The path that leads from Colombia’s flower fields to a Miami Mother’s Day bouquet begins in Gerardo Diaz’s hands as he grafts a rose variety to a hardier stem. In about eight months, the bud will bloom in one of the sprawling greenhouses of the Flores Alianza farm on the outskirts of Bogotá and be ready for export.
Nearly 70 percent of the flowers bought in the United States are imported and 65 percent of the imports come from Colombia, where the conditions are ideal for growing flowers.
No matter where your mother lives, there’s a good chance that some flowers in her Mother’s Day basket had a stopover in Miami — the flower importing capital of the nation. Nearly 90 percent of all imported blooms that enter this country come to Miami International Airport and the local floral industry has been preparing for Mother’s Day for months:
Extra flights must be booked, temporary workers and drivers hired, additional coolers and chilled warehouses rented, independent truckers contracted.
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