So Suzie Q.... who's your date to the prom?

Wow! It's been a while, once again.


I haven't worked since Valentines Day...boy was it was crazy then, and MY oh MY was it was crazy this time around! For all those people out there who aren't Florists, you probably don't realize it's just the beginning of Wedding season, and Pre-Mother's Day (The biggest holiday of the year for Flower Shops minus Valentines Day) and PROM season. I got called into work two weeks ago because things have really picked up for our shop. Those of you living here in the Boise area probably saw the news headlines of all the local Flower Shops that either have, or are, going out of business. It's really sad, however, it does mean that all the business which was dispersed among 20 or more shops is just down to 10 shops. This means I get called into work more often, sometimes more often than I'd like. But on the flip side, who can complain these days that business is booming?

Last Thursday our shop was invited to attend a "Prom Expo" at Borah High School. It really was a first that I've seen.... the studen counsel put the event together, which was held during the lunch hour of school. It was interesting, and if anything we probably got out more advertisement than actual orders. All in all, it wasn't a loss. Borah's Prom isn't until May 9th, conveniently right before Mother's Day-- the second biggest holiday of the year. So we will see how our efforts paid off then.

In the meantime, I have spent 40+ hours working last week. I worked on 10 hours on Friday making dozens of corsages and boutonnieres for 4 proms that were taking place on Saturday. Who does that? I mean, who schedules 4 proms on one night? It was blissful making corsages and boutonnieres ALL day long. Literately! I think my fingertips have been rubbed raw, which I suppose would mean it's the perfect time to rob a bank.... since my prints are all smudged. :o)

All in good humor.

This is what I have to show though:

The Florist at Edward's differs from other shops in the fact that we receive fresh tropical flowers from Hawaii every week. One of our most popular requests are dendrobian orchids. They are most requested for corsages and boutonnieres also!

It's pretty standard to use white spray roses in addition to the white dendrobian orchids.


On occassion we get people who ask specifically for color in addition to the traditional white flowers, like in the corasge below.

The Florist at Edward's never uses baby's breath, or gypsophilia, in arrangements or dance flowers... unless specifically asked for by the customer, like in this corasge below. I do not prefer to use it either.



The red spray roses were among my favorite corsages.


This mini yellow calla lily turned out quite nice. Simple, clean, and masculine.


I also loved the coral corsages.




The hot pink spray roses looked pretty nice also.

This customer requested something contemporary.... so I used a combination of white spray roses, dendrobian orchids, hypericum berries, bear grass, and bells of Ireland.


I loved this combo:


Happy Prom Season!

Remember to order ahead, so your florist can pre-order any specific colors you want for your flowers. Also, please contact me if you would like some of the work above done for you dance at a discounted price.

Flower Power

I bet you all thought I'd dropped off the face of the Florist World. Not so. We were gone during the holidays visiting my family in Vancouver, Washington and didn't return until January. Besides that, the circumstances of the economy right now haven't been the best and business has been slow... for everyone unfortunately. I hadn't worked since December 16th! Luckily Valentines Day came around and I got called in to work the whole week. It was organized choas to say the least, it's hard to remember the old days when we had that much business every week!

It was refreshing to work last week and witness that people aren't entirely scared out of their minds to spend a little money. In fact, I was amazed by how much money some men were willing to spend for their Valentines. I arranged several 2 Dozen Rose Bouquets which rang up a total somewhere around $150 after tax and delivery! I wish the picture would do this bouquet justice, but somehow the picture seems pale in comparison to the real thing. All in all, we wanted to make sure that these customers were satisfied that they got their money's worth. Afterall, it's not every day that a gentleman forks out $100+ dollars for a bouquet of roses! I thought they should look as grand as possible.

Unfortunately we had a little problem with some of our flowers. Wouldn't you know it... there was some snow to blame. Some of our flowers which were being shipped from Salt Lake City got stuck down there. Instead of arriving on Thursday as scheduled, we didn't receive them until Friday! Luckily, it only caused a problem for two orders we had. We called up the senders to inform them of the trouble. I had the pleasure of calling one gentlemen who ordered a dozen red roses with 3 additional white roses. I had to inform him we didn't have 3 white roses....... to say that he wasn't happy would be putting it politely.

