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Check out my article about local florists on the Flower Shop Network's website. And by the way, their website makes it pretty easy to find an actual florist to order from--here, for example, is what I get when I search for florists in Santa Cruz, CA.
A very cool ten-minute documentary on Nevado Ecuador, one of the farms I visited when I was researching Flower Confidential. Check it out here.
It's very cool to see a large company like Sam's Club get behind the Fair Trade program. They're now offering Fair Trade flowers for sale on their website. You can read all about Fair Trade flowers here, but the important thing to know is that in addition to labor and environmental standards, a portion of the purchase price goes directly to the workers for a community development project (like a microlending program, a program to supply families with livestock, computer education, etc.) This means that people who work on these farms are not just guaranteed a good, safe job, they also have some new options to help them move out of poverty.
It also tends to be the more "high-end" farms that participate, meaning that you may be getting higher quality flowers from Fair Trade farms. Really, this is a winning situation for everybody, and the fact that Sam's Club is participating means that some very big buying decisions are being made that reward these farms that really make a difference.
Check the Fair Trade Flowers website for more sources of Fair Trade flowers, including 1-800 Flowers and Organic Bouquet.
One of the things that comes up a lot when I talk to florists is the idea of a 'luxury' flower. There is such a thing as a high-end, high-quality, bigger, better, bolder, and more fragrant flower. And those flowers cost more. Why?
Some of them are hard-to-get new varieties for which breeders charge a premium.
Some of them take more time and effort to grow. To get a really extraordinary, baseball-sized rose on a five-foot stem, you have to prune the plant in such a way that you might only get one rose every couple of months. A smaller supermarket rose, on the other hand, might come from a plant that produces two or three blossoms per plant for month. If a rose bush is only producing one rose every few months, you'll have to charge more for it.
Same is true of lilies. A bigger, bolder lily will come from a bigger, more mature bulb. That bulb costs more.
To make a flower last longer, you will invest more in refrigeration and handling. A flower that sits in a bucket at room temperature in a supermarket, or out on a sidewalk, won't last as long as one that's been in exactly the right climate-controlled facility.
But consumers, when they buy flowers, usually shop based on price. A dozen pink tulips cost seven bucks at the supermarket, so why should I pay more? We don't really know how to tell a high-end flower from a regular flower.
Contrast this to, say, how we buy wine or chocolate. Most of us know the difference between a Hershey bar and a Vosges truffle. We know the difference between a bottle of Two Buck Chuck and a nice Alexander Valley Silver Oak. Even if we're not connoisseurs, we have a general notion that there is such a thing as premium wine or chocolate.
So why not flowers? Here's a florist in Charleston, SC who is trying to sell customers on the idea of luxury flowers. They've created a brand called 'Black Market Designs' (OK, I'm not so sure about the name), and the idea is to offer up the ultimate flowers and the ultimate design. Check it out!
If you're in the flower industry and have never been to Latin America, or if you're a flower lover who is quite certain that you will be sick and tired of cold, grey weather by February, listen up. There's a tour of Ecuador's flower industry coming up in February, and it's worth checking out.
I found Ecuador to be heartbreakingly beautiful. Really, there is something about this country that will just touch you profoundly. It is elegant and mysterious and enthralling.
When I was there in 2004, I was surprised to see that Ecuador has no tourism industry built up around its flower farms. Holland has its legendary bulb fields, its flower auctions that are open to the public, and its floating flower market in the heart of Amersterdam. But Ecuador has none of that. The flower farms are off to themselves outside of Quito. In some ways, I love it that this country is still authentically itself and not hyped up for the tourists. But if you have an interest in flowers, it would be difficult to find them on your own in Ecuador. So a tour like this one is helpful.
Remember, this is the country that produces baseball-sized roses on six foot long stems. What's not to like? Ah--Ecuador. I wish I was going back myself. But please, check it out. I would love to see this sort of thing take off.
If you're in the floral industry, or if you're a "stakeholder" when it comes to sustainability in agriculture of any kind, you'll want to know about a meeting coming up on October 29. (This meeting is not open to the general public, but to "companies, organizations, scientists, regulators and others working on sustainable agriculture issues for food, floral, fiber, and biofuel crops." There's contact info below about who to contact to get an invite.)
The short version is: The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sets voluntary standards for all kinds of industries. Once an ANSI standard exists for a particular industry, it can often become the default for laws, regulations, etc. So if you're in the cut flower industry, or any other sector of agriculture, and you're concerned about organics and sustainability, you should be paying attention to the new set of ANSI standards for sustainable agriculture under discussion right now. "Sustainable" is one of those words that everyone defines differently, but now there will be an ANSI standard that explains exactly what it means for agriculture.
One subset of the Sustainable Agriculture Practice Standard is devoted to cut flowers and potted plants. The standards were developed by SCS and are already in use through their VeriFlora eco-label program.
Those in the cut flower and nursery industry know that there are already a hodgepodge of sustainability programs and standards around the world. Now that the standard that began as VeriFlora is under consideration as an ANSI standard, we're perhaps seeing some progress toward a single standard for the entire industry.
The entire press release follows. If you're a stakeholder, consider getting in touch about providing input at the upcoming stakeholder meeting.
