Exotic Flowers in Boston

 photo credit Visa

I have always admired Jim Mccann's marketing gimmicks at 1800flowers. He is one of the major players in the floral industry who steps in with new ideas and fun ones too. Recently, 1800flowers partnered with Visa and the NFL and created a football holiday known as Footballentine's Day. The idea is to send flowers to your loved one, because you are stuck at the TV watching the game. As if this gesture would placate your loved one for your lack of attention. It is is great to see these NFL Stars get in touch with flowers though. At Exotic Flowers in Boston, we even pitched Tim Tebow to endorse our products.

photo credit Visa

Unfortunately for Visa and 1800flowers, the NFL is surrounded by controversy and does not need commercials touting guys to send flowers to women while they watch football. After all, more than 55% of women watch football. 

Hopefully, 1800flowers steps up and donates a percentage of this bouquet's sales to combat domestic violence. 

If you get a chance, watch Eric Decker step up to the design bench and design a one of a kind floral arrangement. It is worth it. Likes a lot of Mccann's advertising, we pause and take notice. The floral industry needs more commercials.

The gerbera daisy remains a favorite for many brides in Boston, Cape Cod and Newport.  Gerbera daisies are used in bouquets, centerpieces, boutonnieres, aisle petals and even in the bride's hair. Its versatility keeps the gerbera daisy on the Boston bride's radar. Many brides search for a specific color when planning their floral displays. Some gerbera varieties are not available during year round.  Certain gerbera daisies are cultivated at different times of the year. This cultivation allows for stronger heads, wider availability and sometimes even higher cost efficiency.  Adhering to seasonal color palettes is a wise decision during event planning. A wise bride will choose darker shades during the winter and lighter tones during the summer.  If a bride is planning  a fall wedding, here are a few decadent gerbera varieties that are perfect for your autumn wedding celebration.

Serena:

The Serena gerbera daisy is luscious. This variety arrives in a shaded dark pink with a dark center.  Fuchsia hued flowers make wonderful fall accents. The fuchsia flowers make the darker colors really pop. Serena complements other gerberas like orange and peach quite nicely.  A gerbera daisy's durability is renowned. Its strong head prevents weeping and drooping in centerpieces.  Other substitutions for Serena are “Picasso” and “Dark Serena”.

Calypso:

The “Calypso” gerbera daisy is a stunning orange that Boston brides will choose for their fall wedding.  With its dark center and frilled inner sepals, Calypso gerbera daisy makes autumn arrangements pop with its vibrant color and delicate outer petals.  Calypso pairs well with red, yellow or peach. This combinations stuns and awes wedding guests.  Substitutes for the “Calypso” can be “Orange Illusion”, “Milonga” or “Sirtaki”.

Yellow River:

“Yellow River” gerbera is another strong headed variety, this gerbera daisy is known for its density throughout its petals.  Yellow River Gerbera has a green center; this color contrast works well  in bridal work, including hair pieces, bride's maids bouquets and church pew markers. Bearing a striking resemblance to the sunflower, Yellow River gerbera makes an easy transition from summer to fall events, ideal for late September weddings. Similar yellow gerberas include “Kalika”, “Illusion” and “Chelsea”.

Suzie Canale

The floral industry's big four will soon become the big three. In October, 2014 FTD will merge with ProFlowers. What will this mean for the floral industry and what will it mean for florists ?

As a florist in Boston, my biggest  hope would be more national advertising to create awareness for the entire floral industry. While the floral industry relies upon occasion based giving, it would be great if FTD ramped up their advertising to make certain that flowers should be at the top of any gift giving list.

ProFlowers was always limited in its ability to tout same day delivery. Same delivery is one of Exotic Flowers in Boston's greatest assets. FTD's network of thousands of local florists should strengthen ProFlowers value.  It is interesting to note that FTD launched a hand tied European bouquet collection previous to this announcement. ProFlowers was built on assembly required bouquets. At Exotic Flowers, 'batteries' are included and we do not feel that your floral gift should have to be assembled.

The gorilla in the room just got stronger. The question remains, how will FTD convince its members like Exotic Flowers in Boston that this merger will benefit a local Boston florist ?

 Every night I read my four year old son Lance a bed time story. While Lance prefers The Cat in the Hat or his mom's The Popcorn Hydrangea of Poppingtom, I make sure to read new books often. Now that his mom works at the Westwood Library, Lance enjoys new books daily. Last night we read The Donut Chef by Bob Staake.