Something I don't enjoy as a florist is working on the phone with angry customers. Afterall, the problem we encountred was due to weather-----SNOW might I add.....it's not like we called up the truck in Salt Lake and said, "Could you delay those flowrs please?". It was less than pleasent listening to him complain and yell at me because we didn't have 3 white roses. Generally speaking customers are pretty understanding, but this particulr gentlemen was not. When he was done yelling I finally managed to get a word in to tell him that I might suggest subsituting 3 white orchids for 3 white roses. Really he got a free upgrade since the orchids cost more than roses. This seemed to make him agreeable and he replied in a flat tone "Thanks" and hung up rudely.

I tried my best to make the arrangement beautiful..... The picture below is what came of it. Unfortunately my camera doesn't agree with the natural lighting of the greenhouse, that and the arrangement was so big it was hard to get a good angle of it.

And would you like to know what happened after? Of course you would, you're curious aren't you. That same gentlemen called up after we had made 2 attempts at delivering the arrangement to his wife (She was in meetings and so we couldn't get it to her the first try). Yes, he called up not to say, "Thanks for the upgrade" or "The flowers looked great. My wife loved them." NO, he called to say he was angry they didn't get to her in the morning. ----- Oh, sorry your wife was in a meeting when we delivered them in the morning!!!---------- That time around I didn't have to deal with him, my manager talked to him. The only thing which would make him happy, the jerk that he is, was giving him the bouquet FREE of charge. Good thing I'm not the manager because I would have told him to just shove that offer where the sun don't shine. It's just saddening to see customers who are willing to take advantage of businesses who are stuggling to stay alive. I hate it when people take advantage of that saying "The Customers ALWAYS right." I wish our policy was, "We have the right to refuse service to angry rude customers who's mission in life is to get everything for free." Too bad it's not.

All in all, he's happy................and we know exactly the type of 'gentlemen' he is for next year.....

On a happier note: I thought I would change the mood by including this cute picture of the local greenhouse kitty, Loki, who was sleeping in front of the heater. All the warm air blowing on his fur must have felt good.


Okay, now that we're all settled down... I'll give you some tips for this season and update you on the latest trends for flowers this year.

Trend #1: Neon bright colors are in. Greens, Yellows, Pinks, and Oranges.

Trend #2: Carnations are back! Yes, we all know that carnations used to be Granny's favorite flower, but this year they are being used all over the world in compact modern arrangements.

Tip #1: Carnations are one of the least expensives flowers to buy. If you're looking to buy flowers, but are low on cash, carnations are a great option. You will get the most bang for your buck by ordering a ton of carnations verses a dozen roses. Carnations also come in a variety of colors, if you like something more traditional/ old world go for the peaches and soft greens. If you want something fresh and trendy opt for the bright oranges, electric yellows, and hot pinks.

Carnations are for every generation this year..... not just for sweet ole' granny.

Tip #2: It's that time of the year... Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths and other bulbs are in bloom. Take advantage of them being in season, because you'll pay an arm and a leg buying them when they're in the off season.

******A side note for the above arangement: This bouquet was for a funeral service for a husband and wife that died within just two days of eachother. I thought it was kind of sad, but sweet at the same time. At least the wife didn't have to be without him for too long...I know I'd hate it to be without my husband.

Trend #3: Small Nosegay Arrangements, or 'Tuzzie Muzzies' are popular right now. It's very chic to have a few small arrangements like the one below verses one large one.

Tip #3: Here's a great tip for buyers.... you don't have to 'go big or go home'. Ask your florist to make something orginal using some unique material you might up spending only $20, but have some beautiful and unique to bring home.

I did this arrangement for a young man who wanted to take something to his girlfriend. He didn't have alot of money, but knew that she liked Tulips. She absolutely loved it. That very next day I arranged a small bouquet for another young man with Star Gazer Lilies and Hocus Pocus Roses (you'll have to look them up, they look super cool.) In total, it cost him all about $30, but the result was beautiful. ***I wish I had taken a picture!

