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In This Issue ...
- That Flower Feeling Wins ADDY® Marketing Award
- A Whole New World
- Bloom Together WF&FSA After Party
- 80,000 Tulips to Illuminate San Francisco’s Union Square on American Tulip Day in Celebration of International Women's Day
- 2023 WUMFA Annual Convention
- 2023 Member Appreciation Meeting
- AFE - Scholarships in Floriculture and Horticulture
- Transportation Updates
- Welcome New CalFlowers Members
2023 Events:
Great Lakes Floral & Event Expo 2023 - "A Whole New World"
March 3 - 5, 2023
DeVos Place
Grand Rapids, MI
2023 Floral Distribution Conference - "The Future in Blooms"
March 6 - 8, 2023
The Doral
Miami, FL
WUMFA - "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
March 17 - 19, 2023
Radisson Hotel & Conference Center
Green Bay, WI
43rd Annual SAF Congressional Action Days
March 20 - 21, 2023
Washington, DC
Texas Floral Expo 2023 - "Emersion"
June 23 - 25, 2023
Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center
Slow Flowers Summit
June 26 - 27, 2023
Bellevue Botanical Garden Bellevue, WA
AIFD - "Grow"
Hilton Chicago
July 1 - 5, 2023
Chicago, IL
CalFlowers "Member Appreciation" Meeting
Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel
August 18, 2023
San Diego, CA
SAF "Phoenix 2023"
The Westin Kierland
Resort & Spa
September 6-9, 2023
Phoenix, AZ
Latest Legislation
Updates:
Click Here to read the latest Legislative updates.
Is a cooperative effort to get more Americans enjoying more flowers, more often. From upscale florists, farmers markets or grocery stores — as long as people are bringing home flowers regularly, that’s good enough for us.
We want everyone to experience the impact of flowers on a daily basis. They’re a beautiful, natural dose of feel-good, so why should they be reserved for special occasions?
Even the most modest bouquet of flowers can have all sorts of positive short and long term effects on how we feel — in other words, it’s that flower feeling.
Click Here and request access to all of the FREE Assets That Flower Feeling has to offer.
FLOWERS.
SELF CARE MADE EASY.
Self care has become a lot of work. You gotta pamper, practice mindfulness, balance life and work, and be awesome at all of them. Flowers on the other hand are self care made easy. They won't replace working out or eating well. But they're a spiritual tune-up. So treat yourself to a little off-the-shelf self care.
CalFlowers Featured
"New Member" Spotlights
To see all of our past Featured "New Member" Spotlight stories Click Here.
If your company would like to be a featured "New Member", please contact Monnaie Pepin for more details.
Past CalFlowers Newsletters
Click Here to view past CalFlowers Newsletters now available on our website.
CalFlowers News
Our goal is to communicate with our members and interested parties on a monthly basis about recent, past, and upcoming events, program updates, and general information about CalFlowers engagement in the industry on behalf of the membership.
If you have an announcement or story you think our members should see, contact Monnaie Pepin, Director of Communications, Events and Administration.
2022 - 2023
Membership Directory Available Online
To purchase additional printed copies of the 2022 - 2023 Membership Directory please Contact Jordan Richardson.
For Members Only Access
Click Here for a quick reference guide on how to log into the members only site.
CalFlowers
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Visit the CalFlowers Facebook page
Check in for news, upcoming events, photos, and topical items.
Click below to find us on:
@Calflowers_association
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That Flower Feeling Wins ADDY® Marketing Award
 CalFlowers is proud to announce that their nationally-scaled, consumer-direct marketing initiative – That Flower Feeling – has been selected for a coveted ADDY® award.
The annual American Advertising Awards (Commonly called the ADDY Awards) is the world’s largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes, and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world.
That Flower Feeling is a new brand, established by CalFlowers but designed to represent the entire U.S. floriculture industry. TFF’s first marketing campaign, ‘Flowers. Self care made easy’, was launched in January 2022 across major social media and digital audio platforms.
The campaign to date has engaged consumers over 65 million times, and post-campaign market analytics show that consumers exposed to the campaign demonstrated an 8% shift towards ‘intent to purchase flowers in the next 30 days'. The goal of the campaign is not only to increase per-capita consumption in the U.S. market, but also to promote everyday (non-holiday) enjoyment of cut flowers by pushing them into the popular ‘self care’ cultural trend.
Click Here to watch video.
In November, That Flower Feeling also won an Epica award.  Epica awards are not submitted, they are selected by global marketing industry media. That Flower Feeling’s co-winners in its category were Burberry’s of London and LVMH (Louis Vuitton).
