Florabundance News

The Harvest Season is in full swing, but as Thanksgiving approaches, more emphasis is place on the importance of texture and color. When we think of this time of year, we often think of the analogous color harmonies that feature reds, oranges and yellows. While this works for many home décor interiors, some may prefer variations on the tried and true traditional fall colors.

By taking the cue from tradition, perhaps it is time to kick it up a notch and feature collections that favor more fashion forward colors of peach and honeysuckle and accented with tans and greens. Peach is a derivative of orange and honeysuckle finds its roots in the red family. Both work well with each other because they are next to each other on the color wheel. Tans, rusts and chocolate brown are very neutral and still compliment the surrounding colors, but often need a punch or boost of a complimentary color to keep the traditional colors from becoming too sleepy or muddy. Chartreuse green adds just the right amount of color impact to make ordinary turn to extraordinary!

Chartreuse can be found in products such as Hypericum, Hydrangea, and Chrysanthemums. Jade and Super Green Roses also add a burst of color to your favorite floral stylings. Hanging green Amaranths, mini Dendrobium Orchids, and Cymbidium Orchids can also provide a fresh, clean expression of color. Green Trick Dianthus is still among the newer flowers for customers to experience and pair well with ornamental grasses and Scabiosa pods for unusual forms.

Cattails have a look and feel of suede so they compliment more modern interiors. Chocolate Cymbidium Orchids and Terra Cotta Roses are always a good choice for an elegant brown influence. Terra Anthurium is an unexpected surprise for brown tones too. Some foliage such as dark Ti leaves lean more to the brown when coupled with these flowers.

If you are in search of a distinctive floral component, try using Ilex berries in the peach and golden yellow colors. While most think of Ilex in only red, this color comes later in the growing season, these early season varieties add a great amount of interest and pop of color at this time of year. Ilex has a very long shelf life and dry well ensuring customer satisfaction.

Whatever color harmony your clients choose to compliment their interior for this trans-seasonal time of year, Florabundance has the perfect choices that will work for you. Check with your account manager to find the best choices for you. Remember, it is not too early to place your floral order for the Thanksgiving season. It will be here before you know it!

Florabundance was the place to be on Sunday! Florabundance was the host to the LACCU of Teleflora this past Sunday. Featuring guest designer Tom Bowling AIFD, PFCI, the guests were treated to designs that showcased product from the magnificent selection from Florabundance.

Herewith is a summary written by Tom Bowling

The first 90 minutes were filled with design work that was inspired with an autumn feel. The designs featured components both familiar and even a few that were so unique direct from Holland that that they had to be looked up on the internet. Beautiful peach amaryllis, blazing yellow sunflowers and glorious lilies married together to give inspiration to the audience. Keepsake containers provided by Teleflora were used to feature the foliages and flowers.

I shared with the audience a unique approach to teach an armature structure used to secure a hand tied bouquet. Made of bark wire from the Smithers Oasis Company, I demonstrated how easy it was to form the armature by folding the wire and weaving the armature to hold the ornamental grasses, natural materials, and fragrant chocolate scented geranium foliage. I then demonstrated a simple and effective binding technique to secure the bouquet. After cutting the stems, he then displayed the collection in a rustic pottery pitcher.

Teleflora’s Bamboo Collection was showcased both in tropical flowers and showing its diversity was also filled with form flowers such as the Pin Cushion Protea, Birds of Paradise, and Cymbidium Orchids. Snapdragons, Cattails, and Sansonia were accented with River Cane to show the audience how many different ways the containers could be used and for numerous occasions.

After a delicious lunch was served, Tom shared a collection of trans-seasonal designs that bridged the two seasons. Trans-seasonal designs work well for those customers who want a bit of Christmas flavor prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Lots of rich reds, browns and coppers were combined to usher in the season. Christmas design ideas started with the traditional colors of reds and greens. Roses, carnations, Alstroemeria, Bouvardia, Bells of Ireland and Dendrobium Orchids were used to enhance Teleflora’s holiday collection. From tradition the program then featured a collection of black and silver accented with hot pinks, whites, and chartreuse greens. Gerbera Daisies, Hydrangea, Stargazer Lilies, Roses, and Dendrobium Orchids were featured in both aluminum and glass containers. Black accents of sticks and polished black river rocks gave the more generic containers a personal themed feel.

