Wedding Stats

From The Wedding Report:

Stat of The Week
Brides considering cutting budget due to economy:

No, we are not cutting our budge
33.4%
Yes, by at least 10%
15.3%
Yes, by 10 to 20%
18.1%
Yes, by 20 to 30%
13.2%
Yes, by 30 to 40%
8.7%
Yes, by 40 to 50%
5.6%
Yes, by 50% or more
5.7%

Another Horticulture Business Closed

Read in today's paper that Shrewsbury Nurseries is closing. One of the reader comments sums it up:

"Sad to see another small business succumb to the extraordinary cost of estate taxes in conjuction with the competition from large box stores. We'll all be sorry someday - we will wish we had these small 'mom & pop' stores to shop at when the big box stores of the world are handed the ticket to overprice and underservice their customers due to lack of competition. And we'll have done it to ourselves. Sorry to see another small business go...they are the heart of our country and they are a dying breed..."

Corsage

Not too many women wear corsages any more, not even on those special occasions like being the mother of the bride. But if they knew they could have something like this...maybe they'd reconsider!

A client had a formal event tonight and wanted something va-va-voom to wear on the shoulder of her black gown. I think we got it with the huge ruffly ranunculus focal flower, black ti leaf loops, feathers, and purple lisianthus and orchid accents.

I asked her for pictures, so hopefully I'll have one of our client all decked out to share soon!

Interview With James Dingus, Chester Brown Wholesale Florist

So my favorite sales rep in the Boston Flower Exchange, James Dingus, is retiring and leaving New England for warmer climes. Pardon me while I feel a little sorry for myself here, but Jimmy leaves big shoes to fill.

Jimmy knows his flowers, reads people extremely well, never gave me crap for all my last minute "wish lists", can tell when I'm in a rush and need to get the heck out of Boston, has a great sense of humor, and a fantastic memory! Who is going to remember that I need lots and lots of baronia when it's in season?!

I know James is not going to miss getting up at 2:00 am to go to work in the flower market, and he's definitely not going to miss the cold weather and the snow...in fact, he's leaving George, the new guy, his heater (those concrete floors get chilly!)...

...but we're sure going to miss him!

Here are a few last words before he goes!

Ten Questions With…James Dingus

Q: Any vital statistics you’d care to share?
A: Jimmy is 64 years old, has worked at the Flower Exchange for over 20 years, the past 11 years at Chester Brown Wholesale Florist, and is leaving Mansfield MA to retire to Charlotte NC.

Q: Why flowers?
A: James remembers helping his mother, who was an avid gardener, with the gardening as a child. Besides his interest in plants, he had drawing skills "oozing out of my hands", which lead him to becoming an architectural draftsman. Work as a draftsman wasn't very satisfying, and after a move from Tennessee to Massachusetts, Jimmy seized on some words of wisdom he heard on TV, that you should work at something you like to do. He came back to that early enjoyment of plants and flowers, going to floral design school and finding a career in flowers.

Q: If not flowers, what?
A: Food! James worked his way through school with restaurant jobs, was one of the first black managers for the Friendly's chain, and even opened a restaurant, way back, with his brother.

Q: Do you have a favorite flower?
A: Lily of the valley - because the aroma of it encapsulates you and is intoxicating.

Q: What’s your favorite place to enjoy flowers?
A: In the garden.

Q: Best thing about working with flowers?
A: The instant gratification, you make something beautiful, it's done, and you move on.

Q: Worst thing about working with flowers?
A: Allergies! The occupational hazard of eyes watering and nose running.

Q: Red Sox or Patriots?
A: Patriots. "Watching baseball is like watching grass grow. And I'd rather watch grass grow."

Q: On my deathbed, I will wish that I had spent more time on _________.
A: Bettering my relationship with my son.

Q: What flowers do you want at your funeral?
A: After assurances that I was not trying to put him in an early grave with these last two questions, James said he didn't care about having any particular flower at his funeral, but he did a funeral once in red and purple which was really striking, so that would work for him! Trust a wholesaler to go with "seasonal flowers". ;-)

Corporate Event - Cyprian Keyes, Boylston

Just enough time for a couple quick shots of this event - really liking the dark pewter pintuck linens. Unexpected and elegant.

