Looking to increase your by-the-stem sales for your eager DIY customers? The February issue of Real Simple magazine does its part to help.

In the article "The Best Bouquets: Want to assemble a bouquet like a pro? Pick the perfect blooms for your vessel," writer Sarah Stebbins, with the help of several designers, gives advice on the best flowers and branches for six different vessels.

Some of the tips included in the article (which is worth laminating and posting in your shop for customers, if you can still find the issue on newsstands):

• Tulips or other species with long, supple stems, like ranunculus, go well in urn-shaped vases because it gives them room to grow. A widemouthed urn gives (tulips) space to "move and do their thing," says Ian Prosser, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, owner of Botanica International Design Studio, Tampa, Fla.

• The best fits for a cylindrical vase are hydrangeas and other flowering branches, peonies, sunflowers, or any bloom with a large head and bulky stem. This combo works because the height and the narrow shape of a cylinder can "make an abundant bouquet of shrub-like flowers look more controlled," Prosser says.

• Roses fit well in a rounded vase (as do other species with rigid stems, such as daises, chrysanthemums and carnations) because they can stand tall in a container that has a generous opening.

Real Simple also advised its readers how to keep those arrangements alive longer by putting seven strategies for keeping flowers fresh to the test and posting the results on its Web site.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 


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