After all was said and done, the guests were treated to 45 arrangements and the most gorgeous flowers and foliages imaginable! Florabundance believes in the future of the floral industry and is always willing to rise to the occasion to assist and support.

Success is measured in many ways depending on the desired outcome. You may want to improve your walk in traffic, so you do a promotion to have more people visit your flower shop. When your walk in traffic improves to a desired level, then you evaluate the process to see if the return on investment was in fact successful. You may want to improve traffic to your web site as a goal. So you may develop a promotion to drive more activity through your site. It could be a blitz or blast campaign or you may decide to increase your frequency of contacts to your customers that offer an opportunity that is featured only for web orders. Again, when you see the desired outcome successfully happen, then once again, you evaluate the return against the investments made. This will help determine whether a campaign should be repeated at another time as executed the first time or whether you want to tweak the variables to see if the second marketing strategy had the same desired outcomes.
Another area to evaluate is the production in the design room. Is your current staff producing at full capacity or are there areas that could be revamped to make improvements. As you will find, most shops perform better at a holiday than they do at non-holiday times. What this means is that the sales staff and design staff are more efficient at selling and producing the required number of designs at the correct price points. The answer lies in the fact that most shops offer a more selective or limited amount of offerings during the busier times so it streamlines the sales and production process. Think about going into your favorite restaurant. When you sit down, the server offers you a menu of items to choose from. The management knows exactly what ingredients go into making each of the menu items. While you as the customer can still make modifications to ‘personalize’ a standard menu item, the bottom line is that the standardization is still fairly much intact. This allows for cost controls and time efficient production.
We are coming up on a time in the floral industry that this concept works well. Take for instance Thanksgiving and Christmas. Looking at past sales records, look to see just how many centerpieces were sold. Did some have no candles? How many single candle centerpieces were sold? How many were sold with double candles? What were the other high demand items that were requested? This history allows you to do more mass production for these items. The next step would be to make a recipe for each composition to be able to determine the number of the components that you are going to need to create the desired number of arrangements in that category. This can be done for as many items that you want to place on your ‘holiday menu’ of holiday offerings.
By doing so now, it allows you to be proactive to be able to make the prototypes, photograph them for your website and to get your customers thinking about the upcoming holiday floral needs. After the prototypes are determined, do the math, extend the numbers and gather your totals to give to your Florabundance Account Manager so they can place their orders in a timely fashion with their suppliers. This process allows everyone to react to the holidays in a timely and orderly fashion versus running around at the last minute trying to find product to satisfy the customer’s requests. What you will find is that production increases dramatically thereby increasing profitability because less production hours will be needed for the 80% of repetitive requests. It will also allow you to give the necessary time to those customers who want those ‘special, one of a kind’ creations that do not fit a menu offering. This way everyone wins! Customers are happy, morale is good because the flower shop is organized, and your supplier has what you need at the best price available.
How do you spell success? Very simple – start your holiday preparedness now to ensure a smooth and profitable season. Invest a few hours now to have a successful return in the future.
Don’t forget to stop by the Teleflora program this Sunday at Florabundance to be inspired for the busy season ahead. I hope to see all of you there!