The rose in this cocktail table arrangement is called 'Sweet Unique'. Love the way it opens and we echoed the swirling petals with the bear grass.

Fresh From the Flower Market

Delicate blossoms of blue tweedia...

...AMAZING ranunculus from Italy this week - look at these white and green stunners!

Can you believe these are tulips?! They're called 'Frilled Leo' and come from Holland. Just about the coolest tulips ever!

And sorry, but I couldn't resist another shot of ranuculus - these are mammoth, easily 3 inches across!

In addition, we also have this week:

psiticorum heliconia - almost sold out on this already!
pincushion protea - two colors
umbrella fern
sunflowers - 2 sizes
novelty daffodils - doubles and two tones
dianthus
jasmine - pink
dendrobium orchids - 2 colors
lisisnthus 0 cream and two tone purple
ginger - red, Costa Rica - oh, wait - sold this out already!
'Athos' poms
'Anastasi' mums
tulips - dutch and Extra Grade from new Jersey
gerbera - California
king protea - should have photographed these, they're awesome!
stock - California
hybrid delphinium - Israel
kangaroo paw - yellow
hypericum - red
waxflower - California
sterling range
campanula - California, lavender and pink
anemone - New York
lysimachia
alstroemeria
aster novi belgii
matsumoto aster
oncidium
ornithogalum dubium (not to be confused with ornithogalum arabicum!)
hydrangea - white, light blue
snapdragon - yellow
spray roses
aralia
feather fern
'Sweet Unique' rose
bells of Ireland
'Jade' trachellium
liatris
'Yelloween' lily

Flowers at Home

I'm in love with these 'Orlando' roses, a gorgeous girly shade of pinky coral (...that I just can't seem to capture on camera or screen)! Add a few loops and a swoosh of curly willow with its darling buds of green, and I can almost believe spring is coming. :-)

Another Florist Bites the Dust

Got the sad news this week that Skaff Floral Creations in Northborough MA has closed its doors. Over 20 years in business with a good reputation. I could have cried for them; it could be any of us.

Spoke with Beverly, the owner, who said the shop had been on the market for a while in anticipation of her and her husband's retirement, but with the economy the way it is, no one is interested in buying a flower shop and they don't want to while away their savings waiting for things to turn around.

Shortly after this news, I got an email announcing that a florist in Somerville is also liquidating their inventory........... :-(

Vertical Garden

I try to make most of my posts original content, but from time to time I see something so fabulous out there that I must share!!!

Don't you just lo-o-o-ve this vertical garden from Flora Grubb Gardens?!!! I must find a source for this locally. I wonder how much it weighs? With all those succulents, I bet it's pretty heavy, but what a statement piece for a patio or terrace! Wow!

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 7

OK, I know it's not easy to see in these photos, but the foliage on all of the tulips is pretty lousy now - yellow and limp on the two vases of purple tulips, and yellow tipped and moldy on the pink ones.

The only blossoms that look good right now are on Vase 3 - the purple grocery store tulips. The others are getting quite crispy around the edges.

Well, folks I don't know what to tell you, I'm sorely disappointed in Vase 2 - the expensive tulips from my shop. It was pointed out in a comment on the previous post that my test was very unscientific and there are many variables that could account for how well the various tulips did. I agree, it was decidedly unscientific with many things beyond my control which could contribute to the quality of the tulips. But, I was trying to think like a consumer, who isn't going to care about such stuff, but will remember whether their flowers lasted and whether they were a good value.

It's trash day tomorrow, so this will be the last tulip post, but I'd like to leave you with Jeff's comments, which lifted my spirits tremendously!

"I would never buy supermarket flowers, myself, no matter how long anyone might "prove" that they might last, though. It's not the longevity that matters with flowers. It's the thought that counts, and if a man buys flowers for his sweetheart at the supermarket, they have failed to put any thought into it at all!"

Fresh From the Flower Market

Lovely bright yellow forsythia...

...some unusual pin cushion protea...

...very early columbine...

...and my favorite this week, the shy helleborus!