Both the ADDY® and Epica awards are high-prestige, and for a newly established brand this represents a pinnacle of success.
CalFlowers has established That Flower Feeling Foundation. Companies from across the globe, in all industry segments, are voluntarily contributing funding to the Foundation to keep our industry’s consumer-direct marketing effort in front of American consumers. Please visit our funding page to find out how YOU can make a difference in expanding the floral industry for all and delivering the joy of fresh flowers to more American consumers!
A Whole New World
By Brenda Sterk CF, Eastern Floral and 2023 GLFEE Chair
I would like to formally invite you to join us for the 2023 GLFEE “A Whole New World.” The convention will be held at the Devos Place from March 3-5. We have some amazing things planned for you this year that will help you experience this whole new world in the floral industry.
Friday starts with two all-day sessions to choose from. Both hands- on and business sessions are sure to help us navigate this whole new world. Whether you want to learn about creating event work, arches, and backdrops with Jackie Lacey or how to run a business that does not run you with Bob Negen, we’ve got something for everyone. Don’t forget to come back for the Mix and Mingle at the end of the night! I don’t want to give away all the details but you will have a great time mingling with both old and new friends plus we’ve got some pretty great ideas for this party.
Saturday we have more training from Bob Negen with Whizbang! Retail training. He will be teaching us how to write our company’s vision, Easy, inexpensive, and incredibly effective ways to get new customers, and mining diamonds in your own backyard. We will also have hands-on classes taught by some of the industry leaders like Jenny Thomasson AAF, AIFD, CFD, EMC, PFCI, Patience Pickner AIFD, CFD, PFCI, SDCF, Ace Berry AIFD, CFD, PFCI, TMF, and Andrew Stinson AIFD, CFD. We have everything from weddings to sympathy. We’ll also have stage shows all day with incredible designers such as William Santos, Helen Miller AIFD, CFD, CAFA, Derek Woodruff AAF, AIFD, CF, CFD, PFCI, and Jackie Lacey AAF, AIFD, CFD, PFCI. Don’t forget about the designer of the year run-off and the President’s Reception and Awards Banquet on Saturday night too.
Sunday is another day packed with hands-on workshops, business sessions, the trade show, and the GLFA Annual Meeting and Luncheon with keynote speaker Bob Negen.
It is so hard to include everything in this short article. What I can tell you is that you will love every minute of this Expo. I look forward to seeing you, in person, where we can show you “A Whole New World”!
Click Here for complete details and online registration!
Bloom Together WF&FSA after party: The floral industry’s largest collaboration of its kind
For the third consecutive year, Above All Flowers and New Bloom Solutions will host the official “Bloom Together After Party” in collaboration with WF&FSA’s Floral Distribution Conference, which is on the first day of the convention, March 6, 2023, at 7 p.m. EST. This year, the event will take place at The Doral Yard, which is conveniently located very close to the convention and is set in a beautiful tropical setting.
“At Above All Flowers and New Bloom Solutions, we believe that collaboration builds community, and this can help the entire industry bloom now and in the future, just like the WFFSA (FDC)’s theme this year, “The Future In Bloom”.
“We are excited to collaborate with our network and the floral community for the third year to show the industry that we can come together in support of collaboration and networking while celebrating the entire floral community and flower industry within Doral, the City of Flowers,” said Sahid Nahim, co-founder of Above All Flowers and New Bloom Solutions.
We are happy to announce that the new Mayor of the City of Doral, Mayor Christi Fraga, will be in attendance and will say a few words.
The entire floral industry community is invited to this after-party, which will include live music by Oigo, a local Miami band, free beer by Tripping Animals, wine or the event’s signature cocktail, fun games like Dominoes, Bingo, and Corn Hole, prizes, and let’s not forget the pizza bites by Barbakoa. Please drink responsibly and don’t drink and drive.
Our company mission and vision revolve around collaboration and connections, so we want to thank each one of the 42+ contributors and collaborators who are making this event possible.
The contributions of $175 per collaborator will be used towards hosting this entire event, and a portion of the contributions will go to the FSFAI Scholarship Foundation and to Seed Your Future. Last year, this collaborative event was able to donate $600 to FSFAI, and this year we aim to do the same or better.
Click Here to sign up and get your tickets.
80,000 Tulips to Illuminate San Francisco’s Union Square on American Tulip Day in Celebration of International Women's Day
Tulips to return to the city on March 4,
presented by Royal Anthos
On March 4, 2023, American Tulip Day is returning to San Francisco. Union Square will be transformed by 80,000 American-grown tulips, grown from Dutch bulbs, in honor of International Women’s Day. The public is invited to come and pick a free bouquet of tulips for themselves or as a gift to a woman who has inspired them this past year.
