>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following companies... CalFlowers... Design Master Color Tool... Smithers-Oasis... Sunshine Bouquet.

>> Roses take over "Life in Bloom" with arrangements, beverages, and even a parade.

I'll visit the largest grower in the world of cut garden roses.

I'll visit my friend Kristin, who shows me how to make rose water for cocktails.

We'll learn even more about our national flower and also tips to successfully plant a rose bush in the garden.

♪ ♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."

We all know that roses are the universal symbol for love and romance, the preferred flower for our special valentine, or the obsession for many a gardener, but what do we really know about the history of the rose?

This popular flower has a long and storied past, one that according to fossil evidence began 35 million years ago.

The cultivation of roses dates back around 5,000 years, and it's believed to have begun in China.

The Romans used petals as confetti and had large, public rose gardens.

Roses haven't always symbolized love.

The War of the Roses during the 15th century found each side using a different-colored rose to symbolize their faction.

Modern-day roses were cultivated in the late 18th century in Europe and have only grown in popularity since then.

Today on "Life in Bloom," we'll be exploring the many faces of our beautiful national flower, the rose.

♪ >> At Alexandra Farms, we only grow cut garden roses.

>> How many varieties of roses do you grow?

>> Well, we've just reached our 50th variety of cut garden rose for the market.

It's been 10 years in the search of this many varieties.

We've got varieties from all over the world, from England, from France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, even Japan.

>> Do you have any idea how many stems you grow a year?

>> Yes, I know exactly how many stems we grow a year.

We're producing and selling over 300,000 stems a week.

♪ >> You guys have garden roses for people 24/7.

>> Yeah, we're actually entering into our 12th year... >> Wow!

>> ...and we're happy to say that we're able to have 20 hectares of garden roses for the commercial cut-rose market.

>> So, that makes you the biggest garden-rose farm in the world.

>> We are by far the largest garden-rose grower in the world.

It's very hard to find good quantities of any of these varieties in the market, but we are lucky to have them.

♪ ♪ >> You're also working the sustainability into this whole thing.

You've got Integrated Pest Management, the little bags.

>> Yes, we've had to develop different techniques to treat different things in an Integrated Pest Management way.

Those little bags are medical-quality weaves that are a part of our Integrated Pest Management system.

What they do is, they're a physical barrier that doesn't allow neither Botrytis nor pests to get to the sweet-tasting petals.

We wash them, and we even sew them here at the farm, and it's our way of not using pesticides to keep the flowers healthy.

♪ >> So, the people are also part of this?

>> Yeah, we're fortunate to have rose-loving people.

I mean, everything is done by hand.

We sow by hand.

We graft by hand.

We harvest by hand.

We bunch by hand.

We grade by hand, and we pack by hand by rose-loving people, and that's what makes it special.

>> What do you like best about growing flowers in Colombia?

>> Well, Colombia is the perfect weather for rose-growing.

We've got warm days and cool nights at a 2,550-meter elevation above sea level, which is the perfect conditions for growing roses.

The entire savanna shares those characteristics.

♪ >> What do you like best about working with flowers?

>> Well, the beauty is overwhelming of the product we grow, the colors, the fragrances, the textures.

It's just phenomenal, but I have to say that the people that I have relationships with.

It's a wonderful industry to be in.

You're surrounded by beauty everywhere.

Your product is a gift that makes everybody happy.

It's just luck that I'm here, and I'm just really happy that I've landed in this great industry.

♪ ♪ >> Let's look at different ways to arrange fragrant garden roses.

So, part of changing the mind-set for beautiful garden roses away from wedding to every day is how we arrange them.

Here are some great examples, whether you cut them short and have the little buds popping out, or if we have them long-stemmed.

I love this vase because it's got the gold band, but I can still see those beautiful stems inside.

And having the variation of textures of those open buds and blossoms is beautiful.

These are bound together so they drop down in one piece and secure themselves into the vase together as a group.

It's not always a dozen, either.

I only needed six, a little Hypericum, and some Green Ball Dianthus, and I have a beautiful arrangement.

So, I thought I would share a fun way to use 12 for a beautiful everyday arrangement that you could set on a coffee table or have as a centerpiece or bring as a gift to someone when you go to their house.

It's about the way that we design it.

♪ ♪ With the traditional dozen roses, we would generally leave the stems long and have foliage or a bow, things like that, but when we're looking at an everyday arrangement, we want to cluster the heads of these beautiful roses together.

So, I'm simply pulling off the leaves and making sure that the stems cluster together in my hands.

I'm creating a tripod shape with a flower at the top, four around the center, and seven around the bottom.

In between, I'm mixing this beautiful fairy grass and bunny tail.

