Home Shop Flowers Bloomin' Blog Find Florists About FSN Contact FSN Florists Only!
Find Your Local Florist:
Home Shop Flowers Bloomin' Blog Find Florists About FSN Contact FSN Florists Only!

Hurricane Harvey Relief Resources for Florists

The following is a list of resources for anyone in the floral community who is looking for assistance, and also a list of members of the floral community who are assisting in the relief efforts if you are looking for a way to help the people of Houston who have been affected. We will try to keep this list updated to the best of our abilities.

For Florists

Texas State Floral Association/AIFD
Accepting donations for the Hurricane Harvey Florist Fund. 100% of donations will go towards rebuilding the Texas floral industry.
http://www.aifdfoundation.org/index.php
[Read more…]

Helpful Hints for Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets are a great way to quickly beautify outdoor spaces. Petunias, begonias, moss rose, fuschia, sweet potato vines, pansy, the list of annuals, perennials, and green plants for hanging baskets is a long one! The care for your baskets will vary depending on what types of plants you have, but there are some general guidelines you can follow to help you keep your outdoor hanging baskets beautiful all summer long. [Read more…]

Hey Millennials…Here’s Why You Should Be Buying Flowers.

Millennials often get a bad rap. We are a generation that has traditional marketers scratching their heads wondering how to reach us. We generally know what we want, and tend to want things based on their value to our lives. We are also one of the most socially conscious generations to date.

What does all that have to do with buying flowers? More than you may think. [Read more…]

How to Buy Eco-Friendly Flowers for Your Wedding

Many couples that hold eco-friendly lifestyles are opting for simple and conservative weddings rather than extravagant and expensive events. Brides are looking for ways to choose eco-friendly wedding flowers without compromising their dream look. Learn how to make your celebration an eco-friendly one by using local, in-season flowers.

[Read more…]

What’s Blooming Now? Winter Flowers in Season

Not many people associate flowers with winter, but there are actually many flower varieties that last through the entire year! Choosing flowers that are in season come at a more affordable price because they are easily available. Whether you are looking for the perfect wedding flowers or simply want to spruce up your home, here is a list of ten beautiful flowers that are in season this month.

Ranunculus

Calla Lilies

Gardenias

Carnation

Rose

Chrysanthemum

Find a florist near you to order your favorite winter flowers!


Find a Florist

A Look Into the Life of a Florist

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a florist looks like? Sometimes it’s not as glamorous as you may think. Step into the life of Keira Lennox, a florist who shares what it is really like to run a flower shop.

[Read more…]

Suggest an Article: Car Wrapping

HollyHock2Not too long ago, we asked our member florists to submit any ideas they had to use in future blog posts. We intentionally didn’t specify what kind of ideas we were looking for, and as a result, we received suggestions encompassing all aspects of the business. This will be the first in a series of articles wherein I take those tips and present them to you!

Car Wrapping Tastefully

As a business owner, effective and affordable advertising can be difficult to find. For Heather Aleksonis, the owner of HollyHock Flowers in Weare, New Hampshire, one solution came in the form of car wrapping. The process involved taking her vehicle to a local professional and having it covered in stickers advertising her business. This effectively turned her car into a moving billboard.

Heather says that it’s the best thing she’s done as far as advertising:HollyHock Stickers

“Forget the newspapers. You can do your car for the price of 2 ads in the newspaper. When your customers see your car all the time, they think you are busy. And then they want to do business with you also.”

Looking at her beautifully decorated ride, I can see why it works! That looks awesome Heather!

Come back soon for even more Suggest an Article tips! And if you missed the first opportunity to suggest an article, leave some ideas in the comments below. You never know, you might find your idea in the next Suggest an Article!

Posey Peddler – A Florist Improving Customer Service!

Posey Peddler FlowersAs part of Customer Service Week, (October 7th-11th) we wanted to share with you one of our members who is working hard to boost customer service and sales in their flower shop.

