“Whoa — are those real? Those colors are unbelievable — let’s buy ‘em.” California consumer bunches — especially sunflowers — create “wow” moments like this in grocery store floral departments around the country every day. Clients tell us that floral customers are always attracted to and crave the new and the different.

This California mixed bouquet combines brilliant sunflowers with colorful fillers and will attract customers’ attention in your floral center.We’ve noticed that home improvement store ads, home décor channels and catalogs, and pictures of special events like holidays, weddings, graduations and anniversaries often feature sunflowers. Why? Because sunflowers are an unexpected pleasure that bring something compelling to the mix — an instant design and décor power.

Dos Gringos started growing sunflowers in Carlsbad, CA, in 1988 and at that time we shipped strictly to the traditional wholesale or the bouquet assembler channel throughout the U.S. and Canada. In the early 1990s, bouquet assemblers were really starting to move volume, and by the mid-90s we were making consumer bunches ourselves and selling them directly to a few grocery store chains. As the year 2000 approached, a grocery store asked us to combine three consumer bunches into a bouquet and we still offer that today — it’s called the “Pacific Sunset” and it contains red sunflowers, cattails, Safari Sunset Leucadendron, and eucalyptus.

California sunflowers are our signature item but they aren’t without challenges —they’re too heavy to air ship and they’re too finicky to withstand temperature fluctuations. So we’ve invested in or developed new technologies in transportation, packaging, and temperature control, in order to deliver a wide variety of sunflower shapes, sizes, textures and colors.

In addition, if a bunch of sunflowers on its own is stunning — how about surrounding them with unique, intriguing fillers and foliage native to South Africa and Australia, but grown in California? Think about Pumpkin Tree, millet, hanging pepper berry, Protea, Broomcorn, pincushions (scabiosa), ranunculus, stock and waxflower; plus the greens of eucalyptus, Safari Sunset, myrtle, and boxwood. You start adding these in any combination to farm-fresh sunflowers and you’ve got countless combinations of attractive, cost-effective options on your shelves. Plus, Dos Gringos continues to research new varieties and combos that can retail for under $5 — adding even more “wow” to your floral department.

Jason Levin is president at Dos Gringos in Vista, CA. He can be contacted at [email protected].