How To Buy Flowers
If you require flowers for the purpose of using them over the weekend, we suggest placing your order for a Friday delivery. This way the flowers can be received and kept fresh until you're ready to use them the following day.
how to buy flowers
Burlap is part of the DNA of Farmgirl Flowers. When founder and CEO, Christina Stembel started the company one of the ways she wanted to change how flowers were sold was to reduce the single-use plastic that is endemic in the industry. She drafted a (nearly) shortlist of alternatives to the typical cellophane bouquet wrap and on it was burlap. Born out of her memories of potato sacks that were a dime a dozen back home in Indiana where she grew up, Christina quickly learned that burlap is also compostable, a trait that gave it a leg up over the other materials on her list but especially over plastic.
Whether you're staying in or going out, getting romantic with your spouse or your brand-new bedmate, you're probably going to want to pick up some flowers this Valentine's Day. . Better yet, order them in advance so you don't have to fight like a junkyard dog for the last $25 bundle of hydrangeas at Whole Foods. Here's how to do that with more style, class, and general savvy than any man your partner has ever encountered before. In other words, how to win Valentine's Day.
"Hold them behind your back with one hand...reveal. Girls love that, I would." says Sarah Ryhanen, founder of Saipua a New York flower mini empire that includes a Brooklyn shop, upstate flower farm, and floral design school. "I just think all flowers are romantic. If you are buying flowers, you win." Still Ryhanen recommends you choose seasonal blooms to ensure peak freshness. She also suggests presenting your flowers in a unique way and partners with local ceramicist Julianne Ahn of Object and Totem to create limited-edition vessels guaranteed to blow anyone's mind.
We will help you send happy birthday flowers, order get well bouquets, send funeral flowers, and order everyday beautiful florals just because. With a huge variety of fresh, local flower arrangements, we're sure you'll be able to find the right flowers to deliver for just about anyone!
If you don't know what flowers to buy, you can shop flowers by type and choose from roses, carnations, daisies, tulips, lilies, and more. Visit the meaning of flowers glossary so you know exactly what you're saying with your online flower delivery.
Teleflora flowers are 100% arranged and delivered by local florists in your area. That means every bouquet will be delivered right to your door with the utmost care. We are also utilizing contactless delivery for your safety and the safety of our local florists.
Again, this is company-specific. Usually, the deal is good. The reason for this is that the online company can source the flowers in bulk for a lower price than the local flower farmer can produce the flower.
Some cities, like here in Raleigh, are flower farmer-friendly. Supermarket chains will buy flowers from local farmers and sell them in the stores to consumers. Check with your local stores to see if they do the same.
Beautiful flowers: Because beauty is a matter of taste, we looked for services that offered a large selection of interesting, stylish arrangements. We also tested some bouquets from brands that felt more traditional and classic. When the flowers arrived, we looked for appropriately sized, full blooms. We docked points from bouquets that had wilting flowers, crushed or damaged blooms, or too much filler.
Good packaging: We preferred flowers that arrived well packaged, without broken vases or crushed blooms. Some services included vases, whereas others, such as UrbanStems, sent the flowers in gift boxes. Either way, we gave bonus points if the packaging enhanced the flowers it contained.
In our original 2020 testing, we narrowed the field to services we felt offered the best combination of our criteria: Benchmark Bouquets, The Bouqs Company, Farmgirl Flowers, FTD, 1-800-Flowers.com, Teleflora, and UrbanStems. We ordered a bouquet from each contender, assessing the website, delivery times, packaging, and style. We also noted how fresh the flowers were on arrival and watched how they aged over time. We added the included flower food to the vase and placed each bouquet in bright, indirect light. In addition, we assessed how true the arrangements were to their online photos. After determining our favorites, we then tested them further by ordering bouquets for staffers in Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis, and Rochester, New York, and we had them assess those bouquets using the same criteria.
We ordered the Get Well Wishes and the Sunset Bliss floral arrangements, each of which cost about $50 and included vases. The 5% nonmember surcharge and the tax added about $7 to the order. The Get Well Wishes bouquet itself was beautiful but looked nearly nothing like its photo on the site. Where that photo has orange roses, yellow lilies, and purple daisies, the bouquet we received had light pink roses, yellow daisies, small purple flowers, orange lilies, tiny yellow sprigs, and green leafy filler. The bouquet lasted about five days before wilting.