 Staake's tale shares the story of a wildly popular doughnut shop who almost loses sight of what made his clients love his shop to begin with. When a rival doughnut shop opens, the chef continues to create new and exciting flavors every day. Sometimes the doughnuts do not even look like or taste like doughnuts. 

As florists in Boston, we can caught up in this same type of hysteria. Competition is great for business. It forces new ideas and betters service. At the same time, florists cannot forget where our clients came from. The donut chef is reminded by a two year old girl that the glazed doughnut (which he no longer sells) is the reason she was there. This revelation leads the donut chef to bring back the glazed doughnut in all its grandeur. 

Much like the Donut Chef, every florist needs to remind themselves that the red rose is the backbone flower of our industry. We should never dispel its significance. Clients will try other flavors, but they will always want that red rose. 

At Exotic Flowers in Boston, we are baseball fans. We celebrate the grand old game any chance we get. On Opening Day, we have a company cookout. We have partnered with the Boston Red Sox and sponsored many little league and softball teams over the years. If you're in Roslindale and talk baseball, rest assured your florist in Boston will always 'talk shop,'. 

Baseball and flowers go hand in hand. Glenn Stout tells us, in his book Fenway 1912, that on April 20th, 1912 Fenway Park opened and pots of flowers greeted the fans. Think about it, pots brimming with flowers welcome people. Baseball people knew this 100 years ago. Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck planted the ivy at Wrigley Field in Chicago in 1937 to make patrons feel more welcome. Yes. Baseball, flora and fauna go hand in hand.

 Flowers and baseball provide a spark of nostalgia. Whether you recall Fred Lynn crashing into the Fenway wall in 1975 or the beautiful flowers on your grandmother's dinner table, these images create a bond and experience that your cell phone cannot. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Cooperstown, New York celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. At Exotic Flowers, we have partnered with the Hall of Fame to bring our clientele The Cooperstown Collection. Exotic Flowers will donate twenty percent of the purchase price of specially designed baseball themed floral arrangements and gifts to the Hall of Fame to help raise money and awareness for this valued American Institution. The world needs more museums.

On another note, Exotic Flowers is proud to announce that the team we sponsor in Westwood, Massachusetts won its championship. The Westwood River Bandits had an amazing run of 12 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie as it captured the third grade championship. 

Flower arrangements have been a part of the White House's decor since the early days of the White House. In 1815, President James Monroe even purchased gilt bronze vases for the White House to feature flowers. By the mid 1830's, greenhouses were constructed on the west side of the White House. These greenhouses, like many others constructed at that time, enabled the year-round availability of plants and cut flowers.

In 1902, the White House removed the greenhouses so that the White House could become larger. The White House then began to get flowers from neighboring government greenhouses. The administrations realized their importance in not only setting, but also their importance of conveying warmth and prestige. As air travel became prevalent in the United States, the White House began to procure flowers from Florida and California. First Lady Eisenhower even received pink carnations from Colorado.

For many years, the White House used flowers for their aura and impression.. much like traditional funeral work of our time. Jackie Kennedy's arrival to the White House made legendary changes to the White House's style. First Lady Kennedy drew much of her floral inspiration from 16th century Flemish floral and fruit still life paintings. Special White House tableware was now used as vessels for flowers instead of as shelf sitter. She established the first chief of floral design, Rusty Young who worked for both LBJ and Nixon as well.

Today, First Lady Obama has brought her own style to the White House. Michelle Obama prefers a more relaxed look which incorporates romantic blooms like roses, ranunculas, mosses, and shaggy ferns. President Obama, however prefers one simple floral arrangement in the Oval Office along with a simple bowl of red apples.

The current staff is headed up by Laura Dowling along with three staff members. Fresh flower arrangements are a feature in every White House event. Dowling and her staff plan months ahead for diplomatic ceremonies. Dowling is new to the position. She may not have as many stories to share as former Chief of Floral, Nancy Clarke (head florist for 30 years,).

President Ronald Reagan once stopped former White House chief florist Dottie Temple to ask about the then-very-fashionable curly willow branches she'd arranged in the Reagans' bedroom. "About those sticks on the mantel," Reagan said to Temple. "Is anything going to happen to them?" Temple says she got the message. "Yes, sir. I'm going to get rid of them as soon as possible," she said.

 "For the longest time, we used to keep a bowl of peach-colored roses on Bush Two's coffee table in the Oval Office," Clarke said. "We changed them to red and that lasted five minutes. We got a call that the president wants the peach roses back."

Tomorrow, July 4th is Independence Day. Read a copy of the Declaration of Independence. I will.