The best thing you can do is call a florist that is local to the area where you want the flowers delivered. It keeps the local florists in business, and allows for a personal choice based on what is available locally that will be best.

That's also an option. I tried to find out who the local florist was but my relative never answered me. I was so disgusted with the florist anyway I want to avoid her for future arrangements. I'm afraid in that small town she may be the only florist....if they have only one hotel they probably have only one florist. But I do agree with you, talking to a florist directly is a good idea...in most cases.

Flying flower, just for your future reference:

You can get a list of all the florists (or any other business) around an address simply by finding the address in google and then typing florist in the search box above where it says, "Find businesses, addresses and places of interest." There may only be one florist in that town, but there may be others in nearby towns.

I usually call a local florist, tell them what I'm looking for and then I ask them what flowers they have that are fresh and will last long in an arrangement. Sometimes I tell them that I will personally see the arrangement- that way they are less apt to substitute cheaper flowers than agreed upon in the phone call.

One other option is to call a florist in your area that you've done business with and tell them what you want and then ask if they can contact a florist in the area where you want the flowers sent. We arranged with our hometown florist to contact a florist in Boston to have an orchid plant delivered in the middle of January to an important client. We didn't want to take a chance that the delivery would be bungled. The client was impressed.

Flyingflower, it's possible your cousin doesn't know.
With my fiasco, she didn't know either. It also appears they didn't bring a marked delivery van either.

The article you linked to is 2 years old. I'd do more research before considering Organic Bouquet.

I've yet to do a review on google of 1-800flowers, maybe I'll go do that now.

I don't know what the answer is.. If I need to send flowers I might go to my local supermarket and buy the stuff myself then Fed-ex it out, which I've done once using roses from my garden.

I ordered several hundred roses and a few dozen Kermit Mums from Organic Bouquet for a reception a few years ago. Their service was exceptional and the product amazingly fresh. I was glad to know they were not only organic but grown where working conditions were not hazardous to the employees. I had budget constraints that did not allow me to use a local florist, but I do always feel that going local first is a good idea for many things.

I'm afraid I have to give ORGANIC BOUQUET a big THUMBS DOWN! I ordered two bouquets for different people across the country. OB did not include the card on the first delivery so the recipient had no idea who it came from. With the 2nd delivery they didn't include the free vase and now she tells me the flowers are not opening. I asked her if she cut them before putting into water so as not to create an air gap and she says she did. She is disappointed that the flowers have stayed tightly shut and are now expiring 2 days later.

My search continues for a reliable from-the-grower delivery service.

eek, that's so disappointing. I try to look at websites to get an idea of local florists, it's really hard to judge though.

Have you tried Proflowers? My DH uses this company often and the flowers are beautiful, last a long time and are relatively inexpensive. DH has bought me flowers from local florists as well as 1800flowers but none of them last as long as the flowers from proflowers, I would encourage you to give them a try. We haven't bought flowers from any other place since. Good Luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: proflowers

I have a side question for flyingflower: what do you mean about cutting buds? I tried to use a dahlia bud I cut from a plant the other day and it never opened. Usually they do. Did I do something different? How should I cut dahlia buds so they will definitely open? TIA.

I did not have great luck with Proflowers the two times I've used them (I had coupons and a case of the late-night frantics) so YMMV. I ordered one of the huge dendrobium orchid assortments from them and they arrived very tired-looking, wilting within a couple of days (dendrobiums are supposed to last a LOT longer than that, a week or more, which is why I chose them). The second time they had a rose special (2 dozen for the price of one) and the roses arrived overblown and dropping petals. Yes, Proflowers replaced them both times, but the recipients had to go through some rigmarole to get the new flowers which was pretty embarrassing.

Sounds awful but try calling hospitals and funeral homes in the destination location and asking about florists there. They will probably not be able to say "So-and-so is the best florist" but they'll be able to give you names that you can then contact. Sure, there might be only one florist in THAT town, but there might be one next town over that delivers to that town. When you call the florists, ask if there's any chance they can email you photos of work they've done and discuss with you what flowers are in season, what's affordable and what's not, what days flowers are delivered, etc. Let them know that you have relatives in the area and that you're looking for a "go-to" florist for many different occasions - like any business, florists tend to be more interested in repeat customers rather than "one-offs". NEVER call on Fridays, anytime during the week before holidays like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day - first thing in the morning on something like a Tuesday is usually a good time, although check your calendar to make sure it's not something weird like "Administrative Assistants' Day".

My mum used to be a florist. Frankly, she hated working with the big franchises like Teleflora and FTD because she had to pay fat fees to use the franchise name and be on the referral list, she made very little on the arrangements after buying the stupid mandatory containers - which were usually poorly made, overpriced, and ugly - and was allowed little flexibility to use what looked best off the truck that day. For instance if the specified-by-the-franchise arrangement called for stargazer lilies and the stargazer lilies were nightmarishly expensive that week and looked like h*ll coming off the truck, TDB, stargazers it must be or she could lose her franchise license because the customer would be hysterical about not having those stargazer lilies that were in the catalog. When she was working directly for a client, she could call them and say "you know, the stargazers are just terrible this week, but the whatchamacallits are fantastic - what do you think about substituting those?"

