The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers is one busy organization. In fact, it would be hard to find another group in the floral industry this busy — from national conferences to quarterly Grower Intensive meetings to Growers’ Schools for beginning growers, plus an amazing magazine, The Cut Flower Quarterly, a research foundation, variety trials, a scholarship program, and a grower grant program — you get the picture.

Attendees at the ASCFG California Grower Intensive gather for a group photo in the colorful Gerbera house at Kitayama Bros. in Watsonville, CA.This year the ASCFG is putting on four Grower Intensive meetings. These meetings are set up as educational conferences to carry out the ASCFG mission of “growing growers.” On March 23-24, the ASCFG hosted a meeting in the epicenter of the U.S. cut flower world — San Jose, CA.

ASCFG Grower Intensive meetings are just that — intensive. The first day was packed full of educational sessions, with presentations by growers from California to Alaska and beyond.

• Diana Roy from Resendiz Bros. gave a fascinating presentation on production of proteas, leucodendrons and other South African cut flowers in southern California.

• Tom Heaton from NuFlowers, breeder of the popular ProCut series of sunflowers, showed us some glimpses of the future of this great crop — doubles, whites, even pink sunflowers.

• Tom Wikstrom from Happy Trowels Farm in Utah showed us that cut flower production is possible in the unlikely location of the high desert of Ogden.

• Other excellent presentations covered organic production, soil health and starting a new flower business from scratch.

• Perhaps the star of the show was Rita Jo Shoultz from Alaska Perfect Peony. Peony production in Alaska is really taking off and Alaska growers are able to provide peonies late in the season, long after growers in the continental 48 states are finished. Rita Jo is one of the pioneers of this new industry, and she is an engaging and entertaining speaker. Imagine having peonies in August and even September and you can understand why folks are excited about Alaska.

The following day we took to the road south of San Jose to some of the area’s top growers. Heading down the Santa Clara Valley, the cherry orchards were in full bloom as we pulled into Gilroy.

• Headstart Nursery, in Gilroy, is a major producer of young plant material for both floral and vegetable growers. They produce millions of plugs for the floral industry nationwide.

• Equally impressive was the next stop in Watsonville at Continental Floral Greens. Perched on a hilltop near Monterey Bay, they grow acres of cut fern, ivy, willows, eucalyptus and hydrangea. Continental Floral has operations that stretch from California to Texas and Florida.

• The next stop at Kitayama Bros. in Watsonville was pure eye candy. Imagine having lunch in a sunlit greenhouse surrounded by an acre of multi-colored gerberas in full bloom. The colors were like opening a new box of crayons. To top that off, we stepped from the gerbera house directly into a house full of blooming gardenias — sensory overload.

• The last stop was Golden State Bulb Co. in Moss Landing. Golden State is one of the world leaders in calla production. They were gearing up for the April Pack Trials, and their display greenhouses were just coming into bloom. Even more impressive were the massive, climate-controlled warehouses where they store millions of calla bulbs for both cut flower and greenhouse potted plant growers. If you are growing or selling cut and potted callas, there’s a good chance they started at Golden State.

Seeing these growers and listening to the talks was a good reminder that there is a strong and growing domestic cut flower industry. The ASCFG now has over 800 members and that number is growing every day. Grower members range in size from small farmer-florist urban growers to West Coast producers with hundreds of acres. It takes a big tent to cover all the interests but they have one thing in common — an excitement about flowers and a willingness to share information. Few other industries would share their stories or open up their doors to others like the growers did on this ASCFG trip. You could say that going to an ASCFG conference is more like a family reunion than an industry meeting.

For more information about the ASCFG, contact Judy Laushman at 440-774-2887 or ascfg.org.

Frank Arnosky is owner at Texas Specialty Cut Flowers in Wimberley, TX, and president of ASCFG. He can be contacted at [email protected].