In This Issue ...

1. Now More than Ever, We Need to Petal It Forward.
2. CalFlowers Board of Directors Ballots
3. Free Flower Education Resources for Teachers
4. 2021 CalFlowers Membership Directory Updates
5. Save the Date
6. CalFlowers Free Spotlight
7. Featured New Members
8. Transportation
9. New Members 

Upcoming Events:

October 2021
Petal It Forward
October 21

February 2021
WF&FSA 2021 Floral Distribution Conference
February 22 - 24
The Doral, Miami, Florida

July 2021
AIFD Symposium - "DNA"
July 1 - 6
Hilton
Chicago, IL

August 2021
CalFlowers Presents:
All About Flowers
August 25 - 28
Hotel del Coronado
Coronado, CA

Latest Legislation
Updates:

Click Here to read the latest Legislative updates.

 CalFlowers
Social Media

Visit the CalFlowers Facebook page 

Check in for news, upcoming events, photos, and topical items.  

October
Flowers Of The Month:

Both of the October birth flowers marigolds and cosmos are colorful annuals that thrive in full sun. Learn the symbolism behind each flower!

THE MARIGOLD

Marigolds traditionally symbolized despair and grief over a loved one. It may be surprising that such a cheerful flower is associated with the dead.

However, for many cultures, its those neon-bright orange and yellow hues that represent the sun rays or light paths that guide their dearly departed.

The bright orange and yellow hues also represent the beauty and warmth of the rising Sun, and its power to resurrect.

Today, we often focus more on sunny colors of the marigold, representing optimism and prosperity.

THE COSMOS

Cosmos are a symbol of order, peace, and serenity.

The name Cosmos comes from the Greek kosmos, meaning order, harmony, or the world.

Spanish mission priests in Mexico cultivated cosmos in the mission gardens, and gave it this name because of its “evenly placed petals.” 

Not only is order and harmony expressed in the blossom’s symmetry, grace, and simplicity, but also in the symmetrically balanced, regularly-doubled production of leaf and blossom stems.

For Members Only Access

Past CalFlowers Newsletters

Click Here to view past CalFlowers Newsletters, now available on our website.

CalFlowers News

Now More than Ever, We Need to Petal It Forward

For the last five years, thousands of floral industry members in all 50 states have organized their teams on one day in October to take part in Petal It Forward, SAF’s goodwill initiative where participants hand two flowers or bouquets to an unsuspecting stranger, urging them to keep one and share the other with someone else. It’s a powerful way to illustrate the positive health benefits of giving and receiving flowers.

Given the isolation brought on by COVID-19, Petal It Forward is needed more than ever. The Kaiser Family Foundation released a tracking poll in July 2020 showing that most American adults — 53 percent — believe that the pandemic is taking a toll on their mental health. Science has proven that flowers reduce stress and anxiety and make people happy. Let’s come together as an industry and spread the power of flowers.

Click Here to learn more and discover the resources that SAF offers to make your "Petal It Forward" event a success.

CalFlowers Board of Directors Ballots

Ballots for the CalFlowers Board elections were mailed out to all Floral Members' “voting representative" on file on 9/21/20.  If there was no  “voting representative” on file, the ballot was sent to your company’s primary contact, which is usually the billing  address on file. 

Ballots must be post mark no later than Tuesday, October 27, 2020 in order to be counted.

Only Floral Members in California will be receiving a ballot. Out-of-state members do not vote in Board elections. 

If you have questions about your company’s primary representative of record, contact Monnaie Pepin via email at [email protected].

Free Flower Education Resources for Teachers!

J Schwanke Productions and uBloom.com want to make all educators aware of the Flower Education Resources Program, available free of charge.

Click Here to read more.

Blog Link: https://ubloom.com/blog/2020/09/30/free-flower-education-resources-teachers/

2021 CalFlowers Membership Directory Updates

We are pleased to announce we will be starting our production and updates for the new 2021 Member Directory. With the excitement behind that, we will need your KEY CONTACT to log into the Members Only side of www.cafgs.org and confirm & update all information for your organization. 

CLICK HERE to download the instructions.

You MUST be listed on the back end as the Key Contact for organization to have access to make changes to the Organization Profile. If you are not able to access, or need this updated; PLEASE Email [email protected] or Call (831) 479-4912 ext. 2

Items to make sure to take a look at :

• Organization Email
• Organization Phone #
• Company Description
• Line of Business
• Company Website
• Owner Name & Email
• Upload your Organization Logo

Your updates will need to be FINALIZED by OCTOBER 16^TH, 2020. 

