National Poinsettia Day: Flower Supply Chain
By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex
It’s National Poinsettia Day!
Now, poinsettias (in the US at least) are very much associated with Christmas and the winter holidays. But did you know they are actually native to Mexico?
They were brought back to the US from Mexico in 1825 by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Minister to Mexico. As you may have guessed, poinsettia was not their original name and the common English name was derived from the man who brought it here. In Mexico and Guatemala it is know as Flor de Noche Buena, meaning Christmas Eve Flower.
However, credit for popularization of the industry in the US belongs to Albert Ecke, a German immigrant to LA in 1900. Ecke was intrigued by the plants and started selling them from street stands. But it was his grandson who took supply chain and sales and revolutionized the industry.
Paul Ecke Jr. was the first to ship them as cuttings sent by air, rather than moving mature plants by rail. He also shipped free plants to TV stations to display during the Thanksgiving-Christmas shopping season.
Since the internet is a magical place and information is only a Google search with the correct terms away, I can tell you how modern shipping of flowers, like poinsettias, is accomplished.
Most North America flowers not grown here are imported from South America in regions nearer the equator. They are shipped using temperature control devices, like coolers, temperature controlled aircraft, and refrigerated trailers: cold-chain technology.
FedEx even has a whole guide published for free on how to best ship plants via their Express services, and UPS wrote about how plants are moved from farm to florist.
As you’re seeing those pretty, pretty poinsettias while you’re doing your holiday shopping, remember that supply chain is what gets them from where they’re grown to where you’re seeing them. We even have a couple on display in our office building. Supply chain is everywhere.