In addition, we also have:

'Yoko Ono ' poms
yellow asiatic lily
'Starfighter' lily
mini callas - yellow
spray roses - hot pink, yellow
'Jade' trachellium
hydrangea - white, blue, baby green
iris - yellow and blue
'Miracle' roses
psiticorum
gerbera - Canada, raspberry
ornithogalum arabicum
anemone - France, and local
eriostemon
saxicola
fatsia
umbrella fern
sunflower - 2 sizes
dendrobium orchids - white, pink, purple
ginger
green spiders
'Athos' poms
bird of paradise
large pink hydrangea
campanula
'Ivanhoe' grevillea
lisianthus - cream, Israel
eremurus - Holland, yellow
lysimachia
larkspur
tuberose - California
tulips - Holland and New Jersey
stock - light pink, really spice fragrance!
kangaroo paw - yellow
phlox - white
hypericum - red and burgundy
cordeline tips - red
oncidium orchid
leucodendron
'Black Magic' roses
snapdragon - pink
bells of Ireland
song of India

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 6

This morning I gave all the tulips a fresh cut and all new water instead of just topping off. No flower food for anyone this time as I didn't happen to any more left in the house. (Frankly, and as a professional I shouldn't tell you this, but I never bother to use any on the flowers I take home. It feels too much like work.)

Vase 1 - Pink grocery store tulips - leaves still hanging in there and are more yellow than you can tell in this photo. The blossoms are holding but have a lot of that lavender-blue tint that is a sign of age.

Vase 2 - Extra Grade tulips from my shop - yuck - not looking good at all. Foliage is weak and pale, blossoms are getting dried out and even on the purple petals I can see the blue tinge of death.

Vase 3 - purple tulips from the grocery store - foliage is pretty icky at this point, but the blooms still look good to me, no dryness.

Aaaarrrgghh! I am so-o-o disappointed in the tulips from my shop. Utterly embarrassed. I frankly expected better than this from them, not only for the price, but I had taken old tulips home from the shop that still looked amazing after 8 days and I expected the same from these.

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 5

Quick post - All three vases are showing chlorotic foliage - fading green color, yellowing.

Vase 1 - pink grocery store tulips with flower food - even more blue tinge to the blossoms today as they show their age, but stems still upright and sturdy.

Vase 2 - Purple tulips from my shop with flower food - the stems are bending and curving all willy nilly. Some people find this to be an enjoyable part of having cut tulips, as they change position every day. Me, I just want to cut them down in size and rearrange them. They've sucked up about twice as much water as the others. Blossoms are showing a hint of the blue of age but it's hard to discern on the purple petals.

Vase 3 - purple grocery store tulips without flower food - leaves are flopping all over the place now, blossoms open but holding.

I have to say, it's not looking too good for the very expensive Extra Grade tulips from my shop....

More tomorrow!

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 4

Sorry folks, I was out and about most of the day, so this photo was taken in evening light and not too great.

Vase 1 - Pink grocery store tulips with flower food. Blossoms have a bit more of the bluish tinge of age on the edge of the petals. Leaves still look good. Now that the blossoms are more open I can see that they aren't truly peony type tulips like I had originally thought which would have been pretty cool coming from the grocery store. Most of them have the standard 6 petals, and only a few have another row, never mind all the extra petals the peony types have.

Vase 2 - Purple Extra Grade tulips from my shop with flower food. Blossoms look nice, not showing dryness or blue tone of aging yet. Foliage is starting to look a little chlorotic though, starting to fade a bit.

Vase 3 - Purple grocery store tulips without flower food the way they came. Blossoms are completely open, but holding, no signs of dryness. That dry papery quality is one of the things I look for in a tulip to tell if it's old. Foliage is sagging a bit more and the tips on some are turning yellow.

Over all I'm still liking all the tulips about equally. They're all still drinking water which is good. Husband has threatened to put bleach in the grocery store vases because he doesn't want me to look bad! I may have to put some kind of alarm on them. ;-)

Bloggety Blogness - Or All Full of Myself Today

So as a recovering Luddite, computers and the internet and the webby connectedness of things continues to astound me nearly every day. I'm amazed and afraid. My world has grown larger and smaller because of it. I alternately love it and hate it.