Continue reading "A New Standard for Sustainable Agriculture" »
After hearing from several florists who wanted to talk more about the benefits of buying from a local florist, I've spent the last twelve days listing a dozen reasons to buy flowers from a florist. Thanks to all of you who have posted comments or sent e-mails. But why stop there? I'm sure I left a few out! Send me your reasons and I'll post them on my blog and work them into the next talk I give to a floral industry group. (Find out more about speaking engagements here.)
And...the conversation is continuing at Apartment Therapy.
Oh, and here's a story for you. After reading Reason #9, my dad called a local florist to order some flowers for their wedding anniversary. He'd bought Stargazers from OrganicBouquet before and loved them. So he ordered Stargazers again, but this time from a local florist. They put together a lovely arrangement, but the lilies weren't Stargazers--they were a pretty pale pink Oriental lily with nowhere near the fragrance of a Stargazer. And it's the fragrance he loved so much!
But here's the thing. It's Friday night. It's your wedding anniversary. Are you going to call the florist and complain that they didn't deliver what they said they would? Nah.
Are you going to remember that they didn't deliver what they said they would next time you're ready to order flowers? Probably.
So the question is: Is it possible that the very nature of a florist's business (delivering flowers, often to the person who did not order them, often for a special or serious occasion that is about so much MORE than the flowers) makes people less likely to speak up if the order isn't right? I'd send back a plate of pasta that wasn't to my liking, but I might not complain about the flowers, especially if those flowers are just one small part of a much bigger event, like a birthday or a funeral. It seems petty, almost. It spoils the fun of a happy occasion, and detracts from the seriousness of a sad one.
If that theory is right, and florists get less feedback from their customers than, say, restaurants do, what should they do about that? Should they call more of their customers to find out if the flowers were satisfactory? And if so, should they check back in with the person who ordered them, or the person they were delivered to?
12. We have more fun.
Highlight your special events, promotions, and crazy sense of humor.
"Is it your birthday? Come in for a free flower. And don't forget to watch our sign out front. Every Monday we pick a name at random, and if we put your name on the sign, you get a free flower. What can we say? We're florists. We like giving flowers to people. Especially on Mondays."
"Guys, don't miss our annual Beer and Bouquet night on February 13. Drink a beer, assemble your own arrangement, and score major points at home. Enough said."
"Our annual Mother's Day Tea is our most popular event all year. Bring Mom in for tea, Springfield Bakery scones, and a flower arranging class. You can design a bouquet for her on the spot. No pipe cleaners or popsicle sticks involved."
"Want to have a flower arranging party at your home or in our shop? We've hosted bridesmaids, garden clubs, and football teams. (Okay, we've never hosted a football team, but we'd like to!)"
"Have you ever serenaded someone? Neither have we, but we partner with members of the Springfield Opera Company to deliver a tuxedo-clad, red rose-carrying, opera-singing crooner to your loved one's bedroom window, place of work, or rendezvous location of your choosing. All you have to do is show up and take the credit. Think you can handle that?"
"Every month, our Random Act of Kindness team delivers a bouquet to a random Springfield resident while they're at work. We've delivered bouquets to bank tellers, nurses, teachers, auto mechanics, veterinarians, and executives. You could be next!"
11. We're affordable.
Okay, can I just say one thing here? We each have our own definition of "affordable." Let's say you have to buy a gift for your neighbor's daughter's baby shower. You don't know this person very well, but they picked up your mail last time you were out of town, and now you're on the hook to go to this baby shower. What are you going to spend? 10 bucks? 20 bucks?
Now a customer comes in and tells you the same story. You assume they only want to spend 20 bucks. But what she doesn't tell you is that, by picking up the mail, this neighbor made sure that a package of very important business documents didn't get sent back to the post office. Or maybe she lives in a very ritzy part of town, where you just don't show up at a baby shower with a $20 present. Or maybe she just loves babies. Who knows?
The point is, everybody has a different budget. There are a lot of people out there who are willing and able to spend 50 or 100 bucks on a present. Sometimes people need to make a very big statement, and if you offer them a $45 bouquet, they might decide that you're just not the kind of shop that can handle the $200 order they were planning on placing with you.
So how about:
"Our best-selling arrangement is priced at $60, which is less than the price of dinner for two at the Springfield Hotel, a sixty-minute spa visit, a pair of tickets to the Springfield Theater, or a ride in a hot-air balloon. And all of those gifts last an hour or two. Our flowers last a week or more!"
"We can put together a fabulous arrangement for any budget. Don't believe us? Visit our website for the results of our latest Designers' $20 Challenge." (which you ran, Iron Chef style, on the local TV news program, right? Or held on a Friday night, complete with cocktails and bets on the winners?)
"Our growers bunches sell for about a dollar a stem, which is what you'd pay at a supermarket. What's the difference between our flowers and theirs? See #1 and #2."
"We've always got a $9.99 mixed bouquet wrapped and ready to walk out the door."
"Sign up for our Monthly Flower Lover's Club and get a different mixed bouquet every month for only $125 a year. If your home or office is in the Springfield Downtown District, we'll even walk over and deliver it."
"Never been to our Friday Night Happy Hour? All the flowers on display are $1 a stem. Mix and match, or let our designers put it together for you. "
"Even our luxury flowers are surprisingly affordable. Our unforgettable Artisanal Bouquet, priced at $175, comes in a crystal vase or a handcrafted wooden box, and includes the most rare and delightful flowers of the season."
Change is good
