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With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s a good time for California consumers to wake up and smell the roses — or daisies, tulips and orchids.

...“Right now, 80 percent of the flowers sold in the U.S. are grown in South America, particularly Columbia,” said Cronquist, who has been executive director of the commission for the past two years. “So instead of that money being pumped back into the local economy, a good portion of it goes out of the country.”

A recent study by the California Cut Flower Commission found that each year, the flower industry has a $10.3 billion impact on the economy, and that for every dollar spent on locally grown flowers, 92 cents goes directly back into the local economy. That statistic is particularly important to note for Santa Barbara residents, since Santa Barbara County provides more than 50 percent of California’s overall production value — making it the largest flower-growing region in the country. - Noozhawk