Technology bloomed in the massive exhibit hall at the International Floriculture Expo in Miami Beach, FL, last month. Booths were drawing curious groups of visitors to view time-lapse videos of tulips growing from bulbs to full flower in 90 seconds, 60-second videos in living color on the care and handling of spray roses, and a virtual decorating program that allowed guests to place virtual plants around a living room to see how they would look.

“It’s been a tough year. We’ve tried to keep our heads down and develop some new strategies. We’ve right-sized and re-thought our operations, and we’re going to reemerge at WF&FSA (the Wholesale Florist & Florist Distribution Association conference in Miami Oct. 24-26) with a new look-new products and a new marketing campaign.”

Delaware Valley Floral Group, one of the larger floral wholesalers in the United States, is getting a little bit larger. The 52-year-old company announced July 9 it has reached an agreement to purchase Way’s Greenhouses Inc. in Kennett Square, PA. Way’s started out as a grower more than a century ago and became a wholesale florist in the mid-1980s.

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.