European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Computerized greenhouses help make love Bloom Byma Yesch the associated press ii for a Symbol of love men and women turn Winter nights into summer Days in the Snow Laden laconic Hills of new York. In an icy Valley 20 Miles West of Albany hybrid roses grow on 6-foot-tall Bushes spread Over seven acres of an indoor farm. They slowly grow into full glory under the computer controlled Amber glow of simulated Sunshine. This is Kardinal says greenhouse manager Phil Riccardi 53, Curling his chapped fingers delicately around a vibrant Bud. This is the most popular red. Very roses by any other name May smell More Sweet the mauve Lavander for instance fills a room with Heady perfume but the nearly odourless Kardinal Royalty Samantha and other reds Rule on Valentine s Day. For Riccardi and his four Brothers and America s 225 other growers of florists roses Valentine s Day is big business. According to Industry figures the Holiday accounts for More sales at higher prices than any other Day. Wholesale prices for Long stemmed red roses typically double Between mid january and feb. 14, from about 50 cents to More than $1 a Stem. The Riccards owners of the 66-year-old Henry j. Seagroatt co., grow More than 4 million roses a year on 152,000 Bushes in greenhouses started by their Grandfather. In the Days leading up to Valentine s Day they la Cut about 300,000 velvety red buds. That one Day accounts for 20 percent of our business says Al Riccardi 51, Phil s brother and president of the company which also Sells carnations and other imported Flowers from its wholesale warehouse in Albany. Americans spend $12.5 billion a year on Floral products according to the Floral Index a Trade group in Chicago. Sales of Cut Flowers have More than doubled Over the last two decades. But these Are hard times for american growers. Many have thrown in the trowel unable to make a profit in a Market flooded with Low priced blossoms from Colombia and other countries. In the last 21 years we be lost More than 5,000 growers says Dave Machtel executive director of the Floral Trade Council in Haslett Mich. In 1971, More than 1.4 billion Cut Flowers 4 percent of them imported were sold in the United states according to the . Department of agriculture. In 1992, sales topped 3.4 billion blooms 73 percent imported. Carnation growers have been hardest hit by global Competition. The number of Domestic growers dropped from 1,525 in 1971 to 139 in 1992. Imports now account for 84 percent of the Market. Rose growers have fared better because roses Don t ship As Well As carnations. The number of . Rose growers declined from 323 to 225 Over the last 20 years. Imports now account for 55 percent of the 1.2 billion roses sold annually in the United states. Eastern Rose growers have been affected most by the imports. But in California which produces 65 percent of Domestic roses growers Are keeping an uneasy Eye on the budding business in Mexico. My Market has completely changed says Ron Enomoto who grows roses in half Moon Bay Calif. We used to ship to people Back East. Now that Market s been taken Over by imports coming into Miami from he worries that imports from Mexico will take Over Western markets As Trade barriers fall under the North american free Trade agreement. Johna Beall owner of Beall s roses in Seattle grows roses on a 40-acre farm in Bogota Colombia where equatorial Sunshine and moderate Mountain temperatures provide perfect growing conditions. She Sells 8 million roses a year in the United states 1 million for Valentine s Day. Beall agrees with Floral Trade Council allegations that some colombian growers Are dumping roses in the United states at unfair prices. Growers who Are staying afloat despite the flood of cheap Flowers Are those with the highest Quality product and Best marketing skills she says. We have to continually work to produce a better product for less Money Al Riccardi says. We be expanded our greenhouses we be computerized them we be added lights. We choose the most productive varieties. We have to use Energy very the Riccards added a new Complex of greenhouses to their first nine in the mid 80s, doubling their growing space to 300,000 Square feet. Double layer acrylic glazing provides better insulation than the old Glass but it still takes 300,000 Gallons of Oil to keep Winter temperatures in the 70s. Soil has been replaced with a mixture of bark peat Moss and Rock Wool that is watered twice a Day by pipelines injected with fertilizers. Two thousand 1,000-Watt sodium vapor lights Bathe the plants in Golden Light All night Long and on Cloudy Days. We re replacing sunlight with these lights says Al Riccardi raising his voice above the hum of greenhouse fans the Clickett Clank of steam heating pipes and the clamor of the cutters Rock radio. These High intensity lights have allowed us to double our Winter a computer controls everything lights Cooling vents irrigation lines heat fertilizer. Even the air is engineered for maximum Plant growth with Carbo dioxide increased to three times the level raised Concrete Beds 4 feet wide and 150 feet Long the roses form Hedges 6 feet tall or More supported by a network of steel wire. In shoulder wide alleys Between the Beds cutters search the Walls of Green for buds at just the right stage of color and size " v -. Cut roses with 26-Inch stems Are held in buckets of water in a refrigerated warehouse for shipment within a Day of cutting. The names of 30-Odd varieties Are written on signs above the