We work very hard in the floral industry to make our daily sales goals happen. We advertise our products in many ways, we take pride in sending out our best work with the freshest product from Florabundance, and we offer exceptional service in all areas…except one; that one being the selling process. The way a floral arrangement is sold either over the phone or across the counter makes all the difference to you and your customer and will be remembered from that time forward.
All retail wants to increase their sales. We want to be able to increase our average sale to maximize the advertising dollars that it took to gain those customers. You can increase the average sale without spending any money simply by harnessing the power of language!
Some words grab your attention immediately. Words such as “Caution”, “Warning”, “Do Not Enter”, all get your attention immediately. We are aware of these and what they mean. But words such as “Nice”, “Pretty”, and “Standard”, all ring hollow and empty. Yet, these empty and meaningless words are the descriptive language used in flower shops across the country to describe one of the most beautiful things on the Earth. That being flowers!
Think about what is pretty to you. It may not be pretty to another person and what does that really mean when it comes to floral arrangements? Are the colors balances? Does it have a color harmony? Does it contain interesting forms and blend textures in a pleasing way? The word ‘pretty’ really doesn’t tell anyone much. “I’ll make it pretty” is a phrase overused in most shops across the country. The same goes for ‘Nice’. What does that really mean to a customer? These are words that are like marshmallow cream, sweet but not very satisfying.
Working with your staff to include better descriptive words is a great way to involve everyone in this process. Descriptive words that one person might be comfortable using may not be as comfortable for another to use, so brainstorm to have a list of ‘comfortable’ descriptive words that everyone can draw from. Make a list of words and hang them by the phones so when a customer calls the words can be seen and will help jog everyone’s memory. Words such as “Lush”, Accented with”, “Classic”, “Most Popular”, “Stylish”, “Keepsake”, “Impressive”, and “Fragrant” are a few words to get the thought process moving. Having adjectives that conjure an image or emotion work best. Think of how a restaurant describes food. You can’t see the food, but when you get done reading the description on the menu, you might be swayed by the description to give it a try. Many wait staff hear the phrase,” That sounds interesting, I think I’ll try that”. Most of the time it is because of the way the words were used to conjure the image.
Training the sales staff to include adjectives will help take you from ordinary to extraordinary! It’s all in the presentation. Close your eyes and try to get a visual image of what or how a floral styling is being described the next time you hear a co-worker guide a customer through a sale. Then, ask yourself if I didn’t know what he or she was talking about, would I be motivated to buy it based on the description I just heard?
Words are your most powerful tools in the flower shop. Use them to your advantage to increase your sales. It is often the words you choose that sell the arrangement or service. Choose them wisely and make them work for you!

Color is one most impactful elements of design that we work with on a daily basis. It is usually the first reaction that customers react to. Color harmonies or collections change from year to year to keep a fresh look happening and interest alive. While often we see some colors repeat year after year, we know these are considered sustaining colors. They are often paired with or combined with newer colors, called trending or emerging colors for a new, fresh look for the new year.
This year at the Society of American Florists, Frank and Margaret Hoffland, from Accent Décor, Kim Morrill, AIFD, and Gretchen Sells from Design Master Color Tool all came together in a collaborative effort to share their ideas and wisdom on the future of color and what we as retailers will be seeing in the year to come. Some will notice a revisit of some familiar colors that have been seen before infused with new life by adding splashes and accents of different colors that were not paired before.
2012 ushers in 3 distinct fresh collections.

DELIBERATE ABANDON: Structured recklessness. – Polychromatic, high chroma colors: Teal, Citron, Raspberry, Tiger Lily, Delphinium, Purple California Poppy, & Driftwood.
Think Anthropology. Think Gen X/Y and baby boomers… Think mother and daughter equally engaged in shopping experiences. Gives the feel of telling your own story; I am the boss of me! Imagine comfort for different generations. Elements and motifs plucked from several decades, including Mid Century Modern, 60’s & 70’s and treasured keepsakes from grandmother’s time.
Flowers that have a strong or exotic identity are favored: Protea, Dahlia, Zinnia, Yarrow, Orchids, Celosia, Gerbera, Callas, Poppies, Lilies, Poppies, Anthurium, Eryngium, Craspedia, & Sunflowers.

CON BRIO: Displaying animation, vigor, or liveliness – Analogous, Burgundy, Deep Coral, Orange Curry, Fuchsia Pink, Loganberry, Violet, Deep Brown, & Champagne Silver.
This is an energetic palette where strong emotions of red dance with dynamic purples and spirited pinks and corals. Since these colors are flattering to many skin tones, it makes this harmony an exceptionally good choice for weddings. These tantalizing colors are quick to catch the consumer’s attention. These colors can be enjoyed in their brightest hues or pulled back to a more pastel version.
Flowers tend to be romantic and feature large, blousy blossoms: Peonies, Hybrid Tea Roses, Garden Roses, Callas, Hydrangea, Lilies, Gladiolas, Orchids, Lisianthus, Tulips, Leucospermum, Stock, Cone Flowers and Carnations.

