It’s Not What You’ve Got; It’s What You Do With It
By Joe Guggia, AIFD
I get so excited when I see all the incredible floral designs that are shared through social media. Tons of flowers and the coolest varieties. They give me lots of incentive to create, create, create. I drool over images of orchids, protea, tropicals, succulents, ti leaves—the list goes on and on—and these hands are ready to design! All I can think is: “Gimme that product NOW!”
But, then another voice pops into my head: “Whoa! Wait a little minute there, dude! You only have mums, carnations, iris and snapdragon in that cooler!”
So, what the heck do I do?!
A reality check is in order. As much as we may love these types of upscale flowers and the designs in which we use them, we must always remember that our client base and design finances are the most upfront factors to keep in mind for creating our floral arrangements.
How can we overcome these obstacles? Well, we dig in and use what we’ve got in a creative way to provide our clients with visual interest and value while still making ourselves happy designers.
I’m not saying we have to give an arrangement an hour’s worth of time to turn a normally 15-minute design into something especially cool. Rather, adjust the placement of the flowers and greens so the look is different and more exciting. For example, only have leatherleaf as a green? Great! How about stripping off the lower foliage so the green can have a wispier look that takes advantage of its length and ultimate grace? Tuck that excess bottom foliage in around your flowers’ base. No waste! Just a different look.
Perform a change with lemon leaf (salal), as well. Pull off some leaves and glue them around a gerbera as a collar. Or use Commodore palm leaves in an everyday design. “What?” you say. “No way! They’ll think it’s a funeral arrangement!” Relax! Remove some bottom foliage and let the greenery add dimension to the design. Swirl it and pick it to the foam for some flow. Trim it and give it a very thin presence to give length to different areas of a design.
And don’t ignore those “basic” flowers! After all, there’s no way around it: Mums and carnations are incredibly long-lasting flowers with great wholesale pricing and good profit margins. Yeah, they’ve had a bad rap for awhile, and newer generations think they’re “cheap”-looking flowers. So let’s give those blossoms a twist and make them look cooler in our flower arrangements. Try clustering carnation heads for a fresh look. (Yes, I’ve mentioned in previous columns about how I love utilizing and emphasizing the stems of flowers to add greater visual value to arrangements. But sometimes we gotta change it up!)
Mums and carnations are available in such incredible varieties today—great colors and unusual petal configurations. So add some drama by dangling a carnation head with colored wire from a willow branch. Then add some Spanish moss, stretching it vertically, and you’ve got a whole new look. Need more inspiration? Glue some mum blooms onto a log and nestle some reindeer moss around them. Another idea: Design carnations into a topiary with snapdragons clustered low. Loop some bear grass around the topiary, and you’ve got a winner.
Clients won’t care that these flowers aren’t the most expensive as long as the overall arrangement looks cool and well worth the money they’ve spent.
Profit and client satisfaction are key elements to our survival. I embraced that challenge a long time ago and learned it’s smarter to use what I had in stock rather than trying to buy off that truck on spec and spending way too much money. Trust me; those “biggies” in our industry use the same flowers that we smaller shops do. They simply give their designs a creative twist so we can “Ooh!” and “Aah!” over them. So let’s turn the tables! How about we make our customers “Ooh!” and “Aah!” with our cool use of everyday product?
We are the captains! It’s up to us to show our stuff and make some money. In this case, it’s not easier said than done, but it is necessary for survival. The next generation is out there waiting for us to give them some awesome floral designs on which they can spend their money. Believe me: They want flowers. We just need to add some creative visual to keep those young customers buying now and coming back for a lifetime.
About the author
In a floral world that can sometimes be scary and tiresome, Joe Guggia, AIFD, works to reinvent himself and keep his floral passion alive. With beginnings as a delivery boy at Sandyland Nursery (Carpinteria, Calif.), he progressed to assistant grower and helped launch the first nursery contract with a supermarket chain. Later, Joe moved on to take ownership of Camfeldt’s Flowers and Gifts (Santa Maria, Calif.).
Today, Joe continues togather knowledge in all phases of the floral industry. He admits that putting himself “out there” to keep the dollars flowing has been a challenge and isn’t always easy. But sticking to it and realizing that “We’re only as good as our last design” has brought him to a place of industry sharing, both of his experiences and those of others.
Joe’s expertise includes staging, indoor/outdoor decor consulting, custom permanent designs, plant installations, landscaping, custom sympathy and everyday shop designs. He is a mentor to the student chapter of AIFD Cal Poly and promotes the motto of “Educate, motivate and create.”
An Invitation to YOU!
We need your comments! FlowerChat can’t fulfill its mission to help florists without your participation in the forums! So take a moment to add YOUR thoughts to this discussion! Don’t see any comments listed yet? Be the first to start the discussion and encourage others to join in.
