It’s amazing what people can do given LOTS of flowers, time, and a patriotic spirit! Just in time for July 4th– a beautiful flag created from seedlings in the Vandenburg Air Force Base area near Lompoc, California.

The flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide.  It utilizes the official dimensions of our country’s flag. It has the distinction of being the first floral flag that has five pointed stars.  Each star is 24 feet in diameter and each stripe is 30 feet wide.

So how many flowers did it take for this creation?  It is estimated that there are over 2 million flowers, many of which are white Larkspur.

In this same area, there are reportedly over 9 miles of flower fields that extend to the Pacific Ocean.

Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer is the name of the world’s premier fresh flower and plant auction and distribution house located on the outskirts of  Amsterdam.  It is also the fourth largest building in the world. Nineteen million fresh flowers are auctioned every day from this site which covers 247 acres.  You can visit Aalsmeer and see it in action from a catwalk that traverses the warehouse.  You will see tons and tons of flowers in every shape and hue, a highly efficient logistical system including the use of Segways for getting flowers destined for a particular buyer from Point A (purchase point) to Point B (distribution area), the auction rooms where the flower buying process has become increasingly more computerized, and quality control/testing areas.

Flowers sold during the daily auctions at Aalsmeer are grown in a variety of countries, including: Kenya, Cambodia, Ecuador, and other European countries.  The flowers that are purchased there are destined mainly for Russia, China, Japan and some to the United States.

The flowers pictured below represent a very small portion of the total number of flowers in the Aalsmeer warehouse on any given day.  Aalsmeer is open to the public.  It’s a fascinating experience to take the self-guided tour!