Growers are always looking for ways to cut costs, and a new product at Clearwater Nursery Inc., has streamlined both production and shipping costs for the Nipomo, CA, firm. Called the Garden Trio, the new product is easier to produce, lighter to ship and requires less store preparation to display.

Steven Medeiros, sales and marketing executive at Clearwater, said the Garden Trio is “a win-win for us, the grower, and for supermarkets because it weighs less, costs less to ship and requires no special preparation for store display.”

Town hall-style membership meetings will be held in August in three major flower growing areas of California as part of a new outreach effort to the 600 members of NORCAL, the California Association of Flower Growers & Shippers. Carol Caggiano, a floral designer, design instructor and commentator, will speak at each session on emerging industry issues.

“Let the Sunshine In” booming in the background might inspire a flower child who came of age in the 1960s to buy a sunflower bouquet. For those who were teenagers in the 1950s, it might be Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” that inspires them to buy a gardenia corsage. Fast-forward to teens of the 1990s, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing “Under the Bridge” could prompt them to buy a brightly dyed bouquet.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas to folks at the National Christmas Tree Association as rosy scenarios roll in on sales of real trees for the 2012 holiday season. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Rick Dungey, spokesman for the 5,000-member organization with headquarters in Chesterfield, MO.

ANAHEIM, CA — An estimated crowd of more than 1,200 packed the aisles of the Southern California Expo of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council on July 17 at the Disneyland Hotel, here. A capacity crowd of 171 exhibitors occupied all booth space on the show floor. Carissa Mace, head of the council, said that heavy advance registration and a high number of walk-ins the day of the show led to the near-record numbers.

BRIGHTON, CO — With 67 years of farming under his belt, Bob Sakata has seen weather conditions range hit the extremes. This year, he said, Colorado is coming off the “lowest snowpack in history,” and growers remain in the throes of drought.

But at his office in Brighton, the well-respected founder of Sakata Farms said better conditions last fall and good farming practices this year are allowing both the onion crop and the sweet corn to do well.