The Flower Blog

We proudly tell customers daily that we get flowers from all around the world.  That doesn’t mean we don’t get flowers from right here in Indiana! In the spring we get tulips and daffodils. During the summer we get a large assortment of flowers from local growers! The great thing is, not only are we able to get flowers that we can also get in winter months out of state but we can also get flowers native to Indiana only and would not be able to get them at any other time of year!
 

I made a short video for you to show you what we got from one of our local growers this week. But every week they have different things available so don’t think that’s all we’ve got! You’ll just stop in the store every week to see what’s new! Of course we are also carrying our regular stock of fresh flowers so there is always tons of variety!  You'll also notice a picture of my English Bulldog named Pearl! She comes to work with me on most Saturdays and Loves kids!


We also buy many of our plants locally.  Such as green houseplants and blooming plants. Like poinsettias at Christmas, Mums in the fall and hanging baskets in the spring! 


We use some of our local flowers in many of the Summer Bouquets! Check them out now!

What do dogs have to do with the days of summer????

The dog days of summer refer to the time of year that the days are long and unbearably hot.  They respond by lying around all day panting and waiting for the heat and haze of the day to fade into evening cool.  

 

 

Unlike dogs, we cannot afford this behavior.  Don't just lie down and take it!  Try a refreshing and exhilarating walk through our 500 square foot cooler at Gillespie Florist's.  Not only will your temperature be dropped but you will also be surrounded by incredible beauty and the mixed natural scents of several varieties of flowers.  This temperature is maintained at a perfect 36 degrees to keep all the flowers from around the world at their peak of freshness.  

While you take this leisurely stroll you may wish to pick a few to take home to your kitchen table.  A cool reminder that even though it may be hot and dismal outside; bright colors and sweet fragrance of fresh flowers will always brighten your day. Drop by our store today for a visit and leave the laying around to the dogs!

Don't have time to stop by? Check out our great summer bouquets on our website!

 

Here at Gillespie Florists we LOVE Gerbera Daisies! They are so versatile, come in tons of colors and just make you want to smile! Customers love them too! Every week, we sell hundreds of them!

We offer two different sizes in Gerbera Daisies: Mini Gerberas and Regular Gerberas. For short we call the Gerbs!
Customers love to come into our 500 square foot walk in cooler and hand pick their Gerbs. Sometimes they will mix the Gerbs with other flowers or just get all Gerbs. My favorite combination is mixing Gerbera daisies with regular daisies. Regular daisies are much smaller than a Gerb and are less expensive. So, That is a great way to get a big colorful bouquet without breaking the bank!
  Because Gerbs come in an infinite number of colors, if you are looking for a specific one, you may want to give us a call and see if we have them in stock or if we can order them in for you.

The Gerbera Daisy is the type of flower to lift your mood! Which is probably why people like them so much! We use them in weddings all the time! Then it makes an easy choice for husbands if they want to get a small pick me up for their wife in years to come because I think there will always be Gerbera Daisies!

Check out this great video I took yesterday of all the colors of Gerbera Daisies we had in stock! It's hard to believe there is so much variety on any given day but here at Gillespie Florists, There Is!

Click below to check out bouquets with Gerbera Daisies!

  Celebrating the 4th this weekend? Whether you are hosting your own party or going to one, flowers are a must! Celebrate Independence Day with floral fireworks! Create your own fireworks display with sparkling bouquet from Gillespie Florists. You can even celebrate the Fourth of July with red roses or plants. However you decide to celebrate, Gillespie Florists can send your bouquet nationwide or locally here in Indianapolis.
 You don't have to spend a lot to add flowers to your party! Celebration of Independence is a vase filled with delphinium, daisies, carnations and an American Flag!
 Product Code: GF40
 Price: $29.95
  Want something a little different? Check out this 1948 Ford truck container filled with red carnations, daisies and red, white & blue ribbon! The truck makes a great keepsake item!

Product Code: 08F15

Price: $48.95

Check out all of our July 4th specials! There are not just flowers but plants too! Also check out the rest of our website for gift baskets, garden stones and figurines!

 

Click Below to Shop July 4th Flowers!

Watch our July 4th video!

