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Sep 7, 2020

'Victoria Longwood' water lilies at Hudson Gardens in Littleton are a pretty big deal - parkerchronicle.net

Each leaf can grow 10 inches in a day, according to material provided at the Gardens. The Victoria water lilies were discovered in Bolivia in 1801 and are only native to South American river basins, such as the Amazon. Botanists and plant collectors were bringing them to Europe by the mid-19th century, where the first display was at Britain's Crystal Palace. In 1851, specimens were also introduced in the U.S. In 1960, Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia, introduced the “Victoria Longwood,” which is the variety found at Hudson Gardens. These remarkable plants, with the second largest leaf of any plant in the world, were introduced in the Littleton gardens in 1997 and have been growing well since. This summer, plant lovers can register to be notified when a Victoria water lily is about to open in the evening. Members of the active Colorado Water Garden Society maintain the Water Garden ponds and members meet with viewers to experience the opening of this spectacular bloom. The Victoria water lily is hermaphroditic: It changes from female to male overnight as it blooms. Leaf pads can expand more than 20 inches in a day, growing to as much as 8 feet in diameter, with each leaf lasting about a week. For most of the year, the Victoria water lily is distinguished only by these large lily pads, but in late July and early August, night-blooming flowers appear and last only 48 hours. Each plant produces about 10 to 12 flowers a season, according to the publication available at Hudson Gardens. The day before the plant flowers, a tennis ball-sized bud rises from the water and will open to reveal as many as 50 petals. Its fragr...

Jul 5, 2019

Cut Flowers Caucus blooms on Capitol Hill - Washington Examiner

A similar initiative was rolled out in 1991 when Congress offered tax advantages to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru for products such as blooms as an incentive to divest in the illegal drug trade. “As a member of the Congressional Cut Flowers Caucus, Congressman Young is a strong supporter of the American cut flower industry," Young's spokesman Zack Brown told the Washington Examiner in a statement. "Alaska is home to the iconic peony, which is grown by family-owned farms across the state. He introduced this legislation because he is passionate about supporting small businesses, and believes that when the federal government purchases cut flowers, they should be purchasing from American flower farms like the ones in Alaska.” In Young's 46 years in the House, he's received no contributions from PACs linked to florists or nursery services and only small individual donations in 1994, 2006, and 2011 from people working in the sector, according to OpenSecrets data. The Cut Flowers Caucus is just one example of Capitol Hill's more niche collection of lawmakers. Other instances in the 116th Congress focus on areas ranging from political, ideological, regional, ethnic, and economic, including the Candy Caucus, the Civility and Respect Caucus, the Rock Caucus, the Small Brewers Caucus, the Term Limits Caucus, the Wrestling Caucus, and the Zoo and Aquarium Caucus. "I'd never heard of the Cut Flowers Caucus," Georgetown University government professor Michele Swers told the Washington Examiner with a laugh. The organizations serve different purposes, depending on the topic, she explained. "Caucuses allow members to take various public positions and advertise that an issue is important to them, but their profile obviously depends on what group you're talking about," Swers said. "We've seen how the House Freedom Caucus has attracted enough members to shift policy to the right, whereas being a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus makes them look bipartisan and provides them with the opportunity to tell their constituents they are interested in ensuring Washington works." The organizations additionally reflect broader trends, the professor added, citing the new Servicewomen and Women Veterans Caucus created this year following the election of a host of female lawmakers. George Mason University political science associate professor Jennifer Victor predicted more groups would form in the future. "Caucuses are growing; there are more of them every year. The growth is driven in part by outside industries, like flower growers," Victor said. "Often caucuses don't take up particular bills and opt not to push for legislation because they value bipar...

Jun 14, 2018

Growing pains: From cut flowers to cannabis, Lompoc grapples with its past while eyeing economic opportunity

