Diana Roy

When spring arrives, many opportunities for celebrating are at hand.

Dave Minbiole remembers quite clearly the early days of his produce career, when apples had a specific season and deals were reached while speaking in real time to another person, either face-to-face or on the phone.

The large Formosa variety of papayas growing in a plantation in Mexico.

HLB Specialties is ramping up its Mexican papaya deal with t

“We plant and flower breeders have the ability to control things that excite people,” said researcher David G. Clark at the opening of the Pest & Production Management Conference in Orlando, FL, in mid-February.

The University of Florida researcher was talking about the market potential for flowers and plant varieties cultivated for key consumer groups.

Research documenting the power of flowers is still going strong five years later. It got some powerful exposure in a popular women’s fashion magazine, which has an audited paid circulation of 1.7 million readers. In its January 2012 issue, InStyle magazine included “Surround yourself with flowers” on a checklist of tips to improve health and state of mind.