LAPIS: The Blue Renew – Sapphire, Navy, Emerald, Teal, Turquoise, Chartreuse, Citron, &White.
These colors have a calming and mystical quality making blue the perfect prescription for life in chaotic times. This is the least gender specific color family. Blues have a broad base appeal. Remember light is very important with regard to decorating with blues. It has a decidedly modern aesthetic because of the white presence.
To feature a monochromatic color story of blue, try Hydrangea, Delphinium, Larkspur, Eryngium, Monkshood, Anemone, Iris, Ornitholgolum, Scabiosa, and Statice.

As you can see, 2012 stands to be an exciting year for working with color. Be ready to embrace the freshness of a new year. From contemporary to traditional to retro, 2012 promises to have something for everyone!

Color is one of the best elements of design that you can work to your advantage if you know a few basic characteristics and terms. Knowing the trends in colors in your market area gives you a distinct advantage by keeping you on the forefront of design. Fashion conscious customers like to have the latest colors in their closet and displayed in their homes. Even those customers who may not make major color changes in their home décor every year still want to display touches of the newest color influences. To understand color better, here are a few terms to help you better understand your best friend in design.

TREND LINGO
FAD: Any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period, generally as a result of the behavior’s being perceived as novel in some way. A fad is said to” catch on” when the number of people adopting it begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fade quickly once the perception of novelty is gone. Remember Silly Bands and Pet Rocks?
TREND: The general direction in society in which fashion, style, social consciousness or behavior tends to move. Trends move slower than fads and stay around longer.
EMERGING COLORS: They are the colors gaining strength as seen in new products coming to the marketplace.
SUSTAINING COLORS: These are the colors that have been in the marketplace for a full season and appear to be strong for another one or two years.
CLASSIC COLORS: These colors have found themselves in the marketplace for several years running and still find new life when paired with emerging ones.

COLOR LINGO
HUE: Pure spectrum color commonly referred by color names.
VALUE: Relative lightness or darkness of a color
TINT: The lightness value of any color…a hue with white added
TONE: Midrange value of the color…the hue with gray added.
SHADE: The darkest value of a color…a hue with black added.
CONTRAST of VALUE: Separates objects in space.
GRADATION of VALUE: Suggests mass and contour or a continuous surface.

SAY IT WITH COLOR
YELLOW… Shines with optimism, enlightenment and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colors and instill optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts.
ORANGE… Fun and flamboyant, orange radiates warmth and energy.
RED… Associated with feelings that are energetic, exciting, romantic and passionate. Red commands attention!
VIOLET… Embodies the balance of red’s stimulation and blue’s calm. With a sense of mystic and royal qualities, purple is often well liked by very creative or eccentric types and is the favorite color of many adolescent girls.
BLUE… Perceived as a constant in our lives, like the ocean and the sky. As the collective color of the spirit, it invokes rest and can cause the body to produce chemicals that are calming. It is associated with spiritual realization and intuition.
GREEN… Seen as tranquil and refreshing, the natural greens from forest to lime offer a natural balance of cool and warm undertones. Green is considered the color of peace and ecology.

Now that we have explored some of the characteristics of color, watch in next week’s Floral Features to meet the newest color trends for 2012. They are described as reckless, lively and renewed! Also, just a reminder to mark your calendars as Florabundance hosts the Teleflora Unit design program on October 23rd.

