Alpha Floral Celebrates 90 Years of Blooms

Alpha Floral Celebrates
90 Years of Blooms

As Alpha Floral Marks 90 Years, Owner Cassie Macias Reflects on
Seasonal Blooms, Community Roots, and Why Beauty Takes Time

By Tiana Molony | February 26, 2026

While driving past the Santa Barbara Mission recently, my head performed a pirouette as I scanned the rose garden and saw no roses in sight — in their place were sharp, naked sticks erupting from the earth.

I didn’t think much more about it until a phone call with Cassie Macias, owner of Alpha Floral, which just celebrated its 90th anniversary this year. We discussed all things flowers, and at the core of our conversation was seasonality — choosing flowers for events that thrive in their own season and environment.

Macias provides a helpful comparison: “You want to be eating what’s in season. You want us to be using what’s in season because it’s adjusted to the climate. It’s going to have the longest life because it’s used to the current temperature and environments.”

Alpha Floral sources its flowers from about five different farms between Carpinteria and Santa Ynez, prioritizing seasonal, freshly cut flowers picked the same day when possible. They still supplement with imports as needed but have shifted sourcing toward more local, fresh-focused options.

While Alpha Floral can source many flowers year-round, they guide clients toward what’s in season for better freshness, value, and performance. Off-season stems are often more fragile, more expensive, and prone to wilting during transit and display, says Macias.

For heat- and sun-sensitive blooms such as hydrangeas, proper hydration and shade are critical; using water tubes before placing stems into foam helps slow wilting on event day. In other words, you can have peonies in November, Macias notes, but that doesn’t mean you should.

There’s something beautiful about waiting for the flowers instead of demanding they wait on us, Macias muses. “We live in a culture now where you can have everything all the time. But the most beautiful things in life take time, care, and attention.” This reminded me of the rose garden in its barren state, patiently waiting to bloom again.

Macias has been running Alpha Floral for four years, beginning in May 2022. Since it first opened in 1935, the flower shop has cycled through many locations and even more owners, but Macias says that despite the revolving door of people, “the core of the business has always stayed the same.”

That core? Brightening people’s days. “We’re bringing beauty and joy to people … that’s our goal.” It’s the very reason Macias went into the flower business — the fragile, perfumed bushes provided gaiety. Growing up with a mother who had a green thumb, she learned from a young age how to care for delicate living things.

“All of this knowledge for flower varieties and how they grow was just like innately put into my brain,” she shares.

After her mother passed away, she asked herself the question that we all wonder at some point in our lives: What am I doing with myself? Flowers and making arrangements brought her joy, she decided. So, when the opportunity arose to purchase Alpha Floral from a friend, she took it.

While it’s certainly not easy, Macias reminds me, it’s exactly where she wants to be. “Ninety-nine percent of the people we talk to are really happy to be here, happy to be interacting with us,” she shares, “and we’re helping them, you know, pull off something beautiful — it’s very, very rewarding.”