A Local Florist Taking Action

Bridgette Mills Arnold, a 30 year veteran of the floral industry, is the owner of Posey Peddler in Joneboro, Arkansas. The shop has been a fixture in the Jonesboro area since 1998 and serves the local community with custom gifts, flowers, plants and home decor.

Recently Bridgette brought in customer service and sales guru Tim Huckabee of Floral Strategies to conduct a workshop with her employees.

Why Floral Strategies?

Floral Strategies is the only on-site training program in the entire floral industry that teaches critically important customer care skills. This specific training empowers flower shop workers to give extraordinary customer service. As you can guess, this makes for happy clients that keep coming back.

Celebrate The Learning Experience!

FSN visited this bustling flower shop during their training seminar. Check out this video of Posey Peddler’s day with Tim Huckabee.

FSN Members: CLICK HERE to login & learn more ways to improve customer service and sales with specific tips from Tim Huckabee.

[Read more…]

Quick Tips: Sanitizing Those Old Vases

If there’s one thing with which every florist is more than familiar, it’s a dirty vase that seems impossible to get clean. Most of the time, they come to you as part of a vase recycling or re-purposing program, and we all know how important it is to get those vases completely disinfected and sanitized. The bacteria and mildew growing in an old vase can wreak havoc on anything you might wish to place in it! But regardless of its origins, nothing is more annoying than a disgusting vase that just will not come clean!

A Cleaning “Solution”

Crystal Flower Vase

Well, no need to fret. Amy Bishop of Amy’s Flower Basket in Albion, NE has found a brilliant solution! The next time you find yourself with a vase that resists the ministrations of soap and water, just fill it to the brim with hot water and drop in a couple of denture cleaning tablets. Give it a full 24 hours to soak, and then simply clean as normal. The end result will be a bright and sparkling vase, completely sanitized of any residual mildew or bacteria and ready for use!

Thanks Amy, that’s a fantastic idea!

Amateur Application

Of course, this will also work at home. So for any of you non-professionals out there, go grab that old vase from under the sink or off the top of the refrigerator and give this tip a try! Or, if you’d prefer not to reuse your old vase, you should definitely check with your local florists to see if they have a recycling/re-purposing program available in your area. Some even offer a discount on your next flower purchase, so you can get rid of the old, empty and busted to make way for some new hotness!

Do you have an idea or tip that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you! Just leave your idea in the comments below, and who knows, it might be the subject of our next blog post! Also, if you’d like more information on creative ways to use vases, check out this previous post!

25 Ways Flower Shops Can Recycle For Earth Day

Earth Day is a unique holiday where we take the time to celebrate the earth and it’s resources that we tend to look over in our busy lives. Everything we have has come from the earth: the wood in our houses, the water in our coffee, the food we’re eating for lunch, and so much more. Isn’t it our time to give back?

This Earth Day, find a new way to use the 3 R’s in your daily life: Reduce Reuse Recycle!

Recycle for Earth DayHere are some great methods florists already use in their flower shops. (If you’re a florist, perhaps you can find a way to start using some of these great, earth-friendly actions.)

  • 1. Recycle and reuse cardboard.
  • 2. Encourage customers to bring in glass vases for reuse or recycling.
  • 3. Give bubblewrap to the local packaging store (UPS).
  • 4. Use terry towels instead of paper towels at your design table.
  • 5. Reuse packing material whenever possible.
  • 6. Use recycled office paper to make notepads for shop use.
  • 7. Use a hybrid or other earth-friendly vehicle to do deliveries.
  • 8. Empty cooler bucket water onto outdoor plants.
  • 9. Recycle stems and other organic waste in a compost, or find a local composter to give it to.
  • 10. Give flower boxes back to wholesalers.
  • 11. Keep mug boxes and other pretty containers to use as ‘economy’ containers by using a plastic liner for small arrangements.
  • 12. Save extra pieces of ribbon, fabric, cardboard tubes and foil to give to local pre-schools for art projects. [Read more…]