Donna Vis was driving by a ranch in Ventura County in California that was going out of business a few months back when she saw some old terra cotta pots sitting out in a field, for sale like most other items at the farm. She bought them, all 500,000 of them. When she told her husband and co-owner of River Ranch Farms in Oxnard, CA, Rudy Vis, he was a little skeptical at first.

Zespri announced the launch of its newest kiwifruit variety grown in New Zealand called SunGold, a hybrid of the Green and Gold varieties, which grows to a larger size than either variety.

Once a little-known tree, the Fraser fir is becoming America’s favorite Christmas tree. Each year, North Carolina Christmas tree growers harvest $85 million worth of Christmas trees, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 90 percent of them are Fraser firs. They are shipped to all 50 states, Canada, Japan, Mexico and other points all over the world. North Carolina now ranks second in the nation in Christmas tree production.

The outlook for holiday greens growers and shippers is optimistic, I believe. It appears that our economy will slowly continue to improve and consumers will stay with the traditional customs of Christmas and decorate with fresh and fragrant greens.

Colors and designs will change, but the aroma of fresh cut holiday greens will always be a reminder of a once-a-year gathering of family and friends for a joyous holiday season. In good times and bad, this is one tradition that has always prevailed.

There are three important things to know about holiday floral selling (and real estate): location, location, location! You will be selling a lot of plants and arrangements for Thanksgiving and Christmas and you need the real estate in the store to do it. Start planning early with your store management teams to create the space needed to display all your holiday products to your guests.

A Philadelphia Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. customer has won a rose-naming contest that drew 16,000 entries, receiving a bouquet of orange roses, a new variety she named Tangelic — combining tangerine, the color of the rose, with what she described as an angelic appearance. She also won $5,000 in grocery gift cards.