Customer Testimonials, Round 41: Mother's Day Version

Oh me, oh my; I can hardly believe Mother's Day 2013 has already passed, though it's only been some hours, the daylight's just slipped away and back again. This year I did not send either of my mothers (birth mother and mother-in-law) flowers - instead I made cards with envelopes to fit them. They'll be a day or two late since they only went out in the mail yesterday but I figured, hey, for a "holiday" like this it's the thought that counts, right?

Aboslutely right.

So, without further ado, and without much need for explanation of this post's "theme", here are some more of those great customer testimonials that remind us why we got into the flower business in the first place:

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W. B. SAID:
Thank you. The Flowers were perfect! Everyone did their job in helping us have a wonderful evening. Well done on your part...Thanks again. 

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I. C. SAID:
Thank you so much for your service! The flowers were beautiful and impressive and added a wonderful atmosphere to the table! 

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N. L-I. SAID:
Hello, I just wanted to say 'Thank You' for the lovely flowers you provided for my granddaughter's birthday dinner. The Gerbera daisies were such pretty colors and very fresh! Thank you.

J. L. SAID:
You did a spectacular job. The flowers were the most beautiful white roses I have ever seen. Well done, and thank you. You are my new choice for flowers! 

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I. B. SAID:
The beautiful arrangement and birthday card were delivered timely and were on our table at the restaurant when we arrived. I'm always a little uncomfortable when using an online service for the first time - but this was a great transaction all the way around. Thanks for being accountable and punctual. 

5 Things to Do with Dead Flowers

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As I write this a tin of dead flowers sits skelton-like on a high shelf in my bedroom. When the arrangement was alive it included lavender, forsythia, and asiatic lilies; it had been given to me by a friend after my thesis performance showcase (I cried, of course). Included in the mix is a dead gerbera daisy that used to be the color of macaroni and cheese. Now I'd say it's more of a canary yellow.

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Anyway, since warmer weather's finally upon us and I feel especially crafty in the spring, and also because I'm keen on upcycling or reusing anything and everything I can, I figured I'd present you with 5 ways to repurpose those dead floral arrangements on your kitchen table or night-stand. I tend to think that dead flowers are beautiful in-and-of-themselves, but it doesn't hurt to feel like they're being "put to good use" and nost just collecting dust as if forgotten.

1. DRIED FLOWER WREATH - I found this wonderful video, narrated and demonstrated by Judith Blacklock, that provides a step-by-step method for arranging and affixing dried flowers (and other assorted items) to an undecorated wreath-frame. She uses a wooden wreath and adds to it dried hydrangea and lavender along with dried apple slices and cinnamon sticks.
2. POTPOURRI - The Mother Nature Network has a great how-to article on making your own potpourri mix at home. This project is a bit more "involved" than the previous but isn't really that difficult at all. I also adore the idea of putting the finished batch into tiny satchels and using them as "fresheners" - be that for clothes, closet, wastebin, etc.
3. PRESSED FLOWER FRAME - This is a miniature craft-project I'd really love to do. Plus, it's über-simple, inexpensive, and an inventive way of reusing a dying floral arrangement. Mother Earth News has a great little article explaining what you need (flowers, an old magazine, flower mat, and frame) and how to execute the craft well.
4. HOMEMADE PAPER - "The paper itself always contained some bits of garden ephemera, moss or rose petals, dried herbs and threads from scraps of fabric." Over at the Faire Garden blog there's a wonderful post about hand-making paper - and no, it isn't nearly as difficult as you might thing. It does require a bit more preparation, which translates into a bit more commitment, but the satisfaction you'd feel upon completion!
5. DEAD FLOWER ARRANGEMENT - Of course, there is always the option of keeping the dead flowers just as they are: in the same vase, perhaps with the water emptied out (if you're more diligent than I am). I quite like the way they look. 

Customer Testimonials, Round 40: End-of-Hiatus Version!

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Hello again!

The two-month hiatus hath been squashed and I, your resident blogger, am back and ready for regular updates once more.

