c/florists

12

spencer_chen6•3d ago

Found a cheap trick for keeping hydrangeas from wilting in the shop

I was losing so many hydrangeas within a day of getting them in, especially during July here in Austin. Last week I finally tried dipping the stems in alum powder right after cutting them, and they stayed firm for almost 5 days. Did any of you know about this trick or have something else that works better?

3

seanjohnson•3d ago

Vent: Worst Valentine's Day week of my career so far

Last week was supposed to be my biggest week ever with 40+ orders booked. Then the wholesaler sent me roses that showed up half dead with bent necks on Monday. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday scrambling to find replacements from a backup supplier in Atlanta. Ended up refunding 8 customers $150 total because the arrangements just didn't look right. Has anyone else had a supplier totally drop the ball during a peak week like that?

12

spencer_chen6•4d ago

Why do more shops not use wholesale buckets for weddings instead of pre-orders? Had to fight my supplier on this last week

Okay so I run a small shop in Austin and I'm stuck on this. For my big wedding last Saturday I had two choices. Go with a pre-order from my main wholesaler, pay $3.50 a stem for roses, and get exactly what I asked for. Or hit up a discount wholesale spot at 6am, pay $1.20 a stem, but risk getting whatever they have leftover. I went with the cheap route cause the bride wanted a huge arch and I was trying to keep costs down. Ended up with some wonky colors that almost didn't match her palette. Saved like $200 but spent an extra hour sorting through bunches. The pre-order would have been perfect but way more expensive. What do you guys do for big gigs? Is the reliability worth the price or do you gamble on buckets too?

15

uma_baker99•18d ago

Overheard a customer at the shop say 'real florists use oasis foam' - had to bite my tongue

I was working a wedding order last Saturday when this lady browsing said it to her friend. I just kept trimming stems. Took everything not to turn around and explain how that stuff doesn't break down and gets into waterways. My local supplier in Portland stopped carrying it last year and I switched to chicken wire and tape. Takes longer but I sleep better. Any of you dealing with customers pushing back on foam alternatives?

4

chen.fiona•18d ago

Carnations used to be my least favorite flower until a bride requested them last month

I had a big wedding order fall through when my usual roses arrived half dead, and the bridesmaids bouquets I threw together with carnations and baby's breath ended up looking way better than the roses would have. Has anyone else had a backup flower surprise you like that?

-1

tara745•19d ago

Just spent $120 on a floral cooler thermostat upgrade after losing a whole batch of peonies to heat

My old thermostat went out during a heatwave last July and I lost $300 in peonies before I realized it, so I bought a digital one with a temp alarm for $120 and it's already saved me twice, has anyone else had trouble with those old dial thermostats?

30

taylorlewis•20d ago

Can we talk about how I was ruining my bouquets with bad foliage prep?

I used to strip leaves off stems by pulling them downward, thinking it was faster, until a customer pointed out the torn bark and microscopic damage on a $75 arrangement last Valentine's Day. A veteran florist at a workshop in Portland showed me she uses a sharp knife to clean stems, and I realized I'd been shortening the vase life of my flowers for 3 years by tearing instead of cutting. Anyone else do this without noticing for way too long?

21

mason_foster68•20d ago

Found out the hard way why you don't store tulips near fruit

Last month I had a big order for a wedding in Des Moines, and I put a bucket of tulips right next to the bananas in my cooler. By the next morning the tulips were all droopy and opened way too fast, like they had aged 3 days overnight. The bride's mom noticed and I had to run to the wholesale house at 6am to grab 6 new bunches. Has anyone else had ethylene gas from fruit mess up their flowers like that?

6

evan295•20d ago

Tried that 'cut stems at 45 degrees under water' tip from a wedding florist

An older florist named Jean at a workshop in Portland told me I had to cut stems at a 45 degree angle while holding them underwater. I always just snipped them dry and tossed them in the bucket. Ngl I thought she was being overly fussy but tried it on a batch of 30 roses for a funeral order. Every single one perked up within 4 hours and lasted 8 days. Has anyone else noticed a real difference with this underwater cut thing or was it just luck?

18

christopher402•23d ago

Been arranging roses wrong for 10 years until a customer pointed it out

I had this lady last Valentine's Day watch me put together a bouquet and she goes "you're crushing the stems with those clippers." I was using standard garden pruners instead of proper floral shears. All those years I wondered why my roses only lasted 4 days instead of a week. Anybody else have a customer call them out on something dumb?

21

diana_king•23d ago

TIL most wedding flowers actually come from the same few farms in Colombia

I've been a florist for 8 years and always assumed all those wedding roses came from local growers in season. Last week I was looking through a supply catalog and saw a note that said over 75% of cut flowers sold in the U.S. come from a single region near Bogota. I did some research and found out farms there ship millions of stems every week just to meet demand. It kind of blew my mind because I always thought local farms were the backbone. Has anyone else looked into where your bulk stock actually comes from?

5

terry_barnes•24d ago

Vent: Dropped $70 on a flower food that did nothing

I bought this fancy flower food from a supplier last month, some kind of powder you mix in... cost me $70 for a bag that was supposed to make my roses last two weeks. Tested it on a batch of red roses I got from the wholesaler, same conditions as my usual stuff. By day 5 they were drooping and the water got cloudy real fast. My regular $15 packet from the grocery store works better and keeps them fresh for a week easy. I feel like I got played by the marketing on this one, the packaging looked professional and all. Has anyone else tried those high-end flower foods and found them to be a scam?

