Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Roses Roses Roses!


I won't have much time to "write" in my blog for a few days, because I will be working more hours. Here's a few snapshots I took after my 10 hour work day today. It will be hectic at work until Saturday--Valentine's Day, but it is worth it. Customers have been pleasant both on the phone and in person. Our drivers will see hundreds of happy smiling recipients in the next three days! It's fun to see all the romantic and some mushy card messages, but of course, we keep that very private.

The first picture is a closeup of a large bucket of our most popular red roses. Each bunch contains 25 roses. Valentine's Day is our busiest day of the year. With the holiday falling on a Saturday this year, we are getting many orders for Friday delivery to businesses. That will help immensely with our last minute walk-in customers. Most people wait until the last minute, which can cause chaos (but nothing we can't handle).


Roses and flowers as far as the eye can see! Most of are red roses are called "Freedom." They come in lengths from 40 cm. to 70 cm. We also have an abundance of pink roses and roses of just about every color imaginable. These are just the ones that are not in the cooler that came in today and have to be conditioned or "take water" before being refrigerated. A floral preservative has been added to the water for longer lasting roses. This "floralife," as we call it, will also be added to all arrangements as they are made. These roses will all be sold by Saturday and another shipment will be in tomorrow and Friday. We have about 1,200 roses on hand now. We can only handle so many at a time due to buckets needed and floor space.



Here's a shot of one of our "specials" tightly packed into a flower cooler. I may post more flower pictures by Saturday, since I won't have much time to actually "write" much in a post, at least the blog will have some fresh content...fresh as a daisy (or in this case, a rose)!

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3 comments:

Mary Ellen said...

I can never seem to get through my husband's head that I don't care for red roses...any color but red! When he gave me my engagement ring, the box was nestled in a dozen red roses. I guess that's why he thinks that he needs to keep giving me red ones. The reason I hate red roses is because when my brother passed away a month before his 16th birthday, his casket was surrounded by red roses...they were everywhere! Ugh...they give me such bad memories. I should have been straight with my husband when we were dating,but I didn't want to hurt his feelings when he gave me the first doz. red roses. And no matter how much I hint that I prefer pink or yellow or any other color, he doesn't get it. Sigh...

John said...

Mary Ellen, sorry to hear you lost your brother at such a young age. That has to have be one of the most difficult things in life, losing a teen age brother.

And of course, it makes sense that you have that image of all those red roses probably forever. I hope the pictures didn't make you sad, but instead made you remember the better times.

You know a lot of people feel the same way about Glads (Gladolias), because they associate them with funerals. I love them though.

When we make flowers for a funeral, we use every kind of flower in stock, lots of different mixtures. You never know what other florists are doing though...each one is in their own little world, some may only have red roses in their cooler on a given day.

We used to have a lady working for us that bought just yellow roses and white daisies every week, which is the combo you like. They do go perfect together!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mary Ellen said...

Thanks, John.

Daisies...the happiest flowers EVER!

I wish I had a job working in a florist. I was going to work in one,part time, in my area a few years back but the people who owned it and worked there were such heavy smokers I couldn't stand being in the back room stripping thorns from the rose stems with my eyes watering and wheezing from the smoke.

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