She and I still get a laugh about the "rebranding" of dirt-cheap alstroemeria as "Peruvian lilies" and the price commensurately skyrocketing.

fly...I don't understand your question about cutting buds. I was referring to cutting the tips of the stem so it can take up fresh water without air pockets clogging it up. I never cut buds to make them open, didn't know there was a way to do it so if someone has a trick I'd like to know myself! I know that warm water can make flowers open faster and if a bud isn't too tight it may still open.

johnmarie...I'm fascinated reading your "insider" information! I like to know the things florists do that we aren't aware of. If you have any more insights please share. Alstromeria as Peruvian Lilies....HA!

So the general consensus here is that it's best to locate a florist and call them directly. That way they can tell you exactly what flowers are good that day. When FTD refused to give me the name of the florist that right there sent of warning flags to me. Too controlling.

I contacted Organic Bouquet and they said they will send the flowers again. So I'm feeling a little better about it. And just to make sure I've sent flowers to myself! They had a special, buy one dozen roses get another dozen for free. After sending flowers to people all these years I've never sent any to myself so I decided to have some fun and splurge. When they arrive I'll take pictures and post them here so we can critique them together. :o)

I like the idea of organic flowers so I'm going to give this company another chance. If they mess up again then I'll deal with florists directly from now on. The florists where I live must be pretty good because I've always received beautiful of arrangements (then again I didn't know what they were supposed to look like). Since I've been impressed with flowers sent to me all these recent problems have come as a surprise, I seem to have less luck when I send flowers than vice versa. Even though I'm blowing a lot of money at the moment I'd rather flush this problem out now and be done with it so I know what to do in the future.

here's a bouquet that was delivered to me yesterday; pure delight, and it's from one of my favorite flower shops...... called Flore , in Montreal.
it's so much fun getting flowers delivered to you.......

the container is square black glass, I'll reuse it for sure.

Oh lucky you- that arrangement is simply stunning. I love the use of the large leaves as a base for the roses and hydrangeas. I can barely make out a spiral going around the calla lilies- can you tell me what it is and how it's attached?

mcmann, here are a few pics of how that wire is threaded, right into the stem of the callas ; this is sunday morning and the arrangement looks as fresh as it did thursday afternoon.
The wire is covered in thin green grey plastic.

Here is a picture of the roses I received from Organic Bouquet. The special was buy one dozen get a second dozen for free. They arrived on time and in excellent condition. Very long stem roses. I was especially impressed with the free vase. I expected a vase that looks like the dollar vases you get from florists (who must shop at Michaels for them). So cheap and ugly I never reuse them. But this vase that Organic Bouquet sent is so nice I'm keeping it. It is made from recycled green glass, in Spain, specially for O.B. I love it.

The roses lasted a long time, over a week, some colors more than others. The pink ones lasted the longest.

What I did notice with the "buy one get one free" offer is that the 2nd dozen of roses is not the same mix of colors that you get with the first dozen. Clearly they're sending roses they have extras of, in this case two colors...whites and orange. I dislike orange flowers but I kept them in the bouquet because they created a pretty rainbow effect to the arrangement. As far as orange roses go these were very nice, they had a two-tone color to them that I'm sure those who are partial to orange would like.

I don't know why but out of the 2 dozen flowers I received not one was yellow. I like yellow roses so that was a little disappointing but I really can't complain because the roses as a whole were very beautiful.

As for the card. It's not a card at all. It's a little piece of paper. When I ordered the bouquet I forgot to add a note. Even though I was sending these to myself I wanted to see what the note looks like. So I immediately tried to change my order to include a message and there was NO way to alter it. Once you click the send button you can't change a thing! I sent a quick email telling them I just placed an order and I want to add a message so would they please correct that for me. And I gave them the message to be printed on the *card*. Well no one bothered to read my email so when the flowers arrived the card was blank. There was enough time to read the email and fix it but they didn't. Funny, even though there is no message they still throw the blank card in the box.

Here's my final critique of Organic Bouquet. The product is good but the operations end of the business needs work. There's no convenient way to reach them quickly, customer service is asleep at the switch.

After all that with the flowers guess what I receive on Thursday... a GIFT BASKET (from a friend who visited us awhile back). I flipped over it...this gorgeous basket was filled with an assortment of delicious edible treats and small tools like a cheese cutter and a miniature scissors to aid in the opening of the packages! How cute is that!

I now know what I'm going to do from now on. Skip the flowers, for almost the same amount of moeny you can send a gift basket instead!!

{{gwi:1513756}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Gift Tree

Beautiful arrangement, a work of art! And it goes so with your decor.

..it goes so WELL with your decor.

mitchdesj- thanks for posting the close ups of the arrangement. They are even more spectacular when you can see the diffferent flowers and leaves that the florist used. I am impressed with the floral wire going through the stems like that. I'd probably snap off the stem if I tried that.

Alas, the arrangement is gone, not bad, 6 days ................. the calla lilies turned brown at the edges overnight.
the square black glass vase looks good.

Well Mitchdesj now it's time to utilize your creative eye and design a new arrangement. I can easily see sunflowers in that black vase. Is that empty vase calling to you?

what a great idea, mcmann, I'll cut the stems short and let them overlap the vase; sunflowers or gerberas would do fine. I have the clean vase sitting on my counter right now.

The nicest arrangement I ever sent was after calling a hospital for ideas of florists in their town. I was directed to exactly the type of florist I wanted and they delivered big time.

I do that too. Flowers die at different rates so when an arrangement starts to age I take it apart and disperse the flowers into smaller vases, that way I can have flowers throughout the house. As they fade further I group what's left into new arrangements until I end up back to one vase again!

{{gwi:1513757}}