The texture of the fairy grass and the bunny tail looks great with those beautiful open roses.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Once we've got them all gathered together, and we've pulled all the foliage off, I want to make sure that we cut it to the appropriate length for inside the vase.

We're going to cut it short, and then we'll bind it together using bind wire.

Bind wire is a kraft-paper-covered wire.

We'll wrap it around where I was holding the stems in my hand, securing it tightly so that those stems will stay together.

That way we're making a single placement into the vase rather than 12 separate ones that could fall out.

The stability of this bouquet is going to hold it in place.

Our final greenery is two pieces of umbrella foliage.

I've just cut those separately.

Because the umbrella foliage lasts so long, I may be able to use it for another arrangement later.

We simply drop it into the vase, and we're done -- beautiful flowers fast and easy.

A couple of years ago, I was invited to film behind the scenes of the famous Rose Parade in California.

Let's take a look at what goes into making those beautiful creations you see every year.

We're at Fiesta Floats.

There are 10 or 12 huge floats being constructed right now, row after row after row -- thousands of roses, each one being individually vialed so it can be placed on its appropriate float, providing a water source for the entire parade route.

How many people will work on this float?

>> We've had quite a few hundred.

>> Wow!

>> Every shift that we have, we get about 40 people.

>> Okay.

>> And we have two shifts per day, so we're getting at least 80 people.

>> Wow.

>> Some come back that were here earlier in the week, but most of them are first-timers.

>> And they're volunteers.

>> They're all volunteers.

>> And every inch of the float... >> Mm-hmm.

>> ...is covered with a botanical material, then, correct?

>> Yes, and it's not dyed or processed in any way.

It's its natural form.

>> From a floral aspect, we don't see black flowers.

>> No.

>> So, what's covering the cat?

>> The cat is covered in onion seed.

>> Onion seed, which is black.

>> Mm-hmm, yep.

>> And is that... >> Naturally black.

>> ...what also goes along here, too?

>> Yes, so everything that's black is onion seed.

>> And onion seed is tiny.

>> It's tiny, and it likes to roll off easily, so you have to put a lot of glue, and the cat itself has two coats.

>> And some of the arrangements, as you can see, have, like, thousands of placements.

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, you'll have, like, 300 roses, 400 birds of paradise.

I mean, you know, so it's worth... >> How do you get all that stuff into one block of foam?

>> Oh, those wonderful designer blocks.

>> Yeah?

>> Chicken wire and bus tubs, and then you pray.

[ Both laugh ] No, it really, it really... >> I see you go up to an arrangement that I think is done, and then you're... >> I know.

>> Then you got a whole bucket, and you're adding more.

>> Of course, it's impact, it's groupings because when you see them on camera, it makes such a difference, you know?

You... >> Oh, yeah.

>> ...really viewing them, you can't do that salt-and-pepper look where you do ones and twosies.

>> Oh.

>> So, you have to do mass groupings of color.

>> Impact of color, ah.

>> That's what's it all about.

>> I do a round to do special effects and doing details and making the faces and bodies of the animals and people.

>> Now tell me about the face, too... >> Okay, well, there... >> ...because there's so much detail here.

>> Oh, yeah, and then this is the angel-hair grass.

>> Okay, uh-huh.

>> And this is crushed rice... >> Oh, wow.

>> ...in here.

>> The little detail... >> Lentil... >> ...in its eyes and everything, Modesto, it's... >> Yeah, that's why.

That's a winterberry.

>> Oh, okay.

>> To get the little, that into -- winterberry.

Yeah, you'll see them on the -- >> Only you would think of this.

>> [ Laughs ] >> So, you are chairman of Indonesia is the float.

>> I'm the floral director of Indonesia, yes.

>> You said there's more flower detail on this float.

>> There is.

We have a lot of weaving going on because of the intricate weaving that they do in Indonesia... >> Wow.

>> ...and braiding and those kind of things.

>> How long have you been working on this thing?

>> The floats have been built since May.

They start building them in May.

>> Okay.

>> They work all during May, June, July, and then the flowers, the dry material starts the first week in November, and every weekend November and December... >> Oh, okay.

>> ...they do dry materials, and then the fresh materials started this week, right after Christmas.

>> Wow, okay.

>> We're going to apply mums to the float.

>> Okay.

>> So, we're going to start over here in the processing.

They're gluing, but right before that, they're going to pop the heads off.

>> Okay.

>> And it's simply just put your thumb in and go, "Oh, popped!"

>> Because you don't want anything left on the back side.

>> No.

>> You want it off completely... >> So it's smooth.

>> ...so that it lays flat.

>> Yes.

>> Yeah.

This is actually the camera side of the float.

When the float is going down on parade day, this is the side that you will see on TV.

So, no added pressure to... >> [ Laughs ] >> ...make your mums... >> They got to be good, J.

It's got to be good.

