The Life of a Florist During the Valentine's Season

Everyone that's involved with the floral industry right now is at their peak of business! 

By Monday and Tuesday, those hands won't be able to work fast enough. Here is a little story about what it's like to be in the floral business, hoping it brings light and understanding to our sweet-smelling industry.

I am about to experience my 26th Valentine's Day as a florist. Ever wonder what it's like? Well, I am going to share with you my own experience. Every florist has his or her own way of doing what works best. We've been crazy busy these last few days and we plan on working late up until Valentine's Day. Rest is at its all time premium but you won't hear this florist complain because I put joy into the lives of so many people.  

I believe we received our first pre-book pricing sheets in November of 2011, which are usually called "Early Birds."  Our wholesalers in the Chicagoland area start working with the growers trying to get the best and most fair market prices on flowers.  So, we received our first of so many that I lost count. Taking advantage of these prices at early stages not only helps the florist, but it is then passed on to the consumers.

December rolls around and you concentrate on Christmas, not thinking too much about  February 14 until...you start hearing about all the hoopla of The Rose Bowl in January.  There are so many roses gathered from so many growers from around the world for this parade.  Prices start to rise since the supply and demand is at a premium, hence the florist pays.  Once the parade passes, the pinch is on.  Growers then pinch back roses to have ample amounts for the Valentine holiday.  

In the meantime, all the wholesalers that provide all the florists with flowers start really promoting the price sheets.  We received one in January that let us know that if we didn't pre-order colored roses, we would not be able to order and receive red roses and that prices and availability are subject to change without notice!   I think you will see most florists do have all colors!  It's kind of a game they all play with us florists each year and it can be very frustrating.  We are all just trying to make an honest living and nerves are starting to rattle a bit.  Because of supply and demand, the costs are usually higher than normal.  So we start guessing at how many roses or carnations you might sell and how many other variety of flowers to mix in there for added beauty.  Because flowers are a perishable product, you really have to know what you are doing or you can really lose your shirt!  My philosophy has always been you get what you pay for.  As with anything usually, there are reasons why you spend a little more to buy those flowers from that reputable grower.  After all, our name goes on each and every order.  I have 5 years of wholesale under me, Dennis has 20, this is why I'm able to share some more interesting points that most florists have never had the privilage of learning.  I feel like I've had the best of both worlds picking up lots of knowledge to share with all of you.

Some florists also buy direct from the growers.  That process cuts out a couple middlemen.  You can actually call the grower and place an order.  They then get you fresh cuts and ship them usually FedEx within hours of cutting the flowers from the plants.  They are packed very well to go along with weather specifics.  The flowers are delivered right to the door of the florist within a couple of days.  When our wholesalers place their orders, they are cut, shipped to Miami to the port of call and processed through there onto either big refrigerated trucks or planes and brought into Chicago airports.  The wholesalers receive their flowers, salespeople make their calls and we receive our flowers.  

Years ago back in the late 1980's and 1990's, the drug cartels used to ship drugs in flower boxes into our country.  Florists' back in them days had to deal with holes in their boxes which also had holes in the heads of those beautiful roses.  Why you ask?  Customs must have used some strong pokers of some kind when searching for drugs they would forcefully jab into the boxes.  Thankfully over the years they have became more technologized in the way they search flower boxes!  We don't have issues like this anymore.

One of the other challenges have been the high fuel costs.  The wholesalers tack onto every one of our orders a fuel surcharge on each order as well as delivery fees. Now can you imagine the reactions we would all have if we did that to our customers?  Sometimes at Valentine's Day our wholesalers can almost double our usual everyday price to us because it's a holiday. Of course growers charge more too due to supply and demand.  It's a ripple affect.  So when you see higher prices, you might be a little more understanding as to why.  There are so many options when selling flowers to our customers.  Many younger people seem to think you need an entire dozen of roses to give to that special person.  "Not so I tell them," one rose says as much as twelve.  There is always a way to help people on limited budgets. So many beautiful varieties of flowers to choose from to compliment an arrangement without always using roses.  

 On a normal day, the flower market is somewhat like the stock market.  Prices can change daily, depending on many factors.  In fact when we have to send an order out internationally, we have to be aware of the value of our dollar to theirs because it can be a huge factor in the value you get with the flowers you want to send.  

And you thought being a florist has got to be one of the funnest most interesting jobs there could be!  Yes, it can be although holidays can be very stressful.

Did you ever stop and wonder why there are less florists these days?  Fact:  We are competing not with each other as florists, but with our local wholesalers.  They as well as a few growers cater to all the grocery chains, making it much harder to be competitive.  Florists need to hold strong, this economy has been challenging to many.  But, we do feel that things are turning around a bit.  

