Michael Mellano '61 Horticulture

Harry Michael Mellano’s Italian immigrant father began working in the Los Angeles Flower Market in the 1920s, and then along with his new wife, started flower farming in Los Angeles County in the early 1930s.

From those roots, Mellano and Co. became a top horticulture business with an international network of growers and distributors. The company is a major source for traditional florists, internet delivery services and the Tournament of Roses Parade. It is the grower for the amazingly colorful Flower Fields in Carlsbad and manager of the L.A. Flower Market.

Mellano and his siblings worked for their father from the time they were tykes and all through high school and college, and each inherited a third of the business. During Mellano’s time at Cal Poly Pomona, he studied with and was inspired by plant pathologist Jerry Dimitman and other professors, including Oliver “Jolly” Batcheller, to study plant pathology at UC Riverside, where he earned a doctorate.

As he was considering teaching job offers, his brother had a proposal: come back to work with the family to manage the expansion of the business into San Diego County. After some reflection, Mellano and his wife agreed to give it a try.

The third generation of family members now owns the company. Mellano, now retired, continues as a consultant.

While at Cal Poly Pomona, Mellano first connected the family’s flower business with the Cal Poly Rose Float project by volunteering to work on the 1959 float.

“Flowers? I can do this,” Mellano says. He also was an enthusiastic participant in flower acquisition and float building for the Rose Parades of 1960 and 1961.

“It was good for our business and good for Cal Poly Pomona,” he says. “We still help them with whatever they need.

“My two and a half years at Cal Poly Pomona expanded my horizons and taught me a lot about horticulture,” Mellano says. “As a career, horticulture is difficult to beat, plus I have friends all over the world.”