Quarterly Publication of the Original Los Angeles Flower Market of American Florists Exchange, Ltd. | Spring / April 2019 • Volume 28 - Number 1 OCEAN VIEW FLOWERS BLOOMING IN LOMPOC Workers harvest fl owers in an Ocean View fi eld in Lompoc. Living Flower Jewelry for Prom & Mom: Page 14 FNS2-Final-BN-alt.ai 1 12/12/18 11:12 AM Joseph & Sons Inc. - Santa Paula Tour these three premier California flower farms at Fun ‘N Sun 2019 Fun ‘N Sun is a floral industry convention like no other. Join colleagues from around the country and experience first hand the farms that grow your California flowers – The Sun Valley Group - Oxnard along with informative programs and quality networking opportunities. • Flower Farm Tours • Flower Fair • Industry Education • Golf Tournament Westerlay Orchids LP - Carpinteria July 24 - 27, 2019 Santa Barbara, California Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort Learn more at www.cafgs.org/fns Contents This newsmagazine is published quarterly (January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1) Cover Story: Ocean View by The Los Angeles Flower Market of The American Florists’ Exchange, Ltd. Lo- cation: 754 Wall Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014 • Internet: www.bloominnews. Flowers Blooming in Lompoc 4 com. Subscription and advertising details at BloominNews.com. Publisher A Letter to Our Readers 6 Original Los Angeles Flower Market of the American Florists’ Exchange Bloomin’ News Has www.originalLAfl owermarket.com Bloomed Since 1949 7 Look for us on Facebook! Special Holiday Hours, maps, tenants, seasonal fl owers Mellano Attains and more available at www.originalLAfl owermarket.com Market Information: 213 622-1966 BloomCheck Certifi cation 8 Market Manager/Mellano: 213 622-0796 Board of Directors Potpourri 10 American Florists’ Exchange, Ltd., Los Angeles Flower Market Christine Duke, Lizbeth A. Ecke, Jim Mellano, Happenings/Calendar 13 Jon Prechtl, John Williams, Paul Ecke III Editorial and Advertising By Design: Living Flower Peggi Ridgway, Wordpix Editorial Solutions Jewelry for Prom & Mom 14 5939 East 24th Street, Tulsa, OK 74114 • 918 991-8373 Email: [email protected] • www.bloominnews.com Badge Program 17 Art Director Michael Wheary, Calypso Concepts Got News? Send to our Editor! LAFD Association Member Badge Program (see left column) Frank Reyes 766 Wall Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014 www.LAFlowerDistrict.com Mon.-Sat., 6 am to 2 pm • (213) 627-3696 Subscribe to the Digital Subscribe Those working in the California fl oral and horticultural industries may join our mailing list at no cost. Subscribe at BloominNews. com to the print and/or email editions. Get the digital version by emailing: [email protected]. Disclaimer Neither the Bloomin’ News nor the Original Los Angeles Flower Mar- The digital Bloomin’ News will: ket recommends or endorses any products or advertisements displayed in this publication but presents them as a service to our readers. • Contain the same sections (Cover Story, Potpourri, Roundabout, Advertise in Bloomin’ News Calendar, Design) Visit Bloominnews.com or contact our editor for advertising • Off er “more details” links to online rates, dimensions and details. Advertise in color. We’ll design resources your fi rst ad for free! • Contain links to advertisers’ web- Index to Advertisers sites, directly from their ads BottomLine Brokers, Sean Edelstein . .Page 11 Cal Flowers . .Page 2 • Look much like the printed edition Floral Supply Syndicate . .Page 12 • Follow a quarterly schedule Los Angeles Flower District . .Page 17, 18, 20 Mayesh Wholesale Flowers . .Page 10 Mellano & Company . .Page 9 [email protected] Original Los Angeles Flower Market . .Page 3 Telefl ora . .Page 19 or www.bloominnews.com 3 Spring 2019 COVER STORY OCEAN VIEW FLOWERS BLooMING IN LOMPOC rom basic flowers marketing. Although he had “We control the prod- in the Imperial Valley like stock, larkspur advice and help from other uct,” says Vordale. “We are (Palm Springs area), then and Queen Anne’s growers (“Mellano & Com- American grown, locally moved to the higher des- Lace to more exotic pany in San Diego County grown and support our lo- ert at Maricopa. And, with blooms, craspedia helped us get our feet on cal economy.” all the right moves, all the Fand others traditionally the ground,” he recalls), Some seasonal items right flowers are ready for from Australia and New Vordale brought a wealth of like waxflower are grown Mother’s Day.” Zealand, Ocean View Flow- experience and knowledge in other areas, but stock is Getting into the mass ers grows products with an that helped OVF meet chal- OVF’s main product and it market was a challenge that eye to environmental re- lenges and make its mark dictates the timing of other forced Ocean View Flow- sponsibility, best practices in the business. Vordale crops. Ocean View Flowers ers to look hard at its prac- and utmost quality. The was a grower