Roses packed for shipment, drinking some water before the long haul

Nice article on About.com by star journalist Karentina Harrison. Talks about Nevados organic and fair trade rose

farming practices. Includes very nice shots by, among others, Caroline Bennett.

Chet Baker- My Funny Valentine

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Thank you all for a successful Valentines Day!

Sweet Smelling Roses

Today we had an excellent story and slideshow published on GlobalPost. It is about fair trade and ethical flowers and Nevado Roses is prominently featured. Please click on
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/ecuador/100210/valentines-day-roses and make sure you download and click the slideshow further down on the page.

Ms. Sonia Marisol Guala Coronel sorting roses according to size

A special thanks has to go out to all our co-workers here at the Nevado rose farm. We had over 600 people working full time to get the harvest done in time for Valentines Day. And they did it!! In the picture above you can see Ms Sonia Marisol Guala Coronel in our packing hall. Her job, which she does expertly, is to sort roses according to variety, length and opening stage of the bloom. Different markets want different a different bloom so Sonias job is supremely important. Russians, for example, want their roses very “open”, whereas Americans (to take two opposites of the spectrum) want their blooms in the shape of a bud.

Traditionally customers always wanted the roses cut like a “bud”, in the false belief that the rose would then last longer. However, research and experience shows, that that is simply not the case. A rose that has been cut “open” can last as long, if not longer.

Thank you Sonia and all our staff in the packing room!

What’s a consumer to do? Faced with the choice between a locally grown rose, a fair trade rose from SouthAmerica or an organic rose from 1000 miles away – what is the most equitable, sustainable…good choice? How is the health of the planet more important than the health of its inhabitants? Isn´t the sustainability of my LOCAL economy more important to me than what happens in a far-away country? What good is a healthy people if the planet is sick? …all these choices we face as consumers on a daily basis in our supermarket aisles, but which is the right route to take?

I always say – try to find products (OK…roses!) that you know bring the most benefit to the people who grow them, without harming the environment that surrounds them. If, on top of that, you can find a sustainable rose that is also Fair Trade – then you are in luck.

A good guideline is to look for any of the number of third-party certifications out there, they are a good guide in your choice among products.  Look for, among others, Fair Trade, Transfair, Rainforest Alliance, Veriflora, FlowerLabelProgram, MPS, FairFlowersFairPlants, etc. etc. There are many good certifications out there, each with their special “niche”, but the most important is that you investigate, ask questions of the staff in your shop – and show that you care.

Florist Master Class with Banchet Jaigla

This month our intrepid reporter John Nevado visits Banchet Flowers in New York. Banchet Jaigla must quite simply be the coolest florist in the Big Apple. From her uber-trendy boutique in the MeatPacking District Banchet serves celebrities, 7-star events, and very very private dinners. This month she shows us how to make a beautiful table arrangement low enough to allow intimate dinner conversations. She takes us through the design step-by-step showing how to use the Pink Intuition rose for best effect. Click on this video link to view.

[http://www.iloveroses.com/rose-videos?v=31bT3i7325Kpy]

Adding Good Spiders That Eat Bad Spiders

The Weather was warm and dry leading up to the harvest, so we had EXTRA large roses, with heavy, pungent blooms. In the photo I am adding beneficial spiders that we produce our selves. We add them to our organic roses to get rid of bad spiders that eat the blooms. The Good Spiders eat the Bad Spiders until there are no Bad Ones left. I certainly hope all Buddhists out there will forgive us – because we do kill a lot of spiders…