem primarily affecting Columbia and Ecuador, two of the largest producers of roses, and we are seeing similar effects on other flowers types too.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from one of our rose farms:

As you may already be aware, we have had a lot of rain at in Ecuador. Since the beginning of March, Ecuador has had an unusually high amount of rainfall and cold weather; way above historical averages.

This has affected the levels of production and stem length at our farm. Please rest assured that quality will not be compromised and that Standing Orders are always our priority, but we kindly ask that you be flexible to the possibility of changes in grade length and variety substitutions. We will make sure that we communicate any changes with as much advance time as possible.

Here is another communication we received this week:

After the huge production peak we had for Val day, it is only natural for production to drop. However, this year it has dropped much lower than expected. Poor weather has not been helpful.  Due to lack of cumulative luminosity over the course of this year we have seen a large increase in the percentage of “blind shoots” (rose buds that never develop).  I am sure you have found the availability from all growers to be extremely low, and we believe that this product shortage will continue for 2-3 weeks.   

Our current level of rose production cannot cover our weekly orders, it is well below our weekly consumption (standing orders, weekly prebooks, etc) so this low production period is really hitting us hard. Rest assured we will do everything possible to fulfill all of your orders but it is very likely that some your order might be delayed 3-4 days.   Needless to say “last minute orders” are impossible to fulfill at this point , so do your best to submit your orders well in advance.

No grower wants to intentionally delay or turn away orders. We do not believe in over-selling or making promises we cannot keep, I would much rather be clear with you and keep you well informed as I have attempted to do in this email.

What this means to you is that it’s important that you plan ahead, be careful about quoting prices, and be aware you may need to be flexible if the exact item you are looking for is not available.

Basics

The poor weather conditions are also causing availability issues in other areas. In addition, farms are starting to ship product to the large bouquet makers for the Easter holiday, putting added pressure on the supply.

For most basic products, we are keeping up with demand. A few items are more difficult:

• Golden Glory Solidago and South American Statice are in a production gap
• Carnations and Mini Carnations continue to be scarce due to the weather and also growers manipulating their plants to produce for Mother’s Day
• Mums and Pom Pons will be scarce due to large bouquet makers taking a lot of supply off the open market

These areas will be particularly difficult with regard to availability and pricing, so plan accordingly.

Miscellaneous

Palm Sunday and Easter Items– We have Palm Bud, Palm Crosses, Areca and Majesty Palms, and a good supply of Bulbs and Flowering Plants here with more incoming.

Wooden Crosses– If you want something a bit different from the usual Palm Crosses, try these Natural Wooden Crosses. They are 30” Tall and 14” wide, with a spiked point to drive into the ground. We sold out our first batch already but we will have more for April 3. Book them now- availability is limited.

Anemone– We have a couple of new Anemones coming this week. These are part of the “Mistral” series and are known to have longer, sturdier stems.

Greens

Italian Ruscus– Italian Ruscus will be a bit limited for the next few weeks. We may see some gaps in availability.

Seeded Eucalyptus– Seeded Euc is finished for now, and we will only have the Cup Seeded available until about June.