But researching this story was also an inspiration.  I used to grow a few cutflowers in my garden every year, but then, for some reason I stopped.  Why?  As Tara reminded me many of them are easy.  (Read about them here.)  And the rewards are so great. Home-grown cutflowers have so much more character than standard floral industry fare, which tends to look, well, industrial.  Stamped out instead of grown.

So, go on, plant some sweet peas, Tara's very favorite cutflower.  No, even in Southern California, it's not too late.  But do it quickly.

Another reason to grow at least some of your own cutflowers is that is is good for the planet.  Many of us try to buy as much produce as we can locally instead of shipped in from as far away as Chile.  But we may not give a second thought to where our flowers come from.  Mostly Latin American now, says Tara.  And Amy Stewart confirms that in her book about the flower industry, Flower Confidential.  Three-fourths of our flowers are imported, say Stewart, most from Latin America.

That's what makes it so sad that Kolla has been squeezed out of the cutflower market.  Not forever, we hope.  Turns out the City of Los Angeles has decided that growing cutflowers for sale in your backyard is illegal because they don't fit their definition of truck gardening under the Truck Gardening Ordinance.  That Ordinance is being interpreted to apply only to vegetables.

Kolla and a like-minded group of urban farmers are trying to have that ordinance changed.  You can read more about their campaign at Urban Farming Advocates website or at Tara's website. Or see my previous blog.