Tip #4: Tell your florist you don't want a lot of money put into the vase. The florist which I work for doesn't do this, however there are florists who will spend more money on the vase itself verses what goes into the vase.

And lastly I thought I'd end with a funny little Valentines Story:

A young man called our shop to order some flowers for his highschool girlfriend. His dad told him he had $40 dollars to spend. When he told us what he wanted to order he gave us a total of $60..... to which his dad yelled in the background, "NO! I told you $40." We ended up doing a $60 bouquet.... but the last tip I have to give is":

Tip #5: Know your budget. If you only have $30 to spend, let you florist know. Some might not work with you, but there are those who WILL work with you. Any customer who is willing to spend money is STILL an important customer whether they're spending $30 or $100!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day and just think..............soon you'll be hearing some more crazy stories from me again.

Christmas Open House:

I spent the majority of my Saturday after Thankgiving doing all of this:

and this....................................

and this............................................................

With a little bit of this.........................................

Mixed in with some of that.........................................

And a dash of this.......................................

And a pinch of this..................................

Needless to say, I was very busy. I specifically worked on this picture scene above. The theme for this tree was Bohemian Nights. I think it was a differnet twist on the traditional bright colors of indian decor.

One of the other things I enjoyed was the idea of hanging branches from the glass ceiling and spraying them with fake snow and then hanging ornaments from them. It was a really pretty effect.

What a Winter Wonderland huh?

Christmas Extravaganza!

As the holidays have approached us, I've been a little more busy than usual working. I spent a couple of days last week working.... mostly on Thanksgiving Centerpieces.... so I thought I'd share what I've been up to.

This centerpiece was $100 ------I'm not sure that the picture does it justice, it really was beautiful! (A full 2 feet long!) One of my favorite things to do is mix traditional holiday greens (like evergreens) and tropical flowers. This order was for a thanksgiving dinner, and I enjoyed the challenge of bringing something different and unusual to the dinner table. I think the customer was very satisfied.

On a smaller scale, this centerpiece was around $35. Again, I think we have a little mixture of pine evergreens and tropical red leucedendrons. By the way, these centerpieces smell delicious with ceder, and heather ---- that's the white spiky looking flower.

MMMMmmmmmm..................I love the smell of heather, it's pretty strong. Similar lilies, paperwhites, freesia, tuber roses, hyacinths.... the smell of heather is quite a strong fragrance, either you love it or hate it.

********************Note: if you are sending flowers to someone in the hospital, you might specifically request that your florist NOT send strong fragrant flowers.... unless you know the receiver would enjoy the smell. Odors are intensified in small hospital rooms... and patients tend to get a full dose of the fragrance.

This centerpiece was something a little more traditional which includes: chrysanthemums, salidago-- the yellow fluffy flower-- snapdragons, and carnations. These flowers are more common in most shops, so if your looking for something different... you MUST be specific!

This was just a different variety of greenery and flowers. I used peach roses, autumn mums, leucedendrons, and peachy/ orange carnations.

This centerpiece below was specifically ordered for some children ages 1-3 years old. If you look closely there are some little porcelain ducks tucked into the flowers. The sender wasn't pleased with this arrangement because she wanted something more "grand". Don't ask why she expected something more "grand" for a 3 year old's dinner table, but she did. This centerpiece was 18" diameter with multiple flowers, and a variety of greens.... making the total $65. I WISH I could afford to spend $65 on my 16 month old's dinner table centerpiece!

The same lady ordered this "BSU Bronco" themed centerpeice...... it was for some boys who were ages 5-8 years old. Again, she wasn't pleased--- who has the money to order three saperate centerpieces for a Thanksgiving table? NOT ME?!!

This last centerpiece was a mixture of yellow spider mums, peach roses, heather, salidago, green hypericum berries, and white alstromeria. It was also $65 and think it turned out quite nicely!

Wishing all of you Happy Holidays... may the real spirit of this holiday cheer be with you all the rest of the year!