Showing posts with label Floral industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floral industry. Show all posts

May 14, 2011

Floral Knowledge= Lifetime of Enjoyment

Did you know that you should leave the bulb on the stem of a Hyacinth when you put it in a vase?  The basal plate at the bottom of the bulb continues to absorb water and nutrients and can prolong the beautiful blooms even longer.
Did you also know that Hyacinth has a powerful, sweet fragrance that's reminiscent of gardenia or plumeria?
hyacinth on the bulb basal plate
Well, I didn't either!

But I do now.  This little tidbit of floral education is just one of the many perks that happened when I joined the team at Sun Valley. I came into this business bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with an average appreciation for flowers and a black thumb to boot. But all the flower knowledge I've gained has converted me into an avid lover of flowers and even inspired me to grow my own garden.

Through my personal transformation into a floral butterfly, I see an opportunity for the rest of the floral industry:

Gift a person flowers, they have a flowers for a week.  Teach them about flowers, and they enjoy them for a lifetime.

Like the old fishing adage, we can appeal to those who aren't already in love with flowers by educating them. Reach them by teaching them!

I'm walking (and talking) proof that an otherwise non-committal window shopper can be converted into a regular floral consumer just by learning a bit more about those pretty little mood enhancers. My romance with flowers is directly correlated to my increasing knowledge about them. And the more I know, the more I want to learn. The more I learn, the more I love flowers! This principle can be applied to all potential floral consumers. The tricky part is understanding what exactly they need or want to know to make the same transition.



People don't want to be left in the dark.  They want to know where their flowers come from, how they're grown and where they end up.  This is one of the reasons why the #Americangrown and #CAgrown movement, along with the Field-to-Vase aesthetic, is so strong.

In addition to farming and growing practices, there is A LOT to know about flowers.  Six months ago I certainly couldn't have told you what each flower symbolizes, their history, their country of origin, or which ones were appropriate for certain occasions. On top of that, there are the more practical educational bits, such as: what prolongs vase life, which ones smell the strongest, and what the heck is Lisianthus, anyways?
Lisianthus
THIS is a lisianthus!

That's why it is important to reach out and offer information, photos, and educational tidbits about the flowers that we already love so much. These educational bites can be as simple as flower care tips or as complicated as a breakdown of the year-round tulip growing process. The point is to give people a sense of floral competency through the acquisition of knowledge.
 

Let's go one step further than telling people that flowers are great. Let's teach them about flowers, so they can bloom into flower enthusiasts as well!






If you have any questions about flowers, please let me know in the Comments!

May 5, 2011

Lily's Boots: The Chill from LAX to MIA


As promised last Friday, I am going to share a little ditty about my adventures in the Miami heat. Except I came to find that "Miami heat" may not be the best way to describe my adventures...

Last weekend, I left sunny Southern California for sunny Miami, from Bouquet Land to Flower Inspection Central. I traveled from arid heat to intense humidity to help inspect floral products going in and out of Miami, and here's what struck me as odd: I was cold. The whole time.

Cold weather boots
I needed a hoodie in the Sun Pacific Bouquet Department, and I added a jacket, gloves and warmer boots when I got to the distribution center in Miami. Fully swathed in cold weather gear, I worked with a team of floral reps to inspect flowers coming in from all over the globe, especially Colombia and Ecuador, and of course from Sun Valley. We spent a few hours opening boxes and pulling out bouquets, bunches and greens to inspect for quality issues, such as mold or bortrytis. I'm happy to report that we found nearly zero, nada, zilch issues with the products, which were most likely destined for deserving mothers. I'm also happy to say that we were able to take a few breaks to get out into the Miami sun, as we were downright cold in there!

Yet it turns out that being cold is a very, very good thing. For flowers, that is.

Just like a wheel of Gouda, flowers greatly benefit from staying cold from their inception to their reception. Playing it cool from farm to shop shelf ensures longer vase life and better floral quality, ultimately resulting in higher consumer satisfaction. This is why you'll hear phrases like "cold chain management" and "refrigerated trucking" a lot when listening in on a conversation about flower distribution. It's also why you'll find yourself in a chilly warehouse working in a Bouquet Department or in a nearly freezing DC inspecting floral products.

It's one thing to talk about cold chain management in theory, but it's quite another to actually experience two crucial (and chilly) steps of the process in person. My boots and I flew from one coast to the other to do just that.

Which is why I was so cold. The whole time.




For more information about cold chain managment click here.

Got a story about how cold chain management has affected your floral business (either positively or negatively)? Share it in the Comments!

Apr 27, 2011

Administrative Professionals Day, EVERY day

This year, in the wake of the economic recession and subsequent downsizing throughout the world, Administrative Professionals Day is celebrating ALL office professionals, whose tasks likely increased as office budgets tightened. These people are wearing more proverbial hats and working harder than ever to help achieve the their companies' goals. They rightfully deserve some recognition. And in some realms, they're getting it.

Someone somewhere has taken it upon himself to honor these hardworking people from one day per year to one whole week... out of 52 weeks. This is certainly a great thing, don't get me wrong. But here's what I don't get:

Why aren't we celebrating our administrative professionals every day? And what can we, the floral industry, do to 1) take this from a secondary floral holiday to a major one and 2) take this concept into the rest of the year?

I know many of us do some types of small promotions to drive floral sales for this special time of year, but perhaps we need a little more umph to really drive the industry. Maybe we need more advertising; maybe the day (or week) itself needs more awareness built up again; or maybe we need to talk directly to the HR director of every Fortune 500 company and remind them that happy, valued employees are good employees.

Whatever the magic solution may be, those of us in the flower business should work together to make sure that admin everywhere are feeling valued EVERY day.

And what better way to make them feel valued than with flowers?




To our Sun Valley Team Members, we salute you!

Got any ideas on how to take Administrative Professionals Day to the next floral level? Let me know here in the comments!

Feb 15, 2011

Celebrate Your Women!

This afternoon, Lane and I had a little chat about women. No, we didn’t talk about dates for Valentine’s Day or red tulips. We talked about the day intended to celebrate women all over the world for their tremendous social, economic and political achievements: International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day originated 100 years ago in the US after the suffragettes marched through New York City for women’s rights. Do you know who most wholeheartedly celebrates the annual event now?



Russia.

Ever since these women fought for the right to vote in New York, women throughout the entire world have increasingly gained recognition as equals among men. This is something to be celebrated!

And it is. In Eastern European countries like Russia, every woman receives flowers on March 8th. Every. Single. Woman. From the youngest malyshka to the oldest babushka, all females receive at least one flower to signify respect towards women in their countries.

Do you know how many women in the US receive flowers on International Women's Day? Let me put it this way: Men, have you ever given a female flowers on this day? Women, have you ever received them? (Great for you, if you answered "yes"!)

It’s time we bring this holiday back into the US full force and honor the women in our lives. Every. Single. Woman.


For more about International Women’s Day, please visit: www.internationalwomensday.com/