Ahwahnee, CA Florists

Ahwahnee Flower Shop News

South Bay History: Torrance flower producer once supplied gardenias and orchids nationwide - The Daily Breeze

Florists’ Telegraph Delivery in Detroit, later moving to Downers Grove, Illinois, and growing into a global enterprise.Wright already was a master flower grower, and frequent winner at the Southern California Horticultural Association’s annual garden show for his roses.But he had a vision that went beyond his flower shop’s walls. He decided to specialize in producing two types of flowers, gardenias and orchids. He wanted to grow them in bulk and set up a network to distribute them nationwide.Gardenias grow in a greenhouse at Wright’s Greenhouses orchid and gardenia farm in Torrance, on May 27, 1937. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)Neither plant naturally thrives in the South Bay’s cool and dry climate, so Wright went looking to buy land where he could build greenhouses to replicate the humid climate in which they grow best.He found such a parcel at the corner of present-day 190th Street and Western Avenue but it wasn’t in Torrance. Yet.The city wasn’t on anyone’s radar in 1907, when Wright began his operations there. He started building greenhouses five years before the city’s founding date and 14 years prior to its incorporation.Wright’s parcel was 12 acres of unincorporated county land then, and it wouldn’t be annexed to Torrance until 1930. “Not a building was to be seen,” when he bought the land, Wright told the Torrance Herald in 1936.Flowers grow in a greenhouse at Wright’s Greenhouses orchid and gardenia farm in Torrance, on May 27, 1937. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)Gardenias in bloom. 2007 file photo. (Credit: Orange County Register) SoundThe gallery will resume insecondsBy 1912, he had his operation up and running, hiring as many as 35 workers during the flower-centric holiday seasons to fill orders in the basement of his small flower shop and distribute flowers to customers nationwide.Eventually, Wright closed his retail shop altogether, basing ... https://www.dailybreeze.com/south-bay-history-torrance-flower-producer-once-supplied-gardenias-and-orchids-nationwide

With fewer flowers, Lake Elsinore hills more brown than orange - Press-Enterprise

A modest wildflower bloom is bursting through the brown-and-dry landscape at Lake Elsinore’s Walker Canyon.But this year’s California poppy show pales in comparison to the dramatic 2019 superbloom that painted the canyon’s hills a brilliant orange and drew hundreds of thousands of awestruck visitors.Fiddleneck blooms along a trail as hikers make their way down Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)Hikers make their way up a trail in Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) SoundThe gallery will resume insecondsA small patch of California poppies blooms along a trail in Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)Fiddleneck blooms along a trail in Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)A bee collects pollen on a fiddleneck blooming in Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomici... https://www.pe.com/with-fewer-flowers-lake-elsinore-hills-more-brown-than-orange

These surprising, garden-worthy plants are perfect for Southern California climates - San Bernardino County Sun

While tulips and hyacinths that grow from bulbs and come from Holland look great for a year, and perhaps two, they are not compatible with Southern California’s climate and are short-lived here. The Mediterranean climate of South Africa, however, closely resembles our own and herbaceous perennials that come from that land are virtually indestructible here.There are three prominent examples of rhizomatous South African natives that proliferate in thousands and thousands of Los Angeles gardens. One is Agapanthus, unmistakable for its large clusters of blue to purple, and occasionally white, flowers that appear in the spring. Another is bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae), named for the orange plumage and blue crests of its flowers that you see on full display in every Los Angeles neighborhood just about now; no wonder it is the official flower of this city. While the above two plants grow best in half day sun but can accept more or less of it, Clivia — with those large luminescent orange but occasionally yellow trumpet blooms — is strictly for the shade.  All three of these garden selections are virtually bullet proof and you can rely on them to spread over time with indestructible determination.  Of course, due to their clumping growth habit, you can easily divide and distribute them throughout your own garden or share them with friends.Shelly Jennings introduced me to another redoubtable South African herbaceous perennial. It grows from a corm — similar to a bulb, but flatter and not layered — by the name of Chasmanthe, whose soil does not need to be fertile as long as it drains well. Its common name is Adam’s rib which may refer to the symmetrical ladder-like arrangement of its flower petals. It goes dormant in the summer and does not need to be watered during that season. Chasmanthe is blooming now in orange-red and is closely related to two other South African cormous beauties: Watsonia, which flowers most famously i... https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/02/these-surprising-garden-worthy-plants-are-perfect-for-southern-california-climates/

'Nonessential' businesses close due to coronavirus - Los Angeles Times

For more than 100 years, California Floral Co. has stood sentinel in downtown Los Angeles.The florist predates the founding of Warner Bros, UCLA and the first concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. It made it through World War II and closed for only a day or two during the 1992 L.A. riots. But the novel coronavirus could bring California Floral to its knees.A day after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told all nonessential businesses in the city to close to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, owner Johnny Huynh was at the flower shop to shut down the coolers and clean out. He gave away his remaining flowers to some of the neighboring shops — eateries Mike’s Deli and Azay. “It’s just a stake in the back,” he said. “The final stake. I can hold for about a month or two, but not more than that.” Advertisement Los Angeles’ dramatic announcement ordering business closures until at least April 19 and urging people to stay at home, bolstered by sweeping orders Thursday night from the state as well as Los Angeles a... https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-20/coronavirus-nonessential-business-closures