Mother's Day: Flowers from local florist might be the best option
HOUSTON - If a gift of 'flowers' is part of the plan for Mother's Day, time is running out to send them and local florists may be the best bet to get the most bloom for your buck.
In the world of flowers, Valentine's Day is the big money-maker, then Mother's Day follows. The National Retail Federation says Americans will spend more than $35 billion on flowers for mom this year.
At the Village Greenery & Flowers, in Rice Village, the pace will be non-stop through Sunday filling orders for Mother's Day blooms. Darrell Gorski has been building bouquets for customers for 43 years, "We always believed in selling top-quality flowers at a fair price."
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Long-time customers, like Kimberly Strobel, have come to depend on reliable experience. "This is the only place we come. We'll just say 'Make it beautiful', we trust them and it's always better than you expected."
But for all the exotic petals from all over the world, choosing an arrangement can be a challenge for the uninitiated, or out-of-towner who has no idea what to order or what to expect. Online ordering has a lot of fees and profit built into the transaction and minimal guarantee of what the final product will be.
Gorski suggests asking for local recommendations and calling a florist directly.
"The customers that come in that are not familiar with purchasing flowers on a regular basis, we educate them during the transaction," he says, "As a result of that, they do come back the second time and the third time."
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Once flowers have been delivered, keeping them nice as long as possible is not complicated, with a little of the same kind of TLC that sent them. "If you give'em a fresh cut on the stems, (and) change the water every day, it's the most practical and easiest way to accomplish the longevity of the flower to the maximum potential," he says.
For a flower arrangement, there's a real benefit to going to a florist, whose expertise can create something really beautiful. If it's a bouquet, there are a lot of available options, with grocery stores and big-box retailers getting in on the action.
What's important is that you choose something to remember the mom in your life. Consider it a public service announcement.