Our Tradition is Growing

Kitayama Brothers, California Grower since 1948

~ Linda 

Kitayama Brothers

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KB Blog: Wine and Roses

Wine and Roses: Benefit for the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust (pvhealthtrust.org)

A week ago, Kitayama Brothers sponsored a table for the Wine and Roses - 30th anniversary charity event.  10 KB staff and guests were able to spend a few hours at the Santa Cruz fairgrounds sampling the local wine and food of Santa Cruz County.  We enjoy eating and drinking while feeling good about ourselves.  Just about everyone I know in Watsonville comes to Wine and Roses.  

Here's a picture of Joe and Jim with Scott.  Joe worked with me at Cal Pacific Flowers 20 years ago, and now he sells flowers for himself.  Jim was Ryder Flowers; they had very interesting, novelty flowers.  I wish he still grew flowers locally. 

 

We see Natal with his Natal Port. KB sales manager Tony Scalisi goes a long way back with Natal.  He is a customer and supplier.  His port is sweet, but I like it.

 

It is nice to see KB Mass Market Manager Karen Nakamura, Grower Jimmy Zheng and HR Manager Maria Ledesma get out together.  I enjoy working, eating and drinking with them.

 

WATSONVILLE ROSES

Once upon a time, Watsonville, CA was the top rose growing area in the USA; Kitayama Brothers was the largest grower.  Today there is one rose grower left in Watsonville, Pajarosa who grows beautiful roses.  

Pajarosa Roses Here is a display of their roses. 

ROSES

Roses area my favorite flower.  I have flirted with peonies, iris, lilies, gardenias, lisianthus, gerberas, etc., but carnations and roses defined Kitayama Brothers. Roses are the Queen of Flowers.   

I predict before I leave Kitayama Brothers, we will grow roses again.

RHK

Come Walk with Kitayama Brothers

Walking from KB Greenhouse to Sunset Beach:

I am an avid walker.  I find it simple, enjoyable and good exercise.  And because I am in charge of the greenhouse, it is part of the job to regularly walk around the greenhouse.  I am not a grower, and I am not examining greenhouse procedures.  Mainly, I smile, say “hello” to employees and think, “I should learn Spanish.”  

The greenhouse covers about 50 acres and takes about 45 minutes to walk around.  You can extend the walk by going through each range, or if it is a sunny day by going to the beach.  Every job has its perks, to be able to walk to the beach from the office is one of mine.  

Any of you who come to visit Kitayama Brothers is welcome to walk with me to the beach.  Here are some pictures, as you can tell, it is best to come on a bright, sunny day.  I recommend September or October, that is the best weather.  These are pictures taken from the sand dune out the back of the greenhouse.

 

If I look one way there is the greenhouse just past the campground.

 . 

If I pivot the other way, you can see the surf. 

It's about a 2 minute walk down to the beach from the top of the dune. Right now is sand dollar season.  Too bad...they aren’t dollars, because there are a ton of them.   

Flowers on the Walk: Tulips

Oh, another reason I walk through the greenhouse is to look at the flowers.  Something new at our greenhouse is tulips.  We are just starting to bunch our first tulips of the year.  We currently have four colors but we will have more.  Ask your KB salesperson about price and availability.

OK, got to get back to work.

RHK. 

Endangered Species

The Last American Carnation Grower

  Last week I visited Akiyama Nursery in Watsonville and talked to Isamu and Ben Akiyama, the last carnation grower in Watsonville and possibly America. Isamu has been growing carnations since 1978 after moving here from Japan.

Kitayama Brothers (KB) is their largest customer and the Kitayamas and Akiyamas go back a long way. Sam’s brother Sadatoshi worked for KB as a grower for over 14 years before retiring.  Sadatoshi’s wife Nobuko will retire from KB this year after 29 years. Ben went to Watsonville High School with my cousin John Kitayama, and Ben is now a PE teacher at Watsonville High as well as a part time carnation grower.

Isamu and Ben are trying to hold on as carnation growers, Isamu who is 82 years old said, “I’m not ready to retire.”  Ben said he would also like to continue growing, but they cannot get carnation plants. To watch carnations disappear from American soil is painful. I want to help keep American carnations. I believe if the Akiyamas get new plants and fix up their greenhouses, they can grow a GREAT carnation. Not a cheap carnation but a good quality, American carnation. 

Can KB help to propagate carnation cuttings, so the Akiyamas and possibly a few other American carnation growers can give it a good try? We are looking into it.

Watsonville-Salinas is the cradle of the US carnation industry especially for Japanese-American farmers. A hundred years ago, Japanese immigrants started to grow flowers in the Bay Area. As one Japanese grower was able to buy some land and start growing carnations, he wrote back to Japan and encouraged more of his family or friends to come to this land of opportunity. Once upon a time there was over 10 million sq. ft. of carnations in this area and over 50 carnation growers. Old timers will remember names such as Mt Eden, Pacific Pride, Kohara, Tashiro, Yonemitsu, Haneda, etc. who were the suppliers of US carnation. 

For a while, Kitayama Brothers was the largest US carnations producer, and my first jobs were planting, pinching, caging, disbudding and cutting carnations. I never became a grower but I have soft spot for this flower. We might be taking on a fruitless task, but we have to keep looking for new crops anyway, why not revisit an old favorite? We will keep you posted on our quest to save the American carnation.