The Gold Coast of American flowers - Santa Barbara to San Francisco.  Beautiful Santa Barbara was our base staying in a boutique hotel and taking our workshop in its garden.  We explored the central flower growing area around Carpinteria, the largest flower growing region in the U.S. where we visited flowers farms and greenhouses with gerbera daisies, spray roses, roses and orchids!  We had a flower arranging workshop and lunch at a historic country club and visited the designer’s antique shop and home.  We toured private gardens hidden behind the tall walls in the estate area. We had a guided tour of the exotic and hillside Lotusland Botanical Garden followed by a workshop at a private home in Montecito.  In San Francisco, our instructor took us to the famous San Francisco flower market where we selected flowers for our workshop.  We went back to her studio to do a workshop learning how to do hanging floral installations.  We even took a class learning how to do mini succulent wall gardens.  We enjoyed the amazing California cuisine by dining together at Chez Panisse, and exploring Santa Barbara and San Francisco’s food markets.