Memorial Day is right around the corner and the floral industry continues its support for the special tribute created by the Memorial Day Flowers Foundation. This marks the sixth consecutive year that the MDFF will place flowers on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery and give bouquets to family and friends paying respect to loved ones. During this “flowers for the remembered and the remembering,” 140,000 roses will be placed and handed out at ANC and 3,000 bouquets will be given to families and to 200 volunteers upon leaving the cemetery.

Four additional national cemeteries will also be given roses and bouquets — Presidio in San Francisco; Miramar in San Diego; Washington Crossing in Newtown, PA; and Arizona in Phoenix. And across the country over 200 florists will participate in events in their local communities.

In addition, Ocean View Flowers in Lompoc, CA, is donating 300 bouquets to Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors’ children to place on the grave of a lost parent. The Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association is providing 100 kits of Memorial Day Flowers banners and handouts to its wholesale florist members to give to their retail florists, and another 100 retail customers of Mayesh Wholesale and Kennicott Bros. will also receive kits.

All of this is made possible through the generous industry support of WF&FSA, ProEcuador, Ascolflores, CalFlowers, SoleFarms, The Queen’s Flowers, Armellini Logistics, Cargo Master, Centurian Cargo, Avianca, Ball SB, Chrysal, EspritMiami, JetFresh, Dona Natalie, Glamour, Flores Verdes, Greenrose, Golden Flowers, Flor Eloy, Ecuatorian Flower, Kometsales, United Airlines, and FedEx. Google, EMC2, TD Bank, Squire Patton Boggs, and Suntrust Bank have also committed to sponsor ANC Sections this year.

Memorial Day Flowers utilizes flowers to honor those who have served and to connect retailers to their communities. To watch how this happens, here is the link to the 2015 ANC event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWj2ePuwh1U.

The program is inclusive to those both inside and outside our industry. If you’d like to be involved, contact [email protected].

Ramiro (Robin) Peñaherrera is an American flower grower in Ecuador and co-director at the Memorial Day Flowers Foundation. He can be contacted at [email protected].