I'll keep the rambling short for this, the first-post-back, as I would like to provide a host of customer testimonials (those certainly haven't stopped coming in!) and photographs of May flowers that've been brought up by April showers. Oh, and, well, you should also anticipate some newer/better/more diverse entries, both here and on the Flowerpetal Facebook page. It's great to be back - and oh, the places we'll go!

So, without further ado --

("April Showers" by Peter E. Lee)

N. L. SAID:
I just wanted to say 'Thank You' for the lovely flowers you provided for my granddaughter's birthday dinner at The Greens Restaurant. Ther gerbera daisies were such pretty colors, and very fresh! 

K. H. SAID:
The flowers arrived at our table at the English Grill. It was our 32nd anniversary. And the flowers were a hit. My wife loved them. Thank you. 

J. M. SAID:
Dear Flower Petal...I just wanted to express my thanks for the lovely bouquet that you presented to my granddaughter at the Urban Farmer restaurant in Portland. We wished to surprise her at the luncheon. The flowers were fresh, exquisitely arranged, and there were quite a lot of them. Trusting businesses out of town and out of our knowledge is sometimes a chancy business. You definitely made us proud! Thank you, again, for your excellence. 

(April showers can be snow showers, too - Dartmoor, Devon, England)

J. W. SAID:
As usual you did a great job. This is why I give Flowerpetal ALL my business and also GREAT job to the drive - I put down the old address and he found the correct one, delivering it before 2. Thank you for  ajob well done. 

R. C. SAID:
You guys rock! My one and only never suspected the flowers! Thanks so very much. Five-star service. 

Customer Testimonials, Round 38

We've just had another snow in New York City - the first of the new year, in fact. My cat sits hunched on the radiator staring idly out the window that looks over the backyards of the buildings on our end of the street. I've lit a candle and am drinking a cup of lovely pour-over coffee (Four Barrel, farmed in San Agustin las Cañas in Guatemala, bourbon variety - some of the best coffee I've ever had), admiring the way the sunlight plays off of the mint-green paint of our kitchen walls.

2013 comes on with a slowness that I like, one that allows for everything to settle before it changes, and I am increasingly thankful for the life I've cultivated for myself: in the city, as a graduate student writing my own book, married to my best friend and intellectual partner, mothering our two cats, writing about flowers and coffee, nannying, going to conferences, running in below-freezing temperatures, and on. Today seems like a good day, very simply put.

(some customer testimonials should make us even happier this bright Saturday morning - especially as they're given alongside the glorious photography of Jennifer Causey, whose photo-blog simply breakfast always calms me):

J. A. SAID:
I want to thank you for the good reception flowers at our hotel. THey were beautiful and I thank you again for your professionalism. Thank you and happy new year.

R. S. SAID:
Thank you for the very efficient way you have kept me informed throughout this process!! I did also confirm through the restaurant that the flowers had arrived and will be placed on the table before 5:30 PM reservation time. Thanks again for your work ethic, and Happy New Year!

P . H. SAID:
Thank you! Excellent service and the flowers were lovely.

M. W. SAID:
Flowers were received easily and on time. Thank you so much - they were perfect. 

7 Reasons NOT to Send Flowers in a Box

Certain online floral services ship their flowers in boxes (FTD, ProFlowers, etc.). These "arrangements" are delivered as any other package might be, perhaps in colored or "designer" boxes, wrapped and padded in layers of paper, plastic, and cardboard with "assembly instructions" for use upon opening.

As a result of frustrating online research and guided intuition I've compiled this list of seven reasons why you should never, ever send flowers in a box:

