A Growing Passion: The Business Of Blooms

Host Nan Sterman visits a hardy few who are helping San Diego’s floraculture industry to survive and thrive.

Rainbow Hill Protea picker at work. (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

Pickers harvesting flowers at Rainbow Hill Protea Farm in Fallbrook, Calif. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Dawn and the Rainbow Hill Protea crew after harvest. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Truck loaded with flowers after harvest at Rainbow Hill Protea in Fallbrook, Calif. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Rainbow Protea landscape. (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

Flowers, Rainbow Hill Protea (Courtesy of Marianne Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Protea bud (Courtesy of Marianne Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Rainbow Protea (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

Proteas packed to ship. (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

Noted floral artist, educator and speaker René van Rems with host Nan Sterman and floral arrangement. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Floral Trade Center, Carlsbad, Calif. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Boxes of tulips, Floral Trade Center, Carlsbad, Calif. (Courtesy of Michael Gerdes, AGP Productions, LLC)

Grevlilea "Moonlight" flowers (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

California lilac bloom up close. (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

California lilac blooming. (Courtesy of AGP Productions, LLC)

Dramm & Echter, horticultural greenhouse producer, 1150 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas, Calif. 92024 (Courtesy of Nan Sterman)

Gerbera, Dramm & Echter. (Courtesy of Nan Sterman)