Training Time!

The Shop is training a new Designer and shop employee. Alot goes into training. Trainees need to learn about selling, learning product, designing bouquets, delivering, product care and much more. Let’s focus on designing. Some tips for a beginner and common pitfalls are: Always remember to tape oasis into containers, trim greens down to good scale based on the arrangement, when designing remember to work items into the sides, remember to give the base of the design good coverage and not jut focus on the top of the design, evenly disburse flowers so the design is balanced properly/ for mixed designs select flowers of different texture and shape to give a mixed design some character, try a little filler to add some lace to the design and always use a mixture a greens. These are some basics and there is much to learn as experience grows. With a good eye, good ears for learning and lots of practice a new designer can begin to work with confidence in no time. No matter the design it is most important to listen to the customer to be sure the finished product is what they asked for. The design below has all the elements of good composition and coverage with a variety of florals  Happy Designing!

A Rose Shortage 2020

June/July of 2020 has brought in Rose prices higher than Valentine’s Day for the Floral Industry. Why you may wonder? There is a Rose Shortage. Approximately 3 weeks ago I was notified by my suppliers of a Rose Shortage. It was creating quite a price bump in prices. In some cases we are paying at the retail level, at times, 80% more per stem. During the early days of COVID Floral Growers were forced to destroy much fresh product due to cancelled events and businesses closing/pausing. Many Rose Growers who were away from production for a week or more were forced to cut their Rose Bushes down in order to prevent disease and further waste. This has created a shortage in the supply chain as the plants grow anew. Good news is this is all temporary and I have been told that hopefully within the next couple of weeks supply should be plentiful again and prices should be begin to fall back. This is another challenge to Florist’s who don’t want to discourage flower buying by rising prices during these economic times of hardship. At our Shop we are holding our prices at regular pricing for now and as long as we can in anticipation that prices will go back to normal soon. The effects of COVID does have roots & legs and has effected the supply chain from the “ground up”.

A Traditional Basket of Posies

Sometimes a person or occasion requires a bright vibrant mix of flowers and other times a pretty mix of pastels is more appropriate. Maybe the recipient is very traditional or perhaps it is for a sympathy and a quieter design is more appropriate for the circumstances. This basket below can be used for either occasion. It is a mid size design with a higher price point because it features many roses, both full size and spray roses. Also included in the design are some green hydrangeas, white alstromeria lilies and carnations in shades of pink. There is no filler in this design and does not require it because the spray roses are enough of a delicate touch. Framing the design is baker fern and isreali ruscus. The wicker basket has an accent of green satin around the handle which is a nice touch instead of a bow. This particular design is more traditional and does not feature any gardeny or linear flowers which helps to keep the design round and compact. This style of bouquet could also work if you were intending a bolder color scheme. This could be done by using yellow roses and purple alstormeria and red carnations. Ask your local Florist for help and they will be happy to help select the perfect posies for your basket.

Lily Of The Valley

This is a most interesting flower because it is widely cherished, but not widely available. I have never had the pleasure of working with this particular blossom in the shop over my time here. Reason being that it is very expensive to purchase and many customers can not afford it. Another reason that I have found in the past is the suppliers do not like to offer it because it is a very temperamental and delicate flower. They do not travel well to the wholesaler because they are so delicate and the lifespan of the blossom is short. So many times by the time it travels to the wholesaler onto the retailer and then to the customer the blossoms are fading. So I was presently surprised when one of the Designers here had some growing in her yard a brought me in a handful freshly picked. Oh they smelled so good and were so pretty. I would say they lasted about 4-5 days in my vase. The vase life is generally 2-6 days so I did well. Lily Of The Valley are bulb plants which are not the longest lasting blossoms, but beautiful non the less. This experience inspired me to purchase some bulbs. When they come in they will require a shady spot and hopefully next year I will have started my own patch. Even an Old Dog like me can learn some new tricks. If you see a floral or foliage you find interesting, give it a try because you may find a new favorite!

Spider Plant

Talk about a plant with legs. This beauty is so full and is loaded with little babies. It is called a Spider Plant because it fills in and clusters like a Web. Spider Plants are very easy to grow. They require only indirect sunlight and well drained soil kept watered. They can take it a little coolish. It is OK to let them dry out a bit in between watering once in a while. If the plant gets too moist it could get root rot.  Roots on the Spider Plant are tuberous. The most popular varieties are ones with variegated leaves. Many people will hang these plants because of the drape, however a nice pedestal stand also works nicely.  The plant will sprout forth other plants that will start as little white blossoms. When the plant gets over loaded with little baby plants simply trim or snap them off and place them in some water for a bit of rooting. Once the roots are established pot the roots in soil and watch a new plants grow. This is a fun plant that can be shared with friends and family as a little keepsake.

