The bouquet began arriving in stores in July, which Congress has declared American Grown Flowers Month.
“I love these beautiful bouquets and soft summer color palettes to help celebrate American Grown Flowers Month,” shares Lilly. “This Certified American Grown bouquet is a Debi Lilly dream come true. I’m so proud to share this design and support our American flower-farming families.”
Lilly first announced plans for the Certified bouquet at the American Grown Field to Vase Dinner held at The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California, in April. From there, Crystal Hedgpeth, floral sales manager for Safeway’s Northern California Division, worked with Lilly and Albertson’s corporate team, to launch the program.
“This Certified American Grown Debi Lilly Bouquet is a wonderful addition to our flower program and quickly becoming a customer favorite,” explained Hedgpeth. “Since our pilot launch earlier this month, we’ve already sold over 5,000 bouquets which actually helped drive a positive sales lift in our bouquet category across all of our stores.”
To be labeled Certified American Grown, the bouquet is required to be 100 percent American Grown Flowers and assembled in the United States. The farm providing the flowers is also required to go through a third-party audit (administered by Where Food Comes From out of Castle Rock, Colorado) to ensure the flowers provided are American Grown.
“This is just the beginning,” said flower farmer Fred Van Wingerden of Pyramid Flowers. “We love working with Debi and Safeway and look forward to producing our farm-fresh flowers for customers everywhere.”
Declared in 2017 and again in 2018, July continues to be officially recognized by Congress as American Grown Flowers Month. The Debi Lilly bouquet will continue to be offered by Safeway throughout the year and going forward.
For more information:
AmericanGrownFlowers.org
916.441.1701
info@americangrownflowers.org
www.americangrownflowers.org