Awe-Inspiring Color Thrives at Carlsbad Flower Fields

Popular Southern California Tourist Attraction Opens with Impressive Display of Springtime Flowers

CARLSBAD, Calif. (March 6, 2003) – Lively flowers with swirls of delicate crepe-like petals dance in the sea breeze as they grow abundantly over 50-plus acres of seaside hills. This awe-inspiring natural phenomenon is created by the springtime bloom of world renowned Giant Tecolote Ranunculus at The Flower Fieldsâ at Carlsbad Ranch.

As if the striking, prolific ranunculus are not enough to inspire dreams of color, The Flower Fields expects to enhance this year’s blooming season with flourishing gardens and community activities. New for 2003 is the matured All-America Rose Selections Garden, including a display of 100 varieties of award-winning miniature roses. Several demonstration gardens of Flower Fields branded perennials and the evolving Color Project, an ambitious art-meets-nature program will also debut in the 2003 season.

“The Flower Fields is a working farm, one of a few in North America that allows visitors to stroll the fields and be inspired by the color,” says Michael Cardosa, general manager of The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch.

“Over the years, the attraction has evolved as we debut all kinds of different flower species under The Flower Fields line of products for visitors to see and learn how to incorporate into their own gardens.”

The All-America Rose Selections (AARS) test garden and Walk-of-Fame garden cover more than 20,000 square-feet to accommodate new varieties as they become available from year to year.

The Walk-of-Fame rose garden, possibly the first of its kind anywhere in the world, features each of the 173 AARS winners since 1940. The Flower Fields is one of four AARS test gardens in California selected for its climate and growing standards to ensure performance in the region. Each year, The Flower Fields will display new roses from rose breeders to test for disease resistance, color, fragrance and endurance.

An ambitious feature of the attraction, The Color Project, commissions nationally recognized artists to use flowers as a colorful art medium. Included in the display, is a progressive color study, entitled “Circles and Cycles, A Chance Garden” by New York based painter Gary Lang, which will feature new twists and turns created by colorful flowers and plants. The program debuted with Patricia Patterson’s “An Enclosed Garden,” offering a range of artistic expression that encompasses reflecting pools, blooming trellises, aviary sanctuaries and new plant varieties.

Other highlights include The Flower FieldsÒ Theme Gardens showcasing new product lines of Flower Fields branded flowers and plants. The Theme Gardens highlight the more than 1,400 branded alliance cultivars, including seed and vegetative annuals. The gardens include a cottage garden, cutting garden, sun garden and shade garden. Each garden illustrates how color can be used in the home landscape. The Flower Fields brand is comprised of a marketing alliance between The Paul Ecke Ranch, the world’s leading grower of poinsettias and annuals, Yoder Brothers, Goldsmith Seeds and Plants and Fischer USA.

To encourage visitors to enhance their home and gardens with The Flower Fields flowers, The Flower Fields has once again partnered with Armstrong Garden Centers where visitors can shop and purchase Flower Fields brand products in its 33,000 square-foot facility located at the site.

Open to the public seven days a week from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM from March 1-April 5, and 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM from April 6-May 11, The Flower Fields® provides free parking, restroom facilities, and handicapped accessibility for the convenience of our guests. Cost is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $4 for children. Group tours are also available at additional cost. For more information, please call the information hotline at 760.431.0352 or visit the Web site at www.theflowerfields.com.

The Flower Fields^® Carlsbad, California
info@theflowerfields.com