By Joe Guggia, AIFD
I get so excited when I see all the incredible floral designs that are shared through social media. Tons of flowers and the coolest varieties. They give me lots of incentive to create, create, create. I drool over images of orchids, protea, tropicals, succulents, ti leaves—the list goes on and on—and these hands are ready to design! All I can think is: “Gimme that product NOW!”
But, then another voice pops into my head: “Whoa! Wait a little minute there, dude! You only have mums, carnations, iris and snapdragon in that cooler!”
So, what the heck do I do?!
A reality check is in order. As much as we may love these types of upscale flowers and the designs in which we use them, we must always remember that our client base and design finances are the most upfront factors to keep in mind for creating our floral arrangements.
How can we overcome these obstacles? Well, we dig in and use what we’ve got in a creative way to provide our clients with visual interest and value while still making ourselves happy designers.
I’m not saying we have to give an arrangement an hour’s worth of time to turn a normally 15-minute design into something especially cool. Rather, adjust the placement of the flowers and greens so the look is different and more exciting. For example, only have leatherleaf as a green? Great! How about stripping off the lower foliage so the green can have a wispier look that takes advantage of its length and ultimate grace? Tuck that excess bottom foliage in around your flowers’ base. No waste! Just a different look.
Perform a change with lemon leaf (salal), as well. Pull off some leaves and glue them around a gerbera as a collar. Or use Commodore palm leaves in an everyday design. “What?” you say. “No way! They’ll think it’s a funeral arrangement!” Relax! Remove some bottom foliage and let the greenery add dimension to the design. Swirl it and pick it to the foam for some flow. Trim it and give it a very thin presence to give length to different areas of a design.
And don’t ignore those “basic” flowers! After all, there’s no way around it: Mums and carnations are incredibly long-lasting flowers with great wholesale pricing and good profit margins. Yeah, they’ve had a bad rap for awhile, and newer generations think they’re “cheap”-looking flowers. So let’s give those blossoms a twist and make them look cooler in our flower arrangements. Try clustering carnation heads for a fresh look. (Yes, I’ve mentioned in previous columns about how I love utilizing and emphasizing the stems of flowers to add greater visual value to arrangements. But sometimes we gotta change it up!)
Mums and carnations are available in such incredible varieties today—great colors and unusual petal configurations. So add some drama by dangling a carnation head with colored wire from a willow branch. Then add some Spanish moss, stretching it vertically, and you’ve got a whole new look. Need more inspiration? Glue some mum blooms onto a log and nestle some reindeer moss around them. Another idea: Design carnations into a topiary with snapdragons clustered low. Loop some bear grass around the topiary, and you’ve got a winner.
Clients won’t care that these flowers aren’t the most expensive as long as the overall arrangement looks cool and well worth the money they’ve spent.
Profit and client satisfaction are key elements to our survival. I embraced that challenge a long time ago and learned it’s smarter to use what I had in stock rather than trying to buy off that truck on spec and spending way too much money. Trust me; those “biggies” in our industry use the same flowers that we smaller shops do. They simply give their designs a creative twist so we can “Ooh!” and “Aah!” over them. So let’s turn the tables! How about we make our customers “Ooh!” and “Aah!” with our cool use of everyday product?
We are the captains! It’s up to us to show our stuff and make some money. In this case, it’s not easier said than done, but it is necessary for survival. The next generation is out there waiting for us to give them some awesome floral designs on which they can spend their money. Believe me: They want flowers. We just need to add some creative visual to keep those young customers buying now and coming back for a lifetime.
About the author
In a floral world that can sometimes be scary and tiresome, Joe Guggia, AIFD, works to reinvent himself and keep his floral passion alive. With beginnings as a delivery boy at Sandyland Nursery (Carpinteria, Calif.), he progressed to assistant grower and helped launch the first nursery contract with a supermarket chain. Later, Joe moved on to take ownership of Camfeldt’s Flowers and Gifts (Santa Maria, Calif.).
Today, Joe continues togather knowledge in all phases of the floral industry. He admits that putting himself “out there” to keep the dollars flowing has been a challenge and isn’t always easy. But sticking to it and realizing that “We’re only as good as our last design” has brought him to a place of industry sharing, both of his experiences and those of others.
Joe’s expertise includes staging, indoor/outdoor decor consulting, custom permanent designs, plant installations, landscaping, custom sympathy and everyday shop designs. He is a mentor to the student chapter of AIFD Cal Poly and promotes the motto of “Educate, motivate and create.”
An Invitation to YOU!
We need your comments! FlowerChat can’t fulfill its mission to help florists without your participation in the forums! So take a moment to add YOUR thoughts to this discussion! Don’t see any comments listed yet? Be the first to start the discussion and encourage others to join in.
