Julie with a B

Monday, February 14, 2005
 
Not all roses...
Flowers for Valentines Day are not all grown in some other country. They are a major business here in Sonoma County.
"The roses at Grohe's came from Lou Neve, owner of Neve Bros., who grows 300,000 rosebushes at his Petaluma greenhouses with the help of his wife, his two sons and a crew of 25.Neve, the fourth-largest rose-grower in the nation, grows roses of every color - white, lavender, peach, hot pink, green and burgundy. But red roses are one-third of his sales."Young lovers still want red," Neve said. "Guys who have been married 10 years will go for pink or orange or lavender. Women almost never buy red."On Sunday, every red rosebush in the greenhouses was stripped bare of blossoms. Neve and 12 others were pruning the cut stems, trimming off excess leaves and packing the roses for delivery to florists' shops and the San Francisco Flower Market.Neve sold 250,000 roses last week, despite competition from cheaper imports from South America. He uses special fertilizing and pruning methods, gleaned from countries around the world, to keep the quality high. It's the only way to stay in business, he said."

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