Presented by Royal Anthos, tulips in countless colors and varieties will take over San Francisco’s iconic Union Square on Saturday, March 4. “We are so excited to be back in San Francisco for our popular American Tulip Day,” says Henk Westerhof, President of Royal Anthos. “A bouquet of tulips is the perfect way to honor the extraordinary women who inspire us every day. Tulips symbolize unconditional love, new beginnings, and charity.”
 The Mayor of San Francisco, London N. Breed, and the President of Royal Anthos, Henk Westerhof, will open the ceremony at 12:00 pm. At that time, Westerhof will present a bouquet of tulips to the Mayor named after her. “The Dutch people are grateful for the strong relationship with the City of San Francisco. To thank the city and the mayor for receiving Dutch Queen Maxima in September 2022, we will name a special tulip after Mayor London Breed and gift Dutch tulips to Bay Area residents,” said Consul-General Dirk Janssen.
 “Tulip Day brings so much color and joy to Union Square. I can’t think of a more spectacular way to welcome spring than picking a bouquet of tulips in San Francisco’s iconic public plaza,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg.
“Science confirms that flowers make us happy and promote compassion and kindness for others. Seeing the joy on thousands of people’s faces is so powerful. There is nothing else like the feeling American Tulip Day brings,” exclaims Peggy Anne Montgomery from Garden Media Group. “Tulips are the perfect way to honor women and spread the joy that only fresh flowers can bring. We hope it will become a new tradition to share a bouquet of tulips with the special women in our lives on International Women’s Day.”
- When: March 4, 2023, 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm; open to the public. Opening ceremony and press preview begin at 12:00 pm with presentation of tulips to Mayor Breed.
- What: Pick up to 15 tulips and build your own bouquet or one to share with a woman who has inspired you in honor of International Women’s Day. As always, access to the tulip garden in Union Square is free, and so are the flowers.
- Where: San Francisco’s Union Square (conveniently located near the Powell Street BART station). A large turnout is expected; attendees are encouraged to use public transportation.
- Press Preview: Begins at noon on March 4. Accredited press may schedule an interview with bulb growers, and/or government officials. Press wanting to attend, RSVP to: peggyanne@gardenmediagroup.com.
- Press Passes: Will be given out on Post Street behind the main stage.
- Press Kit: A press kit containing a wide selection of event images, logos, and videos that can be used as b-roll can be provided. All images are provided royalty-free when citing FlowerBulbs.com as the source.
- Accessible Entrance: A special entrance at the corner of Geary Street and Powell Street will be available for visitors with disabilities.
American Tulip Day 2023 is presented by Royal Anthos with support from San Francisco Recreation and Parks and the Union Square Business Improvement District.
Why promote flowers:
- Fresh flowers promote innovation, creativity, and productivity.
- The presence of flowers triggers overall positive emotional health with general life satisfaction, delight, and gratitude.
- Flowers reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, and agitation.
- Flowers provide comfort due to an inherent tendency of humans to be drawn to nature.
- Flowers boost the well-being and general health of senior citizens.
To find more information and inspiring videos, visit FlowerBulbDay.com. #AmericanTulipDay #FlowerBulbDay
Royal Anthos is a Dutch trade organization that represents the trade companies in flower bulbs and nursery stock products worldwide. For more information, visit www.anthos.org.
Garden Media Group specializes in the home, garden, horticulture, outdoor-living, lawn and landscape industries. They offer innovative PR campaigns designed to secure top media placements and partnerships with traditional and social media. For gardening tips, new product announcements, and PR and marketing tips, visit www.gardenmediagroup.com.
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department
The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department currently manages more than 220 parks, playgrounds and open spaces throughout San Francisco, including two outside city limits – Sharp Park in Pacifica and Camp Mather in the High Sierras. The system includes full-complex recreation centers, swimming pools, golf courses, sports fields and numerous small-to-medium-sized clubhouses that offer a variety of sports- and arts-related recreation programs for people of all ages. Included in the Department’s responsibilities are Golden Gate Park, Coit Tower, the Marina Yacht Harbor, the San Francisco Zoo and Lake Merced. In 2017, San Francisco became the first city in the nation where all residents have access to a park within a 10-minute walk, a direct result of the Department’s commitment to increasing and improving parkland in the city. Learn more at: sfrecpark.org
For more information or high-res images, please contact:
Peggy Anne Montgomery peggyanne@gardenmediagroup.com,
Bridget Langan bridget@gardenmediagroup.com,
or call 610-444-3040
2023 WUMFA Annual Convention
By Joe Whitehouse – Evergreen Florist, Appleton, WI and WUMFA Annual Convention Chair.
