Rosy forecast for Valentine’s Day spending

Americans are expected to spend $1.9 billion on flowers this weekend, in what is forecast to be the highest spending for Valentine’s Day on record, according to the National Retail Federation.

Total spending on all gifts and dining out should reach $19.7 billion, according to the trade organization.

Petaluma’s Neve Bros., a ?family-owned growing operation that has been in the flower business since the 1960s, stands front and center locally. The Sonoma County farm is known for its high-quality flowers, which it supplies to retail florists, event planners, wedding designers and floral wholesalers.

While their specialty crops are hybrid tea roses and spray roses, inside the family’s 460,000-square-foot space you’ll also find mini callas, hydrangeas, garden roses, Gerbera daisies, oriental and Asiatic lilies and tulips, among others. Much of their crop is grown hydroponically in greenhouses on the family’s 30-acre farm on Bodega Avenue.

The Neve brothers’ grandfather, Giovanni Neve, relocated the business to Petaluma in 1967 from Colma, where it was launched in the early 1900s.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@SeaWarren.