For Mother’s Day : Gift Orders Bloom Late at Florists

As usual, last-minute shoppers were out in force Sunday, but florists in Orange County were ready for the Mother’s Day onslaught.

At Mile Square Florist in Fountain Valley, owner Nancy Cuhlman observed: “If it’s not nailed down, they’ll buy it.” Just before Cuhlman closed her shop, a customer walked in and bought the window display.

Cuhlman said she had made “hundreds and hundreds” of flower arrangements last week and had sent at least 50 long-distance orders a day, at least five times the normal traffic.

“That’s a big deal around here, because everybody is from someplace else and they place a lot of long-distance orders,” Cuhlman said.

‘Same as Usual’

Dick Shannon, manager of Conroy Flowers in Santa Ana, said his shop also did a brisk last-minute business Sunday.

“It’s the same as usual . . . people waiting until the last moment,” he said.

But people seemed to splurge a little more this year, Shannon said.

“We sold a lot of $75 to $100 arrangements. That was a bit unusual.”

Paul Hoag, Shannon’s assistant, said the shop “probably sent out at least 400 FTD orders, but we had to turn a lot of them down because there just wasn’t time to get to them.”

Aside from the traditional flowers and champagne brunches, some mothers were feted Sunday with surprise limousine rides.

Jim Pritchard, owner of Affluent Limousine Service in Anaheim, said all four of his luxury limousines were rented for Mother’s Day touring.

“Absolutely, Mother’s Day is one of our busier days,” Pritchard said. “Just like florists and other businesses, special occasions are busy for us.”

Limos Booked Up

Stephanie Kitchens of Blue Chip Limousine in Placentia also said the firm’s two stretch limos and a luxury model were booked solid Sunday for several Mother’s Day-related activities.

Surprisingly, two area hospitals provided no special programs Sunday.

Lillian Sundquist, a spokeswoman for UCI Medical Center in Orange, said Sunday was just another normal day at the hospital.

“We do have quite a few mothers here, but I don’t know why anything special wasn’t planned,” she said.

A nursing supervisor at Fountain Valley Community Hospital said more flowers than usual were delivered at the obstetrics ward, but everything else was fairly routine.

A few more visitors than normal showed up Sunday to visit mothers doing time at the Orange County Jail. But no flowers were delivered. It’s against regulations for inmates to receive flowers at the jail, a supervisor said.