How Long Do Flowers Last?

Even talented floral designers can sometimes miss the fundamentals of floristry.

Whether you learned in a traditional flower shop, graduated from floristry school or you’re learning on your own as you go, every florist has more to learn. That’s why I’m spending the month of April answering questions from new florists (aka “newbies”). Today’s question is on flower longevity: How long do flowers last?

A florist wrote to say: “Thanks for the doing the newbie Q&A’s. I have a question. Google seems to give me all sorts of answers. How long can flowers and greenery stay in the cooler before they are not good anymore and I need to throw them away? Thank you!”

There are a few things to consider, of course, so click to watch my answer below! (And click HERE to submit a “newbie question” for me to answer this month!)

A few things I mention you should consider around longevity:

Season. Is this flower in season right now?
What’s its nature? Is this flower more delicate or fragile (ie spring blooms like tulips, daffodils and lilacs)? Or is it more hardy (like Italian ruscus, or a tropical orchid or anthurium)?
How old is the product when it got to you?
How did you care for the flowers once you received them?
Certain flowers and greens can be stored for longer periods of time if they are dry packed (ie not in water).
Ethylene gas causes flowers to mature more quickly AND fruits and flowers both share the same chemical makeup.
I also mentioned apical dominance, which you can see in action in my video, 2 Gladiola Tips on my YouTube channel HERE!

Thanks so much for tuning into my newbie tips this month.

It’s fun to answer your questions and share what I’ve learned over nearly 3 decades in the floral industry. I’ll see you all week long on Instagram with more Tips for Newbies!

To learn more about me, click here to reach my bio and click here to download my FREE eBook, Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Business!

xo. -Alison

P.S. A few people I mentioned in today’s chat include:

Watch a tour of Ben Cross in his sustainable alstroemeria nursery HERE.
Mountain Flower Farm grows and ships beautiful peonies HERE.
Follow Francoise Weeks for inspiration on using unique botanical materials.
My tee shirt, No Rain, No Flowers, is available on Botanical Brouhaha HERE. (I really love this tee shirt!)

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

What Do New Florists Need To Know?

What do new florists need to know?

Well, frankly, a lot! And after over 25 years in the floral industry I am amazed at some of the basic flower care fundamentals that are missed along the way.

How are these floral fundamentals missed? Because there isn’t 1 straight line into floral design. I trained in traditional flower shops for 9 years and earned a B.S. in Plant & Soil Science before staring my own floral business, but florists often fall into flowers (hence the name of my book, Falling Into Flowers!), which means there’s a lack of uniformity around specific flower care knowledge and industry standard protocols, in addition to all the “business stuff” I’m always teaching in my courses and my Facebook group.

One of the biggest issues new florists face is a fear of asking embarrassing questions–I hear it all the time, “I’m too embarrassed to ask in your Facebook group, but….”

I’ve learned though if one florist has a question, that means that most likely many others have a similar question, so I am dedicating the month of April to Newbies!

What questions do you want to ask?
What basic flower care issues do you have?
What are you too afraid to ask out loud that you’re really eager to get an answer to?

Click here to ask me anything anonymously (or include your name and e-mail if you’re interested in talking further with me). I have a lot of wonderful floral friends I can reach out to to answer your questions, too, so if I don’t have an answer for you, I will get one! Now’s your chance to ask anything!

Florists must dedicate ourselves to continued learning (and unlearning) to develop strong roots that allow us to create long-lasting fruitful floral businesses. Never stop learning.

FYI I share “Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Business” in my free eBook and you can grab it HERE.

Keep doing beautiful work, Floralpreneur®!

xo. -Alison

Learn more about Alison HERE!

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

A Tour with Sustainable Flower Grower Ben Cross

Ben Cross, owner of Crosslands Flower Nursery, in Walberton, UK, joined me live on Instagram to share a bit about how he and his family grow, maintain and process British Alstroemeria! Check out the replay below or click over to watch on Instagram.

When you watch you’ll learn:

Why alstroemeria is not a “cut flower”
How sustainability is built into every facet of Crosslands Flower Nursery
Specific IPM techniques Ben uses–including a spider that eats itself
How long alstro produces in the greenhouse–it’s MUCH longer than I would have thought
Ideal conditions for growing and best seasons for sourcing local British grown alstro
And how much his customers love his product

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness)

After watching you can see that sustainability is at the heart of Ben’s operation. Under his leadership, Crosslands has led a campaign to improve labelling on flowers in the UK, undertaken an initiative to promote sustainable growing and cultivated a greater sense of community among its customers. Follow @alstroemeriaben on Instagram here and follow his #BritishFlowersRock campaign, too.

By the way, if you’re in the USA and you want to support local growers in your area, you can join the #slowflowers movement. Follow @slowflowerssociety and @debraprinzing as well as @thefloralsource, to learn more about sourcing American Grown Flowers.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @realflowerbusiness here!

xo -Alison

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Pricing Chat for Florists

Floralpreneurs! You’re invited to my FREE Pricing Chat for Florists on St. Patrick’s Day!

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, March 17th, at NOON EST/ 9am Pacific/ 4pm London. Click HERE to register for the live Q&A!

Register to Join me!

In this live chat I’ll cover:

3 Numbers You Need To Know
3 Easy Steps to calculate your profit margin
Why tracking your profit margins are SO important
The importance of setting a profit goal, NOT a spending goal
AND I’ll address your questions LIVE

Make sure to join me live so I can answer YOUR specific questions! I look forward to seeing you there!

Click to sign up

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Should Florists Charge for Proposals?

A question I’ve seen florists ask more often than usual this year is: Should I charge for proposals?

This is a BIG question and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, but in today’s livestream I tackle some of the things you’ll want to consider before implementing a new proposal fee. Click to watch!

A few key points to consider:

[Read more…]