Today I love it! Today is the day I got linked to on Wormtown Taxi! Somewhere around a year ago, I realized that the websites I kept returning to were mostly blogs. Wormtown Taxi was one of those blogs that inspired me to create one for Sprout, so it thrills me no end to be linked to on his site!

And since I'm talking bloggy things here, the little part of me that is full of myself today wants to tell you that for the past month our little site has consistently had over 1000 unique visitors. I know this is not an earth shattering number in the webby world, but for me it's huge, as that's like having 1000 visitors to my store. Now, I know some of you are people hoping you found a florist in Worcester England, but still, the majority of you were looking for Sprout, right here in Worcester Mass! (Thank you Duncan for telling me about this analytics stuff!)

And lastly, for the past month, our site has been consistently on the first page of Google searches under "Worcester florists". Not too shabby if I do say so myself for a tiny little florist. :-)

Thank you all! XOXO

Corporate Event - Wellesley Country Club

A few quick snapshots of a party we did at the Wellesley Country Club this week.

Earthy signs of spring with various types of succulent plants nestled in silver bowls. A refreshing take on a "green" theme, as centerpieces don't always have to be floral. Plus these will certainly be enjoyed for longer than a floral piece would last.

There were a couple floral pieces for the food stations though. With Worcester celebrating St. Pat's this weekend, and spring at least technically arriving this week, the green look feels rather right!

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 3

Left to right - Vase 1 - pink grocery store tulips with flower food, Vase 2 - large purple tulips from my shop with flower food, Vase 3 - purple grocery store tulips without flower food the way they came.

The experiment continues! You can see all the tulips are still drinking water, especially Vase 2, check out the water level. I'm going to top them off after I post. A couple floppy leaves on Vase 2 today and even more floppy leaves on Vase 3. Flowers on Vase 2 & 3 still look good; they've gotten larger and have opened enough that I can see into the center.

Flowers on Vase 1 have the barely perceptible signs of turning blue at the top center edge of the petals. You really can't perceive it in these photos unless you know to look for it. That bluish tinge is usually the sign on some flowers, like tulips and roses, that they are past prime and are aging. Foliage still going strong.

More tomorrow!

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 2

Left to right - Vase 1 - pink tulips from grocery store with flower food, Vase 2 - big purple tulips from my shop with flower food, and Vase 3 - smaller purple tulips from grocery store without flower food the way they came.

So far, so good. All of the tulips look fine, good green color on stems and leaves, everything firm, no dry edges on the petals, they're all drinking water. I'll probably have to top them off tomorrow. All of them look a bit straighter, especially the purple ones from the grocery store which had quite a bend on them yesterday, and they all are a bit taller. Tulips stems continue to lengthen after they've been cut. Cell elongation.

Husband thinks I should have waited to blog this if I have success with the tulips I sell, but I think this will be far more fun! Who knows, I may be wrong? A learning experience for me as well as you. :-)

The Great Tulip Experiment - Day 1

As retail florists lose more and more ground to supermarkets and big box retailers, we have to ask ourselves why? OK, the supermarket is definitely more convenient, being open all hours every day of the week, plus the one stop shopping thing. I know anyone who shops with me is making an effort and probably going out of their way, dealing with on street city parking, which I truly appreciate.

What about price? I know on some things I'm competitive on price and some I can't touch at the supermarket. They're buying flowers by the pallet, when I'm buying by the hand selected bunch. I have no negotiating power on price.

So if we don't have convenience and only have price some of the time, what do we have? Well, I know for sure I have selection. I don't think any supermarket can touch what I have for variety on a daily basis. Just check our "Fresh From the Flower Market" posts.

That leaves service and quality.

I decided to try our own little experiment by comparing the experience of buying a bunch of tulips at the local grocery store and see how we stack up. I'm hoping the service at our store is great, but I'm not impartial there, and I know we're not perfect either, so I'll leave out what I can't quantify.

But I am more than willing to go head to head on quality! If I'm wrong, well, it will be a learning lesson for us both!

So here are two bunches of tulips I bought at the grocery store a few blocks from my shop. They were $7.99 and "buy one get one free" with your store card, so I picked up two bunches. The price was great, as you can tell from the sticker on the package. The tulips that I sell cost more than that wholesale. Not such a great presentation, what with the price tag and the bundles slipped into a clear plastic bouquet sleeve if these were a gift. But perfectly fine if they're just for you.