It’s time once again to look forward to the Wisconsin & Upper Michigan Floral Association’s annual convention! While March in the Great Lakes means weeks of gray weather for most, florists can look forward to a weekend of education, networking, and floral fun. This year’s theme, a playful take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, plans to transport attendees to a magical world where everyone else is just as passionate about flowers as you are!
As always, this year’s schedule features plenty of fantastic opportunities to learn about the newest floral trends and techniques with hands-on workshops and presentations from high-caliber floral professionals like Derek Woodruff AAF, AIFD, CFD, CF, PFCI, Deborah De La Flor AIFD, PFCI, Garrett Skupinski CF, John Hosek AIFD, CF, CFD, PFCI, Patience Pickner AIFD, CFD, PFCI, SDCF, Jackie Lacey AAF, AIFD, CF, PFCI, Ace Berry AIFD, CFD, PFCI, TMF, and Doug Jaeger CF. In addition to covering the newest design trends, there will also be plenty of business sessions to help demystify the financial side of things and take your shop to the next level.
The Trade Show will be available to peruse between workshops and presentations - a perfect opportunity to fawn over the beautiful product offered by our wonderful wholesale partners and sponsors! This year will also feature our Live Auction on Sunday afternoon, back by popular demand. This fast-paced event at the end of the weekend is your chance to bid on the product we’re all eyeing at wondrous prices. If you’re not one to go for the annual Raffle or Silent Auction, be sure to participate in this exciting opportunity!
Just be sure to be at the main stage in time for everyone’s favorite live sports event: The Wisconsin Professional Designer of the Year Final Competition. 2023 will also see the return of our Floral Feud competition, which puts florist against florist in a Family Feud style game of wits, a great way to bond, network, and just have fun with your floral friends and colleagues!
As you can see, this March is sure to bring plenty of opportunities to bring yourself to the next level as an artist and business owner. So don’t let the gray skies and rainy days get you down, let yourself be whisked away by the fairies to the magical land of WUMFA’s Annual Convention and find out just how much magic can be made with your floral friends.
Click Here to learn more.
2023 Member Appreciation Meeting
AFE - Scholarships in Floriculture and Horticulture
Awarding scholarships for floriculture and horticulture students is a primary function of AFE. We understand the financial burden students face and are doing our part to help! AFE has more than 30 scholarships that are awarded each year, ranging from $500 – $5,000. We are excited to support you...our next generation of industry leaders. Click Here to download the AFE Scholarship flyer.
To apply for any of our scholarships you must...
- Be pursuing a career in or related to FLORICULTURE or HORTICULTURE.
- Be a CITIZEN OR RESIDENT OF THE U.S. OR CANADA or be enrolled in an accredited educational institution in the U.S. or Canada.
- Have a minimum 2.0 grade point average.
A few reminders:
- FedEx has reinstated the Money Back Guarantee (MBG) for CalFlowers’ members for Priority and Standard Overnight only. however, keep in mind, delays due to hazardous or disruptive weather are not eligible for shipping credits. Remember also that the MBG is not automatic. You need to request in on the website www.fedex.com.
- As of late, we have seen a rise in incorrect invoicing due lack of box dims being listed on the waybill. As a best practice, be sure to indicate the box dimensions on your booking/waybill as this will help if there is a dispute regarding the size of your box and ultimately your invoice.
- I have also seen an increase in incorrect billing mainly due to scanning errors creating incorrect box sizes and/or logging incorrect weights making the invoice typically higher than expected. To inquire, contact the FedEx billing dept (800-622-1147) and have them open a file/case. They will investigate and be in touch.
- For those wanting to know who your FedEx representative is, or if you want to be contacted by FedEx, please email me your FedEx account number and I will respond with information on your FedEx contact. It’s always a good practice, if possible, to establish a relationship with your FedEx representative. They can be a valuable asset when needed.
- Remember also that you can have your shipments held at your nearby FedEx Office instead being delivered to your door. Having shipments held at your local FedEx office can help with temperature management because your boxes will be stored in a temperature-controlled office rather riding in a truck all morning. It’s also true that you can drop off your shipments at your local FedEx office. This can be an advantage for some parts of the country where having your packages standing by in FedEx office is preferable to being in a truck for hours.
