Sun Pac Valentine's Day Bouquets

Sun Pac Valentine's Day Bouquets

Flowers for Valentine's Day Sun Pacific Bouquet sunpac SunPac Valentine's Day Valentine's Day

Every year, during the fervor of Flower Holiday Season, I like to get together with Rodi Groot, head of Sun Pacific Bouquet (aka Sun Pac).  While much of Sun Valley's time is allocated to growing, picking, and shipping the high-quality blooms we're known for, Sun Pac is responsible for using those farm-fresh flowers to design and build hand-crafted and custom bouquets.

If you're looking for bouquets, contact us, as we are still taking orders for Valentine’s Day!

 Sun Pac's office is located in Oxnard at our Southern California farm; I gave Rodi a call to see what he and his team have going on for Valentine's Day 2017:
 
 How have you and your team been preparing for the holiday?

We have been busy! For the last six months we've implemented new software, technology, and machinery to give us even better control of our costs.  And since the new year, we've deep-cleaned our entire bouquet assembly area, sanded and resealed all production tables, confirmed (and confirmed again) that flower farm production will match perfectly with the number of planned bouquets, and we have been hiring and training extra team members to keep up with production.  We will end up adding 400% more team members to the Bouquet Department alone in order fulfill demand and ensure that all our products will delight and amaze.

Your design team is at the forefront of floral trends and fashions (read about their creative process here); any noticeable trends in the bouquet world?

Chamomile, snaps, sunflowers

The shift towards the wildflower and garden-style look continues to grow, which is fantastic.  We have great access to flowers and greens that fit this pretty aesthetic.  Our Fields Collection is an example of this.  Simple market bunches are another item that looks to do very well.

We also have a brand new sleeve made out of white paper, which mimics the white paper used at the Dutch flower markets.  This adds to each hand-crafted bouquet a romantic, European-flower-market feel.  This aesthetic looks like it is going to be a huge trend, and its great to be out in front of it.  So, keep your eye out and remember you heard it here first!

What are some of your most popular items this year?  



Chamomile, snapdragons, brassica, grevillea, sweet and green huck, bear grass, and sunflowers are high in demand, especially when accentuated with focal flowers like Royal Lilies, and spiced up with spray roses.

L-R: Royal Lilies with Beargrass, Sunflowers, Brassica with Matricaria, Snapdragons, Tulips with Sweet Huck

Any products or bouquets you are particularly excited about?

A great value for this holiday is our red tulip and blue iris bouquet, which can be upgraded to add our sweet-smelling, pink-purple waxflower and rounded out with salal.

Tulip and Iris Bouquet

Another bouquet to highlight is the Blue Royale.  This bouquet is a blend of premium-grade flowers (in Valentine's Day colors) wrapped in our custom-made, blue and white composed granite sleeve.  It looks full and fantastic, and smells great.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Rodi! 

If you love these ideas, call your rep today and you can have them for Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Interview with Lane DeVries

Valentine's Interview with Lane DeVries

#lilies #tulips #ValentinesDay Flowers for Valentine's Day

Tracking down Lane DeVries18 days before Valentine's Day is tough. He is walking the greenhouses, talking to the logistics team and making sure everyone is on the same page. My goal was to ask him some questions about our Valentine's prep and get his outlook on this year's holiday.

I caught Lane as he was heating up a mug of tea, and he had to remain still for a few minutes while his tea steeped. I saw my opportunity, and I took it!

Our lilies are loving the January sun.

 Lily: "How are you feeling about the crops with less than three weeks before Valentine's Day?"

Lane: "We are right on time. Everything looks great."

Ray is picking your tulips.

Lily: "What are your feelings on the weather?"

Lane: "Lilies love the sun. It is unusual to have all this sun in January. Especially the Oriental lilies, they are spectacular right now.  The tulips like the sun as well, we've been using the shade cloths a lot, but if you look at the foliage it is phenomenal...and nice green foliage leads directly to great vase life.

Lily: "What about the rain?"

Lane: "No doubt about it that we need rain in California, but all this sunshine has been great for the flowers. Also, we are watching the weather across the entire nation. We really hope for some calm weather in the next couple weeks to keep the roads open so our flowers can get where they are headed."

