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Courtesy FTD

John Valentine & FTD

By Jon Pinnow
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Flowers are love’s truest language, said a poet. And today you can direct a bouquet to anywhere in the world and have it delivered in a day, thanks to a Coloradan named John Valentine.

In 1910 Valentine created a national network of florists who used telegraph to send and receive orders to and from other states. A shop would then cut, arrange, and chill the flowers for delivery by train in three or four days, lightning speed by the standards of the day. Valentine named the service "Florists' Telegraph Delivery" (FTD). He even persuaded the Santa Fe Railway to make a stop near his shop in Englewood so he could distribute Colorado's carnations across the country. Today, FTD stands for Florists' Transworld Delivery, reflecting the company's global reach in helping folks – as John Valentine declared – "say it with flowers."

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Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado.

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