Hardest Working Women in Flowers...

Grandma Kitayama and Farm Girl

Grandma Kitayama worked till the day she died at 85. She passed away during the morning break from grading carnations. Grandma raised 6 children in a country she couldn't speak the language and who put her and the family into concentration camps during WWII. However, she told her kids this was a good place and to work hard and it would be "daijobu" OK. Grandma's boys build greenhouses and grandma graded carnations and made sure everyone got along.  She was given her own color rubber band to grade carnations, she would grade every bunch "Fancy" because we could charge the most money for Fancys. I am reminded of Grandma Kitayama when I went to visit Christina Stembel AKA Farm Girl over Valentine's Day. Here is another woman who works very hard, every day to fulfill her dreams.

Grandma Kitayama on the rare day she wasn't working.

Once upon a time Kitayama Brothers would start at 4;30am and work until midnight during Valentine's Day. That was when we grew roses and carnations and stored them and then shipped thousands of boxes. However, now we are older and lazier. This holiday we went home around 5:00 PM, we did work 21 days straight (can't do that anymore in CA after this year). On February 13th I drove to San Francisco to deliver kale and visit with our great customer Farmgirl Flowers. She did not have time to chat with me, she was too busy working her butt off to get out hundreds more orders before cut off. She had just done a 24 hour shift. I love KB but I haven't worked 24 hours ever. Not only is Christina the hardest working women I have met since Grandma she also supports KB flowers almost as much as grandma. Christina buys as many California flowers as she possibly can and she doesn't get enough credit for doing so. From KB, "Thank You", get a little rest, and then get back out there! 

Farm Girl at Valentines Day, "no time to talk" 

PS: March 8th Women's Day. 

Women buy 85% of all flowers, 

please give you favorite female some flowers!

Robert Kitayama

Qi-Xi (Double 7 Festival)

2015 Chinese Valentine's Day (Aug 20)

Chinese Valentine's Day is on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Therefore, it is also called Chinese Double Seven Festival, the formal name in Chinese is Qi-Xi. Another name is The Daughter's Festival, which is the day for unmarried young girls looking for love. 

The Double Seventh Festival in China is what Valentine's Day is to the western countries. Because of the beautiful legend about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, the festival has been endowed with the meaning of great romance. In the urban cities, young people are starting to celebrate Western Valentine’s Day (Feb 14) over Qi-Xi, but in the rural areas, the customs still persist and gifts of flowers and chocolates between couples is the custom.

Here are some recent photos from the Kunming Flower Market from Tricia Tang van der Borg who works in China for Van den Bos bulbs.

RHK

Kitayama Brothers

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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

Kitayama Brothers

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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

RHK

Kitayama Brothers

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Getting Ready for the Holiday

Walking around the farm, we are gearing up for the Valentine rush

We had forecasted this year would be down as a result of the Saturday holiday, and we planted accordingly.  Hindsight is 20/20 and we probably should have grown a bit more as we are currently sold out of Gerberas, Lisianthus, Starfighters, Pink Orientals and Snapdragons.  We have tulips and novelty items to sell: talk to your KB rep to see what we have.  

Here is a picture of the warehouse, you can still see the floor space, 

so you know we haven’t gone into full production yet.

Our grower Jimmy Zheng is standing in front of his lily crop.  

We are sold out, so thank you for ordering your lilies this Valentine.  

Oriental lilies will continue to be in short supply for the remainder of the year, 

because of the unstable bulb supply and a backlog of containers at the container ports 

due to a longshoreman strike.  We will do our best to supply our customers.

As for the Valentine holiday, take it one day at a time, it will be over before you know it.  Then you will have just enough time to prepare for Women’s Day on March 8^th!

RHK 

Kitayama Brothers

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Rich Dallimonti: Man on Fire

Every company says, “We are only as good as our people." 

It's a cliché, but it is true for KB.  Rich Dallimonti has been selling at KB Watsonville for 30 years, and still fights for sales as if he was the new kid trying to prove himself.  He is the top salesperson and has been for many, many years.  

Whether we are growing roses, lilies, gerberas, or other crop he is able to find homes for them.  If you have any connection with KB, you probably have met or talked to Rich. Talking is where Rich excels, I don’t know anyone whose energy grows the more they tell you about hockey, country music, walking the dog, cigar smoking, fixing the car or gerbera daisies.  

SMOKING CAR

Another thing that is special about Rich is when there is a local news story; Rich for some reason is always at the scene.

Whether it is accidents, robberies, bodies flying out of party buses or flaming cars as the photo shows (his own, on the way down the KB driveway) Rich is nearby.  

I am not sure what this says about him or if it is safe to stand close to him. 

The best policy is to call Rich, buy flowers from him and DON’T ask, “How about those Sharks”, unless you have a little time to spare. 

CAR FIRE SALE:

For all the buyers out there, we still have pink snaps and tulips for Valentine's shipping.  Call Rich, ask about his car fire and he will give you a great deal on pink snaps or tulips.  Actually any of our sales staff can do the same, minus the story.

KB Valentine’s Report 2014

Another Valentine

Like rings on a tree, everyone in the flower business marks the passing of time by how many Valentine Days they have endured.  To be honest, we need a jolt of flower action to get the juices flowing.  Nothing does it like a busy Valentine’s holiday. 

Jan 31, 2014: KB Pre-Valentine’s Report Video (HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR)

Here is a short video regarding Valentine preparations at KB Greenhouse in Watsonville.  The weather has been incredible and our head grower, Jimmy Zheng has done a good job keeping the crops on time.  We hear that several other growers might be early since the weather has been sunny every day - we need rain!  

A rare treat on this video is watching Jimmy harvests iris, it’s the first time I have seen it. 

Then you can see and hear the power team of Rich Dallimonti and Tony Scalisi tells you what we have and don’t have at KB.  We are very busy shipping between Feb 3^rd and Feb 7^th, but don’t hesitate to call if you are looking for beautiful California flowers.

KB Bouquet Division

Kitayama Brothers has finally diversified into selling directly to mass merchandisers.  

For most of our history we have relied on wholesale florists as our main market.  We still hold a large percentage and have great relationships with the leading wholesale florists in the US, but in order to increase our flower production - we had to be able to increase our customer base.  

KB hired Karen Nakamura 2 years ago, she has many years of working for and selling to mass merchandisers such as Safeway, Vons, Gelsons, Raleys, Krogers and other large retailers.  One of Karen’s challenges was to build a production team, and we are proud of the work she has done with her floor leader Wilbur Yam.  Here are pictures of the team ramping up to Valentine’s Day.

KB is working to build the right mix of wholesale florists, bouquet makers and large retailers to guarantee a bright future.  We plan to continue to increase our flower production, and being able to service all large sectors of the industry is a major part of this plan.