Petals of Appreciation

This article is a reprint of “Petals of Appreciation” authored by Debra Prinzing, Founder of Slow Flowers Society. Florabundance is a longtime Slow Flowers Society Member and supports their mission of Inspiring the floral industry and its consumers to embrace local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers.

Santa Barbara in bloom.

Florabundance throws a flower party to celebrate its 30th Anniversary.

Long-time wholesale florist, Joost Bongaerts, is a man with a mission: to put more flowers in the hands of more consumers, more of the time. Joost and the Florabundance team wanted to signify the company’s 30th anniversary by infusing their community with beautiful blooms. They brainstormed “Petals of Appreciation,” a huge floral production staged in late July at prominent locations around Santa Barbara, California, and the nearby communities of Summerland, Montecito, and Carpinteria, where the company is based.

Inspired by other large outdoor floral installations around the country, Florabundance teamed up with American flower growers and volunteer designers (all long-time customers) to create botanical displays for high foot-traffic areas. The six floral installations beautified public spaces including Santa Barbara’s popular dolphin fountain. The teams designed their installations using flowers and foliage donated by 30 farms.

Founded in 1994, Florabundance has grown to become a full-service wholesaler serving customers across the U.S. As Joost pointed out, “We’ve always had about 70 percent of our flowers procured from U.S. flower farms.” As a Slow Flowers member, Florabundance works closely with growers in California and beyond.

This event was our way of saying thank you to the community that has supported us for so long and raising awareness about the incredible benefits of buying and receiving fresh-cut flowers.

The festivities highlighted the importance of the flower industry and encouraged the public to support local growers. “I thought it would be great to shed light on the fact that flowers are good for you, that science has proven that everybody should buy flowers on a weekly and daily basis, which ties in with our goal of increasing flower consumption in the U.S., and That Flower Feeling and Slow Flowers are part of that effort,” Joost said.

Volunteers from the Dream Foundation handed out 7,000 stems of California-grown gerbera daisies to passersby at each of the installations. Following the event, all flowers used in the installations were donated to the Dream Foundation’s Flower Empower program, spreading more joy across the community.

FLORABUNDANCE
WEBSITE INSTAGRAM

DREAM FOUNDATION
WEBSITE

THAT FLOWER FEELING
WEBSITE

LOCATIONS AND PARTICIPATING FLORISTS

Carpinteria: Arts Center
Created by Dirt Botanicals & PacWest Blooms

Summerland: Porch Bus Stop
Designed by Porch

Montecito: Upper Village
(San Ysidro Pharmacy)
Arranged by Hogue & Co.

Montecito: Coast Village Road
(Renaud’s and Richie’s)
Floral design by Hogue & Co.

Santa Barbara: Maritime Museum
Crafted by Jenn Sanchez Floral Design

Santa Barbara: Cabrillo Blvd
(Dolphin Fountain)
Designed by Nicole Chapman Design

FLOWER DONATIONS

A&M; Alexandra Farms; Aspen; Best Miami Growers; CamFlor Inc.; Central California Flower Growers; Coastal Floral; Continental Floral; Continental Flowers; East Texas Smilax; Endow; Eufloria; Floriway; Fisher Farms; Fresca Farms; Gladaway; Golden State Flowers; Green Point; Green Valley Farms; Greenwell; Gro Flowers; Groot in Flowers; Holex; Island View; Joseph & Sons; Mellano & Co.; Mobi’s; Myriad; New Zealand Bloom; Ocean Breeze; Resendez Brothers; Rosaprima International; Sun Valley Farm; and Westerlay Orchids

View the Original Article – pages 18-21