The Mayo Clinic celebrates its 150th anniversary this year and to express the spirit of hope and healing through the beauty of nature, it is featuring the Mayo Clinic Flower of Hope at its locations, a bright yellow hybrid Coreopsis “Electric Avenue” by ItSaul Plants in Alpharetta, GA, according to a news release.

Cultivate ’14, AmericanHort’s convention and trade show, is slated for July 12-15 in Columbus, OH, and includes educational programs, design contests, tours, exhibitors, workshops, and networking events for horticulture and floral professionals.

The Plantscape Institute of America will also hold its Plantscape Industry Expo in conjunction with Cultivate ‘14. The event will be known as PIA@Cultivate ‘14 by AmericanHort, according to an association news release.

The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation was created in 2011 with the distribution of 10,000 roses at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day to honor those who willingly put their lives on the line for us. Most of us have family members who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

It just seemed logical that we in the flower industry would use our resources to show respect for not only those who have served, but also to recognize the sacrifices made by their families.

NEW ORLEANS — Supermarket floral industry professionals gathered, here, for the 2014 International Floriculture Expo June 10-13. Over 170 exhibitors, 210 buyers and a total of over 1,350 visitors filled the 68,000 square feet of the Morial Convention Center to participate in educational seminars, see new products, learn about the state of the industry and conduct business.

With the acquisition of houseplant producer Hermann Engelmann Greenhouses in Apopka, FL, Costa Farms grew to 9,507,300 square feet of greenhouses and rose to No. 3 on Greenhouse Growers Top 100 Growers in 2014 (up from fifth place in 2013), ranked by total square footage of environmentally controlled greenhouse space.

I have just returned from New Orleans after attending the 2014 International Floriculture Expo and my head is still spinning. It was a very impressive, well-organized and energetic trade show and many great industry connections were made. In this edition we tell you about some of what took place when floral buyers and suppliers came together to do business, learn, network and celebrate.