Storms Tear Up Midwest, South Midwest florists had more things to worry about last weekend than getting Mother's Day orders out, as thunderstorms and deadly tornados made their way through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Georgia.
With the storms and twisters hitting late Sunday evening, many florists fortunately had already had their orders out the door and in the hands of their recipients.
When Forbes.com turned its attention to flower imports from Ecuador just before Mother's Day, the story highlighted the industry's efforts to be proactive and environmentally friendly.
While the wholesale value of floriculture crops grew modestly in 2007, bucking a previous downward trend, the total number of floriculture producers declined from 2006 to 2007. Those were just two of the trends the Floriculture Crops 2007 Summary identified in a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) report published in April.
John DeRemer Shanklin, 91, formerly of Pinellas Gladiolus, Inc. in Fort Myers, Fla., and president of SAF from 1957-1959, passed away on Sunday, May 4 at Hope Hospice in Bonita Springs, Fla. Known to his family and friends as Jack, Shanklin's career centered on the expansion and diversification of Pinellas Gladiolus, Inc. to include potted plants and chrysanthemums. He went on to introduce and implement a variety of transportation and logistics concepts to the industry.
Legendary journalist Helen Thomas, known throughout her 50-plus-year career for her incendiary questions in the White House Press Briefing Room, recently sparked a floral movement.
What if... a hacker stole all of your customers' credit card numbers? It could happen in a moment if your business systems don't have the right protections in place — and when it does, lost customer trust will be just the beginning of your troubles.
