Teleflora, FTD, Proflowers, and your Local Florist

With the three biggest floral holidays (Christmas, Valentine's Day & Mothers Day) coming up in the next several months, you might be wondering about the different ways to order your flowers.  Most people have heard of Pro-Flowers, FTD and Teleflora, but probably don't know exactly what they are, and may even think they are the same thing. But there are huge differences between these services and knowing them will help you decide how you want to send your flowers this year.

There are really three major types of floral delivery services; (1) Courier services aka, "direct-from-grower delivery", aka drop-shipping services, (2) Wire services, aka, third-party delivery services, aka "order-gatherers", aka "the middle man" (3) Local florist delivery services.

An example of the first type, the couriers, would be Pro Flowers. These types of services allow you to purchase flowers through a website at a relatively low cost. The items are generally shown as a pretty arrangement in a vase, and list the types of flowers shown and even allow you to select the type of vase you want. However, the flowers and vase will be shipped in a box and do not come pre-arranged like the picture shows. These businesses operate through warehouses, where flowers are shipped directly from the farms and are held there in storage until they are bunched and boxed according to the specifics of each order. When they are delivered, the recipient is in charge of arranging the flowers in the accompanying vase, or a vase of their own if one was not included in the shipment. This is a fine choice for a lot of people who don't want to spend very much money and are just interested in sending the flowers themselves. But there are two main risks with this method; (1) warehouse workers are not trained in quality control and would not be able to identify damaged/frozen/wilted flowers before placing them in the box for delivery. (2) The person receiving the flowers may not know how to properly re-cut the flowers before placing them in a vase, which may result in the flowers' untimely death.

The second type of service would be what we call the "Wire Services" which include FTD and Teleflora. These are third-party companies who offer memberships to local florists for their services. The florists pay monthly fees for the ability to purchase official keepsakes and containers from the companies, and be able to accept and fill orders placed through the main company website (such as Teleflora.com). This option is nice if you want to save yourself the hassle of finding a local florist to fill your order because the wire service will select it for you based on the zip code you are sending to. The drawback here is that, due to the relationship between the wire service and the filling florist, there are various fees and shared percentages involved that can prevent you from really getting your money's worth. Also, should the filling florist have a question about the order, they would have to get the wire service to contact you, the customer, and it generally takes a lot longer to resolve even the smallest issues.

Working directly with a local florist is really the best way to go. Most of them do have websites where you can order online and many of them carry the FTD or Teleflora keepsakes you might be looking for. Every order is filled by a real person who is trained in the art of floral design. You also benefit by developing a relationship with your local florist. Many companies offer monthly billing accounts, which makes it easier to order and you don't even have to pay up front. Your order history will also usually be saved, so that sending to the same person over and over again is very simple.

We have House Accounts at The Flower Cart, so that our customers can place orders as often as they need to and then they simply pay at the end of the month when they receive their bill.  Our customers find this extremely convenient, especially for corporate accounts who might send flowers or fruit baskets four or five times a week. Some of our most frequent customers can call up and have their order placed in less than two minutes. No joke. And a few of our House Account customers submit their long list of orders via fax or email and never even have to call or visit the website.

I would also recommend visiting your local florist in person or even just calling them directly. They will most likely have flowers or gifts in stock that you never see on the website and can offer you personal assistance in selecting the right product to send for whatever special occasion it may be. This way, you really get the most bang for your buck.

Really, there are too many benefits to ordering through a local florist to not make it your first choice when sending flowers. If you want to get in touch with florist, there are online directories, like Teleflora's Find A Florist (www.findaflorist.com), which allow you to enter a zip code or city and see a list of florists in that area. If you give one of these shops a call, you'll get a real person who has probably been in the business for many years, and will offer you great customer service and a product you'll be 100% satisfied with.

And if you need to send flowers in Baltimore, it's a no-brainer. The Flower Cart  has three locations in Baltimore, we have a great website, and we have been in business for 50 years.

All About Poinsettias

   Poinsettias were introduced into the US by Joel Roberts Poinsett who brought a plant across the border from Mexico in the year 1825. They are now one of the most popular florist items sold during the month of December and by far the most popular plant.  It's festive coloring and unique shape have made the Poinsettia a favorite holiday gift across the US.
 
   Most people believe that Poinsettias boast huge flowers in red, white, pink, and other varieties. However, the truth is, these brightly colored "petals" are actually specialized leaves called "bracts".  The cluster of bracts does the work of attracting pollinators to the real flowers, which are the tiny yellow and red bulbs in the center of the cluster.  The uniqueness of this plant and the look of its specialized leaves is part of why it has become so popular.