1

evan295•24d ago

Found out roses from Colombia sit in transit for 12 days before hitting my cooler

Read a study from the Flower Lab last week that said imported roses lose 40% of their vase life just from shipping delays. Has anyone else noticed customers complaining more about roses dying in 3 days instead of 7?

34

wade_perez•25d ago

That moment I stopped stripping rose stems with my knife

I was prepping 200 roses for a wedding in Austin last month and my thumb was killing me. I always stripped thorns and leaves with a quick knife motion down the stem. Then my coworker from Mexico showed me how she just snaps them off with her fingers. Turns out the knife cuts into the bark and makes flowers die faster. I tested it myself with 20 stems and the knife-stripped ones wilted 2 days sooner. Now I just use my hands and a thorn stripper if I have one. Has anyone else found that knives actually hurt flower life?

26

averysullivan•25d ago

Wasted $80 on those fancy foam bricks that claim to hold water for days

Bought a case of those Oasis foam alternatives that are supposed to be eco-friendly and they just crumbled into mush after 12 hours in my shop. Lost a whole wedding order of hydrangeas that wilted before the ceremony. Has anyone found a reliable substitute that actually works?

17

margaret_chen•26d ago

Finally ditched the plain water after 8 years of flower arranging

I used to just fill buckets with tap water and flower food and called it a day, but then I noticed my peonies were wilting by day 3 no matter what I did. Switched to using a dash of bleach and lemon juice in the water back in March after a supplier in Denver mentioned it, and now my stems last a full week longer. Has anyone else tried this or found another trick that actually keeps hydrangeas from drooping overnight?

29

maryh96•27d ago

Walked past a flower stand last week and finally got why my arrangements feel off

I was in Denver last Tuesday grabbing lunch and walked by this little street vendor selling buckets of snapdragons. She just had them in old milk jugs, no foam, no fancy wire work, just stems cut at different angles and the whole thing looked amazing. It hit me that I've been overthinking my wedding bouquets, trying to make everything perfect with mechanics and gadgets. So I went back to the shop and tried her approach on a small centerpiece, just snipping stems at sharp angles and letting them lean natural. Has anyone else had a random moment like that where a stranger's simple setup changed how you work?

14

noranguyen•27d ago

Spent 45 minutes on a single bridal bouquet because I couldn't get the spray roses to sit right

I had this bride come in last Tuesday wanting a tight round bouquet with blush spray roses mixed in. Simple enough, right? Well I spent way too long trying to tuck those little stems in without them bouncing back up or leaving gaps. Ended up pulling them all out and starting over with a peony instead. The spray roses went into a different arrangement. Anyone else hit a wall with a specific flower that just won't cooperate no matter what you do?

25

rileyl98•28d ago

That $8 bucket of flower food from the grocery store actually works

I've been mixing my own preservatives for 5 years, figured the cheap stuff was just sugar water. Tried it last week on a batch of sunflowers from the wholesaler and they lasted 11 days instead of the usual 6. Has anyone else found something cheap that outperformed your pro setup?

21

betty_white39•1mo ago

Just realized half my customers can't tell eucalyptus from silver dollar gum

I had a woman last week at my shop in Portland argue with me for a solid 5 minutes that her bouquet had the wrong greenery. She kept pointing at the seeded eucalyptus and insisting it was supposed to look like round silver dollar leaves. I finally pulled out a stem of each from the cooler and laid them side by side on the counter. She just stared at them and said 'well they're both green.' It happens at least once a month honestly. Has anyone else noticed people mixing up common foliage types more lately or is it just my neck of the woods?

24

tara745•1mo ago

TIL wholesale flower markets in Philly sell to the public after 10am on Saturdays

I always assumed you needed a business license to buy there until a grower told me they just want to move their stock before it wilts, so now I'm grabbing $25 buckets of peonies instead of paying $6 a stem at the grocery store.

14

jessica_miller•1mo ago

Tried a new flower food supplier versus my old standby. The difference was huge.

Switched to 'BloomLife' packets for a wedding job in Denver last month. My usual brand, 'FreshFlora', kept roses perky for maybe four days. The new stuff? Those same roses looked perfect a full week later. Anyone else notice a massive gap between brands like this?

6

olivia_carr7•1mo ago

I thought those little flower food packets were just a gimmick

I mean, I never used them for my own home bouquets, idk. But after a client specifically asked me to include them with her order last month, I tried it on a test bunch of tulips and they lasted a full 5 days longer. Has anyone else actually seen a real difference with certain brands?

21

barbara84•1mo ago

A customer told me to stop using bleach in my flower buckets

She's a retired chemist who buys peonies every spring, and she said bleach can hurt the stems over time. I used to add a capful to each bucket to keep the water clean. After she said that, I tried just changing the water daily and using the flower food packets. My roses lasted almost a full week longer, and the stems weren't getting slimy. Has anyone else found a better way to keep bucket water fresh without bleach?

16

michael_bennett11•1mo ago

A bride in Chicago wanted all white roses for her wedding, but her budget was tight.

Last week I suggested mixing in some white spray carnations to fill the arrangements and save about $300. My partner thinks it's a bad look to ever suggest a cheaper flower, even when it helps the client. What's your line on swapping in less expensive blooms to meet a budget?