At Flowers insolita, we are absolutely committed to protect the environment and the safety of floriculture workers. Working together with progressive wholesalers and traders, we preferentially purchase flowers from certified growers, whenever the choice is avaiable to us.
There are many certification programs in the global horticulture trade. The programs ”certify” the growers who meet certain strict standards of environmental conservation and social responsibilities.
About half of our flowers come from Holland auction. They obtain their flowers from European and African (mostly Kenyan) growers. These growers are certified by a program called “MPS” in Holland. Being in Europe where the modern environmentalism started, Dutch growers and traders have a very strong tradition of environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture, exceeding the US standards in many areas.
Another half come from the US and South American growers. Most of the large US growers are certified by a relatively new certification program called ”Veriflora“. The vast majority of our California flowers (Stock, Snapdragon, Gerbera daisies, etc) are in fact Veriflora-certified. We specifically select these growers when placing orders.
As some of you might have read somewhere, there were serious problems in the practice of South American growers in the past. Since then, especially Columbian growers, which supply >60% flower consumption in the US, have formed their own certification program called “Florverde“. Some Columbian growers are certified by both Veriflora and Florverde; we have a standing order of roses with one of those farms.
Are these measures sufficient to protect the environment and safety of workers? Probably not. We should work harder to make things better and we will. At the same time, we would like our customers to be aware that we are making efforts.
As you know, we have been working on developing a new product line called “Emotion Series” of bouquets, based on the meaning of each flower. In the process of investigating the meanings of flowers and their mythologies, I have encountered so far three instances of rather graphic stories, involving things like murder, jealous rage, adultery, pedophilia, etc, – all those things that we usually choose not to associate with flowers.
For example, do you know that meaning of Anemone, Anticipation or Forsaken, has something to do with the tragic death of a Greek God Adonis, one of many lovers of flirtatious Aphrodite (or Venus, see left)? Read our “Emotion Series – Anemone.”
The Persian love story about Red Tulip is also intense and bloody, involving a love triangle among a husband, his wife and her lover. And there’s this story about Hyacinth – Do you know that the name “Hyacinth” comes from a Greek hero “Hyacinthus”, a boy lover of pedophilic Apollo who accidentally killed the boy?
I actually have thought about “sanitizing” these stories, just so that they would better conform to our commercialized ideas about flowers. But I decided not to sanitize it. The choice was between being politically correct and being truthful, and I think the true story must not be hidden. In fact these stories are fascinating to read, hopefully giving you a deeper understanding of a long, long history of human interaction with flowers. Greek mythologies, after all, are more than 2,500 years old…
The largest known flower on the earth is called Rafflesia arnoldii; its blossom has a diameter of three feet (!!) and weighes up to 30 pounds (!!!). Smelling like rotting flesh, Rafflesia arnoldii has no leaves, stems or roots. The Rafflesia bloom is rare and hard to see; the buds take many months to develop and the blossom lasts for only a few days.
Sorry, we can’t get one of those in our store. ;-) It’s an endangered species.
HONDA has been developing a humanoid robot called “Asimo” for the last 9 years (I don’t know what Asimo means). This robot can walk, go up and down stairs, and even run.
See this amzing video.
What’s the use? Currently, none. ASIMO is essentially a very expensive (millions of dollars a piece) and yet totally useless toy. Why are they doing this?
SONY, too, has been developing a robot. They even sold a robot dog called “AIBO” a few year ago, at more than $2,000 a piece, that is. Look what AIBO can do. This “dog” is programed to respond to a shiny ball and music. They show their “emotions” by flashing lights and by wagging the tail. Weird.
At least, however, I must admit that these companies are thinking out of the box. Maybe that’s what today’s florists need in oder to survive and grow: i.e., think out of the box and not afraid of looking crazy.
We are experiencing a heavy snow-freezing rain today (Mar 16th, Fri). According to the forecast, it will become worse; they are saying it will be 3-6″ snow!
This will be the second “killer” snow storm in 2007. “Killer” because it really kills retail businesses.
As you might recall, we had a nasty snow-ice storm on the Valentine’s Day. Many florists were hard-hit, but the hardest hit was on gift shops and restaurants. Many restaurants here lost a HUGE business on the Valentine’s Day (50-90% cancellation rate).
They were hoping to recover some of the loss on this coming St Patrick’s Day (Mar 17th). Now another snow-ice storm! This is really bad, but hey, life goes on.
Just when we get a taste of spring (70 degrees over the weekend ) and excited about gardening, Mother Nature decides to change her mind! It gets cold again and rainy and snowy and we have sleet too. Hopefully this will be the end of it. I’m looking forward to short sleeve shirts and flip flops. It’s time. A little warm weather and blue skies would be nice. I don’t know about you, but I am ready.
As some of you might have noticed, we are developing a new product line called “Emotion series.” These flower arrangements are based on “Floragraphy,” or the meaning of flowers, which lovers in the Victorian era used in order to secretly communicate their feelings. Red rose, for example, is the best known example: love. But do you know the meaning of any other flowers?
Just like the Victorian era, people to this day still send flowers to convey their feelings. No other gift items can match the intensity of feelings that flowers can send.
As you will see in each of our “Emotion series” of bouquets, each flower has a story. Please choose the flower that resonates with your emotions.
Don’t worry about whether the recipient will get the message of flowers. Well, most likely, s/he doesn’t unless you explain it to him/her. But, that’s not the point. It is your feeling that matters most. As an old saying goes, life is about what you love, not what loves you… :-)
The Rose market has tightened up. The availability is slim and the price has gone way up in the market. The main reason for this is the Feburary cold-snap in Bogota, Columbia, the biggest exporter of roses to the US market. Also, the rose farms are already pinching for Mother’s Day.
In the coming weeks, we expect that some varieties of roses will be hard to get. We also expect that the bud sizes will be smaller than we would like.
I listen to the news as I work. There was a news story about a 8 year old boy who weighs a little over 200 pounds. The mother is being accused of child abuse and the social services has recommended taking the child away from her. We can never know what goes through a person’s mind, but personally I don’t feel that her intent was to harm her child, she just doesn’t know any better. Our society seems to take the easy way out. Saying “NO” to children is not easy. Some people feel the more they give their children, it shows how much they love them. I don’t think any mom wants to hear her child say I’m hungry and not give them something. Giving a child everthing is just easier. But not in the long run. Instead of taking the child away ( unless there are other circumstances that have not been disclosed) why not teach her to modify his diet. We are a society of fast food and instant gratification. We want, what we want, when we want it. I think it is far more damaging to take a child away from his or her parent ( if it is a loving environment) than to revise their eating habits and modify their behavior. I could be way off, but isn’t worth a try. Maybe the help of the “Super Nanny” is in order.
I would like to thank all of our customers who take the time out of their busy schedules to give a quick call to tell us how they like our arrangements. It really feels good to know when someone enjoys the flowers that they have received. It definately makes us feel really great to know that we have made you happy and have done our job well. Pleasing you the customer and you the recipient is our primary goal. Your feed back is always appreciated.
I also feel that it is equally important to know if something is not up to par. Whether the flowers didn’t hold or if the design was not what you envisioned. It is always to important to know where we can make improvements and to get to know our client base better in order to provide you with the best service possible.
So once again thank you for taking the time to give us your feed back.
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