Lily: "Valentine's Day is on a Friday, with the holiday weekend in the mix. Some people are speculating sales may be off, what's your sense on this?"

Lane: "It is what we as an industry want it to be, people are going to be buying flowers regardless of the day of the week. I've seen buyers cut back their numbers because of the day of the week, then surprise...their sales are off. Really, I think having enough flowers for this holiday is a bigger issue than having too many. And as far as the day of the week...look at the biggest flower day of the year, Mother's Day. What day of the week is Mother's Day?"

Lily: "Sunday."

Lane: "Right."

Lily: "OK, I see your point. What do you get your wife for Valentine's Day?"

Rich wonderful Valentine's Day color. #CAGrown

Lane: "You know it's funny, over the years I've done all sorts of flowers, I've tried the roses, but really the bulb flowers we grow here are her favorites. Last year I did a bouquet of tulips, hyacinths and iris, and she loved it.

Lily: "Any other traditions?"

Lane: "A card... If I don't show up with a card, it will not be good."

Lane out in the tulip greenhouse.

Lane's tea was cool enough to drink and I heard the growers footsteps coming down the hallway, time to scoot!

Stay tuned as we ramp up into Valentine's Day.

 

Valentine's Day Push (Part 2)

Valentine's Day Push (Part 2)

#Flowers #Valentine's Day Flowers for Valentine's Day LA Hybrid Lily Oriental Lily Oxnard

This week we dive into how our Oxnard farm is coping with Valentine’s Day 2013, Oxnard is a chaotic blend of world class flower farm and our national transportation hub. 

In the fields, greenhouses and hoop houses, Oxnard is a growing some amazing flowers. Right now beautiful lilies are being harvested, as the light levels are just perfect. 


Oriental lilies enjoying the Southern California sun.

Alberto, our head lily grower in Oxnard stands among our Royal Lilies. This variety is called Party Diamond, which is a pink LA Hybrid, grown for Valentine’s Day. These are being harvested fast and furious for the holiday.

Alberto Arroyo

Our Oxnard farm is broken up into three properties. There is “Home Ranch” where we grow primarily lilies, asters, gerbera daisies, celosia, dianthus and lisianthus. Then there is “Golden Coast” where we grow oriental lilies, brassica, and even some French Tulips. Lastly are our outdoor fields of iris, called “Channel Islands.” These three areas are a short drive a part, and generally surrounded by strawberry fields.
The gerbera greenhouses are my favorite aspect of the Oxnard farm. It is like walking into a Dr. Seuss story. Big, colorful blooms balanced on top elegant stems, reaching for the sun. The gerbera are the only flower we grow hydroponically, and the bright white of the green house contrasting with the bold colors of the blooms immediately make you smile when you step into the greenhouse. I think we could bring groups unhappy and disheartened people here, and this warm and colorful environment would cheer them up.


Prepare for JOY.



A rainbow of color awaits you.

Many of the asters, lilies and gerbera daisies grown in Oxnard go straight to our bouquet division, Sun Pacific Bouquet. At this time of year, crews are working around the clock creating bouquets, featuring the red and pinks of Valentine’s Day. All these bouquets have an enormous amount of personality, from the big and bold like On Fire For Your Love to the playful and fun Sweetheart. These bouquets are all made by our dedicated team of artisans in Oxnard.

Marisol in Action!

I spoke with the Oxnard Sun Valley Head Quality Control person, Marisol Hernandez, about how things were going on our Oxnard bouquet line.

Lily: How are things going this holiday season?

Marisol: Overall, we are doing great. The team work has been awesome and production is flowing smoother than I anticipated.

Lily: Any issues?

Marisol: This year, the main challenge was dealing with some crop availabilities. When you are making bouquets you need to be able to adapt to crop supply and demand, and maintain the up most quality Our team, came through with flying colors, and the bouquets looks great.

Lily: Is your team still working around the clock?

Marisol: Luckily we have been winding down our super long shifts. Late last week, I was here for a few 12 hour days…glad that is over.

