California State Floral Association 

outdid itself in the Calif Flora 2009 annual convention and Top Ten design competition. Not only did the organizers combine the weekend events into a more concise, fast-moving schedule (with some great seminars, I might add, and both student and Top Ten contests taking place on Sunday, October 25), they introduced a new “Dualing Designers” contest that was wildly entertaining.

Winners of the Top Ten Floral Design Contest for the Year were: First Place - Roslyn Dodds, Jasmine Creek Florist in El Cajon; Second Place - Gerry Gregg AIFD of The Flower Market in Chico; Third Place - Sandy Villa AIFD of Mission Hills Florist in San Diego; People’s Choice - Felipe Sandoval of Kaleidoscope Flowers in Santa Barbara.

Student competition audience

The Top Ten finalists (out of a field of more than 30) were: Toni Tibbets of Capri Floral & Events in Bellevue, Washington; Ania Norwood of Ania Norwood Design in Newport Coast; Cathy Beaver of The Flower Shop in Forest Lawn-Covina; Samuel Van Wert AIFD of Companie’s Flowers in Los Angeles; Felipe Sandoval of Kaleidoscope Flowers in Santa Barbara; Jamie Chae CFD of Dolce Floral Design in El Dorado Hills; and Karen Castellano of The Flower Shop in Forest Lawn-Cypress.

Winners of the Student design competition on Sun., October 25 were: First Place - Carolyn Murillo, Mission College in Santa Clara; Second Place - Ivana Royse, Golden West College in Huntington Beach; Third Place - Nixon Tran, City College of San Francisco. Ivana Royse also won the People’s Choice Award.

This was one of the more “fun” CSFA “Calif Flora” weekends. I can hardly wait for 2010!

We received a letter on April 21, 2009 from historican/author Norma Yocum, who offered compliments on the handling in the Sending Flowers to America book of the relocation of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. Yocum, who has herself written about Los Angeles area early history, shared the story of her family’s much loved gardener, George Koba.

While Koba’s sisters and mother were in relocation camps, his wife was hospitalized with tuberculosis, leaving him to care for an infant daughter alone and somehow manage his gardening business at the same time. He and a few other Japanese in the San Gabriel Valley benefited from a delay in the evacuation order that would otherwise have sent them to a camp. Seeing his dilemma, Yocum volunteered to care for the child. The family agreed, and Yocum raised the child for the next several years as George Koba continued to work and until his family returned to their home. During those years, Norma Yocum exchanged many letters with the family during their stay in their camp.  “It is a long sad story” that Yocum included in the book she published called The Life and Times of Norma Yocum. She’s still in touch with that “child,” who today is a widowed grandmother.

This is one of countless stories of Americans working together with their Japanese employees and business colleagues and counterparts to help preserve their properties and businesses. A number of these heart-warming, poignant stories are shared in Sending Flowers to America. They are a gentle reminder of the joys and benefits of working together across cultural lines.

On April 2, a new 12,700-square-foot refrigeration unit opened at Los Angeles International Airport, making it the largest in any West Coast airport. The facility, built by Mercury Air Cargo, is expected to facilitate the expansion of California’s floral trade while reducing local consumers’ costs for flowers. It is located at Mercury’s Avion Drive cargo facility at LAX.

In his grand opening remarks, Los Angeles mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa said, “It’s good for business, it’s good for the environment, and it pushes Los Angeles closer towards a sustainable model of environmentally-conscious growth.”

The new unit will accommodate about 8,500 tons of perishable product from South America, doubling or tripling the current flow. Workers will be able to separate shipments and prepare product for direct distribution to retailers and supermarkets. The cost savings will be substantial when compared with shipping through Miami.

Look for LAX to become a new West Coast hub for the flower trade through this added capability.

Source: California Cut Flower Commission Grower Alert, 4/2/09