Friday, February 27, 2015

Women’s Day 2015



Confess, who knows when and what Women’s Day is?  
(March 8th is International Women's Day) It was first celebrated in the early 1900’s as a way to start recognizing women’s rights. The earliest Women’s Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New YorkIt is celebrated mainly in Europe and Asia where people buy flowers and other gifts for the women in their lives.  

The American flower industry wants to make this an American holiday. We were not sure how to promote this holiday but according to my daughters, if the holiday benefited women and women’s causes they could support it.  I thought that was a great suggestion.
  

Therefore on this first Women’s Day promotion, 
KB is donating 10% of our sales on March 6th to two groups: 
Monarch Women’s Center in Watsonville.  

KB is also advertising in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on March 1, 4 and 6 
listing our customers who are also donating to local women’s causes on Women’s Day. 
IF possible, please support one of these businesses.




Whether you buy flowers or not, on March 8th let the women in your life know 
how much you appreciate them.




RHK

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Flowers in the City

Flowers for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year collide in San Francisco


This past weekend I was in San Francisco on Friday and Sunday. 
When the weather is in the 70’s, there isn't a more beautiful city in the country. 


SF Flower Market
On Friday morning, I went to SF Flower Market to check out how business was, and how our customers were feeling.  Our good friend and customer, Karman Kwan seemed pretty happy about the holiday.  He said he was sold out and was glad that he didn’t have as many roses like his neighbor Shibata Floral.  Hopefully Shibata sold out, too. 

Karman Kwan




Around the rest of the market there was a good selection of branches, spring flowers and ranunculus; all are now in good supply.  Everyone seemed to be in good spirits which is nice to see around Valentine’s Day.





Chinatown Flower Fair
On Sunday 2/15, my family and I took a trip to San Francisco to see what was going on at the Chinatown Flower Fair.  Chinese New Year is Thursday 2/19 and this is the year of the Ram/Sheep.  As you can see there were a lot of shoppers, it is the biggest holiday of the year for the Chinese and Vietnamese communities.



I was a little disappointed with the flower offerings.  There were a smattering of gladiolas, orchids and some nice pots of narcissus, but otherwise it was all fake flowers and plastic stuff.  There is great potential for flower sales, someone step up!  You can get your flowers from KB.





Kung Hei Fat Choy & Happy Tet!

RHK

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Wedding Flowers

In honor of Valentine’s Day... the holiday of romance



We want to show off flowers and photos from my cousin’s daughter wedding.  
Rachel Cathcart and Scott Daley married in Palo Alto on January 24.  
Rachel is my cousin Monica’s daughter, Uncle Tom’s granddaughter and cousin David’s niece.  


It was decided a few years ago that Kitayama family weddings should have nice flowers.
   
I thought the flowers for this wedding were very nice.   
Cousin Dave usually procures the flowers and he did a great job; 
considering it was just a few weeks before Valentine’s Day.  
Brides want what brides want, and that often means garden roses. 



Rachel and Scott met in Philadelphia while attending college.    
They will both be living in Philadelphia; I guess the cold doesn’t bother them.  
The arrangements and bouquets were designed by Yasuko Solar of DeYoung Florist, 
and a friend of the family.  

Rachel’s sisters Naomi and Rebecca were the bridesmaids.



We had a nice time at the reception, funny toasts and heartfelt speeches.  
Kitayama is a large family and celebrating family milestones is a big part of what is important…

Stuart, Scott and Robert


Stuart, Dennis and Ted