Real designers can make bows, with their own hands.

The hardest thing for me to learn was creating a bow of ribbon. I kid you not. My hands felt like they were contorted, mangled and flat out like they were made of stone. It took me a whole month to get the hang of it with out dropping loops and ending up with crippling hand cramps.

The trouble was definitely worth it though. I am amazed at how many shops and designers can't tie a bow by hand. You can instantly tell just by looking too.
We were always receiving requests to make bows for lots of things. Cars, wreaths and so on.
It has gotten to the point that you almost don't even look at what you are doing while you are making one and they still turn out great. Bows are such an integral part of being a florist too. We made hundreds of bows for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, proms. Whew.

The yards of ribbon have just a seemingly endless parade around the shop over the years. Miles of it. I wonder if we made it to the moon and back with all that we used over our 19 years of designing.

Choosing flowers for sympathy or loss

One of the hardest things you may go through in life is to lose someone near and dear to you
Whether due to a long full life and sometimes a quick unexpected tragic loss.
No matter what the circumstances have been,
as a florist we have been there and shed many tears along with our customers and friends during the heartbreaking time of loss,
This can be such a stressful and distressing time for families and friends.

One thing to keep in mind is that there is Never a Right or Wrong, you know what you want to do and send and some of the guidelines here I hope will help in your decisions.
If you are ordering a family piece, a casket spray for the casket you may want to use flowers that really permeate the personality of the one you have lost, To some the Roses have great meaning, Carnations are their favorite,

maybe Aunt Betty had a beautiful Pink Rose bush and the Pink roses remind you so much of her so you do a full beautiful open pink rose casket spray with sheer ribbons flowing, or maybe grandma had the most beautiful garden and you want all colors and styles of the vibrant flowers to remember her by, your grandfather loved the fall and cattails by the ponds, you could do a full array of fall tones and add cattails and other dried decor to accent the casket spray. You can custom design to your liking and personalize it however you want. Never be afraid to ask as each can be very unique depending on the individual.

You can add photos and props to really express hobbies or passionate things that the person loved doing in this life to make it personalized.

You can choose matching arrangements to go on either side of the casket to blend and tie in the casket piece. Even 2 large peace lily plants decorated to coordinate with the casket spray is very appropriate and looks rich and elegant.

I do recommend sending a Fresh Bouquet rather than a spray due to the fact that there is a large water base that can be refilled to retain the life of the flowers in the bouquets. The fresh sprays are made in a base that has a limited supply of water and will have a very short life once out of the cooler and when the water is absorbed into the stems.

If you are sending flowers to another town, a Plant is always a really safe choice as most plants tend to vary less than a Fresh Designed arrangement would from florist to florist.

Flowers mean so much to the family at the time of loss and it is amazing how it can touch the heart just knowing that you have people out there in the world that care enough to send you flowers or plants and other floral gifts. Flowers are the perfect expression when words are hard to find.

Valentines Day is Right around the corner and you will want to order early for the best selection, whether you want a simple single rose or a dozen roses, two dozen roses or send whatever your heart desires, the true fact is that the one you love will be touched just knowing you thought of them, Prices tend to be a little bit higher across the nation during Valentines Day, of course this wonderful Rose Oriented holiday comes after the most famed Parade of Roses, so that automatically puts roses in higher demand and growers and wholesalers really raise those prices on the local florists.

The best thing you can do is order what you can afford or what you like, The most popular Valentines Day Flower is the Rose just because of the Classic timelessness of the Rose. The most Popular color for us during the years has been the Classic Red Rose, We love the Charlotte Rose Variety due to the life of the rose, the way it really opens up to bloom and shows its full beauty without falling apart, we have had much luck with these through the years and had many of our customers comment on how long their roses lasted, still beautiful up to 2 weeks later and for a fresh flower bouquet that is awesome!

If you receive Roses as a gift for Valentines Day be sure you remember to add water daily and keep them in a cool area - away from Heater Vents for the longest life possible on your fresh flowers.

Have a Wonderful Valentines Day!