If you’re in the California floral business in any fashion, you really should not miss Calif Flora 2009 - “Holidaze,” the annual convention of the California State Floral Association - and the TOP TEN FLORAL DESIGN COMPETITION! New format and exciting new designs - and floral varieties - make this year’s event well worth your time. You’ll find a link to the registration form, plus details, at http://www.calstatefloral.com/events.html
The Sending Flowers to America slideshow and talk is going over BIG with local libraries and historical societies. We are so pleased that 11 groups have enjoyed it and raved about it, and 6 more are coming up.
Oh, and Peggi Ridgway will guest on “Home Wizards” AM 870 radio with host Cindy Dole this Saturday morning - from 8 to 9 a.m. Be sure to tune in and enjoy. We’ll be giving a book away to a lucky caller!
It was a great day with floral designers and decorators as Jan Works and Peggi Ridgway did a book-signing at the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills on Fri., May 15, 2009. The Sending Flowers to America was the featured book for the event and a portion of the proceeds helped the Friends of Robinson Gardens, which maintains the estate. What a beautiful place - Virginia Robinson’s estate was the first estate to be built in Beverly Hills, around 100 years ago.
Designs are posted on Peggi’s FACEBOOk page.
Phil Rulloda, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, will be one of two featured floral designers presenting this show for the American Institute of Floral Designers’ Southwest Region, on Sunday, June 14, 2009, at the Mayesh Wholesale Flowers facility in Santa Ana, California.
We were overjoyed to see a fantastic review today of Sending Flowers to America, published late 2008 by the Los Angeles Flower Market. Excerpts from the review, which appeared in California Bookwatch magazine and online at Amazon and somewhere in the enormous book review annals at www.midwestbookreview.com follow:
“…surveys the entire structure and fostering of the American floral industry as a whole, using a focus on Southern California’s evolution as a microcosm of experience … over 60 stories based on interviews with descendants of the European immigrant families who formed the early Los Angeles Flower Market … packed with over 350 photos. A gorgeous cultural history, highly recommended especially for California collections as a ‘must’ examination of the evolution of an industry.“
Nationally known floral designer Rene van Rems brings his sought-after, hands-on, 2-day wedding design workshop to Los Angeles, sharing business and creative techniques. Check it out: http://renevanrems.com .
Over the past several months, Peggi Ridgway has given her colorful slideshow of the flowers, people and farms that supplied our nation with its fresh flowers during winter and off-seasons for more than 50 years (until the arrival of imports). We’d love to see you at an upcoming event. For local public showings visit http://flowermarkethistory.com/asp/presentations.asp