Carnations Timeline
Early 1800s – The carnation is introduced in the United States from England.
1872 – The city of Denver builds an irrigation ditch to bring water from the Platte River Canyon into the city. The availability of water from this irrigation ditch prompts the arrival of the greenhouse industry in Colorado.
1879 – Park Floral Company is started in east Denver by John A. Valentine, who would become a national leader in the floral business. (Valentine served as the first president of Florists Telegraph Delivery (FTD) from 1910 to 1912.)
1890s – The rapidly-growing floral industry in Denver leads to the construction of greenhouses. By 1900, a total of approximately 400,000 square feet of greenhouse glass is found in Denver. Colorado Springs is also determined to be a good growing area. Carnations are found to do especially well in Colorado’s high altitude climate of sunny days and cool nights. Planted outdoors in May or June, the flowers are transplanted into greenhouses at the end of the summer.
Early 1900s – Retail flower shops purchase flowers from the greenhouses and deliver them by horse-drawn carriages, heated by charcoal heaters in the winter to keep the flowers from freezing. J. Edward Johnson of the Pikes Peak Floral Company in Colorado Springs begins shipping flowers to the neighboring states of Utah, Texas and Kansas.
1909 – N. A. Benson, a progressive grower from Sweden, incorporates Denver Wholesale Florists, which provides an organized marketing system (grower to wholesaler to retailer) for Colorado carnations.
1917 – At a flower show held by the Denver Society of Ornamental Horticulturists, George Brenkert of Washington Park Floral introduces a new variety of carnation, shell-pink in color, named the “Denver” carnation.
1921 – George Brenkert enters the “Denver” carnation in the National Flower Show in Washington, DC, winning a bronze medal and beginning Colorado’s tradition of national award-winning carnations. A hundred of the new “Denver” carnations are sent to the White House for Mrs. Warren G. Harding on Inauguration Day.
1928 – The Colorado Flower Growers Association is founded in Denver, Colorado to support the production and marketing of greenhouse flowers, including carnations.
1937 – Greenhouse carnations are shipped to Great Britain from Denver for the coronation of King George VI. This was the start of a significant floral industry that lasted for many years in the area, and Denver became known as the "Carnation Capital" of the world.
1949 – In cooperation with horticultural researchers at the Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College (which would become Colorado State University), the Colorado Flower Growers Association begins publishing carnation research information in a monthly bulletin.
1950s & 1960s – The carnation-growing business thrives in Colorado.
1976 – The carnation industry in Colorado begins to decline due to increasing competition from Californian and South American flower growers, the rising cost of fuel for heating and air-conditioning the greenhouses, and limited expansion of greenhouses in the state.
1979 – Following a merger between the Bedding and Pot Plant Association, the Rose Growers and the Carnation Growers, the name of the Colorado Flower Growers Association is changed to the Colorado Greenhouse Growers Association to reflect the increasing diversification of the industry.
Currently - The majority of carnations and other cut flowers grown in the US are now produced in California. Colorado’s flower-growing efforts focus on roses and specialty plants such as poinsettias.