Camp Pendleton, CA Florists

Camp Pendleton Flower Shop News

Rosemary-Duff Florist: a landmark business - times-advocate.com

Duff Gardens to Pete, Dolly and Rosemary in 1976. Pete & Dolly Santrach and their two children moved from Minnesota to California in 1956. Pete was a Marine at Camp Lejeune until sent to Camp Pendleton. Pete left the service and over the years worked as an administrator for the Escondido school districts, for groups of doctors and for Baker Enterprises. Pete & Dolly had six more children in California. Four boys and four girls and now 16 grandchildren and one great grandchild.Dolly’s sister Rosemary Gornick learned the techniques of the floral business from a school in Cleveland, Ohio and opened her floral business in her hometown of Chisholm, Minnesota. In 1957 she moved to California (following her sister) and worked for Casa De Las Florist in Del Mar for many years and for Bob Socin and Duff Gardens before starting Rosemary’s Floral on Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido in 1974.Duff Gardens and Rosemary’s Floral merged in 1982 and built the Spanish style building where the business resides today.Aunt Rosemary passed away in 2015. Dolly Santrach passed in 2018.Today the business has four partners: Mary Ann Santrach, Rozanne Reguly, Luanne Csonka and Joanne Santrach. The sisters/nieces bought the business from their parents, Pete and Dolly and aunt, Rosemary in 1988.Mary Ann’s specialty is floral design. She says planning is important. “Ordering for a holiday like Valentine’s Day requires placing an order for roses by mid-January if not earlier to reserve the product desired. That can be up to 2,500 red roses alone!” she said.Rozanne Reguly is the primary decorator for the window displays and a floral designer.The interior of Rosemary-Duff Florist.Luanne Csonka is the managing partner. She says, “It has been said that floral arrangements were the only gift item besides pizza that you could have made and delivered – all in the same day!  Our business is unique, sending floral gifts to express one’s emotions from happy occasions like birthdays to condolences for the loss of loved ones.”The sisters credit much of their success to Aunt Rosemary for sharing with them the techniques she leaned from floral school and her years of experience.  Remember Bob Socin? I can think of no greater testimony than praise from the former business owner. Mary Ann says that nearly every day Bob will stop by the shop to say hello. Rosemary Duff Florist has designed florals for many weddings, events and special occasions throughout San Diego and designed florals for celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand and Martha Stewart. “But we most appreciate our long standing, wonderful clients who have believed in us for over forty years!” says Luanne.Here is a Valentine’s Day tip for you – Go to Rosemary Duff Florist. Have... https://www.times-advocate.com/articles/rosemary-duff-florist-a-landmark-business/

Florist teams with retired Army captain on flowers for troops - Kitsap Sun

Photo: Arla Shephard Bull / Mason County Life)When Joseph Varley owned a flower shop near Camp Pendleton in Southern California years ago, one of his favorite (and secret) joys was helping out fellow veterans.At the height of the Gulf War, service members would visit his shop before they were deployed, give him a crumpled $20 bill and ask that he send an arrangement to their spouses. Instead of fulfilling their order straight away, Varley would stretch the $20 over several months — sending a single rose and a note not only on anniversaries, but on random days of the week, so that the spouse might get a surprise from their loved one at any given time.“I would write just these crazy, little notes: ‘I miss you’ or ‘I’m thinking of you,’” Varley, now 79, recalled. “I wanted the wives to know they were thought of. I probably got over 150 letters over the years from guys telling me I have no idea how much this meant to their wife.”Now Varley has partnered with retired Army Captain James Smith to start Troops Frequent Flowers, a nonprofit where service members can pre-order flowers at discounted prices to send to loved ones on a regular basis while they’re overseas.“There is such a big impact of a card just saying s... http://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/local/communities/mason/2017/10/12/florist-teams-retired-army-captain-flowers-troops/759133001/

Returning vet receives gift basket - Plainview Daily Herald

Tran, who grew up in Ohio, joined the U.S. Marine Corps on July 25, 2011, and completed his four-year commitment July 25, 2015. He attained the rank of E4 –corporal – and was assigned to supply at Camp Pendleton, California, where he took basic training. His service included deployments to Afghanistan in support of Enduring Freedom and to Okinawa, Japan, with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.While Tran is too young to volunteer with RSVP, he delivers meals for Meals on Wheels and is involved in other volunteer causes. That’s while he’s waiting to begin studies at South Plains College Plainview. He plans to eventually transfer to Wayland Baptist University and receive a degree in psychology.While his wife, Kayla, wasn’t in the military, she has a close connection since her uncle was in the Marine Corps. It’s through him that she met her husband. She’s from Alabama.His mother, Jan Tran, came to Plainview by way of Ohio and Hawaii. She works at Davi’s Salon and Nails.Returning veterans can learn how they can receive a welcome home gift basket by calling RSVP at 806-291-1224 or visiting its offices in the basement of Unger Library, 825 Austin.© 2015 MyPlainview.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.myplainview.com/news/article_8f33512c-6848-11e5-b11f-ef6fe89eb036.html

Small but mighty, a Washington florist battles back in the pandemic - Reuters

I really think they did a good job by not reopening too soon, because look at all the places that are having to close back down, like California, Texas,” Banks said. As the White House and Congress debate the next coronavirus relief bill, Banks said she would like more business funding and clarity on Paycheck Protection Program loans. The shop received a $75,000 loan under the program, allowing it to rehire furloughed staff. “They say it’s forgivable, but they haven’t come out with any clear-cut rules on how to make it forgivable,” Banks said. “I am on pins and needles.” Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Dan Burns and Richard ChangOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-smallbusiness/small-but-mighty-a-washington-florist-battles-back-in-the-pandemic-idUSKCN2511D6

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

Around East County: Don’t forget area small businesses still open - East Bay Times

The business had even closed up shop for a few days before receiving a notice from the California Association of Flower Growers and Shippers, which sent out news that as agriculture-based businesses, florists could indeed keep operating hours with a few safety restrictions.“This was good news, as we wanted to find a way to help bring brightness to everyone’s day,” said Denise Grace, an employee for the small business. “Everyone has been supportive of us remaining open.”Part of the process of staying open means keeping up social distancing practices. While not allowing customers into the shop to see their assortment of flowers is a little difficult, much of Good Scents’ business can be done online or over the phone. They have an extensive website with pictures of available flower arrangements.“People usually order flowers through our website or phone in orders for deliveries to relatives and friends during regular circumstances,” Grace said. “When making deliveries we can call people in advance and see how they want the flowers delivered. Most of the time we can just leave them on the porch without seeing anyone.”Grace explained that they are even waiving local delivery fees to help. Good Scents Florist has reduced their current hours to Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon; call 925-625-5550 for details. Similar florists in Brentwood, Antioch and Pittsburg have also remained open. Information can be found on their websites for hours and services offered.Roni Gehlke can be reached at oakleynow@comcast.net. ... https://www.eastbaytimes.com/around-east-county-dont-forget-area-small-businesses-still-open