Sending Smiles ~

This morning, as I was driving to the shop after a meeting, I started thinking about the floral seminar that I attended at the beginning of the month. Our speaker had called flowers a "Gift" and he was trying to have all of us (florists) think of our product as a "gift option". I knew what he was getting at and I agreed that sometimes we forget that flowers are one of many gift giving choices. Sometimes in my mind, I have set us apart from other gift retailers but the truth is that our product is one of many options that gift givers can choose from. Now this got me to thinking how do flowers rank as gift? I’ve been in the business so long that sometimes it’s hard to think like a consumer or even a recipient of flowers. In an instant, I was 5 years old again. It was my first dance recital and my mom had given me a sweet little nosegay of carnations and babies breath, tied with a pink bow. If I close my eyes, I can still smell those flowers and I feel instantly h

I'm surrounded each and every day with beautiful flowers and green plants at work but I still enjoy having a bundle of fresh flowers at home. I ususally keep a vase of posies in my living room, another in my dining room and sometimes a small vase in my bathroom. I don't have a ton of plants but a long draping pothos perched high on a wooden plant stand in my living room and an ivy in my foyer. They really make the place feel peaceful and fresh. My husband faithfully checks them for water and adds a touch here and dash there. I guess when you think about it, it's even the routine of watering the plants, checking their foliage and admiring your green thumb that give your life purpose. It truly is the little things that can bring you the most pleasure.

Recently a customer and I got to talking about sympathy flowers. This started me thinking about the floral industry and what an important role we play during the grieving process. I remember when my father passed away I asked my mother if she wanted me to inform friends and family to make a donation instead of sending flowers. My mother's response was something I've never forgotten, even 15 years later. She looked completely grief stricken and told me that her greatest fear was that she would walk into the wake and not find any flowers there. Being in the floral business, I've always known that flowers are sent as an expression of sympathy but I never truly understood what an important role they played in the minds of the surviving family members until that moment. My mom feared that no flowers at the service would mean that no one cared about my father. Since that moment, unfortunately, I have lost many family members, including my mother and it's never been more