    As beautiful and unique as they are, many people have chosen to avoid the Poinsettia claiming the plant is wildly toxic to any child or pet who wanders near to have a taste. This rumor has been going around since 1919 and we've all heard it. But the fact is that the poinsettia is not toxic enough to harm anyone. The American Veterinary Medicine Association does not even include it on its list of plants that may be harmful to pets.
 
   Numerous studies have been conducted to test the alleged toxicity of the plant. One study in particular was conducted at Ohio State University and involved the feeding of various parts of the poinsettia plant to test rats. Even in extremely large doses, the plant had no ill effects.
  
  Study results released by Poisindex (a major source for poison control centers) states that it would take over a pound, or at least 500 Poinsettia leaves or bracts for a small child to eat an amount that would be considered toxic in any way.  A quantity this high would probably cause upset stomach, and possibly vomiting. But eating one pound of pretty much anything would give you the same results.

   Really, the only risk this plant poses to anyone is that its sap can be a mild irritant, and individuals with latex allergies should avoid handling them.

  As the general public begins to find this information available to them on websites and blogs like this one, hopefully the fear of "Poinsettia poisoning" will dissipate and more and more people will be able to appreciate this lovely plant for all it has to offer.

Poinsettia plants come in a huge variety of colors and shapes including naturally cultivated, and artificially dyed varieties. The favorite of most, is the classic Red, which actually comes in several shades and shapes. "Snowcap White" is probably the second most popular choice for the holidays. There are also several shades of pink which are growing in popularity. Then there are the combination and variegated colors such as:

"Marble"-  a pink and white variety.
"Jingle Bells" - typically red with pink flecks.
"Burgundy" - usually "Cortez Burgundy", a deep purplish red.

There are dozens of other varieties with fun names like "Ice Punch", "Peppermint Pink", "Shimmer", "Strawberries & Cream" and "Apricot Candy", each brandishing their own unique combo of colors ranging from bright white and yellow to shades of  pink, and red.

Dyed and glittered plants are now available as well. This year, for the first time, The Flower Cart  is carrying both Blue and Purple glittered Poinsettias.

With over 100 different varieties on the market today, the appeal of this plant is steadily growing and each year over 50 million are sold in the United States alone. And with the myth of toxicity behind us, the Poinsettia is sure to remain a holiday favorite for years to come.

Cart History Lesson: the Junkfood Junkie

Once upon a time in the mid 1980's, the owner of the Flower Cart, Mr. Fred Koletar, hired a local Hamilton graphic designer to take his idea for a snack container to the next level. He had already designed the box, but really wanted a professional to perfect the look. The design that Mr. Doyle came up with would become one of the best-selling items in the history of The Flower Cart and throughout the floral industry.

You've probably seen it and have most likely purchased it for someone (or yourself ). Here it is today:

The original design looked a little different, but hit all the right points. It even had a hole in the front where the candy and snacks would actually spill out.

(I think it was decided that this guy looks a little bit too manic for the general public. I kinda like it. It makes me feel super excited about candy.)

After the new design was completed, The Flower Cart began its largest ad campaign in all of its now 50 years in business. We pushed the Junkfood Junkie, and we pushed it hard.

Fred Koletar had a knack for advertisement. He wasn't afraid to push the envelope and had a way of getting consumers' attention with unique ads that bordered on the uncomfortable. I've pulled a few from the "archives" to give you a glimpse into our 1980's style product advertisement.

After the Junkfood Junkie became wildly popular, the number of ads promoting it reduced to almost nothing and most of the sales came simply by word-of-mouth. People who had received it from friends and loved ones, called us up the next occasion they had to send a gift and requested it. And so on and so forth for years.

Then some time in the 90's, the decision was made to sell the design to a gift box company who would distribute it to shops like our across the United States.  Today, gift basket companies and florists like us around the country can purchase the box and sell Junkfood Junkie arrangements in their own towns.

Mike Koletar still feels a strong sense of pride every time he opens a fresh case of Junkfood Junkie boxes, knowing that his father designed one of the most successful products sold in the floral industry in the last 20 years.

Too bad he botched that deal on the royalties...

Gearing Up for Engagement Season

It seems that a lot of people tend to get engaged around the holidays. Go figure. So that's why why are planning to attend some wedding shows in the early months of the new year.