When we hear the word blush, several definitions come to mind. Probably the one many people think of is the reaction to something embarrassing. The skin tone becomes more red and deeper in tone than its regular color. This is the result of the blood rushing to the skins surface. Also blush is a classification of wine. A blush wine is not as heavy in body as a traditional red, but has more color than a white wine.
For the floral industry, Blush is a color tone that is often used in reference when talking about the range between white and pink. Blush is a ‘cosmetic color’ that references a skin tone. Blush is a warmer shade than white with pink and peach being its undertone. Cosmetic colors such as blush are usually easier to work with as the color becomes friendlier to other colors since there is not as much sharp contrast that appears when working with white.
The classic line from the movie Steel Magnolias is when Shelby describes her wedding colors as Blush and Bashful. Her mother is quick to correct her to say her colors are pink and pink, But as we know, Blush is a whisper or tint of pink. As with many colors, dress colors come in and out of fashion. Such is the case with the color Blush. We have been seeing more and more fashionista’s appearing on red carpets and award shows wearing this next year’s fashion forward color. As with most fashion, once they are shown on the movie stars or public figures, these same colors become more popular with the masses. We in the floral industry watch women’s fashion colors closely as this is a barometer for the interior design industry. Historically, what women wear and embrace in wardrobe tends to be a good indicator as to what colors they will use in home décor the following year. Blush makes a great background pallet to layer many stronger colors on top of. Layering is this year’s fashion influence. It is about combining several layers of colors, textures and even fragrances with each other to achieve a totally personal look.
Blush works almost as a neutral pallet that is very friendly to work with colors such as those found in the coral, shrimp, peach, and honeysuckle family. The reason they work together is that they all have one thing in common and that is they are all derivatives of the red family. Adding orange in some amount of percentage and making the color a tint (by adding white) a tone (by adding gray) or a shade (by adding gray) gives us these fashion colors. It is important to know where colors fall on the color wheel so you can make the appropriate suggestions when it comes to weddings, events and home décor settings. Playing with colors is fun and very personal. Some clients play it safe by going more monochromatic in their color choice. One color (mono means one)(chroma means color) is a sophisticated and often understated color presentation. Other clients might be a little bolder and use three to five colors next to each other on the color wheel. This color harmony is called an analogous color harmony. This harmony gives a wider range of colors to work with, but all collections have a primary and secondary color present in the combination. For those clients who want to make a stronger statement when using colors, complimentary color harmonies work the best. These are colors that are found on the opposite side of the color wheel. Red and green, orange and blue, yellow and violet are examples of this color harmony. It makes a strong, bold statement.
Working with color is your way as a designer to personalize just about any event or home interior. Color is the number one element that a person recognizes and has an immediate reaction to so use colors such as Blush to your advantage.

Lots of people perk up when they hear the words ‘designer’ looks. The word designer has many connotations. For those of us in the floral industry, it often has an association with the position of floral designer. When it refers to fashion, it talks about the person who designs the garments. And of course, there are those ‘special sunglasses’ that are oh so Rodeo Dr.
For us, when we hear the word shades, it is often associated with the color wheel. A color has a tint which is lightened by adding white, a tone, which is the true chroma, and a shade which refers to a color that black has been added. All colors can be found on a color wheel and if you look closer, most will show you a value scale which refers to the amount of white or black that is added to a color.
Seasonality has a big impact on color value. For instance, take the color yellow. In the spring, the color is bright and intense. Think about a daffodil or a lemon. The color yellow is bright and alive and makes a very strong impact. Now, take that same yellow and switch seasons to summer. Because of the heat and the strength of the sun, that same yellow has a more bleached or slightly paler look than spring time yellow. While it is still considered yellow, the intensity or color saturation has changed. Now we have autumn. Those yellows turn to wonderful rich gold tones because of the reduced amount of intense sun and cooler nights. Think of yarrow and golden chrysanthemums. And then of course winter yellow turns to bronzy gold for the holiday season.
Most colors go through this type of transition. Even white that starts in spring as a bright white turns to a rich and creamy off white through the seasons. Orange goes from bright tangerine to savory pumpkin as time moves on. You can track most colors through their seasonal changes. It’s fun and exciting to watch the color pallet change over time.
But remember, you may want to add a splash of color to brighten up or wake up sleepy autumn colors. This can easily be accomplished by using either Chartreuse Green or Violet. Both of these colors give life and energy to those surrounding colors that may be a bit dark or sleepy. Also, these two colors are melding or blending colors that help other colors that may be fighting visually come together and ‘play well together’.
Knowing your color wheel and how colors interact with each other is a great asset when it comes to selecting those ‘designer shades’. Enjoy the beauty of the season and check with your Account Manager to find out just what is available this harvest season.