Here are some of the Extra Grade tulips from New Jersey that I bought yesterday at the flower market. Colors were amazing, love the fringey ones!

And there was definitely nothing like these cherry pink and white beauties at the grocery store!

So here are my Extra Grade NJ tulips (on the left in white paper) lined up on the workbench next to the Dutch tulips I got at the grocery store (in clear plastic wrap). Ours are definitely taller, which is reflected in the price of $25 a bunch this week. The longer something takes to grow, the more it costs to grow it, the higher the end price.

This is how the tulips would come wrapped from our shop, in cellophane and tissue, with a raffia bow.

We also include cut flower food, which did not come with the grocery store tulips, and we would remove any floppy or damaged leaves before we wrapped up your flowers. Not so at the supermarket. We would also give you any of our very cool foliages to go with your flowers, I'm especially partial to the simplicity of beargrass with tulips, but I went with naked flowers for our comparison.

I have to say, though, that the supermarket tulips look pretty good. The stems are nice and green and firm, foliage as good as any I see on tulips. The greens can sometimes get a bit moldy as they're wrapped so tight in plastic.

So here's the set up for my very unscientific test - below, left to right -

Vase 1 - pink, peony type, tulips, the fanciest ones they had at the supermarket, with flower food. Even though they didn't give us food, I'm thinking some customers might have one of these packets lying in a drawer some where at home.

Vase 2 - purple, basic, Extra Grade tulips from New Jersey, from my shop, with flower food.

Vase 3 - purple basic tulips, from the supermarket, without flower food, they way they sold them.

Now it remains to be seen how well the flowers develop and last.

One note about the purple tulips in vase 3, that look droopy. They're not wilted, they're just bent because they've been in a box for a long time. Tulips are both phototropic (oriented by light) and geotropic (oriented by gravity). When they've been lying down in a box for a while, they start to curl up, away from the earth, like they're growing. They should straighten out.

Now we wait! I will take a photo every day.

Flowers at Home - Tulips

When I take flowers home, it's usually the stuff that's too old to sell. Not too old to enjoy, but I don't want to sell anything that isn't going to give my customers the maximum vase life. So I grabbed this bunch of tulips the other day to take home. They were expensive, probably why no one bought them, but here they are 8 days old and aren't they stunning?!

I had to trim them twice, 5 inches total easily because they were just too tall for the vase I wanted to put them in. And look how they've opened?! And I'm not exaggerating to say the blossoms are the size of jumbo eggs. :-)

I think I'm going to grab a bunch of tulips from the supermarket tomorrow and we can compare and contrast the difference between those and my fancy extra grade ones from New Jersey. Then we'll both know if they're worth it!

PS The camellia from last week did break my heart; the bud fell off before it opened. :-( Maybe next time...

Fresh From the Flower Market

It's a rather gloomy rainy day today, so I was looking for a bit of sunshine in my flowers! Terribly cool leucodendron with yellow pin cushion protea.

A rose by any other name would still be a rose, but a dianthus by any other name might be a carnation! The dianthus barbatus above, which also goes by Sweet William, is a kissing cousin to carnations, dianthus caryophyllus. How could any flower snob turn up their noses at these sweet guys?!

In addition, we also have this week:

waxflower
hydrangea - light blue, baby green
poms - 'Athos', 'Yoko Ono', white daisy, white and green anemone type
iris - blue
monte casino asters
matsumoto asters
bells of Ireland (Worcester celebrates this weekend!)
stock - many colors
larkspur
delphinium bella donna
hybrid delphinium
sunflower
psiticorum
double lisianthus - purple white two tone
eriostemon - season ends soon for this
umbrella fern - Australia
red ginger
light green spiders
'Ivanhoe' grevillea
sterling range - another very seasonal flower
tulips - extra grade from New Jersey - these are so gorgeous, they may get their own post!
campanula - California, lots of colors
kangaroo paw - yellow
queen sago palm - Hawaii - 50" tall!
kiwi vine
eremurus - Holland
daffodils
phlox
snapdragon - local
'Jade' trachellium
viburnum - Holland
aralia
feather fern