- As we know, keeping an eye on the weather, nationally as well as locally is important, and a great way of doing that is by routinely checking the “Service Alerts” section of the FedEx website each morning for the latest. Here is the link: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-alerts.html. Here you will find the most current alerts and service disruption alerts updated each day.
- For those looking for the very latest news from FedEx. This site is recommended, https://newsroom.fedex.com/
As costs rise for our carriers, surcharges have risen as well across the board, especially FUEL. For those members wanting to reference the latest FedEx Surcharges and Fees click HERE. Remember, CalFlowers members have many significant discounts on these surcharges which add excellent value to our program. For a list our surcharge discounts, please refer to the FedEx Program Summary on our website.
For members looking for the latest Program Summary and Rates for 2023, they can be found posted up on our website with all our other shipping program. Please visit www.cafgs.org
To all our new members who are just starting with FedEx shipping, they have a nice “Customer Training” service that is available upon request. This service offers shippers direct one-on-one assistance from FedEx covering many of the questions new shippers may have. If you are interested in signing up, please contact Chris Johnson chris@cafgs.org. FedEx also has some excellent information for new shippers on their website. Visit: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/get-started.html for a good summary of what FedEx offers
For members needing FedEx Tech Support, this phone number takes your right into the department (877) 339-2774. They can help with many tech-related issues including guidance regarding on-line shipping platforms.
We would also like to remind members to stay current with their FedEx Express shipping invoices. FedEx payment terms are 15 days. All members shipping on FedEx Express are expected to stay within the FedEx payment terms. To obtain your invoice details and payment options, please contact FedEx Customer Service.
The CalFlowers GLS program is one of our popular, most value-priced offerings, with discounts well over 70% off standard rates. GLS offers later pick-ups and earlier deliveries while providing express door-to-door services covering CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, NM, UT, and ID. Members who want to ship on GLS must sign up in advance. It’s easy and just takes a few minutes. Please contact Chris Johnson for more details at (760) 533-5580 or chris@cafgs.org.
There are a couple of areas that we have been working on to improve our popular GLS Door to Door program and we are pleased to report the following:
- GLS will now honor product claims. Yes, if GLS is at fault (acts of God, not included) and the product arrives damaged, significantly late, or just missing, members now can file a claim. We highly recommend member shippers to indicate the correct Declared Value to be covered.
- GLS will credit (100%) of the shipping costs if your shipment is not delivered on the day promised. Again, bad weather is excluded. Members will need to request this within 48 hours at customerservice@gls-us.com.
- GLS has given our account access to a special premium team of Customer Service agents. This high-level group was designed for fast response and problem solving. Please contact Chris Johnson for access to this important resource.
- GLS also has a new revamped website. Check it out at https://www.gls-us.com Additionally, I recommend trying this handy Delivery Rates & Times Calculator to view delivery dates and estimated time of arrival.
Airlines:
For the latest in Alaska Cargo New, Check out this https://www.alaskaaircargoconnections.com/
For those that missed the news, Mike Narowski is our new Alaska Air Cargo Account Executive. Mike comes with a vast amount of industry experience, and we are happy to have him. Mike can be reached at mike.narowski@alaskaair.com
If you have been taking advantage of our new CalFlowers/Alaska Airlines shipping program, you know this offering really delivers when it comes to value. Our program offers EXCELLENT pricing to many areas of the country from California, while adding a few new destinations such as Seattle, Portland, and Anchorage. Check out all the program details on our website. To sign-up, contact Chris Johnson at chris@cafgs.org.
Southwest Cargo is now running normal schedules. However, having said that, we recommend visiting their website for any advisories. Members can click HERE for that information.
NOTE: Transportation Rate information and documents are viewable/downloadable as PDFs on the CalFlowers Members Only site. Please note that these documents are considered sensitive material and are available to the primary contacts for Ag Buddy, Associate Floral, Associate Grower, and Floral members.
Welcome New CalFlowers Members
We are pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members from January 18 - February 22, 2023:
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Associate Floral
Davis Wholesale Florist, Inc. - Huntsville
Huntsville, AL
Davis Wholesale Florist, Inc. - Macon
Macon, GA
Equiflor LLC
Doral, FL
Mayesh - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
Vella Nest Floral
Cedar Hill, TX
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Associate Grower
Bloom Hill Farm
Uniontown, OH
Edler Acres
Ontario, NY
Grateful Gardeners LLC
Poolesville, MD
Petite Fleur LLC
Fort Worth, TX
Psychedelic Foods
Jacksonville, FL
Salter's Evergreen Supply
Pike Road, AL
Three Joi Flowers
Amissville, VA
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