Altadena, CA Florists

Altadena Flower Shop News

Let a hundred flowers bloom in honor of Zeke the Sheik - The Pasadena Star-News

Mostly newspaper reporters.And some judges, on down the line.That’s ‘cause Zeke, aka Tim Dundon of Altadena, was the proprietor of a famous heap of organic matter hard by Mountain View Cemetery that was 30 feet high and covered almost all of a 50-foot by 217-foot lot near his garden.Cemeteries throw off a lot of grass clippings, and Zeke’s chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese deposited what he liked to call a lot of doo-doo. Still, even for a prolific gardener like Zeke — tomatoes and whatnot, boring squash, but also plenty of weed, back when that was under Prohibition — there was more compost than a person knew what to do with. I mean, you can only fertilize so many zucchini. If the pile weren’t there, or were smaller, he could have grown a bushel and a peck more veg.But, as our Janette Williams noted in these pages nine years ago, Zeke saw the compost itself as his life’s work. When after much legal wrangling it was bulldozed on April 20, 2005 when the property was put on the market by the cemetery — the owner of the lot on which Zeke squatted — it was a traumatic experience Dundon told Janette he never gotten ... https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2019/08/14/let-a-hundred-flowers-bloom-in-honor-of-zeke-the-sheik/

A guide to our favorite spring garden tours in SoCal - Los Angeles Times

Brentwood. Noon to 4 p.m. $30. (424) 268-8780. westlakevillagegardenclub.orgApril 23: The Creative Arts Group's 23rd "Art of the Garden" tour will highlight five private gardens in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. $30 in advance; $35 day of tour at 108 N. Baldwin Ave. in Sierra Madre. (626) 355-8360: www.creativeartsgroup.orgApril 29-30: Tour homes and gardens in a variety of architectural styles at the Floral Park Home and Garden Tour north of Santa Ana. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance tickets, $30; same day, $35. Classic cars and antiques vendors will be located on North Park Drive. (714) 648-0904. floralparkhometour.comApril 30: South Pasadena Beautiful hosts a self-guided tour of six sustainable gardens in South Pasadena. 1 to 4 p.m. A plant swap will be held at 565 Camino Verde. Free. No tickets or registration required. southpasbeautiful.orgApril 30: Explore six private gardens in Pasadena, open to the public for self-guided tours to benefit the Garden Conservancy. Maps and discounted tickets will be available at the La Casita del Arroyo Garden, 177 South Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; gardens are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $7 per garden (children under 12 free), no reservations required, rain or shine. (888) 842-2442; gardenconservancy.org/open-daysMay 5: The Laguna Beach Garden Club hosts a self-guided walking tour of private gardens on and around Brooks Street in the city’s Village neighborhood. The tour includes free refreshments, exhibits, a keepsake brochure, shuttle bus service, a plant sale and a raffle of prizes donated by local artists and businesses. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $45 to $50. lagunabeachgardenclub.orgMay 6: The self-guided Leimert Park Garden Tour will feature eleven private gardens. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $15, and children under 13 free. Tickets can be purchased the day of the event at the Garden Tour Hub, located at Community Build’s courtyard in Leimert Park Village, 4305 Degnan Blvd. A map will be provided at the Hub, which will also offer food, live music, and a variety of vendors and exhibitors. a href="http://www.leimertparkgardento... http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-spring-garden-tours-2017-story.html

Flower Power: Farm-to-Vase Movement Takes Root on Chicago's South and West Sides - WTTW News

U.S., is more often than not Colombia or possibly Ecuador. The small slice of the market not dominated by imports is, in turn, almost entirely monopolized by California growers. Before they reach Chicago, the blooms, most of which are cultivated in greenhouses, will have traveled thousands of miles via energy-guzzling refrigerated planes, cargo ships and trucks, passing from farmer to exporter to wholesaler to retailer. Plenty won’t survive. What you wind up holding in your hand is less a natural wonder than a marvel of logistics and the modern global supply chain. All of which serves as a prologue to the story of Eco House. Eco House founder Quilen Blackwell. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Rain barrels are the sole source of water for the farm's irrigation system. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Beehives at the farm. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Lilies, biding their time before blooming. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Southside Blooms' floral studio, in the basement of the Blackwells' home. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) What a Midwestern flower farm looks like, when spring bloomers are spent, and summer's are freshly planted. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) Southside Blooms seasonal spring bouquet. (Southside Blooms) Eco House upends pretty much everything we just told you about the flower industry. Here’s a farm with land located not in South America but the South and West sides of Chicago. Flowers are grown outdoors in the dirt on formerly vacant lots in E... https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/08/slow-flower-movement-chicago-eco-house

Flower power: Business continues to bloom at Skyway Creations in Colorado Springs - Colorado Springs Gazette

