Yes, we can get “Tulips” now.
These are called “Ice Tulips”, meaning that they are tricked into thinking that it’s the winter. They come from Sun Valley California or Holland.
Tulips need to go through seasonal stages to grow. Ice tulips are stored in different stages of refrigeration to replicate the winter temperatures.
Because their quantities are limitted, please give us a lead time, at least one day or preferrably more. Same-day delivery may not be possible.
Pricing info: $2.00 (regular), $5.00 (french)
As many of you know, there are many, many Internet “florists” who advertise themselves as “local” florists but are in fact telemarketers residing somewhere else, some even in Canada or India. They just transfer your order to a real florist, earning the sales commission.
At Flowers insolita, we consider their practice deceptive and do not knowingly accept any orders from them. We post partial list of those “florists” who pretend to be in Huntington.
Recently, Attorney General in Tennessee successfully sued one such company who falsely advertised itself as “local” in the State of Tennessee. The company agreed to pay $40 restitution to anyone who purchased flowers from them in that state.
We at Flowers insolita strongly urge the Attorney General of New York to follow the suit, literally and figuratively.
I found an interesting comment by a former JustFlowers employee about their business practice. Click here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page (last message).
Almost every week, DOA (Department of Agriculture) has been halting our flower shipment from Holland.
How it happens is that, when they discovered that a certain flower has an insect in it, they halt all the mixed flower boxes that contain that particular flower. Every week, the flower in trouble is different.
We are using another source to obtain these flowers, but some of the Dutch flowers are difficult to get right now. Hopefully, the situation will improve in the coming weeks.
Other market update:
- Kangaroo paws have limited availability and are very expensive.
- Light blue delphinium (Belladonna) is scarce in the market.
- Production of Stock is very limited in California.
- Supplies of fall-color flowers are very limited and they are expensive.
Lilies are one of the most expensive flowers. Many customers are “shocked” to hear how expensive some of the lilies are!
The prices of lilies depend on two factors: (1) kinds of lilies and (2) the number of buds per stem.
(1) Kinds of lilies
There are three kinds of lilies usually sold in retail florists: Oriental, Asiatic, and LA hybrid.
- Oriental lilies produce large, fragrant flowers. Many popular varieties exist (examples: “Stargazer”, Casablanca). Their prices depend on the varieties, and can be quite expensive ($8-15 a stem)
- Asiatic lilies are smaller, generally come in yellow, orange, or white colors. They are the least expensive ($4 a stem)
- LA Hyrid is a cross between Longiflorum lilies (such as Easter lilies) and Asiatic lilies. The flower sizes are somewhere between Oriental and Asiatic lilies, so are the prices ($6-10 a stem). They have an exceptional vase life.
(2) Number of buds
The prices of Oriental and LA Hybrid lilies are further dependent on the number of buds each stem carries.
The least expensive one is designated as “2/3“, meaning that they have 3 buds in which 2 may open. The most expensive one may be designated as “4/6” (6 buds, 4 open) or even “5/8.”
For obvious reasons, “4/6″ lilies are twice as expensive as “2/3″ lilies.
When you see a very expensive lily next time, it is most likely an Orinetal lily of “4/6″ or “5/8″ kind.
Please just read the comments from their customers… They are destroying our industry. It must be stopped.
Order gatherers:
Direct shippers:
Try Googling “Florist near Huntington NY.” We are #1 in the search results! Wow!
If you look for “Florist in Huntington NY” or just “Florist Huntington NY”, we are still ranked low, usually in the 4th or 5th page. I don’t know why that is. If any of you know the possible reason for this discrepancy, please let us know.
I got an email from a florist in Eugene, Oregon yesterday. He told me that a customer had come to his shop to order a funeral casket cover. The customer brought a sample picture with him, which turned out to be one of our casket-cover arrangements shown in our web site! Apparently, one of this customer’s relatives lives near Huntington, and this relative liked our arrangement pictures and emailed them to the person in Oregon.
We do not know the person who emailed the picture, but we thank you! It is always nice to hear that someone liked our work and recommended it to someone else.
In case you are wondering about our pigeon(s), here’s the update…
One of them still visits us everyday between 2:30-3:00 pm. He (she?) comes to our back window and waits until I go out and feed him. Apparently he remembers me (or food). I know I shouldn’t be feeding, but what can I do?
We don’t know what happened to the other one. Danielle thinks he now has a girlfriend.
Today, a salesman from one of those Yellow-whatever directories showed up to our store to renew our ad in their directories.
When I went to the store front, he was looking at one of our flower buckets. He asked me, “Is this a bamboo?”, pointing at horsetail. OK, most people don’t know what the horsetail is, never mind, I thought…
“Horsetail”
Anyway, I told him that we would be reducing our ads, which are currently run in three local directories, to just one for Huntington. He then made a face of perplexed expression and declared that I was making a huge mistake. Yeah, thank you very much.
And then he said, “I used to be a florist for over 30 years” and showed me a worn-out businesscard. Oh, really? I must admit, that was the first time I met a florist who can’t tell the difference between bamboo and horsetail.
He then proceeded to “suggest” that I should upgrade our ad from a tiny 1/4-page ad to SUV-size one-page full ad. He said, “As a former florist, I know, for the fact, that a bigger ad is a better investment.” So I asked, “Would you pay back my money if the big ad didn’t work?” He said “That would be absurd.” Ok, so we settled on the 1/4 page ad.
That was not the end of it. His final pitch was to pursuade me to put colors in our ad. He said “No one would look at black/white ad.” I just said no thanks. In fact personally, I dislike a color ad; it makes me dizzy.
The bottom line is that it’s not easy to sell something that has no value. Same thing for flowers.
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