c/florists

22

kelly.patricia•3h ago

Choosing between a local grower and the wholesale market for peonies

I had a big wedding order needing 50 stems of coral charm peonies, and my usual wholesaler was out, so I had to pick between a new local farm charging $8 a stem or driving two hours to a bigger market. I went with the local grower, and the blooms were fresher and lasted three days longer in the arrangements. Has anyone else tried sourcing from a small farm for a rush order, and how did you handle the price difference with the client?

4

david_reed22•1d ago

I was sure those dried flower crowns were a passing fad

A bride in Denver asked for them last fall and I thought it looked cheap. After making one with baby's breath and lavender, I saw how it held up all day in the sun without wilting. Now I keep a few ready for outdoor events. Has anyone else found a use for dried pieces they didn't expect?

12

casey818•1d ago

Tried a new flower food mix from a vendor in Tampa and my roses wilted in 2 days

I got a sample of this 'premium' powder that promised a 10 day vase life, but my Valentine's batch of 50 red roses looked sad and droopy by Friday. I think the pH was way off, but the rep just said I must have mixed it wrong. Has anyone else had a bad run with a specific brand's food formula?

22

wendy_henderson21•2d ago

DAE realize they were storing peonies wrong?

I kept them in the cooler with my other blooms for years, but a wedding client in Tampa last month said hers lasted a week. Turns out she kept them at room temp, and now mine do too. What other common storage rules have you all found are actually wrong?

9

paige_robinson24•2d ago

Question about using a heat gun to open tulips

Everyone says to just put them in warm water and wait, but I had a wedding order with 200 tulips that needed to open fast. I carefully used a low heat gun from about a foot away for a few seconds on each bloom, and they opened perfectly without damage. Has anyone else tried a controlled heat method like this?

6

olivia670•2d ago

Just realized I could use a hair dryer to open tight peony buds for a last-minute order.

Had a bride call in a panic on Friday, needed a bouquet with white peonies for her Saturday wedding. My wholesaler only had super tight, green buds. I remembered my grandma used to put bananas near her roses to help them open, but that takes days. Out of desperation, I grabbed my travel hair dryer, put it on the cool setting, and gently blew warm air (not hot!) around the buds for about 10 minutes while they were in water. Checked them every few minutes. By the next morning, they had opened up perfectly. It felt ridiculous, standing there blow-drying flowers, but it saved the order. Has anyone else tried something weird that actually worked for forcing blooms?

25

sarahpark•2d ago

A lady came back to my shop just to say the flowers made her mom smile

It was a simple order, just a $35 mixed bouquet with some sunflowers. She picked it up on a Tuesday for her mom's birthday. Yesterday, she walked back in and said her mom, who's been feeling down, smiled for the first time in weeks when she saw them. She didn't want to buy anything else, just wanted to tell me. That stuck with me more than any big wedding contract. It's easy to get caught up in the big events, but sometimes the small stuff matters most. Has a simple comment from a client ever made your whole week?

25

nina_taylor•2d ago

I finally understood why my centerpieces wilted so fast at the summer fair

For years, I would make all my arrangements in the cool shop and then load them into my warm van for delivery. At the Oakwood Fair last July, my hydrangea pieces looked sad within two hours. A judge, who is also a grower, told me, 'You're shocking them with a thirty degree temperature change.' Now, I condition everything in a room set to the outdoor temp for a full day before an event. Has anyone else had to adjust their prep for extreme weather?

3

beth147•3d ago

I just switched from using regular floral foam to Oasis Bio Foam for my sympathy arrangements.

I made the change after a funeral home director in Charlotte quietly mentioned last month that the old foam was leaving a slight chemical smell in their viewing rooms, and now I won't go back because the new stuff is just as sturdy but feels better to work with, has anyone else tried a specific eco-friendlier foam lately?

1

olivia_lopez98•3d ago

Hot take: I used to think foam was the only way to do a tall centerpiece

After a wedding in Phoenix last summer where the foam dried out and the whole thing sagged by the cake cutting, I switched to chicken wire and tape for structures over two feet. It's a bit more work up front but nothing has ever collapsed on me since. What's your go-to method for keeping tall arrangements secure?

8

miller.thomas•4d ago

I finally looked up the real vase life for ranunculus

Kept seeing them wilt in three days, but a grower told me they need a deep cut and warm water first. Now mine last a full week. What's the one flower you had to learn the trick for?

10

susan81•6d ago

A bride's mom said my centerpieces looked like 'sad salad bars'

She was right, so I started adding more height and texture with things like curly willow. Anyone else get a piece of feedback that stung but actually helped?

