We are grateful to our friends from Garden Roses Direct and Florabundance for providing us with the gorgeous David Austin Wedding Roses from Alexandra Farms for our Wedding MBA Booth! If you are not familiar with Garden Roses Direct and Florabundance-- let us introduce you to these incredible companies!
About Garden Roses Direct
David Austin Roses are well-known for their beauty. These captivating garden roses evoke the romanticism of antiquity with their wealth of beautiful petals. As a florist, you certainly want to showcase these flowers at peak bloom for your clients’ special occasions. Garden Roses Direct can accelerate the process of sending fresh flowers to you because their roses are farm-direct. The team at Garden Roses Direct always strives to provide you with the greatest products at the best pricing. The garden rose varieties are unique to their farm and unavailable elsewhere.
Just a few of their best-sellers are:
David Austin Beatrice- Beatrice needs 4-5 days in water to open nicely. Beatrice offers a vase life of 8 to 10 days, making this rose ideal for gift giving and in arrangements for the home. David Austin Wedding Rose Beatrice’s large blooms are held on strong upright stems.
Garden Rose Assortment - For this Assortment, you may select four bunches of garden roses out of the thirty varieties available from the rose farm!
David Austin Rose Assortment- In this David Austin assortment the four most requested varieties are included: Juliet, Patience, Constance, and Keira.
Garden Roses Direct has won three awards from the Society of American Florists: Blue Ribbon, Red Ribbon, and Best In Show. They won the Wedding Wire Couple's Choice Award in 2019!
About Florabundance
A team of renowned California cut flower producers formed Florabundance, Inc. in August of 1994. The company's objectives were straightforward: to give a fresher, higher-quality floral product to the retail floral industry. The company was destined to prosper in providing the rising customer base with the products needed and wanted by the general public by decreasing the time from cut to receipt and by providing a comprehensive product selection.
Florabundance is now committed to long-term growth in order to ensure its success and longevity in the industry. They’ve made it clear that they are here to help retail florists and other special event specialists in the floral industry. This clarity of vision, combined with business beliefs, assures that they will be here for the floral industry now and in the future, assisting customers in developing the cutting edge necessary to thrive in today's floral market.
Florabundance provides the following services:
Florabundance is located in the beachside town of Carpinteria, California, just south of Santa Barbara, where the Los Padres National Forest meets the Pacific Ocean. The rich and productive growing conditions in this area are well-known. This, combined with mild year-round temperatures, assures a continual supply of fresh-cut flowers and greens cultivated locally. Its packaging and flower preparation are state-of-the-art, allowing a 100% guarantee of quality and freshness.
Florabundance seeks high-quality farmers from all over the world to extend the variety of unique flowers accessible to their consumers. Their goal is to bring together growers, employees, and customers to make a cohesive unit. Florabundance is in business to help everyone succeed and to nurture the pleasant sentiments that come naturally when everyone pitches in to help customers who want to add more beauty and joy to their lives through flowers. They are even a certified American Grown distributor and Wholesaler.
“Certified American Grown Flowers is a cohesive and diverse alliance of flower farms in the United States, encompassing small and major businesses in a variety of states. Certified American-grown flower farms take part in an impartial, third-party supply-chain audit to ensure that the flowers they grow are of American origin and assembly. The Certified American Grown Flowers mark, which can be found on bouquets, bunches, and another packaging as well as retail signage, gives consumers trust in the source of their flowers by ensuring that the flowers they buy are grown on a domestic American flower farm.”
Florabundance Inspirational Design Days
"At Florabundance, we believe being creatively inspired and continued quality Floral Design education is the key to your business’ success."
Florabundance Inspirational Design Days launched in 2013 as a result of their love for continuing floral education and the ongoing drive to keep up with new trends, flowers, products, and designers. In Santa Barbara, California, there will be a one-of-a-kind floral design workshop and conference. It's for all floral design creatives (whether new to the field or seasoned pros) looking for ongoing education, networking, collaboration, and inspiration for the next wedding and special event season, as well as beyond.
Florabundance Inspirational Design Days has established itself as one of the country's finest floral design events. Growers, flower breeders, and floral supply companies from all over the world have found their event to be a fantastic way to present their latest flower types and supplies, so there is always an excess of amazing goods to experiment with and design with!
Take a look at #florabundancedesigndays on Instagram to see photos from previous events!
About Joost Bongaerts
OWNER & PRESIDENT of Garden Roses Direct and Florabundance
Joost was born and raised in the Netherlands. His father was in charge of agricultural landholdings across the United States. Joost spent his summers on his family's farm in northern Holland, where he developed an interest in agriculture and horticulture. He studied Plant Science at Wellant College in Gouda and graduated with a bachelor's degree. Joost also spent a semester as an exchange student at Michigan State University, which sparked his ambition to work and live in the United States.
Joost began his professional career in 1981, working for The Dutch Flower Auctions & Exporters Organizations, first in Holland and then in Livonia, MI, selling fresh-cut flowers from Holland. Joost worked for numerous Dutch Flower Bulb Companies from 1983 to 1991, marketing flower bulbs and perennial plants to specialty cut flower producers in the US and Canada. In 1991, Joost and his wife Alexandra started Bonfleur (Bongaerts Flowers) in New Canaan, CT, a European-style retail flower shop.
During this period, Joost also imported flowers from Holland and served as president of First American Florist, an online wholesale flower company based in Holland. In 2002, Joost joined Florabundance as a partner, and in 2008, he became the company's sole owner. Joost's history and expertise selling flower bulbs to growers, importing cut flowers, and running a successful retail flower shop give him a unique perspective from which he has built the Florabundance brand into one of the nation's best wholesalers. Joost and Alexandra had two adult children and moved from Connecticut to California in 2008.
We can't express our gratitude enough to Joost and the Garden Roses Direct crew for providing such a beautiful product. Follow them on Instagram and check out their website for all of your blooming rose needs!