A beautiful bouquet of flowers that starts to wither and wilt after only a few days of enjoyment is one of the most disappointing things. For tips on how to save yours from such a tragic fate, we consulted Nicole Cavender, director of The Huntington Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles.
If you know your recipient has springtime allergies, you should seek out flowers that are low-pollen spreaders. Orchids, azaleas, begonias, cacti, succulents, camellias, hibiscus, hydrangeas, irises, and roses are the best options according to the botanical staff at The Huntington.
If you have had the opportunity to check out my instagram page or even my weekly blog posts, you know that I have a bit of a fresh flower habit. I absolutely love the way fresh flowers look in my house. I love the versatility of an arrangement and the variety of floral types and colors available. Flowers are a wonderful way to experiment with different pops of color in a room/space without ever having to fully commit. In addition, flowers add a thoughtful (and domestic!) touch and are an entertaining staple for me both on tablescapes and bedside tables when I am hosting house guests.
A question I am frequently asked is "Where do you buy your flowers and how often?" Since I do not have access to a local flower market (a luxury I often dream of), I buy the majority of my flowers from my local grocery stores. I do live near a florist, but the flowers sold there are not economical for maintaining on a weekly basis. My absolute favorite flower source would have to be Trader Joe's. Whether I am looking for roses, hydrangeas, lilies, ranunculus, peonies or tulips, Trader Joe's always offers a fabulous assortment at very competitive prices.
When buying flowers, its extremely important to check the petals. You want to make sure you do not see any dried black ends or brown spots. Dried black ends are an indication that the flowers are past their prime and brown spots are an indication that the flowers were cut improperly (see my post on flower care for more information on cutting flowers properly). In a nutshell, dried black ends or brown spots on your petals are indications of shortened flower lifespans (i.e. they will die relatively quickly post purchase).
Stems should be wet at the time of purchase, indicating that they have been stored in water (thus properly preserving them). In addition, you want to look for flowers that have not yet bloomed. Tightly closed bulbs indicate that the flowers have been freshly cut and have not yet peaked. Flowers that have opened their bloom have been sitting for a while and will most likely not last very long once you take them home. The only exception to this rule is if you need to buy flowers for a party you are hosting that same day, then I would endorse the purchase of blooms that have already opened.
One of the worst things you can do when going to buy flowers is to already have determined the flower color you plan on purchasing. Flowers are not a predictable product, meaning that there are days at the store when the red roses are looking awesome and other days when the white hydrangeas are riddled with brown spots on their petals. You will set yourself up for floral disappointment if you try to force a purchase decision based strictly on color. Go into the store with an open mind and ALWAYS buy whatever looks best. Flowers are beautiful regardless of color and its much easier to work with a beautiful bouquet of yellow sunflowers than it is to work with limp snapdragons.
Just like produce, try to buy flowers that are in season (Links to 2 great resources - here and here). Purchasing a flower during the peak of it's season will not only yield the most aesthetically pleasing version of that bloom, but the floral varietal is also most affordable during it's peak because it is currently in abundance. Sure, you can find peonies to purchase in September (at a cost of $8.99/stem), or you can wait until late May/early June for your peonies fix and pay between $8.99-$12 for 5 stems! Of course the best/most affordable option is to grow peonies in your backyard, but if you are without a yard (like me) then this seasonal purchasing strategy is the way to go.
Flower arranging most certainly involves a degree of planning. When selecting flowers for an arrangement, considering the vases you have at home is critical. Color, shape and size are all necessary components to factor into your decision. From my experience with flowers thus far, I know I have certain vases that work best for hydrangeas and certain vases that I can only use to arrange ranunculus. In order to ensure that your flowers look their best when you arrange them at home, have a vase in mind at the time of your flower purchase. This will also ensure that the flowers are trimmed and transferred shortly after arriving home, thus increasing their longevity as well. 041b061a72