THE GOODS : Flower Power : To Make Mom’s Day, Be Organized, Flexible
If you want to send flowers for Mother’s Day on Sunday and you haven’t ordered, you should pick up the phone right now.
Consider that 21 million other people are also sending bouquets to their moms this weekend, according to the Floral Index in Chicago, which tracks flower sales nationally.
“It may work to say, ‘At your door in 30 minutes’ for a pizza, but it doesn’t work for a bouquet of flowers,” says Rocky Pollitz of Teleflora wire service. She advises ordering at least two days ahead.
“Have the flowers delivered in advance, not on Mother’s Day,” advises Julie Mulligan of the New York-based 800-Flowers, which expects to handle between 750,000 and 1 million orders this weekend. “You can’t guarantee they will get there on time Sunday morning, just when your mother is sitting around wondering if you remembered her.”
If you ignore rule No. 1 (order early), it becomes particularly important to heed rule No. 2: Give the florist some choices.
We tested that advice with a dry run. When we ordered flowers delivered from five Southern California florists specifying only “$40 worth of the nicest spring flowers you have,” the results, pictured on this page, were varied in style but similar in value.
“They’re all high in quality,” says Jim Hynd, a floral designer and vice president of Fiesta Parade Floats, who critiqued the five for us. “By giving the florist some leeway, you got the best available material.
“If you insist on a certain kind of flower at this point, you are limiting yourself,” Hynd adds. “Mother’s Day is a horrendous crunch, and (florists) know what’s available.”
But customers should offer a few guidelines as to color and type of flower--and be very specific about price. Don’t give the florist an “anything goes” open order, Hynd warns. At this late date, you might get anything.
If you pick out the flowers yourself, experts say look for freshness, pinch for firmness and choose flowers on the tight side, with a combination of open petals and buds.
“It’s like picking out vegetables--if you press gently and it bounces back, it’s healthy,” says Hynd, who deals with huge quantities of fresh flowers in designing Rose Parade floats.
Unlike other major flower holidays, where the favorite colors are strong and vivid, Mother’s Day flower shoppers lean toward soft colors. “Basically, people want pastel spring flowers--pinks and lavenders with something soft like baby’s breath,” Pollitz says. “It’s what they think mother should be.”
“Mother’s Day used to be a carnation-and-rose holiday, but the old traditions don’t hold anymore,” says Frank Kuwahara, president of the wholesale Southern California Flower Market in Downtown Los Angeles.
“There are all kinds of flowers available--little tiny tulips, many varieties of daffodils, baby roses in pots--that make wonderful gifts.”
His favorites, he adds, are the spring bulb flowers--such as freesias, jonquils and tulips. “And this year we’ll have some good lilacs for Mother’s Day.”
Although potted plants and bedding plants are also purchased for Mother’s Day gifts, cut flowers lead the list, according to statistics from the Society of American Florists.
“There’s something about cut flowers that you just can’t express any other way,” Hynd says. “A beautiful arrangement just lasts a few days, but the memory lingers on.”
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This is how five florists filled an order for $40 worth of spring flowers. The critiques are from floral decorator Jim Hynd.
Apropos Florist, Beverly Hills: “An elegant, subtle arrangement with an open look that showcases each sophisticated flower, including miniature double tulips and dendrobium orchids.”
Saywell Florist, Downey: “A hand-tied bouquet in a vase is popular for its garden-gathered natural look. It’s so compact you could almost make two groups out of this arrangement. Lilies are the center point, with splashes of lilacs, which have a very short period of market availability, adding a very nostalgic and romantic touch.”
California Floral Co., Downtown: “The basket has a casual feeling, and the nicest feature here is the outstanding use of color. Magentas, purples, hot pinks and lavenders of the mums, miniature carnations and gerbera daisies are highlighted by yellow centers of the mums and yellow statice.”
Glendale Flower Mart, Glendale: “Generous abundance of gerbera daisies, mums, carnations and irises, with baby’s breath used effectively for filler. Arranged with a knack for extending the bouquet’s life with some buds still to open on the Stargazer pink lilies and yellow lilies.”
Visser’s Florist, Anaheim: “Highly stylized triangular arrangement is artfully designed with flowers in intense color groupings. Lively yellow gerbera and blue delphinium are cut dramatically through the middle by hot pink snapdragons.”