for a large is one of the largest stock tices and to make changes company’s president, Dan wholesale nursery and then growers in California and that not only raised the bar Vordale, and company lead- moved into sales. Recently, grows the crop year-round. for them but opened up ers have taken steps toward Ocean View Flowers made “We start in winter opportunities. As a result, becoming BloomCheck cer- him President and he re- (growing stock),” says Vor- Vordale believes OVF now tified and the company is turned to the California Cut dale, “near the Salton Sea. offers “fresher, faster and Veriflora certified, indicat- Flower Commission as a Most floral products (del- better value.” ing their compliance and District 3 Commissioner. phinium, Queen Anne’s In the process of growth standards of environmental OVF sells to the tradi- Lace, larkspur, stock) are and improvement, Ocean protection practices, sus- tional wholesaler and ships grown in Lompoc and the View has installed two solar tainability and agricultural nationwide. For the last Central Valley, depending farms and a large refrigera- product quality. few years, it has focused upon climate and time of tion plant. Solar provides all Dan Vordale put his on mass market retailers year, harvested and then the energy for its refrigera- strong horticultural back- (supermarkets) and on the placed into buckets and tion plant and the electricity ground to work when he West Coast, although it bins and driven in refrig- for its growing operation, all came to Ocean View Flow- does have customers across erated trucks to Lompoc. of which is outdoors. ers in 1997 to do sales and the country. In winter, growing is done Continued on page 16 The Bloomin' News 4 Clockwise from top left: Dan Vordale, president Ocean View Flowers, Ocean View Flowers’ larkspur field, an Ocean View Flowers craspedia field, Ocean View Flowers harvest 5 Spring 2019 A Letter to Our Readers For 20 years, Mike Wheary and I, along with our readers, have produced this pretty little magazine for the Original Los Angeles Flower Market. And what a pleasure it has been! With Mike’s artistic talent and your input, we’ve been able to arrange our “fl owers” into an informative reading piece that keeps you apprised of happenings on local and national levels of our industry. But something new and exciting is about to happen: We’re going digital! Beginning with the next quarterly issue, The Bloomin’ News will leave its 70-year paper tradition behind and step out into the ever-changing online world by sending out an email with links to the latest issue. The digital Bloomin’ News will: • Contain the same sections (cover story, Potpourri, Round- about, Calendar, Design) • Offer “more details” links to online resources • Contain links to advertisers’ websites, directly from their ads • Look much like the printed edition • Follow a quarterly schedule Right now, you’re on the mailing list for the PRINTED version only. Sign up for the DIGITAL version. Just send me a note: [email protected] (BNEWS in the Subject) or Bloominnews@ IMWagency.com and we’ll add you to the Email list. We promise we’ll never send you spam and you can unsubscribe at any time. Don’t miss any of the Bloomin’ News! Sincerely, Peggi Ridgway, Editor Mike Wheary, Designer 6 Bloomin’ News Has Bloomed Since 194 9 In October 1949, the Southern Cali- fornia Flower Market published the first edition of The Bloomin’ News. From the start as a four-page, black-and-green monthly alert on prices, it shared sto- ries of births and weddings and the recreational lives, awards and events of readers, wholesalers, florists and others familiar to the Flower Market. The phone number for The Bloom- in’ News was Trinity 1201. Its publisher was the Southern California Floral Association, housed on the second floor of today’s Original Los Angeles Flower Market. 1949 In the 1960s, the California State 1999 Floral Association’s “California Flo- rist” became the central part of The Bloomin’ News. In the early 1990s, the newsletter ceased publication, but in the mid-1990s editor Marcy Young got it going again under the Ameri- can Florists’ Exchange and for a few issues, it was called L.A. Flower Mar- ket Newsletter. Soon after The Bloomin’ News re- sumed publication in November 1999 under editor Peggi Ridgway (with Mi- chael Wheary continuing as design- er), it launched www.BloominNews. com and a full-color format in print. October 2019 will mark the 70th an- 1993 niversary of the printed Bloomin’ News. 2007 Your Bloomin’ News Team Peggi Ridgway, owner, Wordpix Solutions, is a former Southern Californian who has served as primary writer and editor of The Bloomin’ News since November 1999. Before relocating to Tulsa, Oklahoma to be near her family, Peggi authored the 90-year pictorial history of the Los Angeles flower industry in the book, Sending Flowers to America, published by the American Florists’ Exchange dba Los Angeles Flower Market in 2008.