This past April, Continental Floral Greens had the privilege of participating in one of the most meaningful weeks our team has ever experienced in Washington, D.C. It was a week that moved between two very different events: advocating for American flower farmers on Capitol Hill, and sponsoring the Congressional Club First Ladies Luncheon, where those same American grown flowers were celebrated at one of Washington's most cherished annual traditions.
Advocating for American Floriculture on Capitol Hill
Continental Floral Greens was proud to support and participate in the 2026 Flower Fly-In alongside American Grown Flowers & Foliage, joining growers from across the country on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to advocate for the future of American floriculture. Our VP of Brand and Market Strategy, Madison Milgard, who also serves as the American Grown Flowers Marketing and Promotions Committee Chair, represented CFG throughout the week, meeting with congressional offices and sharing the story of what it takes to keep American flower farming alive.
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85% of flowers sold in the United States are imported. That figure is not a market outcome. It is a policy outcome, one rooted in decisions made in Washington as far back as 1991, when the Andean Trade Preferences Act opened U.S. markets to duty-free flowers from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru as part of a counter-narcotics strategy designed to give Andean farmers a legal and profitable alternative to growing illicit drug crops.
Overnight, Colombian and Ecuadorian flower farms had access to the U.S. market with no tariffs, lower labor costs, and lower input costs than their American counterparts. U.S. farmers simply could not compete on price. Businesses closed and production collapsed, with U.S. rose production alone falling by roughly 95% and overall domestic flower production declining sharply in the years that followed. North America was once a leader in floral production. That standing was quietly lost.
The 2026 Fly-In was about asking Washington to acknowledge what the industry has lost, and what it will take to rebuild it. The coalition of farmers who traveled to D.C. came with a clear and practical set of requests:
Economic Relief. Cut flower and foliage farmers face rising input costs, climate disruptions, and labor pressures, yet have been repeatedly excluded from federal relief programs. The $11 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance Program and the $1 billion Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program both fell short of reaching floriculture, despite the fact that cut flowers and foliage have been recognized as specialty crops since 2004.
A Competitive Grant Program. We are asking for a USDA-administered $12.2 million grant program to fund marketing, research, supply chain investment, and farm expansion. Other specialty crop industries already have access to programs like this. American flower farmers do not.
The Don Young American Grown Act. Federal agencies spend millions on flowers for official events. This bipartisan legislation would require that those flowers be American grown. It is a straightforward, symbolic, and economically meaningful ask.
Farm Bill Protections. Floriculture farmers need meaningful crop insurance, disaster program access, and better USDA data collection so that our industry stops falling through the cracks of the federal record.
FNRI Funding. The Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative is the only federal program dedicated entirely to floriculture research. Its funding has been repeatedly threatened. Protecting it is essential.
The farms that joined CFG at the Fly-In, including Arnosky Family Farms, Bloomia, California Peony Company, Garvey's Gardens, Hionis Greenhouses, Ko Klaver, Menagerie Farm & Flower, and Vineyard House Flower, came prepared with real stories from their operations: weather-related crop loss, insurance gaps, USDA program exclusions, and the everyday challenges of sustaining domestic flower production. We are grateful for the dialogue with congressional offices and deeply thankful to every farmer who showed up to share their story.
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The Congressional Club First Ladies Luncheon: A Tradition Worth Showing Up For
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From Capitol Hill, we made our way to one of Washington's most cherished annual traditions. The Congressional Club First Ladies Luncheon has been held for 113 years. It is one of the rare events in Washington that brings people together across party lines, a bipartisan gathering of the spouses of Members of Congress, Cabinet officials, business leaders, and philanthropists, convened each year to honor the First Lady of the United States and raise funds for charitable causes. This year, First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady Usha Vance were both in attendance. With 1,900 guests, it was the largest luncheon in the event's history.
For Continental Floral Greens, this year was a milestone. American Grown Flowers & Foliage has supported this event through floral sponsorship for years, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in product and labor donated from farms across the American Grown community. CFG has been part of that giving, but 2026 was different. This year our magnolia was front and center, a highlight of the entire event. Other farms contributed a tremendous amount of product as well, and together the American Grown community showed up in a big way. It was also the first time a CFG team member was there in person, not just as a sponsor, but to assist and participate in the luncheon itself.
Every stem in that ballroom was 100% American grown. That does not happen by accident. It is the direct result of years of relationship-building, farm investment, and the collective commitment of growers and designers who believe that American flowers deserve to be seen at America's most important events.
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Georgia On My Mind and the Magnolia That Almost Wasn't
This year's theme was Georgia On My Mind, and from the moment the vision was set, one product stood at the center of it: magnolia.
Magnolia is the kind of product that commands a space. Its deep green, glossy leaves and architectural presence bring a sense of weight and elegance that few other foliage products can match. For a grand ballroom meant to evoke the spirit of Georgia, it was the obvious choice and the essential one.
There was one problem. Magnolia was out of season.
When the call came in, we got to work. We had held back a few of our uncut magnolia trees for exactly this kind of moment. Our team harvested every available bunch and made sure it reached Washington in time.
What the designers did with it was something we will not forget. Lead designer Jennifer Designs Events, working alongside a team of talented volunteer florists who donated their time and expertise to this event, transformed the product into something breathtaking. Elegant centerpiece arrangements on every table. Massive tower arrangements along the outer perimeter of the ballroom, positioned so that every guest had an unobstructed sightline to the stage. Enormous magnolia pots lining the runway. And a stunning focal display right in front of where the First Lady delivered her remarks.
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The scale of what these designers created is worth pausing on. This is not an event that comes together overnight. The floral installations for the First Ladies Luncheon represent days of preparation and work by florists who volunteered their time and skill because they believe in what this event stands for. Their generosity, combined with the donated product from farms across the country, is what makes something like this possible.
What CFG Contributed
For the 2026 luncheon, Continental Floral Greens donated the following:
Snowball Viburnum | Butterfly Ranunculus (cream/white) | Spirea | Flat Fern | Salal | Nagi | Magnolia
Across all farm sponsors, the event featured more than 19,000 stems. The combined value of donated product and labor from the American Grown community represented hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is what collective commitment to this industry looks like.
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Why This Week Matters to Us
The Fly-In and the luncheon together tell the full story of why CFG shows up for this industry.
In the congressional offices, we made the case that American flower farmers deserve the same federal support that other agricultural industries receive, that the 85% import figure is not inevitable, and that policy can change it. In the ballroom, every arrangement, every installation, and every stem of out-of-season magnolia was living evidence of what American-grown flowers can do when they have the support they need.
Seeing lawmakers, dignitaries, and 1,900 guests surrounded by flowers grown on American soil, flowers that our team helped bring to Washington, was a powerful reminder of why CFG invests in this work year after year. This is not just an industry event. It is advocacy. It is a seat at the table for every farmer, grower, and worker who is keeping American floriculture alive.
We are proud to have been part of it. And we will be back.
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A week like this takes an entire community. Thank you to American Grown Flowers & Foliage, to every farm, designer, and volunteer who poured their time and talent into the Congressional Club First Ladies Luncheon, and to the farmers who stood up in Washington and shared their story.
Photography: Haley Richter Photo | Floral Design: Jennifer Designs Events
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