WOW, where did the summer go you ask yourself? It seems we just got Mother’s Day, Proms, and Wedding Season behind us and BAM, summer is over! While some schools have been back to school for several weeks, Labor Day acts as the ‘official’ back to school season. While this may not be a big flower occasion, why not make it a time before the holidays hit to hold some classes or learning opportunities not only for you and your staff, but also consider hosting a seminar or two for those moms who now have free mornings or afternoons to explore their talents at floral designing.
September and October are filled with many educational opportunities. Many wholesale houses across the country are hosting open houses to showcase their fall and Christmas wares. Many bring in top-notch designers from around the country to demonstrate their talents and provide education for all to strengthen their skills. It is of good value to have several persons from your design staff, sales staff and transportation engineers attend so they can all be a part of the season’s success. Often by cross training your staff, you end up with a broader base of talent and everyone helps the other staff persons when necessary. It is good for each person to evaluate and learn not only how to design, but also how to sell, and how a composition moves from design bench to delivery vehicle and still maintains the integrity. Not only are great ideas shared from the designer, open houses give you an opportunity to meet and network with fellow florists in your area. Many times we talk to florists on the other side of town and never get to have any face time with them. Same is true for your Account Manager. Often you may have never met the person is that is responsible for handling your order. Now is the time to be old fashion. Put down the text messages, say good-bye to the computer monitor, and come meet face to face. Many open houses will have other representatives from growers and shippers for you to interface with as well. What a great learning opportunity for you to take advantage of with a minimal cost if any involved. This scores high marks when you invest in the future success of your business!
Now that mom’s have their kids back in school, there is a little more free time around the house, so why not give them the opportunity to try their hand at floral design. You can adjust the number of students you have depending on the amount of room you have in the flower shop. Do your advertising through your web sites, E-mail blasts and in store signing. Have the proto-type made up in the store so the students can see what they will be making in class. It will be easier to sell when they see what they are going to make. Also, post a picture on your web site so those visitors can see the finished example too. By sharing a little of the reasons why and how floral designs are executed, you bond yourself to that customer and they feel a special sense of loyalty to you. This is a good way to find those day moms who might be interested in becoming seasonal help for the upcoming holidays.
Also, remember there are a number of civic and garden club groups that are looking for speakers and presenters during this time of year to entertain small groups. This is an easy way to get your name out in front of a broad audience that you may not have as current customers.
Let’s review. Know your stuff. Be prepared. Do your homework. And most important, HAVE FUN! Be sure to mark your calendars for the Teleflora LA Coastal Unit holiday design program to be held at Florabundance on Sunday, October 23rd. It is open to all.

When we hear the word ‘berry’ many things come to mind. Strawberry, blue berry, raspberry, Logan berry, and cranberry might be just a few of the word associations. Some people might associate the words with edible fruits, while other people might associate the words as descriptive adjectives that describe a color. For those of us in the floral industry we might think of the word berry and associate it with floral products to be used in a floral composition.
Floral components such as berries are often used as an accent in floral designs. While Accent is really a form of emphasis in design, it can be used very effectively as a way to add interest to a composition. Without accents or visual spices for the eye, a floral composition would be rather dull and unattractive just like food prepared without spices. Accents can be a change of form or color or both. Think of using accents just as you would if you were preparing a culinary dish to eat. If you add to many different spices to a food recipe, they battle for attention and the food becomes too complex to enjoy. The same is true in floral design. If there are too many accents vying for attention, the composition becomes too confusing for the eye to absorb and we tend to move on because of being too unsettled.
So accents can be found in many opportunities. Foliage’s can often provide an accent as can some flowers. During this particular time of the year there are many ornamental grasses that provide wonderful accents to designs. Having these grasses such as Millett, Kunzea, Silk grass and Love grass add color and lightness to a late summer / early fall presentation. Another way to add interest is to use berries as a component in your composition. Cranberry Viburnum, Blueberry Viburnum have both beautiful foliage and interesting berries on their stem. The berries are clustered in bunches at the end of the branch, so they show easily when mixed into a floral styling. Hypericum comes in a wide range of colors and it too has berries clustered at the end of the stem. It is a good idea to remove the larger leaves to expose all the berries and to keep from the foliage becoming too stressed. Seeded Eucalyptus and Eucalyptus Pods also have a berry influence and integrate well in design. One of the most popular berry choices is Bittersweet for an autumn influence. Those bright orange berries are often hidden in the casing that needs to be removed to make the berries show. These bright orange-red colors really make a strong impact, so use them judiciously so they do not override the other components.
Accents are fun to work with and it is amazing how just a few ‘spices’ for the eye can and do make all the difference in a floral design. Have fun spicing up your next arrangement