By Irene Donnelly
Valentine's Day is a day of constant motion and excitement in the floral industry. We happily assist droves of semi-panicked lovers trying to piece together last minute gifts… all in the name romance. As floral designers we are eager to help everyone find the perfect gesture of love for their Valentine. For me, I tend to like helping the inexperienced, the procrastinator and the perplexed with their orders the best. These giddy, mostly new lovers tend to be adorably refreshing and thoughtful.
Of course, not everyone is last minute and inexperienced. There happens to be a minority of wise, generally older, married individuals who pre-order flowers for pick up or delivery a week or so in advance. These people seem to realize the significance of the sentiment and have learned the tricks of the trade. Many have burned by long lines, florists running out of flowers and the overall mayhem of V-day shopping. That being said, I don't want to scare anyone away from facing a floral shop on Valentine's Day, it's really not that bad but it does help to be prepared.
The panic that sets in seems to revolve around not knowing what to buy. Take my advice. Think about your Valentine. Are they classic? Earthy? Modern? Trendy? Etc. A good floral designer will be able to execute any adjective into flowers. Trust the designers and if you're really smart preorder! (order here).
When in doubt…locally grown tulips are sure to please.
A short history on Tulips: Second behind roses as the most popular V-day bouquet, tulips are clean, fresh and classy. They originated as a wild flower in Turkey and were often adorned in Turkish turbans, hence their name. (not because they looked like "Two Lips." )
The bulbs made their way to the Netherlands over four hundred years ago, where they became such a commodity they ended up being an extremely profitable investment opportunity and everyone wanted in. "Tulip Mania," as it was called, had many of the Dutch buying bulbs in hopes of finding a desirable genetic mutation coupled with a big cash pay out. It was a gamble to grow tulips that had a new trait unique from existing tulips. If a Dutchman did happen to spring up the next big thing, well…they got sticking rich. But as we know, playing the stinking rich game doesn't pay off in the long run and usually crashes an economy. It eventually did.
At Local Color Flowers we will have tulips from Van Dyke Brothers Farm in New Jersey. While they are the farthest farm from the shop that we buy flowers from, they are still comparatively local when you think about the greater scheme of valentine's day flowers. (114 miles) In addition to tulips, we'll have the usual hyper local magic we normally have this time of year including snapdragons, paperwhites, flowering branches and locally grown evergreens.
We will have bouquets of tulips (and other local goodness) ready to "grab and go" at three locations on Valentine’s Day :
The Quintessential Gentlemen located downtown at 31 South Calvert Street from 11am-2pm
Chesapeake Wine Company at the Can Company in Canton from 11 until …the sell out!
Our shop in Charles Village all day until 7pm. We’re located at 3100 Brentwood Ave. PLEASE call before you come by to make sure we can accommodate your request!
Wondering what the most remarkable and distinguishing fact about the Tulip is? It continues to grow once it's been cut from the bulb.
That means long after you give your tulips as a gift, your lover will be able to watch these flowers grow taller and taller and higher still. Other flowers may open and change but no others will grow as dramatically tall. Isn't that a nice symbolic sentiment to give to your Valentine? That your love grows?