>> ...to make your mums look good.

>> Okay.

>> You don't have to have them overlap.

>> Okay.

>> But I don't want to see a gap.

>> Because every inch of the float has to be covered with flowers.

>> Yes, yes.

>> Okay.

>> So, I just want it petal to petal.

You don't want to push down straight in the middle because it pushes the calyx.

>> Okay.

>> And then all the petals will fall off, and then you'll be really sad.

>> Right, because then you have to go back and change them.

>> Yeah, yeah.

So, here is your mum.

>> Okay.

>> And remember... >> Oh, I see the glue.

>> Yeah, you see the glue around it.

>> Okay.

>> And just very gently... And I would hold it down.

>> That looks great.

>> Your mums are looking great.

>> That looks great, J.

>> Is that good?

>> Yeah.

>> You guys... >> On... >> You guys have so much more work to do.

>> On parade day, when you see this side, you'll be like, "Oh, I decorated that section right there."

>> It'll be on camera side.

>> This section.

>> "This I did."

>> Why do you think flowers are so important?

>> All you have to do is look at somebody's face, people walking here.

We had visitors through here today.

We had 1,200 people come through here earlier today on tours.

To see them walk into this facility and just look at this and see the expressions -- it's worth every moment of suffering.

I buy more roses and give to America on New Year's Day than anyone else, and it makes a lot of people happy and a lot of people filled with joy and sets it off for a new year.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> We all know roses are beautiful to look at and smell, but rose as an ingestible has many known benefits, our favorite being that it's a mood enhancer.

We found a way to incorporate rose water into a lovely cocktail.

So, we're at Terra GR, which is in the historic Kingsley Building in Eastown, Grand Rapids, and you are a farm-to-table all locally sourced restaurant.

>> That's right.

>> You created this cool drink.

>> Yes, it's the Pillow Talk cocktail.

>> Uh-huh.

>> Inspired by Valentine's Day but sticks around all year long.

>> You and I have a common interest in gardening and also cocktails.

>> Yes.

>> And so... >> Mostly cocktails.

>> Mostly... And this one has rose water in it.

>> Yes, homemade rose water.

>> Okay.

>> We have a cup of dried organic rose petals that we steep in 4 cups of hot water.

So, you just bring your water to a boil, add in your rose petals, and then to that mix, we add a 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid.

The citric acid is not usually, like, a pantry ingredient, but all it's going to do in this recipe is preserve and keep the color a little bit more vibrant... >> I love it... >> ...which is... >> ...because look how pretty it is.

>> Yes, yep, so without the citric acid, this is still beautiful and delicious, but it's just going to be a little bit darker in color.

>> Okay.

>> And then you'd want to use it probably in the next, you know, day or two without the citric acid.

With the citric acid, it lasts... >> Yeah, it has a longer shelf life.

>> ...for a good week or two, yes, 100%.

>> Okay.

Wow, awesome.

>> Yep.

>> Okay, this also has pink-peppercorn syrup in it.

>> Yes.

>> And you've kind of created this, as well, so... >> Yeah, yep.

>> And it's sugar.

>> It's one of my favorite parts of the cocktail, yep.

It is 2 cups of sugar and then 4 cups of hot water.

>> Okay.

>> And then you add 2 tablespoons of crushed pink peppercorns.

So, you just smash up these guys, add them to your sugar-water solution, and then let it steep for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, you just give her a strain, and then it's all set for your cocktail.

>> Wonderful.

So, shall we make one of these?

>> Yes, and then drink it.

>> Okay, awesome, okay, good.

>> Perfect, so you're going to add an ounce and a half of your favorite gin.

>> Okay.

♪ >> And then we take a 1/2 ounce of our peppercorn simple syrup that we just made.

>> Awesome.

>> And then we take a 1/2 ounce of our rose water.

>> That's so pretty!

The color is so beautiful.

>> It gives it a really pretty color, and then you get that floral taste from the gin and from the rose water.

>> Great.

>> And then you take a 1/2 ounce of your lime juice, and then we take some ice, and then we give her a good shake.

♪ This is the fun part.

>> Just what you're so good at.

>> I guess drinking it is the more fun part.

>> [ Laughs ] >> And then we just strain it into our martini glass.

>> How pretty.

>> And then you can garnish it with whatever you'd like.

>> I brought organic roses for you today.

>> Perfect.

>> These are from my garden because I want it to be flowery.

>> So, we could do petals.

We could do the whole thing, but I like the whole flower, so we can just set it right in there.

>> I know, right?

>> Now she's ready to drink.

>> How pretty is that?

Okay, so you've got rose and peppers together.

>> Right, yep.

Romantic and fun?

>> It is.

I mean, you know, they talk about roses being a mood enhancer, and I see how because it tastes like a rose smells, but then there's that little peppercorn... And I don't want to say bite because it's not a bite.