Mother’s Day 2020 Lessons

I will never forget Mother’s Day 2020 at The Flower Shop. We had to do alot of out of the box thinking to handle the volume within the perimeters of staffing that we were aloud by COVID restrictions. But we fulfilled what we committed to. We were able to exceed prior years volumes with only 2 of us working at a time.. gathering orders and creating designs. Normally I have 3-4 people at a time. We did the best we could. Carrie and Heather are awesome! As my one Supplier put it WOW, the story we had rang true for all Florists….. those that decided to open this Mother’s Day knowing it would be a challenge. The outpouring of love for Moms’ was unprecedented 💕. In my 20 years this was the first time we ever had to cut off orders. It did make me sad because I know many were loyal customers. I hope we never have to do that again, just another casualty of COVID. What I experienced this week and a half proved that families need each other and the void is real. Right down to the phone messages people left me, willing to give me anything if I please would send their Moms something at The Villages because the situation is so sad and they can not even visit their Moms…some of whom had COVID. They could not comfort them, they could only send flowers. How could I say no to that even though is was after our cutoff. I couldn’t and I didn’t. Truth be told…every person that left me a message I called back and tried to work something out for flowers for Mom. Or the gentlemen that called at Noon today because they needed funeral flowers for their Mom who had passed this Mother’s Day weekend. I had only enough flowers left to fill this order, so we stayed late and they will be ready for Monday AM. This holiday, for This Florist will go down as the most memorable and heart tugging.

Delight Mom

One more week until Mother’s Day. This year there will be alot of people wanting to express to their Mom’s how much they love and miss them. Many of us are not able to spend time with Our Mom’s right now because of COVID. Happily we are going to be able to send lots of love and smiles to Mom’s in our area this Mother’s Day. We are working with a limited staff and product but we are going to work smart and do as much as we can while supply and resources last. Every arrangement will be created with stock we receive each day from suppliers. What will that be? It will be the freshest blooms available from Growers given their own limited staffing. Since our return on 4/20 it has been working well. Selection has been good. This basket below was created with fresh product as one of our Designer Choice. It included snapdragons, roses, stock, liatrus, carnation, poms, daisy, hydrangea, mixed greens, filler twigs all in a basket with a pretty bow. I was taught that when you know what you are doing you can take what is given and create something beautiful. Any good Florist knows that is true. Send Mom flowers this year and let the Designers get creative for you. Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms!

ReGrouping To Create Again!

Time to regroup after something no shop can plan for .. an unexpected shutdown. We have been closed for nearly one month now due to COVID and I have finally received a firm confirmation that it is OK to do business out of the shop as long as there is only 1 employee in the shop at a time and all orders are taken via phone or web only. Regulation says for now customers can not enter the Shop. Items can be touchless curbside pickup or delivered. Great news because we are on the heals of Mother’s Day and we will need to get a plan. Usually for Mother’s Day we create features in advance for customers to select from. This year will be a bit different because stock within growers and warehouses is a bit unpredictable because of the halting of the supply chain due to many business shutting down. But we are very excited that we will be able to get fresh product and each design will be not only a surprise to the recipient but a surprise to designers as well! We will be able to get really creative with what we receive from our wholesalers. As long as we have supply and resources we will fill as many orders as we can for Mom’s for delivery. On Monday 4/20 we will get working within the guidelines for our safety and our recipients to try to begin to spread smiles with our Blooms again! It is going to be a different way of doing business but we are up to challenge.  Can’t wait to get back to it. First clean and organize then roll our sleeves up to tackle each day as it comes, to the best we can. Wishes for good health to everyone.

Brighten Your Day

April 2nd and the shop has been closed for 1.5 weeks due to COVID19. There is not alot of fresh flowers available at the store from prior to the closing. What I did have were some Poms. Three different colors perfect for a little spring bouquet. Yellow and white daisy poms and purple button poms. Together with a little bubble vase I have at home, I came up with this little beauty for my table at home. The length of these stems on these particular blossoms allowed me to cut them down at similar lengths. Then I arranged them in my hand and placed them in the vase. The leftover stems I simply cut down to fill in the little holes. This bouquet has no greens, but it totally feels springy. Sometimes the simplest of bouquets can lift your spirits and brighten up your day and living space. Good health to everyone, stay safe. Soon your local Florists will be open for business and eager to brighten everyone’s days.

 

Standing Spray Accents

I love doing a standing spray. They are so pretty and you can create some fun lines with them. With this spray I used large tropical leaves, purple snapdragons, and purple stock to create the lines. I kept the leaves exposed so that the colors and variegation were visible giving the piece a bit more drama. The inside of the standing spray has lighter lavenders. so on the outside I used darker hues of purple to create the lines. When creating the dark purple lines I grouped the specific florals together to create a more bold effect. Together with pops of green kermit poms all the colors pulled together nicely. When creating a spray of this size I use a Jumbo easel cage so the stems have enough room to hold in place and can have a better water supply. Standing sprays do not have to be so conformed a little poking out here and there really brings them to life. Even a little tepe as in this design on the edges adds the right amount of added texture.