1. The Element of "Surprise" -- Almost every person who chooses to send flowers to a loved one does so in order to surprise the recipient, whether the arrangement arrives at the person's house or whether it adorns the table for a dinner reservation. To have these flowers shipped in a box absolutely compromises the element of surprise - the box often has the markings of the flower service provider; opening mailed boxes is almost always frustrating (all that tape!); and when the recipient finally opens the box he or she needs to arrange them him/herself. Compared with free-standing flowers pre-arranged in a vase, boxed flowers can utterly negate the possibility for the recipient to be surprised at all.
2. Integrity of the Arrangement -- It's not difficult to imagine that flowers packed tightly into a slim, rectangular box that are often kept on ice and shipped overnight might not "survive" their journey. There are several documented instances of boxed flowers arriving frozen or brown and dead. And again, boxed flowers do not arrive pre-arranged and require trimming and assembly by the recipient.
3. Range of Style and Technique -- Floral arrangements are meant to be displayed and admired. They're loved for their variances in style, color, size, shape, and presentation, none of which is possible if sending boxed flowers. Flowerpetal, for instance, has compiled an impressive list of high-quality florists in all of the areas we service, a standard which provides our customers with the most satisfaction. Working directly with the florists themselves is always preferable, and not only because the wide range of styles and techniques they employ in the crafting of their arrangements. We very much value the artistry of flower-arranging. To compromise on this point is to compromise the quality of our floral service.
4. It's the Thought That Counts -- Boxed flowers always seem makeshift, more of an afterthought than a sincere gesture. And regardless of whether or not you order your flowers the night before or a month in advance, you should not have to compromise when it comes to professional quality floral arrangements. For all of the reasons above flowers that are shipped in boxes cannot meet this standard, at least not nearly as well as florist-crafted and locally-delivered arrangements. The difference here is between what can be called "cheap" or "mass-market" or "homogenized" flower services and that which Flowerpetal provides, which is more a sincere, thoughtful, and DIY alternative.
5. "Freshness" -- Please do refer to reason number 2. This point, however, deserved a standalone space, because it cannot be reiterated enough that the quality or "freshness" of the flowers that arrive in boxes will always be compromised. It is also contestable whether or not flowers stored and shipped in boxes, even (or especially) if they are sent near-frozen, could ever carry an actual guarantee of freshness, as this is also affected by 1) the temperature and humidity of the storage/transportation method and 2) the length of time that the flowers are in the box, especially if left untended on the porch of the recipient.
6. "Green" Considerations -- It is good to take conservation into consideration when purchasing anything. This being said, boxed flowers utilize an unnecessary amount of packaging and stuffing that will ultimately be thrown away by the recipient (plastic, paper, cardboard, etc.). This is not to say, of course, that many arrangements do not incorporate disposable materials, but hand-designed and delivered arrangements that do not come in boxes will automatically reduce the amount of waste produced. One should also think about the amount of energy it takes to produce all of the materials, especially cardboard and plastic, that go into the wrapping of a boxed arrangement.
7. Local Florist Preferred (Always) -- For all of the reasons listed above (and any that YOU can further imagine) working with trusted, quality local florists will always be preferred. This is, of course, not to suggest that poor-quality florists do not exist - we at Flowerpetal appreciate this more than you know! - but companies like ours have committed to a standard that applies indiscriminately to our own business practices and to those of the florists and other flower-providers with whom we work.

Mt. Eden Florist, the Bronx, NY (via)

Florist in Cool Springs, TN (via)

Liberty Park Florist in Spokane, WA (via)

To put it still another way, the difference between sending flowers in a box and open, florist-arranged bouquets is a lot like the difference in sending a typed versus a hand-written letter: beyond the mere gesture of having sent the letter in the first place (which does count, of course, especially since nobody sends letters anymore) the appreciation and excitement elicited by a hand-written letter far outweighs that which is done on a computer. The only exception here would be if the sender has typed his/her letter on a typewriter (which I myself sometimes do), in which case the recipient may feel tickled to death to receive a letter composed in such an antiquated, imperfect, and time-consuming fashion. But, you see, this is it, isn't it? The mark of the human hand; the style and personality of the penmanship; the smudges and misspellings and crossed-out words (ink does not lend itself to backspacing); the simple thought of someone alotting a considerable chunk of time to write, by hand, this letter for you, perhaps illustrating it in the margins.

So follows the comparison between boxed versus free-standing flowers in a vase: the latter bears the mark of the hand of the florist and arrives, free and erect and bursting forth with color, glorious in its imperfection.