The event that won the Southern California Plant Growers Floral Management's 2000 Marketer of the Year award is expanding its reach well beyond the San Diego area.

'Plant Tour Days,' which for eight years has teamed up plant growers from across the southern part of the state to showcase their goods to buyers from around the country, will feature not only San Diego growers but also growers from central California.

"Buyers who have attended previously often are looking for other green goods categories and this year we'll be able to maximize their exposure to quality product," explains Plant Tour Days Committee Co-Chairwoman Jessa Findley of Rancho Tissue Technologies, Inc.

Produced by the San Diego County Flower & Plant Association, 'Plant Tour Days,' held June 5 and 6, will include the following growers: Ades & Gish Nurseries in San Marcos; Baxendale Nursery in Fallbrook; Booman Floral in Vista; Botanical Partners/Bamboo Headquarters in Vista; California Greenhouses in Irvine; Corey Nursery in Claremont; Deigaard Nursery in Santa Barbara; EuroAmerican Propagators in Bonsall; Foothill Tropicals, Inc., in San Marcos; Gish Foliage in Encinitas; Green Acres Nursery in Vista; Horticultural Sales, Inc., in Vista; Jungle Jacks Palms in Vista; Kallisto Greenhouses in Fontana; Keeline Wilcox Nurseries in Oxnard; Kent's Bromeliad Nursery in Vista; Las Palmas Ranch in Oceanside; MiraMar Wholesale Nurseries in San Diego; Mountain View Nursery in San Marcos; Olive Hill Greenhouses, Inc., in Fallbrook; Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore; Premier Color Nursery, LLC, in Fallbrook; Rote Greenhouses in San Marcos; San Francisco Foliage/LA Tropicals in Whittier; Sunlet Nursery, Inc., in Fallbrook; The Good Earth in Fallbrook; The Plant Stand in Costa Mesa; Thompson Rose Co., Inc., in San Marcos; Twin Oaks Growers International, Inc., in San Marcos; Valley View Nursery in San Marcos; West Coast Nurseries Corp. in San Marcos; and Western Cactus Enterprises, Inc., in Vista.

The goal of the event is to "connect buyers with growers in a casual but educational and informational atmosphere," explains Jan Berry, executive director of the San Diego County Flower & Plant Association.

In addition to the tour days, there will be a conference which will feature a variety of speakers from the USDA, American Nursery and Landscape Association and National Plant Board, addressing pest exclusion and prevention issues, and a "California Grown Show" featuring more than 70 exhibiting nurseries.
 
Get some history on Plant Tour Days, by revisiting their early efforts, which were covered in the October 2000 issue of Floral Management magazine. And, don't forget, if you'd like to be a contender for the $5,000 prize, there's still plenty of time to enter Floral Management's 15th annual Marketer of the Year contest. The deadline is May 31. Read more about the winners of past campaigns under the Floral Management section of the SAF Web site.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

 

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