Once these updates are completed, we will be sending Ad Space options out to all Key Contacts. This is a fabulous way to get in front of 700+ CalFlowers Members. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out as we are here to help! Once October 16^th comes and production for the Member Directory starts, the info listed for your Organization will be what is put in the Directory.

Thank you for your participation.

Save The Date: 

CalFlowers Free Spotlight 

CalFlowers invites you to showcase your business to over 700 members and over 1k Followers! We want to FEATURE your business on our social media platforms IG & FB.

Here is what we would need:

• Spotlight Form Filled Out 
• Company logo in JPEG Format
• 2-5 Images that represent your brand & business
• 1-2 short videos that represent your brand & business

This is a FREE SPOTLIGHT !! We are currently scheduling spotlights for December and into the new year. We feature a member every Tuesday. Get on the schedule to be featured today!

If this is something you would be interested in doing please email Lani at [email protected] or via phone at (831) 479-4912 ext. 2.

CalFlowers wants to support YOU. Like us on FB, follow us on IG, and join our community Group so we can all support each other.

We appreciate all of your support and hard work, especially during this last few months of chaos. Keep your heads up, strength high, flowers flowing and we will get through this together.

Not yet a member of CalFlowers, Click Here to learn more about joining our Association.

Featured New Members

Servicing florists, retailers and event designers in Connecticut and New York, National Floral Supply is a third - generation family business, currently owned by several industry leaders including the owner of one of the largest rose farms in Ecuador.

Now in our 30^th year in business, we are still one of the few vendors in the industry who offer same day order and same day delivery to all our customers.

Our sales representatives are veteran floral buyers, committed to securing quality products from around the world.   National’s quality control staff consist of former florists and wedding designers, who diligently inspect every order before it leaves our warehouse to ensure the highest quality.  They partner with our sales representatives throughout the inspection process.  We have a horticulture expert on staff as well as a dedicated team of wedding floral experts.

Our cold chain supply surpasses most competitors in our industry and with transportation offices in the Miami airport and state of the art cold chain transportation, most product is in our Connecticut warehouse within days of leaving the farm.

At the heart of National is its employees, some of whom have been with us for almost 30 years.  We still believe in family pride and dedication.  We treat every customer’s business like it’s our own.  We are committed to giving our customers the highest quality product, care and service. 

Your passion is our pride.  Click Here to visit their website.

Based in New York City, Ode à la Rose – it may not surprise you to discover – was founded by two Parisians with a certain ‘penchant’ for the mighty rose. Why roses? Well, in their formative years Olivier and Louis liked to consider themselves “smooth”. However even these two suave gentlemen recognized they needed help with their game sometimes. “When words weren’t quite enough, we turned to roses…”

With the help of their secret weapon they decided to tackle the Big Apple – and were immediately scuppered, they believed, by what they saw as a lack of high-quality rose-based arrangements. Working in the financial district, “we couldn’t find the elegant beauty of rose bouquets we were accustomed to finding just about anywhere in Paris.” All they wanted was to send beautiful roses to their girlfriends…

Thus Ode à la Rose was born, and those girlfriends are now wives! It’s an enterprise that gave the “queen of flowers” the platform Olivier and Louis felt it truly deserves. “No matter what, flowers will always please their recipient because of the emotional charge they carry along with them,” the pair say. “Sending flowers is a very thoughtful and meaningful gift by nature… and ours have that ‘je ne sais quoi’ chic to them!”

Pictured above are the co-founders of Ode à la Rose
Louis Brunet (left) and Olivier Plusquellec (right)
Click Here to learn more about Ode à la Rose.

Transportation

As many of you may know, the Overnight Carriers are experiencing huge volumes during this COVID-19 pandemic.  Many are operating at record volumes and are working hard to cope with the added stresses on their systems.  With these volumes, it’s a good idea to look carefully at the service level you choose when evaluating delivery time options.  Many have found that choosing a service that delivers earlier helps to keep your expectations and your customers in line with the current environment.

Also, Wildfires across the west coast may result is service delays in some affected areas.  Consult your carrier for the latest pick-up and delivery updates.

As a reminder, current shipping rates and program information is on the CalFlowers Members' Only website.  Members using their log-ins can access this information anytime.  Rates on FedEx, GLS, OnTrac, and airlines can all be found, as well as other handy information.  For questions or comments on any of our programs, please contact Chris Johnson for assistance at (760) 533-5580 or [email protected].