That all changed in 1991, when Congress enacted the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). The legislation encouraged countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to move away from growing coca-the plant used to make cocaine-in favor of flowers. "That's when the local farmers here started to move their growing locations to other parts of the world, and as our labor costs went up, they had to move because they couldn't compete," Vordale says. "They went to the same exact location in South America; places with the same climate just different times of year. "They're all pretty much gone now. There are no more seed companies here," he adds. It's a stark reality for an area like the Lompoc Valley, which attaches its identity and place in history to agriculture. Each year, the nearby city of the same name hosts an annual flower festival, despite acreage devoted to their growth diminishing each year. "We have lost a legacy in the production of certain flowers in the United States," said Kasey Cronquist, chief executive for the California Cut Flower Commission. He told the Sun that the trade preference act created a disincentive for traditional domestic flower farmers and ultimately pushed them to explore other crops. One of those is cannabis, a plant that has already proved controversial throughout California, taking the spotlight at countless city council and board of supervisor meetings as both a potential economic goldmine and catalyst for societal destruction, depending on the speaker. It's an argument that has dragged on ever since Proposition 64's passage and highlights an identity crisis Central Coast communities face amid a booming green rush. Mark Lovelace, a former Humboldt County supervisor and now a consultant for the firm HdL-which advises Santa Barbara County on marijuana regulation-told the Sun that the debate about cannabis in Lompoc and other municipalities often came down to a two-pronged ideology. "It's a little of, ‘What kind of conservatism do you fall on,'" he said, "pro-business or anti-cannabis?" Growing PainsFrom cut flowers to cannabis, Lompoc grapples with its past while eyeing economic opportunityPHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM Most Central Coast cities have already picked their side: Santa Maria, one of the largest, banned cannabis in all forms with the exception of medical delivery earlier this year. "I feel strongly about eliminating marijuana in Santa Maria as much as we can," Councilmember Etta Waterfield said the night the pot ban passed. Then there's Lompoc, roughly 28 miles south, with less than half the population of its northern neighbor and the polar opposite when it comes to marijuana regulation. With virtually zero restrictions on retail, processing, manufacturing, and cultivation, the city aims to be a hub for tourism bolstered by the nascent cannabis industry. But despite the actions of its council and the promises of economic growth, marijuana business owners still have their opponents in Lomp...

Jul 14, 2017

Local Flowers Make a Comeback

When the United States entered into the Andean Trade Preference Agreement (ATPA), part of the “war on drugs,” tariffs on a number of products from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru were eliminated to incentivize growing crops like flowers instead of coca.Since then, the percentage of flowers grown in the United States has steadily decreased, supplanted by sales of South American flowers, the majority of which come from Colombia. Roughly 80 percent of flowers sold in America are imported. These imported flowers are grown by underpaid laborers using heavy doses of synthetic pesticides, and carry a large carbon footprint given the many hundreds of miles each shipment must travel.Against this backdrop, U.S. growers have carved out a niche for sustainable, local flowers, and they’re finding that it is often more profitable than growing vegetables alone. In 2014, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report found flowers to be among the most profitable crops for farms with 10 or fewer acres with annual sales between $10,000-$500,000. The local growers who sell to florists generally do not receive a premium compared to the imported blossoms, but they are able to grow certain flowers that don’t travel well, such as dahlias.And the farmers who sell at farmers’ markets or have community-supported agriculture subscriptions (CSAs) are able to set their own prices. Spring Forth Farm sells three CSA sessions during the growing season, offering one flower drop per week for five weeks at a cost of $75 a session or $200 for all three.“Flowers are not easy, but they’re easier than fruits and veggies,” said Rachel Mockler, owner of Stemtown: Backyard Farm and Floral in Portland, Oregon. “Pests like to eat them less. And they’re more lucrative.”Rachel Mockler at Stemtown. (Photo courtesy of Stemtown)Mockler decided to get into flower farming after a year of living paycheck to paycheck, taking odd jobs like construction or scraping mold. With a Master’s degree in environmental studies and a background working on farms, she knew she wanted to work within local agriculture. When she lucked into a piece of land, she chose to focus on financial stability, and flowers because they’ve been shown to be more profitable by acre for small farms.“People won’t actually pay for the true value of food—they don’t understand why they have to pay four dollars for broccoli,” she said. But, she added, flowers are seen as a luxury item, so can command higher price tags.Wasps and BeesA potential perk of growing flowers is the ease of pest management. “Our flowers play a bigger role [in the farm] than a cash crop,” said Lisa Ziegler, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop in Newport News, Virginia, a commercial flower garden she started in 1998. “They’re the welcome mat for good bugs.”Ziegler comes from ... (Civil Eats)

Apr 7, 2017

Flowers “Made in the USA” – Why Some People Care

Alliance of Americans for America, it was the Andean Trade Preference Agreement (ATPA), which did away with tariffs on many products from Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. Not coincidentally, they say, 1991 was the year the U.S. entered that pact.Shortly after, the Alliance claims, Columbia in particular “flooded the American market with cheap, duty-free cut flowers.” As a result, California, which previously supplied 75 percent of the nation’s cut flowers, lost more than half its flower farms, dropping from 500 to 200 today.In response, in 2013, a group of flower farmers started a “Certified American Grown” task force and a year later created Certified American Grown labels.Now, a growing number of stores, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, are starting to label where their bouquets come from, too, according to a recent Adweek article.But do you even care if your local florist has local flowers?We thought you might, so we asked The Flowerman on Foothill Boulevard if he has any. He does.“The majority of our flowers come from California,” says Lou Quismorio, proudly. He has been the owner of The Flowerman for five years but started as a florist there in 1991.“I go to the flower mart personally myself. I have a relationship with these people and their families, so it behooves me to source them locally and support them… as with everythin... (Pasadena Now)

Mar 23, 2017

Sion Wicker, 75, never met a bad day

American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK 73123; or Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 955 Mercy Lane, Bolivia, NC 28422.Online condolences may be made at peacocknewnamwhite.com.   obits, obituaries, obituary, Sion Wicker...