Marisol is one of those people at Sun Valley working tirelessly behind the scenes. She is on the farm at all times of day and night, making sure that we ship out the best quality flowers possible. Like a lot of the Sun Valley team, she will be taking a deep breath of relief once the last Valentine’s Day order has shipped. This little bit of relief will be short lived however, as we roll right into filling Women’s Day orders. For us this is another big bouquet holiday, so on Friday, March 8th expect to see some really colorful and creative bouquets, meant just for the women in all our lives.

Oxnard is also our national transportation hub. From this unassuming facility we distribute an enormous amount of flowers and bouquets.


The majority of the flowers we grow in Arcata are brought to Oxnard, where many of our customers come pick them up. The Oxnard shipping dock is busy place. Many of our customers actually use our facilities to stage their eastbound trucks. They will coordinate with other California Growers and use our dock as a consolidation point to fill up entire trucks full of flowers. With Valentine’s increased volume, we expand into another facility we keep for just such occasions. This facility is called “Del Norte” and it is a huge refrigerated warehouse, perfect for flower distribution.
If you receive flowers from our Arcata farm, they get to you a few different ways. Every evening, two or more semi-trucks leave Arcata. One truck goes directly to San Francisco, and then continues on to Southern California. The other trucks go straight through to Oxnard, about 600 miles. These rigs generally stop at both the Armellini and the Prime shipping docks and cross dock our freight onto their trucks for points East. The trucks end up at our Oxnard Farm, dropping off bouquet ingredients and other crops from Arcata.  Then they often get loaded up with supplies for Arcata, turn right around, and return to Arcata on the “back haul”

As Valentine’s Day rolls forward like a huge wave, the warehouses ebb and flow with product, the trucks ride through the night and our team pushes through no matter the hour. Luckily, right now the majority of our flowers are reaching their final destinations and lovingly being prepared for the big day.

Whew!

Sunshining Valentine's Day

Sunshining Valentine's Day

CA Grown California Flowers flowers for delivery Flowers for Valentine's Day Valentines Day flowers

Day 8 of Valentine's Day shipping...

During this two-week-or-so period we at Sun Valley like to call "Valentine's Day," I've been getting my boots dirty while traipsing around the Arcata farm trying to get a bird's eye view of the heightened holiday floral production. Last week, we took a tour of Tulipville in Arcata, so it seemed like a great idea to kick this week off with a tour of the Oxnard farm! So, I asked Melina, one of my Oxnard counterparts, to give us her own personalized tour of the crops at our sunny So Cal farm. Boy, am I glad she did. Her photographs are simply gorgeous... as are her subjects!

See for yourself...

Brassica (Kale)



An open field of Brassica



Brassica has been simply stunning this season! It's been a real crowd pleaser in the shops, and it's breathtaking to see growing in these lush, beautiful rows!



Carmine Lavender brassica

 

Green brassica




Asters - think pink.. and purple!



Pink Sea Star asters growing in a hoophouse

A hoophouse full of purple and pink Sea Star asters



Close-up of Sea Star asters

 

A row of hot pink Serenade asters, nearly ready for harvest



Pink and hot pink Matsumotos, getting ready for Valentine's Day!

Freshly harvested hot pink Matsumoto asters in buckets of water, bound for the coolers



Freshly harvested pink Matsumoto asters

Dianthus (Green Trick and Green Ball)



Green dianthus is one crop that is harvested green... and stays green!


I don't know about you, but these photos helped bring the sunshine in despite the rain and snow we've been having throughout the country. Imagine what the flowers will do in person!

A special thanks to Melina for giving us this visual delight of a tour!

If you want more information about any of the flowers you see here, check out our Flower Resource Pages on the TSVG website by clicking HERE.

The Return of the Iris

The Return of the Iris

CA Grown California Flowers flowers for delivery Flowers for Valentine's Day Iris

There comes a time - well, a few times - in every flower farmer's career when he finds one of his crops doesn't perform according to plan. Infinite factors, including a drought or a flood, weather that's too hot or too cold, or fluke problems with the crop itself, can have adverse effects on the flowers' well-being.

As many of you already know, this was recently the case with our iris production. A number or things didn't go quite right at exactly the same time, and we were left with little iris to show for it.

Well, my friends, spring is here in California and Iris is making a comeback! Here's a quick photo tour of the iris crops in Oxnard (taken last Thursday):

If you're ready for Iris, it's ready for you! Thanks for waiting!