Florabundance Celebrates American Grown Flower Month Year-Round!

In 2015, Slow Flowers Society launched American Flowers Week (June 28-July 4). Debra Prinzing, founder of Slow Flowers Society, came up with the idea as an annual advocacy, education and outreach campaign to promote domestic and locally-grown flowers. About a year later, the California Cut Flower Commission launched an initiative that designated July as American Grown Flower Month – a time to celebrate American flower farms and growers. Florabundance procures 75% of the flowers we offer from local flower growers and multiple states around the country.

Florabundance is a family-owned, boutique wholesaler in the coastal village of Carpinteria. Due to the year-round Mediterranean climate and being surrounded by numerous flower growers, this makes it the perfect location for my business. In August of 1994, the business was started by 5 local flower growers who emigrated from the Netherlands and settled in the area during the late 70s and early 80s.

California is the top cut-flower-producing state, with flower farms producing approximately 75% of all cut flowers grown in the U.S. Favorable year-round temperatures, and the availability of agriculture zoned land brought in many foreign growers to California. Florida growers produce an estimated 70% of the cut foliage grown in the U.S. and smaller percentages of cut flowers are produced in Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Hawaii and more.

Insight on the Floral Industry

American consumers spend approximately $27 billion per year on floral products- especially around holidays and special events. While most consumers would prefer to buy locally grown flowers and foliage, only about 20% of the cut flowers and foliage sold and bought are from the United States.

In the last 25 years there has been many changes in the floral industry such as lower production costs, logistical innovation, and higher quality flowers being produced in South American countries. Particularly, rose breeders discovered that rose varieties grow at a higher quality and with larger heads in countries closer to the equator. About 80% of all the cut flowers sold in the U.S are imported – primarily from Colombia and Ecuador. Another reason why flower production has been exported is partly due to the energy crisis in the 80s. Increased oil prices forced many American growers, especially those in colder states, to either grow different crops or close their businesses. Lastly, airlines and logistical companies improved their service and made seasonal flowers readily available year-round.

Certified American Grown represents a diverse coalition of U.S. flower farms, including small and large entities in multiple states across the country. Certified American Grown flower farms participate in an independent, third-party supply-chain audit to verify both origin and assembly of the flowers. Florabundance received the Certified American Grown designation in 2019. Over the years, Florabundance has continued to streamline its operations to include a new website and wholesale floral consultants who have a history in the floral industry.

Things to Consider

Today, there is an increased awareness about supporting “local” goods and businesses, but I believe the key to success is a gradual increase in flower consumption so the entire industry benefits. However, there are many floral organizations and businesses in our country that are struggling to stay open. Here at Florabundance, one of our goals is to simply get people to buy more flowers. To do this, we buy flowers from American growers as well as from growers around the world. Recently, I have partnered with California Association of Flower Growers and Shippers on their national campaign “Flowers. Self care made easy”. CAFGS is a national non-profit committed to serving the floral trade and promoting the benefits of fresh flowers. I have served on the board since 2014 and am actively involved in new marketing projects with the organization.

The goal of the “Flowers. Self care made easy” campaign is to get people to enjoy flowers more by incorporating them as a form of self-care. The metrics and results from this campaign show that it has reached over 60 million consumers. With this campaign and our own efforts to promote flowers, I feel confident that more people will start supporting floral businesses once they notice how much joy flowers bring.