Felicity Flowers

I am so excited to finally be able to claim my favorite flower as “in season”! Peonies are the epitome of spring. Their feathery blooms and sensational scent make this flower a must have bloom. While these blooms are expensive, they are also huge! Even a small bunch of 5 dropped into a glass pitcher will make a grand statement.
As soon as I see the first bunch of peonies arrive at my wholesaler, I know that spring is officially here! A few weeks ago I saw a small bucket with only one or two bunches of small headed peonies. Now, buckets upon buckets of the lavish pink, red, and white blooms line the aisles of the wholesalers cooler. I never leave without at least two or three bunches…how can I resist?

Peonies are the official “spoil yourself” gift of spring. They have a pretty good vase life as well so you will be able to enjoy them for days to come.

We recently received our copy of the new Wedding Flower Style book from John Henry and it is incredible! Over 5 sections of full color photos line each page. There is even a section just for cake flowers and finishing touches. The sections that are broken down by color make it easy to navigate for brides, just flip to your colors and browse…it’s that easy!

I don’t expect every bride to fall in love with the book because some of the images are very modern and contemporary. It’s meant to be an inspiration and some of the price points are very high for our area but, if you use the book as a guide and work with us to create your own style from the images, you will have a dream wedding filled with beautiful flowers!

Look for all of the images to be uploaded to our website soon but for now I have attached a few of the most unique images as a teaser…just click the image to see a larger version.
Pave Green Table

Flower Boa

Stephanotis “Necklace”

Monogram Door Decoration

I have the most wonderful job in the world. I work with a product every day that can convert tears into a smile, anger into forgiveness, friendship into love, and loss into comfort. When someone asks me what the best part of my job is, I always smile and think of all the memories that I share with my customers. From first dates to 50 year anniversaries they all are memories that are created from just one thing…flowers!

Customers always comment on how depressing it must be to see grieving families come in and out of the shop every day but that couldn’t be further from the truth. As soon as they see the flowers immediately the tears pause. There is always a story about why Grandma HATED red roses and they could never order them for her casket piece. Or that Mom always planted tulips so that would be the flower of choice. It’s those memories that make my job more fulfilling than any other career path that I could have chosen.

It’s the memories of the young girl who comes in preparing for her first “big” dance. There is not a detail left unturned from the hair, shoes, makeup and jewelery…the flowers are the icing on her cake and she wants them perfect!

Now, speaking of cake….of course we can’t forget THE BRIDE! When she spends up to a year planning for one of the biggest days of her life, we are right by her side giving her advice on colors, flower types and other items to complete her floral story. The emotions that are involved with a wedding are one of the many that make me smile the most. Seeing the groom with his nervous smile while his mom pins on his boutonniere…it’s priceless!

I could go on and on about the memories that my product helps create…the first arrangement for a new baby, the friendship arrangement with the “just because” card, the “I’m sorry” arrangement from the husband to his wife (sorry guys but we don’t deliver that many I’m sorries from wife to husband ). All of those memories that we create makes what I do the job of a lifetime.

I will not become a millionaire by being a florist but getting to share in all of those memories makes me the richest person in the world! Thank you for letting me share in all of your memories…it’s why I do what I do

I get so excited every year when prom season rolls around. All of the girls come in with their golden tans to pick out the perfect corsage to match the dress that they shopped for weeks to buy. They come in dragging their dates behind them looking for the perfect tuxedo and corsage.

Corsages are so different now than when I was in high school. You had three choices, roses, daisies or mini carnations. Boy are things different now! I whip out my John Henry Homecoming and Prom Flowers book and by page three the girls are mesmerized by the amount of choices that they really DO have. Orchids, freesia, gerberas…Oh MY! There are lights and glitter and wire and every other option under the sun! The girls often can’t choose between one and fifteen others and say there are too many choices. So I came up with an easy way to help them pick out the best corsage for them.

I give the “flower personality test” and can usually judge exactly what kind of corsage the girl will like after three questions.
1. What is your favorite flower? If a girl says daisy I know she isn’t going to like something really, really funky. She is more traditional and I can show her something like a mini gerbera daisy corsage that will knock her socks off.

2. What is your favorite restaurant? If a girl says a high end restaurant I know that I can show her an all stephanotis corsage with little rhinestones in the middle and she will feel like the belle of the ball.

3. What does your dress look like? If the girl describes it down to the “T” from the way the back is to the color of the rhinestones on the bodice I know that she has attention to detail and spent a loooonnnnggg time picking out her dress and she loves it. This customer is going to want something that matches exactly and is perfect.

So, if you are coming into the shop for prom think of those three questions because there is a good chance you are going to hear them! If you want to see more of our prom collection visit our prom section with images from our new PROM BOOK!!

Oh, I think I hear another prom couple looking through our books out front….gotta go!

Recently I was asked by a fellow florist to post a blog answering the questions…
“What are your three favorite Mother’s Day flowers and how did/does your Mom inspire you in the flower business?” You can see the original blog post at Avante Gardens Blog.

Here are my three favorites for Mother’s Day, even though it is very hard to narrow them down!
Hydrangea: For their cloud-like texture and gargantuan size. Hydrangea come in many beautiful spring colors such as blue, pink and green. Also, hydrangea can be tinted in any color to match even the most unique decor. While hydrangea doesn’t have any scent, their beautiful clusters of clover like blossoms definately make them a Mother’s Day must have! My favorite way to design hydrangea is to take ten stems of the same color and place them into a galvanized pail.

Hyacinth: For their knock you down amazing scent, of course! Hyacinth come into our store in tight bud form and to watch them bud out is truly a wonder. I always keep a vase full of hyacinth on my desk in the spring and love to watch customers faces light up as they ask what that beautiful fragrance is. Hyacinth comes in white, lavender, blue and pink and makes it a perfect spring flower for Mom. My favorite way to design them is to place them into a short, square glass vase along with other spring flowers such as tulips and daffodils. I love all of the “garden style” flowers but hyacinth takes the cake!

Anemone: I love the bold look of anemone! It’s silky petals with a bold black center makes it almost alien looking. Anemone comes in every color under the sun from white to burgundy and even blue! In a design Anemone is just as versatile as it’s colors. Whether Mom likes designs that are very traditional or contemporary, anemone delivers a refreshing punch to any design. My favorite way to design anemone is in a mixed pave design with other flowers such as tulips and orchids.

My mom has inspired me in this business in more ways than I could ever mention. Ever since I was little my mother has had a beautiful flower garden in the front of her home. Huge peonies line the front walk in the spring and there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t have the fragrant, feathery blooms on the kitchen table. We used to spend Sundays out in the flower garden pulling weeds and I would always come in with a bucket full of garden roses, peonies and lilac for the table. My mom never asked for anything other than flowers for any special occasion (well, diamonds too but that’s another story!!) I always remember the look on her face any time dad had flowers delivered to her. I always wanted to be able to put that kind of look on someones face and now I do it every day!

My mom has always been my support and she has the same love for flowers that I do. While she has never been directly related to the floral industry until I opened my shop she still has that passion for flowers that I wish more people had. She comes in at least twice a week to walk through my cooler to see what new blooms await her. My husband and I are in the process of building our first home and you can rest assured that Mom and I will spend many sunny days planting peonies and garden roses

I want to thank Cathy at Avante Gardens for tagging me to write this blog. It was the most enjoyable post that I have ever written and I will definately make more time for updating my blog from now on.

I am tagging:
Pam at Special Occasions Florist
Mary at European Flower Company