The business has seen many changes, Don says, though there’s also a lot that hasn’t changed. “You’re still dealing with the trucks and the delivery and the product.”That product comes largely from California, with flowers bred in that state, and from Florida, a conduit for flowers from South America.“We’ve always bought from California and Florida,” Don says. But he’s also had to look to producers closer to home to fulfill a growing desire for more unusual flowers.“We need so many varieties of flowers now. We used to be able to order a big case of this and that. Now we need this special flower.”A desire for more variety isn’t the only change he has seen in consumer tastes. “They say the rose will never die, it will always be a contender,” he says, But, “the rose has finally faded a little bit in the public eye.” One increasingly popular flower, particularly with “the younger crowd,” is the Gerbera daisy.Those younger buyers have also spurred plant sales.“The millennials,” he says, “have caught on to plants again. In some ways, green plant sales died for a while, but millennials really like what we do here. The succulents are quite popular.”At the same time, though, the corporate world is embracing artificial greenery as a way to cut down on maintenance costs, Don says.“We’re doing more artificial than we’ve ever done, and that’s definitely the wave of the future.” He admires how far the artificial greenery has come — “some of the artificial these days will totally fool you” — but cautions that even artificial plants need care, specifically dusting. Colorado Springs workshop teaches ancient craft of blacksmithingWeddings continue to provide steady business. “We do as many as 100 weddings a year, so two a weekend.”Corporate customers, such as local hotels, also remain key to the business.“The hotels are still strong,” Don says. “We’re not doing the centerpiece work, the party work, that we used to get with the hotels.”He calls the 2008 economic crisis “the 25% recession.”“We lost about 25% of our customers, and the rest were asking for a 25% discount. If you can’t do it, somebody else will, so what do you do? You sharpen your pencil and go for it.”That was just one of many economic downturns the business has survived over a half-century.“We’ve always been lucky, we’ve never laid anybody off,” Don says. There have been times where he has gone to his staff and warned them that either someone would have to go or everyone would need to trim their hours, “and everyone has always been willing to do that. That says a lot for my crew.”Other flower shops have not fared as well; Don has seen several vanish over the years. He looks at Skyway and Platte Floral, which has been around for nearly 100 years, as “the two big guns on the block as far as full service.”“We’re so lucky to both still be here in the town,” Lori says.Big-box stores and grocery stores emerged as competition 20 or 30 years ago, and Don thinks that is finally taking its toll a bit. “You see an awful lot of people lined up at the supermarkets at holiday time.”But, he said, “we still get them with the quality,” and the customer service.“We spend the time with people,” he says. He u... https://gazette.com/business/flower-power-business-continues-to-bloom-at-skyway-creations-in-colorado-springs/article_d5c342b4-5821-11ea-b62d-7be600878467.html

Our favorite houseplant stores in Los Angeles. - Los Angeles Times

Newsletter Get The Wild newsletter. The essential weekly guide to enjoying the outdoors in Southern California. Insider tips on the best of our beaches, trails, parks, deserts, forests and mountains. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Advertisement The Los Angeles retail plant community is a collegial group with a generous spirit that extends beyond its customers. At Folia Collective, owner Danae Horst recommends Leaf and Spine for rare plants. At Leaf and Spine, Ernestine Segura refers clients to Planta for larger containers. Potted’s Annette Gutierrez is a big fan of Jenkins of the Plant Provocateur, who in turn suggests Sunset Nursery for full-sun plants. Now that stores are beginning to reopen, we decided to list a few of our favorites. Have a preference of your own? Let us know. Because of the pandemic, not all of the businesses on our list will be open, some may have limited hours and some will be offering curbside pickup only. So call or check online before heading out. Deep Roots This South Bay garden center sells indoor and outdoor plants, natives and floral arrangements. 207 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach, (310) 379-3634. Advertisement Fig Earth SupplyOwner Conor Fitzpatrick stocks a wide variety of houseplants in addition to edibles and herbs including fiddleleaf figs, philodendron and calathea. Fitzpatrick also presents regular classes spanning houseplant basics to cannabis cultivation. And there’s always something lovely in the Domecil store. 3577 N. Figueroa, Highland Park, (323) 224-3938. Folia Collective in Eagle Rock. (Danae Horst) Folia Collective Every plant at Folia Collective, from Peperomia ferreyraeto to staghor... https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-06-15/la-hm-our-favorite-places-to-shop-for-houseplants

Berkeley Florist Remains Bitter That It Can't Do Curbside Sales While Whole Foods Sells Flowers Next Door - SFist

Governor Gavin Newsom made announcements about curbside retail being allowed to start last Friday, and now 18 rural counties across California are already moving into the second half of Phase 2 in which dine-in restaurants get to reopen. This acceleration is based on the relatively low prevalence of the coronavirus in those counties thus far — and based on their being able to document hospital capacity to handle a potential surge in cases, if it comes.As one Yuba County resident told a reporter last week, upon the reopening of a shopping mall there in defiance of the state, "It’s always the big box stores that can stay open, and not the small ones."Last week, Ms. Simon told a reporter from ABC 7 that she planned to reopen Ashby Flowers for curbside pickups on May 8 along with other florists in the state just in time for Mother's Day, in defiance of Alameda County. But she later relented and chose to remain closed.In announcing the loosening of retail restrictions in his county on Wednesday, San Mateo County health officer Dr. Scott Morrow said, "The virus continues to circulate in our community, and this increase in interactions among people is likely to spread the virus at a higher rate. Whether these modifications allow the virus to spread out of control, as we saw in February and March and resulted in the first shelter in place order, is yet to be seen."As of Thursday morning, San Francisco had 1,999 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 65 people hospitalized, and Alameda County has 2,178 cases with 79 people hospitalized. San Mateo County has 1,536 cases with 63 in the hospital.Related: Mayor Breed Gives Green Light For Most SF Retail to Open For Curbside Sales and Delivery on MondayPhoto: Facebook... https://sfist.com/2020/05/14/berkeley-florist-bitter-about-curbside-retail-rules/