Webinar Title: A Message from the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers
Webinar Date: July 23, 2026
Speaker: Sherri Chavez, Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers
Recorded introduction: Whitney Ottinger
Introduced and moderated by: Gabrielle LaTora
Duration: 10:06.8 (606.783 s, measured)
Series: Cut Flower Symposium
CEU Categories: [PENDING]
NARRATIVE SUMMARY
Sherri Chavez of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers used a ten-minute symposium slot to set out what the association does and what a membership buys. A short recorded introduction from Whitney Ottinger opened the segment, placing the founding in 1988 and the membership at more than 1,500 growers across North America and beyond.
Chavez traced the association to Allan Armitage and a co-founder, who set out to strengthen the domestic cut flower industry, build peer-to-peer learning among growers, fund cut flower research, and raise public awareness of local blooms. The benefits list followed from there. The Cut Flower Quarterly reaches members in hard copy each quarter. The members-only learning portal holds every back issue, 38 years of compiled material, past seed trial reports, recorded conferences and webinars, and documents on growing topics.
Education runs on two tracks. Online, a monthly member webinar called Ask an Expert is led by member experts and archived in the portal, alongside a Digging Deep series and a Flowers Are Serious Business series that members join for a nominal fee. In person there are conferences, a floral design intensive, trade shows, farm tours, and grower schools, plus a cohort-based mentor program whose 2026 details had not been released.
Two trials were running. The traditional cut flower trials report new results in the fall issue, with historic records in the portal. A lily trial with European bulb growers is testing lilies and lily production specifically in North America.
Chavez spent time on two member-facing tools. The closed Facebook group, which she compared to a consulting firm at your fingertips, carried threads that day on payroll services, a structure a grower was unsure about for a specific crop, and a pest showing up on a crop. localflowers.org is a map-based directory where member growers keep a public page describing their crops and their type of business, and buyers search by area.
She closed on three farm tours with space left, on August 7th, 18th, and 25th, and a QR code offering $50 off a first year of membership.
CHAPTER MARKERS
0:00 Introduction from Gabrielle LaTora
0:08 Sherri Chavez greets the audience
0:19 Recorded introduction to the ASCFG
0:40 A membership-driven trade association
1:06 Founded in 1988 by Allan Armitage and a co-founder
1:34 Membership benefits
1:40 The Cut Flower Quarterly
2:02 The members-only learning portal
2:33 Seed trial reports, videos, recorded conferences
3:01 Ask an Expert, the monthly member webinar
3:39 Digging Deep and Flowers Are Serious Business
3:57 In-person conferences, trade shows, grower schools
4:18 The member-led mentor program
4:33 Cut flower trials, and a new lily trial
5:10 The members' Facebook group
6:00 Promoting local blooms with localflowers.org
6:48 Supplier member discounts
7:11 ASCFG publications
7:36 Upcoming farm tours and how to register
8:30 A $50 first-year membership offer
9:01 Contact information and thanks
9:13 Sharing the QR code, and closing
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q: What is the ASCFG, and where did it come from?
A: Chavez describes a membership-driven trade association created to support, educate, and unite cut flower growers, with cut flower research and peer-to-peer learning as its priorities. It was created in 1988 as the brainchild of Allan Armitage and a co-founder, to strengthen the domestic cut flower industry, champion peer-to-peer learning, facilitate cut flower research, and promote public awareness about local blooms. The recorded introduction puts membership above 1,500 across North America and beyond.
Q: What comes with a membership in print?
A: The Cut Flower Quarterly, a quarterly magazine produced by the association and given only to members in hard copy each quarter. It is mailed to the address in the membership profile.
Q: If I join now, can I get at older material?
A: Yes. Joining opens the members-only learning portal, which houses every past issue of the Cut Flower Quarterly and 38 years of compiled material, plus past seed trial reports, past educational videos, recorded conferences and webinars, and documents on cut flower growing topics.
Q: What ongoing education does the association run?
A: Ask an Expert is a monthly members-only webinar series led by member experts, live on Zoom, with past sessions in the portal. There is also a Digging Deep webinar series and a Flowers Are Serious Business learning series, which members join for a nominal fee. In person, the association runs conferences, a floral design intensive, trade shows, farm tours, and grower schools.
Q: Is there anything for a grower who wants one-to-one help?
A: An online, cohort-based, member-led mentor program. Chavez says the details for 2026 had not been released at the time of the talk and that more should be known soon.
Q: What trials is the association running this year?
A: Two. The traditional cut flower trials, which the association has run for years, release new results in the fall issue of the Cut Flower Quarterly, and members can reach the historic records through the portal. A lily trial run with European bulb growers is looking at lilies and lily production specifically in North America.
Q: Where can members ask each other questions day to day?
A: A closed Facebook group open only to members, which Chavez compares to having a consulting firm at your fingertips. She describes the day’s threads as covering payroll services, whether a structure would work for a specific crop, and a pest showing up on a crop.
Q: How do buyers find member growers?
A: Through localflowers.org, a map-based website where members manage a page describing the crops they grow and the type of business they run. Customers and anyone else curious use the map tool to find member growers in their area.
Q: Which farm tours still have space, and is there a discount for joining?
A: Three tours had space at the time of the talk: the afternoon Roots Cut Flower Farm tour on August 7th, a tour in Ontario, Canada on August 18th whose registration closes the following week, and Charles Little and Company in Eugene, Oregon on August 25th. Anyone participating in the symposium could scan the QR code on screen for $50 off a first year of membership.
SCALING NOTE
This segment runs 10:06.8 on the light track, so Stage 2 is scaled the way segments 01 and 07 were.
- Chapters up. The project target of one marker every 3 to 5 minutes would give this segment two or three, which is useless for scrubbing. Markers are placed at real topic transitions instead, and the count landed at 22, roughly one every 28 seconds. Every pair is at least 10 seconds apart and the last falls 53 seconds before the end.
- Q&A down. The 8 to 12 target assumes a live Q&A block. There is none here; LaTora invites questions at 9:27 and reports none at 9:32 and again at 10:00. Nine pairs are built from what Chavez actually says, and no pair rests on the live chat.
- No Stage 3 or Stage 4. The talk is an association overview with no pest, disease, crop or pesticide content, so no quiz item could be sourced from it without reaching outside the presentation.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- localflowers.org, the association’s map-based grower directory, named on the recording at 6:14.
- The membership QR code offering $50 off a first year is shown at 8:44 and never read aloud, so no link can be recovered from the recording. On the recording LaTora asks Chavez to email it to her at 9:18 and Chavez answers at 9:38 that she will send it to Bethany’s email instead. Check both inboxes before requesting it.
- Sherri Chavez’s contact information is on the closing slide, referenced at 9:01 and again at 9:46, and is not read aloud.
Processed for UGA Center for Urban Agriculture / Cut Flower Symposium Archives
Source: Corrected SRT (Stage 1) – GTBOP_Transcript_2026-07-23_ASCFGMessage.srt (110 blocks)