KB Annual Benefit Event

This year, 40 Kitayama family members hosted over 1,000 people at our family business's 4th Annual Open House event on June 15, 2013. This free-admission event was open to the public as a one-day opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes workings of our flower farm and shipping warehouse. 

The day was filled with greenhouse tours, a professional flower design contest, food & wine, games, informational tables, and an abundance of local flowers and produce offered at great prices. Proceeds from all sales at this event benefited the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks (501c Nonprofit, www.thatsmypark.org). Palm, Sunset, Manresa, and Nisene Marks state parks are our nearby neighbors and we at KB are happy to work with FSCSP to put on a community event that can support the efforts to keep our local state parks and beaches clean, safe, and staffed with rangers and lifeguards. 

Since 1948, our company has been growing and shipping a variety of cut flowers to wholesale and large event florists. Our farm is located at 481 San Andreas Road in Watsonville, California. Please feel free to contact us at 800-472-4184 or visit us at www.kitayamabrothers.com.

Thanks for attending, and we hope to continue to improve this event. See you and your friends at the 5th Annual Open House in June 2014! 

Short film created by: Daniel Kitayama (footage and interviews) and Eileen Kitayama (footage & editing) at the 2012 and 2013 open house events. On-screen speakers: Robert Kitayama, Scott Kitayama, David Kitayama, and visiting members of the public. Background music: "Flor de Capomo" by Carlos y Jose.

THIS FILM IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND PROMOTES A NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY EVENT.

In the Field...

GREENHOUSE DINNER

“In the Field” dinners are all the rage in California. Small farmers host well known chefs for events in their fields. What we haven’t heard about is “In the Greenhouse” dinners, so we held one a few weeks ago at Kitayama Brothers Watsonville. This was in conjunction with the annual Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers Open Houses. Kathleen Williford of CCFC put together a guest list of local flower growers, food and wine writers and bloggers, other local media and industry people for a fun dinner in the greenhouse.

 

Dinner was catered by Local Harvest Catering which features all local food. The wine was supplied by Pajarosa and to put it mildly, it was very, very fun. Set among our gerbera daisies, we were able to let our hair down, eat, drink and enjoy each other’s company. Kasey Cronquist of CCFC and Debra Prinzing spoke about supporting local flowers along with local food and wine. We also wanted to press the point that flowers belong on the table along with food and wine.

KB will have more greenhouse dinners for business and pleasure because it is fun and unique. They also help us remember how lucky we are to be flower growers next to Sunset Beach on the Monterey Bay of Northern California. Let us know if you would be interested in attending.

KB at Santa Cruz County Fair

KB grown flowers at Santa Cruz County Fair

At Kitayama Brothers we try to maintain a strong profile in our local community. This week we donated flowers through the R.O.P program in one of our local High Schools to be used in demonstrations of the work they do with budding designers at the Santa Cruz County Fair. We also had our own beautiful exhibit at the fair (thank you Carol K.)

~ Tony Scalisi

KB grown flowers at Santa Cruz County Fair

KB showing at SAF Convention

Jimmy Zheng and Dave Kitayama

Jimmy Zheng and Dave Kitayama preparing some of the OUTSTANDING VARIETIES Dave will be showing at this years SAF Convention in Florida. We will be well represented with lilies, mini callas, gerberas, and lisianthus. Which will be the BLUE RIBBON winner this year?

KB's Lisianthus & Mini Callas

UC Davis Students Visit KB Farms

At KB Farms it seems there is always something  going on. Here are 2 busloads of post-harvest Ag students from UC Davis spending a beautiful summer’s day touring our facilities and learning what growing and selling flowers is really like.

~ Tony Scalisi

  

Kitayama Cup Floral Competition Video

Kitayama Cup Floral Competition Winners!

The annual Kitayama Cup floral design competition was held June 16th during the KB Open House event.  This year there were two divisions, Open (professional with over 5 years of industry experience) and a Level 1 division for floral design students and young professionals.  Below are a list of the winners and participants.  To see a photo gallery of arrangements and photos of the entire event, see our web site at www.kitayamabrothers.com. Congrats to everyone, and thanks for your beautiful work!

Open Division winner Greg Lum with his arrangement. Photo by Tony Scalisi

OPEN DIVISION       Affiliation
Greg Lum                   AIFD                       1st Place
Joseph Salingao          7 Victoria St Flr        2rd Place
Nixon Tran                 Michael Daigain         3nd Place
Gerry Gregg               AIFD
Emil Yanos                 AIFD
John Bagnall               KB
Fernando Musulem     Berkeley Bowl

DIVISION 1
Imelda Iraeta            City College of SF        1st Place
Oxana Sanukova      City College of SF        2rd Place
Shinta Arifin             City College of SF        3nd Place
Virginia Horta            Petals Florist               People's Choice
Kim Munson             City College of SF
Jae Eun Yun             City College of SF
Ariel Ermatinger        City College of SF

Arrangement by Virginia Horta, Winner of the People's Choice Award. Photo by Kim Munson.

Level 1 Division winner Imelda Iraeta with Robert Kitayama. Photo by Tony Scalisi.

Imelda Iraeta's prize winning arrangement. Photo by Kim Munson.

KB supports Amgen Cycling Race

Happy winners with bouquets. See
http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/
race-live/photos.html for more event photos.

Kitayama Brothers supports several local community events.  A special event this year was the second stage of the Amgen Tour which ended at Cabrillo College in Aptos.  Kitayama Brothers sponsored the bouquets this year and were proud to be part of this special event. Amgen Tour of California Cycling Race came to Santa Cruz County, on Monday May 14, 2012.  Stage 2 Started in San Francisco and ended at the Cabrillo College campus in Aptos, about 10 miles from our greenhouse.  Last year 18 of the finest race teams in the world came to California to compete in the 8 Stages that cover northern and southern California.

We live and work in Santa Cruz County and it’s a wonderful place to live, a great place to grow flowers, and it’s a great place to bike.  Our good weather, beautiful scenery, and terrain that spans mountains and beaches, attracts a huge number of road bikers and mountain bikers, so it is fitting that the Tour de California passes through Santa Cruz.  And for us at KB it is great that the race comes through the day after Mothers Day, we can relax and watch the race.

Robert and I both mountain bike and appreciate the training and determination these professional road racers must have.  So we are very excited and honored that Kitayama Brothers will provide flowers for this event. 

Stuart Kitayama

Kitayama Cup and Open House

Please join us for our annual open house featuring greenhouse tours, a farmer's market, wine tasting and the Kitayama Cup Floral Design Competition. Please check out our event web page for current info and contest guidelines.