What caught my eye? The pink garden rose pictured in today's blog. His quote on roses: "The Dutch tulip is famous for not having a smell. My grandma had a garden of roses, typical English tea roses, something like 35 cultivars. And so for me personally and deep in my unconscious DNA, the smell of roses is by far the best."
Do you agree? If so check out the most lovely smelling roses at Peterkort Roses: Lavande, Yves Piaget, Helga Piaget, and Mon Cherie. Each has a surprisingly different scent!
They have some nice things to say about Portland and also Peterkort Roses.
And...perusing the latest issue of Floral Management magazine from the Society of American Florists (SAF), there is a very interesting article about a second generation florist who spiffed up his shop, starting with a can of yellow paint called "Sunflower," starting a transformation into what customers soon described as "a bright and bold boutique that belongs in a trendy, metropolitan district."
Florists of the Portland Metropolitan area, are you listening??????????????
Today a customer told me that she was cancelling her order for roses, because she was getting them cheaper from somebody else. I inquired and she told me, it was somebody in the local area, so I went on their website.
"Organic!" "Local" ! It said, we are the "new generation of flower growers" !!
In reality, they are buying these roses from South America and hurting us, who really ARE local and trying to stay in business, all the while proclaiming how close to the earth they are with pictures of tractors.
Bah!!!
My advice is: just take that plant and remove the pot, then place it gently but firmly in your yard debris or compost pile.
Why do I do such a heartless thing?
1) rebloomed poinsettias are ugly. They will NEVER look as nice as the one from the grower, because they will be leggy, leafless in much of their stem area, and the flower size will be small.
2) You have to do a LOT of work to get a poinsettia to rebloom in our climate. It is a waste of your precious time & energy!
3) It is good to be sentimental about other human beings but plants, no. This from a woman whose family has probably been involved in growing plants ever since they laid down their spears in the primordial cave. Plants are there to make us happy, and woe to you if you are unhappy if a plant is killed. After all, we eat them every day.
Above is a photo of Jim with a poinsettia hedge in Hawaii. It was beautiful. But folks, most of us do not live in Hawaii!
There's my rant of the day!
The Koidas and Iwasakis each lost a parent from the oldest generation; these were people who endured a lot of hardship including being interned during World War II.
Barb at Teufel Holly Farm lost her husband Cecil.
One of our newest growers at the Oregon Flower Growers, Jackson Muldoon, died unexpectedly. His business will be carried on by his son.
Ken Uphoff, owner of Clarence Walker for Flowers, has died. His son David carries on the business in North Portland.
Clackamas Greenhouses, one of the founding members of the Oregon Flower Growers and of the flower market, with almost 100 years in business, has closed their business. Their space on the floor will be taken by Fred of F & B.
Life is a series of changes, and it's hard to lose old friends.