It's just a little sensation.

>> Yeah, adds some good depth to the cocktail.

>> Right.

That's so good, and it's so beautiful.

Ah, thank you.

>> You're very welcome.

>> I appreciate it.

So, we have a little tradition here at "Life in Bloom," and because you created this beautiful cocktail for us, and you're my wonderful flower friend, I have a flower crown for you to wear today.

>> Oh, it's beautiful!

>> I know, right?

We have dahlias.

We've got hydrangeas.

We've got all kinds of fun stuff.

Does it fit you?

>> It does.

It's actually got some weight to it.

>> I know, right?

Because it it should have some heft, right?

But here is the thing I love.

When you put a flower crown on, everybody smiles.

Everybody laughs.

Everybody gets excited because you're wearing flowers on your head, you know?

And it's just part of a life in bloom.

There you go, nice.

Ah, so sweet.

Thank you again for sharing this with us.

>> You're very welcome.

Thank you.

♪ >> We're used to seeing hybrid tea roses, but there are also different types of roses.

Garden roses are extremely popular today.

They have a high petal count and lots of fragrance.

There's also Green Eye roses that have a mutation that looks like a green eye in the center of the rose blossom.

Spray roses are a unique variety, where miniature roses are allowed to spray out on a stem, and they're a wonderful value because you get many rose blossoms on a single stem.

There's the lace variety with frilly petals, or gem variety, where the flowers look almost like diamonds or rubies on the end of the stem.

The rose is the national flower of England, Honduras, Iran, Poland, Romania, and the United States.

♪ So, don't get me wrong.

I'm a rose hobbyist.

I'm not a professional rose-grower, but I enjoy it, and I like having roses in the garden.

My great-grandfather grew roses in our greenhouses, so I like to have some of that rose action going on in my yard.

The other thing is, I choose varieties that have a strong fragrance so that I can use them for cooking.

I grow them organically, so that's important to me, as well, and so, I'm adding a new rose bush today.

We've got about an 18-inch hole.

That's 18 inches deep and 18 inches wide.

I've saved a little bit of the soil, and I've added some organic fertilizer directly to that soil.

♪ ♪ I've got a good base down inside there.

Now we'll unearth our rose and place it down inside there.

If I have a little bit left, I can sprinkle it around the outside when I'm finished.

So, the rose I've selected today is a Julia Child rose.

I thought it was fitting to have a Julia Child rose in our garden.

It's her signature style, and it's a beautiful yellow rose.

Has a light fragrance, too, which is great.

So, what we'll do is, we'll just break up a little of this on the bottom... ♪ ...so that we've got those beautiful, healthy roots exposed.

♪ ♪ ♪ I like to create a little reservoir around the bottom.

So, it's a little bit lower right around the neck of the plant.

That way, when it rains or I water, that water is going to be channeled down to the roots.

It can get dry in Michigan in the summertime, and it's always great to have that reservoir helping make sure there's plenty of water for the plant.

So, now we'll water it in.

It's going to help the transplanted flower and see?

Notice how that settles into that reservoir very nicely and doesn't run off.

Another part I love about rose gardening is deadheading.

It goes along with any garden plant.

There's something therapeutic about removing the spent blossoms or the buds, and that allows a more profusion of buds to take place.

So, we want to make sure that we take off these deadheads that are out here.

You could also leave them if you wanted to if you want them to be decorative in the fall, but getting rid of them in the summer is going to allow more blooms to come on.

And now here is the reason that I have the roses.

I always like to bring a few blossoms in the house, too.

So, we'll take one of these brand-new Julia Child roses and put it in a vase inside.

♪ ♪ ♪ Roses can inspire both in and out of the vase.

We hope you'll incorporate this national treasure into your daily life.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

See you next time.

>> And then you have something that looks just like this.

>> Do you add sugar to this?

>> Yeah, didn't I say that?

>> No.

[ Both laugh ] Okay, so we'll go back.

>> That's because it's out of my look.

>> That's right, okay.

>> Water, sugar, okay.

>> So... [ Both laugh ] You're so cute.

>> What is your favorite?

>> So... >> Hold on.

>> My favorite is -- >> Hold it, hold it, hold it.

>> Geez, guys.

>> I know.

>> The talent is ready now.

>> We're -- I know.

[ Laughter ] >> I'm going back to my -- I'm going back to my trailer until you guys are ready.

>> I don't believe this guy.

>> Joey's the best.

[ Laughter ] >> "J Schwanke's Life In Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following companies... CalFlowers... Design Master Color Tool... Smithers-Oasis... Sunshine Bouquet.

♪ Closed-caption funding provided by Ocean View Flowers.

♪ For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit ubloom.com.

♪