Right now, we are trying to find inspiration for displays and arrangements to showcase at these events.
It's really great for us to be able to show off our creativity and maybe show some brides-to-be something they've never seen before. 

So as we finish up the work for the final 2011 weddings, we try to take time to stop and look at what really gets us pumped up, what gets our creative juices flowing.

Stuff like this:

CLASSY!


and THIS:

RAINBOWS!

November news

This month is when we have to really get our act together, since Christmas is one of our biggest holidays, and we're coming up on engagement season.

So we had a company meeting last night, catered by Chick-fil-A. It's so much easier to think when you have a stomach full of yummy chicken. So we were able to get the ball rolling on a lot of good ideas for improving our websites, customer service, and some other technical things that will help us out. There is a lot of new technology that we want to start taking advantage of in the near future.

Speaking of which, check out these gems from the Flower Cart Museum of Ancient and Obsolete Technology:

TELEVIDEO MONITOR

CONTINUOUS FEED PRINTER

ENORMOUS COPIER MACHINE (with storage?)

SOME KIND OF SAFE?

????????????????????? with a hand crank

 

ANTIQUE PORCELAIN STAMP ROLLER!

This last one was a complete mystery to me for quite some time. Finally, I approached Miss Bev with the object and she identified it for me immediately. Apparently one would fill the basin with water and roll the cylinder to wet it, then wipe a postage stamp on the wet surface. Then one would apply the stamp to an envelope containing a piece of paper with words on it. Then someone picks up the envelope in a truck and delivers it to the intended recipient's home within a few days.

It's so.....primitive.

More new products

Our new camera got here quickly, so we are already busy creating custom products for the website. One of the other new plant items we got in is Lucky Bamboo. These have always been in high demand, but up until recently, we could not find a reliable supplier. Now we will be getting new shipments in every 2 weeks or so. They are really cute.

And the Blue Orchids are now online! The Flower Cart - Blue Orchid Plant

New products on the way

We are currently working on a few new custom products for the website, including some interesting glass terrariums. Some are some designed specifically for sympathy gifts, which are quite pretty. They have etching on the glass and little white cherubs seated inside. These may become available online.

There are some other interesting plants coming in as well. We had a shipment of dyed blue phalaenopsis orchids in last week. They are very cool. I'll be posting a pic of them later. We are 99.9% sure they will be available online within the next two weeks.

We are in the process of ordering a new camera for the main store, for things like this. And for photographing our wedding work, which has always been exceptional, but never consistently recorded.

We had an awesome wedding two weeks ago, where the bridesmaids, all dressed in black, each carried a different colored mono-chromatic bouquet. The different colors were yellow, hot pink, green, purple, orange, and blue. Some of the flowers that were used were mini-callas, alstromeria, mini-carnations, and mokara orchids. It all turned out fantastic!

Unfortunately, this is the best (read:only) photo we have of the work:

It's a hot mess. But our new camera is on its way, and the photo area is being set up as we speak. So from now on, we will be able to take photographs that do justice to the work. And we'll be able to add more and more custom Flower Cart products to the website, so our customers will be able to see all the neat stuff we get in without having to pay us a visit. Although we do enjoy the company.

Blast from the Past

We recently discovered these photos of wedding bouquets crammed in a desk drawer. I had no idea how long they had been there, but they looked pretty, so I snatched them up. It wasn't until I saw the time stamp on the last photo that I realized that they are all from 2001. That's 10 years ago!

So what do decade-old Flower Cart wedding bouquets look like? Well, they look something like this:

Fall at The Cart

The Fall season is a great time for us at The Flower Cart.  We begin easing out of the slow summer months and into the busy holidays. And the flowers we get in this time of year are always beautiful. Sunflowers, calla lilies, a million different kinds of mums in all the fall colors.

Right now we're preparing for Homecoming and then Thanksgiving. We have some great stuff for corsages this year including beads, rhinestones, colored wire, and FEATHERS. Oh, the feathers. They come in so many shades, it's amazing. Here are just a few:

Soon we'll be gearing up to fill all the Thanksgiving centerpiece orders. We'll tell you more about what we have in store for those when it gets closer.

so we've started a blog....

We wanted to provide another way for customers to get to know us. So we've set up this blog in order to keep you updated with what's going on at our company, in the floral industry, and just give you a more intimate look at who your local florist is.

We hope you'll follow us here and on our facebook page or twitter, so that we can stay connected.