Sending Smiles ~

My friend Patti always cracks me up... "I'm going to return in another life and sell widgets!" She's my friend but also the person who finds the flowers I need for the shop and they come from all over the world.  I love my job, I love flowers but sometimes I completely understand Patti's battle cry to sell a product that is not: Made by Nature Perishable Subjective and.... Misunderstood Don't get me wrong, the flower biz is just about the best career ever but it can be a bit of an uphill battle. Take for instance a call I had 2 weeks ago.. Ring, ring, ring... Georgianne: Hi, How can I help you? Customer: I just got yellow roses delivered and I think there is something wrong with them. I think they are old. Georgianne:  Oh my, what's wrong with them, are they wilted? Are they drooping? Customer: No, but they are brown along the edge and they look bumpy and they don't look like the yellow roses I've gotten before. The petals look we

If you've read my blog before you know how I feel about funeral flowers. Yes, those obituaries sometimes say "In Lieu of Flowers" and you all know, that it does not mean not to send flowers. It merely means if you want to make a donation, yadda, yadda. You know that floral tributes not only express your sympathy for the grieving but don't you think the funeral home looks very sad if there were no flowers there? Sending flowers for funerals is a tradition that goes back ages and the reason is that it helps folks know you care, flowers make them feel loved, make it known the person who has passed was loved. It helps make the funeral more bearable. This blog is not about that. It's about NOT sending flowers that arrive to the funeral home in a box! We are not against ProFlowers, who just happens to be pictured here. They are not the only ones that sell flowers delivered in the mail. FTD and 1800flowers sell those, among others.  This blog aims to make you awar

We love creating flowers for special events, especially ones that take place in the home. What fun it is to match the colors and style of a room. Today we set up flowers for one of our bridal families. Because they are expecting many guests at the home starting tonight and all through the wedding weekend, they thought it would be a nice touch to add flowers in various parts of the house. This piece was created for the dining room table and matches the decor and colors of the room. This next arrangement greeted guests as they entered the home. We used flowers such as chocolate anthiurum, free spirit roses, safari sunset and pincushion protea, curly willow branches along with seeded eucalyptus and bronze colored cushion mums. The flowers add a cozy feel to an already lovely home, don't you think? 

Don't you just adore these tiny buds of perfection? We love designing with these clustered spray roses that come in shades from whites right on up to deep burgundy. Each stem has between 3 and 6 tiny rose buds and we often use them as a single stem flower in party and wedding centerpieces. Other times we use the buds in corsages and boutonniere designs. They are wonderful to use in our every day designs too and sometimes what you see on our website are clusters of spray roses and not the larger, long stemmed ones known as tea roses. The next time you stop into your local florist to buy flowers for yourself or as a gift, why not consider a bouquet of these elegant little flowers?

I love arrangements made in pretty glass vases but I have to say that baskets appear to be making a come back recently. Just like this colorful mixture of flowers, the summer is a wonderful time to send flowers in a pretty wicker or natural grapevine basket. Perfect for a desk, kitchen island or even bedside, flowers in a basket make such a cute gift and would be much appreciated for just about any occasion.

Ok, there it is... Fill a vase with fresh flowers is number 21 on a list of 25 bright ideas to recharge your mood, routine and rooms and highlighted in Real Simple Magazine. A Harvard study showed that people who looked at fresh flowers in the morning reported higher energy levels for the rest of the day! That's powerful stuff and so easy to do. Perhaps you'll consider going to your local florist for a fresh bunch of flowers this weekend? What about bringing some into the office next week? Living with flowers - it's a good thing!!

Ok, I know that I just wrote a blog yesterday but I'm catching up on some floral reading (Floral Management to be exact) and I came across some information that really got me excited. Recent studies (I know that sounds soooo boring) just revealed that those who send flowers, in comparison to other gifts, are viewed as successful, caring and emotionally intelligent people!! Ok, so that is not too boring, right? Wow, how can you be a florist and not be excited about that. As a consumer, isn't that awesome news? I know the power flowers have over people and there a  million reasons why the next time you need to send a gift, or let someone know you are thinking about them, flowers ARE a wonderful choice. Where else can you call in the afternoon and have a beautifully arranged, hand delivered gift arrive in the very same day? I'm sorry, I know there are lots of choices in gift giving these day and many are easy to order but dang, how much easier can it be!! It is our strength a

No, of course not, no one is forcing you to!! That being said we sincerely hope that you include flowers in your life as a gift giving option. Valentine's Day (or week, as we like to call it) is one of the busiest floral holidays of the year and rightly so. Few gifts are as emotional as flowers and few holidays are more personal than Valentine's Day! Perhaps the real beginning of flower giving as we know it today was in the Middle Ages, where flowers where given as tokens of affection by lovers. In a conservative society giving particular flowers in the flower delivery could act as a secret message from the giver to the recipient. Flower delivery was an early form of the text message, then, with perhaps a little more subtlety and a lot more beauty! Of course, red roses have always been viewed as the most romantic flowers to express love but with an endless assortment to choose from, the possibilities are endless! But as with all supply and demand, when the demand goes up, sup