the flower guy
Stamford, CT
Male, 48
I've been involved in the international floral industry for 20 years. My first job was in Aalsmeer, Holland, at the Flower Auction, working for a Dutch company that sold flowers to markets around the world. I now help flower companies source product from farms in South America, Holland and the US. I deal with things like shipping & logistics, weather issues, quality control and forecasting demand. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and get to travel frequently. Ask me anything.
Sorry, it took me so long to answer this one...Valentine's Day is here !!!! (for everybody in the flower industry - Don't forget to order you flowers) The first thought I had when I saw this question was about an arrangement I saw in Holland at a flower show probably 15 years ago. The designer had used Amaryllis, which is a large blooming flower with 4 blooms on a tall hollow stem. They had the flowers hanging upside down and had the stems filled with water so they would survive for the 5 day show. there were about 50 stems hung above the booth at the show...definitely got my attention. I thought this was very unique and I have seen it copied often since then.
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This is not really my area of expertise, but I think most shops do add additional staff for v-day, but it may be hard to find good people to add for just 1 day. Since most people ask for it to be delivered on Vday and not one day before or one day after. Many companies now use Fedex or UPS to deliver flowers for them and the one advantage here is you can track the order if you have the tracking number.
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A ton !!!!
We watch the weather channel all the time and are checking weather in Colombia, Ecuador, Holland and the whole US.
We have to deal with weather affecting the crop as it grows and the flowers as they are shipped to shops or the end consumer
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Fragrance is very important and unfortunately has been bred out of flowers, not on purpose, but as a result of looking for longer vase life. I think with continually improving ways of getting flowers direct from farms to the end consumer, we will see more growers looking again at flowers like garden roses and peonies, which have fragrance as commercially viable crops. The industry will continue to develop and improve flowers which last longer too. There is a market for the fragrant blooming flower that last only 4 days and there is a market for flowers which last 2-3 weeks and have no fragrance. I do make suggestions to growers on what crops make sense for them, based on who they are selling to - supermarkets, wholesalers, retail shops or designers.
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The key for 'bang for the buck' bouquets is to get something fresh !
If you are getting these at the supermarket, ask them when there shipment arrives.
In the winter, Tulips are a great flower to add color, in the spring go for some Peonies (my favorite). I like to try different flowers and remember the more you take care of the flowers- change the water and recut the stems, the longer they will last and make you happy
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The most would be a wedding for a Saudia Arabian Prince. They contacted a large Dutch export company that I worked for and the order was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That was just the cost of the flowers, not the design work !
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Yes, growers and florist do dye flowers. There are Rainbow Tulips and Rainbow Roses
I have included a link to a photo of the roses below:
http://www.flowermuse.com/bright-rainbow-roses.html
The process is very labor intensive to do a multi-color flower, you have to slice the stem bottom in 4 sections and then sit each section in a different dye.
Some flowers can be spray painted, yes sprayed with a vegetable based dye to change the color. This process is used for hydrangea many times.
Breeders are constantly looking for new colors. You may have a yellow rose that has great qualities and you want to see if you can have the same rose, but in an orange colors- sometimes they cna make this happen and sometimes they cannot.
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