LAX is the New Flower Hub

The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is getting a new refrigeration facility that will greatly benefit the local flower trade and make LAX the new western hub for the flower trade. It will be the largest of any West Coast ariport, accomodating 8,500 tons of perishable product annually. The new flowers will come from Bogotá, Colombia, and Quito, Ecuador, and will now be shipped to LAX instead of previously entering the U.S. at Miami International Airport.

According to local flower distributors, when shipping flowers from Bogota to Carlsbad, California, a major floral distribution point for the West Coast, the trip takes 59.5 hours total travel time via Miami. When shipping via LAX, total travel time is 15 hours -- a time savings of 75 percent.

The new refrigeration facility will not only accommodate the storage of large amounts of flowers, but soon, workers also will be able to separate the flower shipments within the 35-degree Fahrenheit storage environment and prepare them for direct distribution from LAX to flower shops and supermarkets throughout California and the western U.S.

Checking local flower retailers, airport officials report that the local cost of a single rose shipped to LAX can drop to as low as $2, compared to $6 when shipped via Miami and then transported by truck to Los Angeles.

See more about this here.

Easter Flowers

Here's a nice video showing Easter flowers blooming before our eyes using the magic of time-lapse. Watch the tulips, lilies and daffodils bloom in less than thirty seconds.