To all of our new members who are just starting with FedEx shipping, FedEx has a nice “Customer Training” service that is available upon request.  This service offers shippers direct one-on-one assistance from FedEx covering many of the questions new shippers may have.  If you are interested in signing up, please contact Chris Johnson [email protected].  FedEx also has some excellent information for new shippers on their website.  Visit https://www.fedex.com/en-us/get-started.html for a good summary of what FedEx offers.

For members wanting to contact their local FedEx representative, feel free to contact me and I will put you in touch.  It’s always a good idea to establish a relationship with your local FedEx field representatives who can help out when you need them or have questions.  

As a reminder, the Money Back Guarantee (MBG) is still suspended until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the very large shipping volumes resulting from it.  Also, bear in mind, when the MBG is reinstated, shippers must make the request no later than 15 days from the invoice date.  Requests after the 15 day time period will not be honored.

For members needing FedEx Tech Support, this phone number takes your right into the department.  877-339-2774.  They can help with many tech related issues including guidance regarding on-line shipping platforms.

We would also like to remind members to stay current with their FedEx Express shipping invoices. FedEx payment terms are 15 days.  All members shipping on FedEx Express are expected to stay within the FedEx payment terms.  To obtain your invoice details and payment options, please contact FedEx Customer Service.

For members who wish to move PALLETIZED freight on FedEx, CalFlowers can help direct you to customized solutions and pricing.  FedEx Freight is an excellent option when your shipments call for pallets. Interested members should contact Chris Johnson at [email protected] for more information.

The CalFlowers GLS program is one of our fastest growing, most value-priced offerings, with discounts over 70% off standard rates.  GLS offers later pick-ups and earlier deliveries while providing express door-to-door services covering CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, NM, UT and ID.  Members who want to ship on GLS must sign up in advance. It’s easy and just takes a few minutes.  Please contact Chris Johnson for more details at (760) 533-5580 or [email protected].   

GLS has made some changes to their overall surcharge fee structure resulting in some increases taking effect October 1.  CalFlowers has negociated special discounts off these general fees for members resulting in significant savings.  Fees such as Address Correction Fee, Adult Signature Reguired Fee and Residential Delivery Fee to name a few.  These changes can be found at www.gso.com.

For members looking for service into Colorado, OnTrac offers 2 day service from California at no extra cost.   Delivery areas are limited so be sure to check with OnTrac.

We know that OnTrac got their start in California and services every ZIP code within California, but did you know OnTrac also services seven other Western States?  OnTrac has 2-day service into WA, OR, ID, NV, UT, AZ, and CO.  And to help understand the service parameters, OnTrac has a very nice “Time and Transit Map” under Zip Tools on their website.  This handy map loaded from YOUR zip code helps you understand OnTrac’s overnight commitment areas.  To download your map, please visit: https://www.ontrac.com/servicesareas.asp.

Airlines:

In Airline news, for those members that missed our announcement, CalFlowers has put together a new program with JetBlue Cargo.  JetBlue offers CalFlowers members exceptional express prices out of LAX to Boston, New York, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Rico and now NEWARK (EWR).  These new rates are some of the best we’ve see in some time.  For more information, please contact Chris Johnson at [email protected] or Mark Friedenthal at JetBlue Blue Cargo (310) 490-2659.

Recently we added Air Canada Cargo rates to our transportation portfolio.  Our discounted pricing offers good value to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton out of LAX and SFO.  For more information on these new rates from Air Canada, visit our website or contact me anytime at [email protected].

Recently we added Air Canada Cargo rates to our transportation portfolio.  Our discounted pricing offers good value to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton out of LAX and SFO.  For more information on these new rates from Air Canada, visit our website or contact me anytime at [email protected].

If you haven’t yet heard about the new CalFlowers/Alaska Airlines shipping program, this exclusive offer is now available for CalFlowers members.

Beginning immediately, Alaska Airlines has lowered the minimum charge from $75 to $50 per waybill.  This improvement should significantly add more value to this already value packed shipping program.

The new Priority Rates are the best we have seen in years and with the Virgin merger completed, Alaska Airlines has an extensive network, servicing major popular destinations all across the U.S. Our program works outbound and inbound out of SAN, LAX, and SFO.  To take advantage of this exceptional program, interested members must sign up.  Please contact Chris Johnson to get started at (760) 533-5580 or [email protected].

NOTE: Transportation Rate information and documents are viewable/downloadable as PDFs on the CalFlowers Members Only site. Please note that these documents are considered sensitive material and are available to the primary contacts for Ag Buddy, Associate Floral, Associate Grower, and Floral members.

New Members

We are pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members from September 15 - October 6:

www.cafgs.org 

Ph. 831-479-4912 | Fax 831-479-4914