Most Read Posts from 2014 (and One Prediction for 2015)

Most Read Posts from 2014 (and One Prediction for 2015)

brassica Ice Cream tulips lonely bouquet Ornamental kale Women's Day 2015

One of the greatest rewards of writing this weekly blog is getting to feel the pulse of the flower industry. Based on the "reads" of our posts I can get sense of what is hot in the Sun Valley community.

Looking back at the 52 posts from 2014, the single most read post was about our stunning Ice Cream Tulips. These are those wild tulips that look almost like a peony, but more colorful and vibrant.

See you in Spring 2015!

We are pleased to announce we have a lot more Ice Cream Tulips coming for 2015, but you must be patient as we won't start to harvest for a couple months. Cool your jets!

Ice Cream Tulips look good enough to eat!

The second most read Flower Talk blog post focused on Woman's Day, titled Woman's Day Homecoming.  Sun Valley has been leading the effort to create awareness about this great floral occasion. The response from our readers, the industry and media; shows that this is a hot button topic that we'll hear a lot more about in 2015. Stay tuned!

Woman's Day 2015

The third most read post of 2014 surprised me, and like Woman's Day it is another emerging floral event. Lonely Bouquet Day has garnered a lot of interest across the world and the web, as people participate in this flower happening. The premise is that you take a bouquet out to a public place and leave it, with a note attached for someone to find. A stranger finds the bouquet, takes it home and shares on social media, so the person that left the bouquet can see where it ended up.

Our own bouquet department got in the Lonely Bouquet fun for 2014.

Lonely Bouquet Day 2015, is Sunday, June 28th. What a fun way to give out flowers, and we've also been hearing that florists are doing this year-round as a marketing effort. Fun, Fun!

Lastly, spoiler alert... the blog post that is still gaining the most reads is Ornamental Kale!

So you heard it here first, 2015 will be the year of Brassica (aka Cabbage, or Ornamental Kale)

Now trending! #AmericanGrown Brassica!

We are excited to jump into 2015 at Flower Talk, and continue, learning about flowers and the flower biz.

Happy New Year! ...and please make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a single week.

Sun Valley Helps Put "Lonely Bouquet" 2014 on the Map

Sun Valley Helps Put "Lonely Bouquet" 2014 on the Map

lonely bouquet Sun Pacific Bouquet

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows."
                                                                              ~Francis of Assisi

Last Sunday was "Lonely Bouquet Day." This is a fun, grassroots movement to spread joy literally one bouquet at a time. The basic idea is that you leave a bouquet in a public space with a little tag on the bouquet saying "Adopt Me!" From here, people will take the bouquet home and often take a "selfie" with the bouquet and upload it to the Lonely Bouquet Facebook page, or website.

Lonely Bouquet is the brain child of Fleuropean, which is a small organic flower farm and design studio located on the Belgian countryside. What better place to start an international movement to give flowers away to strangers?

On Sunday some Sun Valley team members jumped in the action, at both ends of the state. From our Oxnard farm, Melina, Marisol, Lourdes and Cynthia hit the streets and beaches to leave some of our Sun Pacific bouquets in some gorgeous locations.

The Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce

Harding Park, Santa Paula

Port Hueneme Beach, with Melina making sure the bouquet is just right.

Oxnard Plaza Cinema

Ventura Beach

The Collection at River Park in Oxnard, here Melina spotted the person who "adopted" the bouquet!

Ventura Harbor

Up near our farm in Humboldt County, Robin took the lead on Lonely Bouquet, leaving a few bouquets around town.

Arcata Marsh

The above image was posted on Facebook, from a person who adopted a bouquet in Arcata. In the caption she wrote,

"What a lovely surprise to find on the corner of my street in Arcata, California today at approximately 8:15 pm today! Thank you, I feel very lucky to be the recipient of "the lonely bouquet" today! What a great movement! I am excited and definitely smiling!"

This sums up what a great idea Lonely Bouquet is and we were very lucky to be able to share our flowers with perfect strangers.

Melina had so much fun doing this for a single day, that she wants to continue it every month. Judging from the Lonely Bouquet Facebook, this movement happens year round which is really why this is such an amazing idea. It's fun and easy to give away flowers!

Save the Date for June 28th, 2015; however, it looks like kindhearted flower lovers will be leaving bouquets to be adopted all year round across the globe.