  What is it about Zombies that appeals to us? Zombies have been notably popular since the late 19th century and these days are exceedingly popular in these United States! 
Zombies are known for their eating habits- eating human flesh and brains, causing a breakdown of civilization- a Zombie Apocalypse, and looking grotesque with torn clothes, bugs crawling on them and extremities falling off. 
Actually, it's no wonder Zombies like flowers! They need something good in their undead lives, right? This picture to the right is showing an ugly but sad looking Zombie trying to smell a flower, even though he has no nose. Looking at this, You actually feel sorry for this flesh eating creature. Click on the Zombie to see the full image and see the artist's notes on it. 

  This bouquet was a Halloween Special, this is a great depiction of beauty complementing the grotesque. 

I Googled " Zombies like flowers" and came up with tons of content on this. I think people want to see the sensitive side of the Zombie. I think they want to see a being that is remorseful for eating peoples brains. It is a sad and lonely life for the Zombie, they probably ate everyone they know and really I don't see other Zombies being great listeners. 

So, the next time you see a Zombie, don't try to sever his head. Instead, think about how he might have feelings too. Hand him a bouquet of flowers, then while he is enjoying the flowers and smelling them, get a chainsaw and hack off his head. Because though he may have feelings, he won't be able to change his nature and he will still eat your brains!

Need a Zombie distraction? Buy some flowers!


Check out this video: Plants vs Zombies Music Video
Can Zombies be ugly and cute at the same time?

Delivery charges 

When I joined the company as a full time staff member in 1969 we didn’t have a delivery charge.  We expensed all costs related to delivery along with all other corporate expenses.  Therefore, each and every customer whether taking a product out the front door or having us deliver it across town would contribute to the payment of those expenses. 

Over the years as wages, fuel, floral products, insurance, taxes, vehicles, maintenance etc. have increased to such an extent that we felt the costs could not be shared by all customers so we decided to direct the delivery expenses to those using the service.

I am amazed at the acceptance of the fees charged by the package delivery industry.

Consumers willing pay delivery fees in excess to our delivery charge for an item to be delivered within 3 days. 

We’ve experienced resistance to our standard delivery to deliver a product within an 8 hour time frame.

Recipient Phone Number

Here at Gillespie Florists we try to secure a phone number for the recipient from our client.  If there is no answer at a residence, it is our policy to us a company cell phone to contact the recipient.  Many times the recipient is at a location in the house or apartment that they cannot hear the knock at the door and/or the doorbell but hear the phone that is nearby.  If there would be no one at home, generally there is an answering machine or voice mail available to leave a message for the recipient.  In addition, we leave a Call Tag at the door advising of the delivery attempt.   The tag may not be seen because many people enter through their attached garage using a garage door opener.

The Doorstep Problem

Another delivery related issue.  The package industry leaves items at the doorstep.

In my opinion that is unacceptable in our industry.  Our products are perishable, weather conditions and animals could destroy our product.  People could see and remove the product from its location.  The recipient might never see our product because they do not use that particular entrance or they could be out of town for days leaving the product in an inappropriate environment.

Buy Flowers with a Real Local Florist! Click Below!

What You & Dad Don't Know.

 Father's Day is coming up on Sunday June 19th and most people don't know that flowers are not only a totally appropiate gift but that Dad will love it!

Every year we work hard to come up with unique designs for Dad that he will love! Like this Webber Gill Bouquet pictured to the right. It is a mini grill made by Webber filled with flowers! How cool is that?

Not Hooked?

Just because we work hard on making interesting designs for Dad doesn't mean you are hooked on the idea of flowers for Dad this year.

Men are actually stimulated by color and are visually oriented. Research shows that men prefer vivid colors such as yellow, orange and red. Men also enjoy plants and blooming plants! Pictured to the left is a perfect example of a planter filled with green plants that are easy to take care of!

Try having us incorporate a favorite hobby of Dad's into your Flowers for Dad. We have an assortment of sports, trucks, coffee mugs, grill, fishing containers and gifts!

Not Just Flowers.

Still don't want to send Dad flowers? That's OK! Send him what he craves! Junk Food! We have Junk Food baskets, Fruit baskets & Gourmet baskets!