So now it's time to get those flowers delivered before the holiday. That means you better be very organized!  Vases and containers bought and well stocked, buckets washed and sanitized as well as the cooler, tools in working order such as knives and cutters.  You need cards and cardettes to hold the cards, rose strippers, ribbons, bouquet sleeves, water tubes, wire, care tags, picks, tapes, leaf shine, food packets...that's just a start to get prepped for Valentine's Day.  Once the flowers arrive, they must be all inspected, cleaned (and boy,flowers sure are dirty) solutions in buckets and then you hydrate all your flowers in fresh solutions for lasting freshness.  Using all the proper procedures & certain solutions that go and compliment each other is one of our proud roads to success with beautiful flowers.

Now the fun begins, greening up all your vases and containers.  After you get a good start on that you start flowering and filling your orders.  Checking and double checking to make sure no mistakes are made.  Cards must be put on the right order, it wouldn't be very nice if someone received someone else's card message. And we are like lawyers and doctors with that confidentiality clause.  Every florists' worst fear is a snow or ice storm.  Thankfully, it looks like this year will be nice.  I've made it through two ice storms and a few snow storms in past Valentine's and it's gruelling.  Many hours but it gets done.  Having enough people on staff is critical.  I try to always make sure they are fed healthy foods and drink plenty.  Very long hours and I have had my share of all nighters as well. Many of our fresh roses will be arriving on Saturday and Sunday.  Stripping all those thorns off can be dangerous!  Each rose will get quite the personal attention.  Their guard petals must be cleaned and removed.  When you the consumers see a rose, you should not see those guard petals that protect the rose, we remove them once all dangers of packing and shipping are in place.    

The rewards....just seeing how happy flowers make people feel. When you see how emotions are affected by flowers, think about how true that is.  

Where do flowers come from?  All over the world!  Different seasons bring different flowers.  Most roses come from South America, Ecuador and other cities.  They have mass amounts of greenhouses in the foothills of mountains where the temperatures are just right in growing some of the most perfect and beautiful roses.  Holland and European countries grow many of our tulips, iris, lilies, hydrangeas, lisianthus, ranuculus, anemones and so many more.  Many hydrangeas are grown in South America as well, which I prefer since they seem to be very strong and vestibule with lasting freshness.  California grows beautiful flowers as well.  They have beautiful stock and their scent is unbelievable, larkspur is popular too.  Many times when California has their rainy season, it does effect the flower crops.  Alternatives then must be found.  Larkspur is available from Arizona during a certain period and it's gorgeous as well as Israeli larkspur.  Washington state grows tulips and many greenery's that florists use.  In the spring, the eastern states provide us with flowering branches such as cherry and apple blossoms.  I would personally just love it if we could buy all of our flowers from right here!

So the week before Valentine's Day, the florists all start receiving orders for the holiday.  Many people will wait until the last minute, but that's quite o.k. because we florists anticipate that.  Flowers, candy, plants...oh so much to choose from!  Once we will that special order, the arrangement is carded, wrapped, and labeled.  Dennis will then print our our delivery routes with all our deliveries for the day so that our drivers can match up the arrangement with the delivery label matching up to the route sheet.  Less possibilities of mistakes made.  Go to the door and see those wonderful smiles of surprise.  Get a signature, then off to the next lucky person.  That is pretty much how it all works.

I hope you have a better understanding on how the floral industry works for not only this holiday, but everyday.  One of my favorite movies is "A Bed of Roses" with Christian Slater.  He is a florist owner who takes joy in delivering his own flowers to see the joys and smiles he receives when giving flowers to the recipients.  So true, nothing better than that!  It's a passion many florists have.

Please keep in mind to call your local florist in your community, where your tax dollars stays in your own communities.  As intriguing as the wire services and order gatherers are with all their gimmicks, discounts and coupons, you are still better off staying in your own community.  They actually take at least 33% of the order away from the filling florist.  Say you're in Tinley Park and you think you are going to save quite a bit by using a coupon code, so you call them.  They are going to call your local florist anyway to fill your order, so you are definitely not getting your value you may have thought.  They also have service fees that can add up to almost $20 extra per order that you may not have counted on and the florist does not get a delivery charge worth anything from them.  So stay local and please...tell your florist why you chose them. A little bit of educating knowledge.  I've enjoyed sharing with you things you may or may not have known.  I love educating and sharing so keep up with The Patch, I will be blogging many more to come!  I also had the privilage of owning a retail garden center on 2 1/2 acres so with gardening and flower season coming up, you will get more ideas from me.   

If you should have any questions, feel free to contact me or call your own local florist you are used to dealing with.  We are all professionals and LOVE what we do!

If this community were a , what would it be?: Roses because they are ever-growing and their blossoms are perpetually unfolding. There are many layers to roses, as there are many layers to our beloved Tinley Park community.