13

jenkins.elizabeth•7d ago

I was talking to a regular customer about her wedding bouquet

She said she kept the dried flowers in a shadow box because they reminded her of her grandma's garden. It made me think maybe we should push dried arrangements more, not just as a fall thing. Anyone else have clients asking for more year-round dried pieces?

3

rowan_reed68•7d ago

My cooler's compressor gave out right before a big wedding order

It happened yesterday morning, and I had to rush all 150 stems into my van's AC on full blast. Some say you should always have a backup unit, but others think that's overkill for a small shop. What's your emergency plan for cooler failure?

13

the_faith•9d ago

Had a bridezilla in Dallas last week who changed her whole color scheme 48 hours before the wedding.

She wanted to swap out all the blush roses for bright orange ranunculus. Had to call in every favor I had with local growers. Ended up paying triple the price for overnight shipping from California. Anyone else had a last minute change that nearly broke them?

26

brooket43•10d ago

Appreciation post: I compared two local flower wholesalers for a month and the choice was obvious

I used to split my weekly orders between two suppliers, but after tracking stem quality and vase life for 30 days, one consistently had roses that lasted 7 days longer. The difference was their cold chain delivery, which the other place just didn't manage as well. Anyone else found a supplier detail that made a huge difference for your shop?

30

butler.laura•11d ago

I was wrong about those flower food packets from the wholesaler

For years I thought the little clear packets from our main supplier in Sacramento were just a gimmick, so I never used them. Then, for a big wedding order last month, I tried them on half the roses as a test. The ones with the packet stayed fresh for 4 full days longer than the others in the same cooler. Has anyone else done a side-by-side test like this with different brands?

13

morgan.jason•16d ago

I finally gave up on those fancy floral foam alternatives after wasting $200

I bought a bunch of the new 'eco' foam blocks that are supposed to hold stems just as well. They fell apart in a big wedding arch order and I had to redo the whole thing overnight. Are the old school foams still the only reliable choice, or did I just get a bad batch?

2

patriciarivera•17d ago

A small win at the local hardware store's garden center

I was at the big hardware place on 4th Street yesterday, picking up some stuff for a rental. Their garden section had these sad, half-dead lavender plants marked down to $3 each. Bought four on a whim, gave them a good soak and a trim, and stuck them in my work van's shade. Two days later, they're perked right up and I can use them for a small dried arrangement order next week. Has anyone else had luck with a last-minute rescue like that?

3

violag80•17d ago

My delivery van's cooler died with a $1200 wedding centerpiece order inside on a 90-degree Tuesday in July.

I had to rush the whole load to a friend's walk-in at a grocery store 15 minutes away, saving the flowers but making me two hours late for the setup (which, honestly, taught me to always pack a backup cooler bag in summer, no matter what).

11

cora_mitchell•18d ago

Pro tip: do NOT try to save a big hydrangea order with warm water

I had a wedding client bring in 40 stems that were totally wilted from her car, and I spent 2 hours trying to revive them with warm water like I always did. Turns out for that specific variety, cold water with a splash of vinegar was the fix, but I wasted half my morning. Anyone have a better method for last-minute hydrangea rescue?

5

grantpatel•19d ago

Shoutout to the shop owner who said wire service orders are a waste of time

I was at a local flower market in Phoenix last month and overheard a shop owner telling a new florist to skip wire services completely. She said they take too big a cut and the orders are never worth the hassle. I've actually built my whole business on them for the past two years. They bring in steady cash, especially for holidays, and I've gotten some of my best corporate clients from a simple sympathy arrangement sent through FTD. Has anyone else found wire services to be a solid part of their income, or am I the odd one out?

5

elliot_roberts•20d ago

Rant: The time a bride's bouquet wilted right before the ceremony in that 95-degree Charleston heat.

I had to send my assistant sprinting to the nearest grocery store for a bag of ice to plunge the stems into, which bought us just enough time to rehydrate the roses and get them to her before the processional, but has anyone else found a better trick for a true emergency wilt?

7

the_robert•20d ago

Remember when we used to get all our flowers from the local market?

Last week, I ordered a box of ranunculus from a farm in Ecuador that arrived on my phone. Last month, I had to explain to a new hire what a wholesale flower market even was. Three years ago, my Thursday mornings started at 4 AM at the old city market, picking stems by hand in the cold. Now I just refresh a tracking page. Does anyone else miss the smell and the noise of the old way?

17

kevinking•20d ago

A bride told me my bouquets looked 'too perfect' last spring...

She said they felt stiff and lacked a garden's wild charm. Now I leave more stems at different lengths and add a few bent or imperfect blooms... does that make them feel more natural?