masses of color. There s peach coloured Sonia red and White fire and ice White Jack Frost yellow Brianna Pink blushed White fantasy. And of course the reds. A poorly handled Rose May hang its head and refuse to unfurl. Imports May be flown in out of water and held on docks and in warehouses for As much As a week before reaching Consumers. But the Riccards roses Are trucked in water within a Day of cutting to retail florists in Eastern new York Vermont Massachusetts and Connecticut. Normally the roses Are harvested twice a Day 365 Days a year. In the Days leading up to and including Valentine s Day however the cutting is almost nonstop 12 hours a Day. It s a mass riot Here Al Riccardi says. The Day after Valentine s Day they re not Worth much. We have to get the crop in on Phil Riccardi clips roses at the Seagroatt co s seven acre indoor farm. A the realization that monogamy does t automatically mean Monotony is helping keep couples together. Mad Formen going All the Way has new meaning by Elizabeth Mehren los Angeles times two years ago when Lonnie Barbach and David Ruisinger wrote a Book called going the distance they wanted it to carry the subtitle a Field guide to monogamy. Their publisher vetoed the idea outright. Monogamy Barbach was told was terminal boredom. It was death. Mentioning it on the cover would kill the Book Pronto. " fast Forward the literary Calendar to the Winter of 1994. Barbach a Mill Valley Calif., psychologist has a forthcoming Book called the erotic Edge stories of passion for gasp married people. Joan Lloyd a 52-year-old grandmother and emergency medical technician in Westchester county n.y., is publishing her third Book of Handy household sexual hints for monogamous folks. Just in time for Valentine s Day or. Harold Bloomfield a san Diego psychiatrist is bringing out the paperback version of love secrets for a lasting relationship aimed at couples who plan to stay together forever. And in the title of the year category there is hot monogamy the Book that has Texas family therapist Patricia love hopping from talk show to talk show. The Booklet of sex books for married people is a very 90s" phenomenon said Lisa Johnson of the publishing House . Dutton reflecting the possibility that people can actually stay together and still have passion a notion that seemed borderline unthinkable during previous decades of greed and self absorption. Commitment is very much in Vogue say publishers who Are churning out books with such titles As getting to i do and now that i m married Why in t everything perfect All of which represents a Welcome turn of events said America s sexual godmother or. Ruth Westheimer. To think that being with one partner is now in fashion again is music to my ears said or. Ruth who has been married to the same Man for 32 years. Or. Ruth was Quick to report latest literary Effort or. Ruth s encyclopedia of sex focuses extensively on avoiding the tedium that sometimes accompanies Long term partnerships. Along with the fear of contracting aids or other diseases years of economic uncertainty have helped bring about the Rea ointment of Long term commitment. Books about How to cheat on your spouse which once flooded the Market have been supplanted by titles that Promise ecstatic Bliss to Nice married people. And books about Westheimer marriage in 1994 Don t just talk about balancing the Check Book managing aggression or car pooling the kids. They talk about sex. Behind this trend said Sandra scantling a Connecticut psychologist and author of Ordinary women extraordinary sex is a sudden and collective awareness that we Don t have to look outside to find we Don t want Many partners anymore scantling said. We want one with whom it will be everyday men and women also populate the wildly successful paperbacks of Joan Lloyd. Come play with me Lloyd s newest Book for Plain Normal people will be out this summer. I guess i wrote my books for the couple who have the same fantasy but they never found a Way to share it because they Felt that Nice people did t do things like that said Lloyd who has lived with the same Man for 10 years. With her penchant for filling her books with such advice As How to avoid Rug Burns Lloyd has taken to calling herself the sexual Heloise. Her editor at Warner books in new York Jamie Raab said Lloyd s Appeal has been enhanced by a heightened consciousness now that if you re not feeling excited by your relationship you can no longer go out and have an even without the fear of Al is said Carole Desanti who has edited a number of the new titles for Dutton people have watched their friends their families or themselves go through serial monogamy and they have noticed that people seem to take up the same problems in a new Asa result Desanti said marriages or marriage like relationships no longer feel so expendable. People Don t feel like they can dump the old Model and Trade up for a new psychologist love another Desanti author said a sense of cosmic insecurity has attracted some people to the very sense of permanence that formerly scared them when a words such As marriage or monogamy were discussed. With so much unrest in the world there s this need to hold on said love who acknowledged that her surname occasionally jeopardizes her professional credibility. But love said she has an even More grandiose idea that maybe we re finally getting it right As a monogamy and regular sex Are biologically healthy love said. Maybe we re figuring that out at 16 the stars and stripes i saturday february 12,1994 the stars and stripes 17
