Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

The Flower Fields (R) at Carlsbad (Palomar Road exit from I-5) are in full bloom right now until early May, attracting some 250,000 visitors in this short spring season. But this prolific growing area, that once shipped its flowers through the Los Angeles Flower Market daily, has not always been a tourist destination.

Ed Frazee recalled seeing ranunculus blooms for the first time as a child in 1922 when his uncle Earl nurtured them along with the English peas he tended for horticulturist Luther Gage on Gage’s Carlsbad farm. A few years later, the Frazees moved to Oceanside. In the moist evening air from the ocean and warm, sunlit days, Uncle Earl grew beautiful freesia bulbs on leased land. In 1932, he added his beloved ranunculus (see picture below). Uncle Earl’s flower business was blooming, so nephew Ed, at age 16, quit school to help.

Edwin Frazee became a great flower breeder. By the 1950s he had bred a superior ranunculus bulb with profuse petals known as doubles and expanded to the coastal slope at Carlsbad overlooking the ocean. By 1975, Ed retired and his sons John and Jim took over, moving north to Palomar Road to a former poinsettia field owned by the Paul Ecke family.

In the early 1990s, finding the operation less than cost effective, Jim asked Paul Ecke Jr to terminate his lease. But Paul Ecke Jr saw great potential and through the family’s Carltas Company and a loan from the California Coastal Conservancy kept the fields running until a joint venture with Mellano & Company, a long-time Southern California flower grower, took over the fields.

But the fields really needed the expert hand of Edwin Frazee, who had developed the exquisite ranuncula. Ed emerged from retirement to help beef up the operation, now branded as The Flower Fields. Today’s Flower Fields grow ranunculus as far as the eye can see, as well as gladiolus, watsonia, sparaxis (Wandflower), Oxalis (Blooming Shamrock), babiana and tritonia, which are supplied to nurseries everywhere. Most of all, the flowers represent the love that Ed Frazee has for the flowers he grew up with.

We should note that The Flower Fields is a wonderful example of a public - private partnership in action, one which has become a successful regional tourist attraction.

But it’s only open March 15 - May 15, so hurry on down the I-5 to Palomar Airport Road exit. Weekends are best, with activities for the kids, art and crafts fairs and wagon rides through the flowers. Remember to take your camera. See http://theflowerfields.com for more details.

Excerpted from The Bloomin’ News, March 2003 - http://bloominnews.com

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 .

A somewhat “miscellaneous” category, Roundabout is our way of having an online coffee clatch. We’ll tell you who we ran into last week at the Flower Market (or in the grocery story) or who called with flower news…

Hey, that reminds me of last week’s call from the Costa Mesa lady who wanted to order a copy of Sending Flowers to America - for her neighbor, Bill Polder, whose family operated the Polder Ranch in Montebello, CA nearly 100 years ago. And the flowers there were gorgeous! We’ve got pictures in the book, of course (Sending Flowers to America - see http://flowermarkethistory.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

Ginger

We’re working on building a flowers category here, where we’ll present some “fresh” flowers for you on occasion. Be sure to check for the “Fantastic Flowers” category from time to time. Surveys show that flowers keep us motivated, mentally in tune and happy.  (To the left is my photo of fresh Ginger, taken at the L.A. Flower Market in February ‘09.)

Glorious golden mini-callas!

These are mini-calla lilies, photographed last week in the Los Angeles Flower Market. The mini-calla was developed in the 1940s by Gebhard Prechtl on his Montebello, California flower farm. You’ll find them a-plenty on the sales floor of the LA Flower Market, open to the public from 8 to 10 a.m. Monday-Saturday ($2 admission).

City Gardens, aSan Pedro Street nursery.

In the early days in Los Angeles, that is, after statehood in 1850, the climate and fond memories of “back home” quickly fostered the growth of the nursery and flower industry. City leaders wanted to beautify the streets. New residents wanted to enhance their sparse, dusty yards - even if it meant watering with dirty bath water from the house or toting buckets of water from a nearby canal. Southern California was a blank canvas eager to have color and texture applied.

Getting seeds from the East could take weeks or months, so the arrival of nurserymen and plantsmen, who established the garden centers and nurseries in what is now the Fashion District of Los Angeles, was a welcome happening.

Both Main Street and South San Pedro Street became settings for large garden centers that became popular among the area’s residents as they designed their gardens and planted shrubs and trees. Ozro W. Childs’ success with his nursery just east of Main Street encouraged him in 1857 to partner with W. Huber in the Los Angeles Nursery and Fruit Garden. There, Childs introduced new fruits, nuts, flowering shrubs and cut flowers from Europe and South America. The center quickly became a tourist attraction, with many residents making their way in horse-drawn wagons to the city’s central business district every weekend.

Research tells us there were numerous plantsmen in the area very early on. In 1855, William B. Osborne advertised his new shipment of roses and lilacs from the East. In the 1880s-1890s, South San Pedro Street was home to Thomas A. Garey’s 72-acre nursery and Mrs. H. Shaw’s 35 acres of fields and nursery. (Our photo above shows the entrance to the City Gardens, started in 1874 at the corner of Eighth and San Pedro streets.) The nursery operations of horticulturists Jacob Dieterich, Louis Stengel and Eugene Germain all continued into the twentieth century.

What a wonderful opportunity the area offered for anyone with business or plant knowledge, a few resources and an enterprising spirit!

Source: Sending Flowers to America, http://flowermarkethistory.com/

Excellent! You found the Southern California history blog with a focus on flowers.  You’ve caught us at the very modest start of what we’re sure will be a fascinating journey. So come along and enjoy the ride with us… explore the categories, post comments, get involved and let us hear from you!