Make your gift more personal by giving us something to add into your bouquet! Is Dad a golfer, barbecue king, fisherman, ect? Bring us a box of golf balls, grilling utensils, fishing lures or whatever is going to make your gift extra special!

Get Dad flowers this year and he will absolutely love it! He will love getting something totally different this year!

Check out our entire Father's Day selection!

Thanks to AboutFlowers.com for the great info!

What is the Fuzz that Wuzz?

We found out about a really great product called The Fuzz that Wuzz and had to have it! Mary Meyers created a line of plush stuffed animals made out of plastic bottles! It's incredible to think that these lovely, cuddly stuffed animals were once plastic bottles destined to be sitting in a landfill!

The 411 on the Fuzz

Each Fuzz that Wuzz animal is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. This means that each animal keeps over 10 bottles out of landfills! Mary Meyers says that two million plastic bottles are used in the U.S. every ten minutes and 51 billion go into landfills annually.

It will take 700 years before plastic bottles in landfills start to decompose and less than 30% of plastic bottles in the U.S. are actually recycled.  Wow, those numbers are staggering!

We recycle here at Gillespie Florists and we encourage for you to do the same! Every time I toss a plastic bottle into our recycle bin, I wonder, will this be an adorable stuffed animal someday? I'd like to think so!

To see this great line of The Fuzz that Wuzz, stop in our store at 10th & Raceway!

Looking for great gift ideas? Check out our website!

How does the weather impact my flower order?  

As operations manager of Gillespie Florists, one of my responsibilities is to keep our 500 square foot cooler stocked daily with the freshest flowers from around the world, and with not just a few varieties or colors- literally thousands!  Importing flowers from around the world is a lot of fun, but takes planning and patience.  Many of major crops are grown in America (California, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Washington State, Oregon, Indiana and more).  However, the weather in the United States is not always conducive for the growth of product throughout the year.  Therefore, we must go beyond our borders to find product that is off crop (not available) here.  South America, Canada, Holland and Italy are a few of my favorite exporters of quality product for our customers.

Not only does the seasonal change in weather affect the production of flowers, but severe or unexpected weather conditions can influence price and availability worldwide.  California's cold and rainy winter season affect the production of waxflower, stock and larkspur (just to name a few).  Florida's intense summer heat affects the production of gladiolus crops.  The severe flooding in Bogota, South America seriously contributed to the shortage and high cost of pom pons and alstroemeria during early May of this year.  A freeze in January of 2010 in Florida caused major damage to thousands of acres of fern crops, which in turn affected thousands of florists during the Valentine's Day holiday.

Typcially, poor weather conditions in one or two regions do not disturb the overall world wide production of floral crops.  It is my job to seek out product elsewhere to fill our cooler and keep our customers satisfied with the quality flowers they are used to seeing every day.  From time to time, minor substitutions may be made on popular arrangements due to seasonal or weather availability conditions.  However, you are still guaranteed a beautiful gift that will be pleasing to not only the senses, but to the heart as well.

Check out our wide selection of flowers by clicking below!

What can you find in our 500 square foot cooler? Whatch this video below to see!

We at Gillespie Florists thought it would be fun to have a Prom King & Queen Contest! Prom customers only needed to post their picture on our Facebook Fan Page wearing our flowers! We then asked our Facebook fans to "Like" their favorite picture or make a positive comment about it to determine the winner. We had several people enter but there can be only one winner! 

And the Winner is...

The Results are in! Our Prom King & Queen for 2011 is....

 

Leah Nurnberg & Steven Melton!

They are the couple on the right.

Leah & Steven each get a $25.00 gift card to Gillespie Florists and Leah will be crowned with a tiara!

 

They had a whopping 58 "Likes" and comments on their photo! Congratulations!!

  Leah wore a three-alstroemeria corsage similar to the one pictured here. Leah's was white and silver and looked great with Steven's matching alstroemeria boutonniere!

 

 

As a Thank You to everyone who entered the contest, we want to offer you a free Sunshine Bouquet! Just stop in the store any time, give us your name and we will give you your Sunshine!

Those Contestants are: 

Tyler Weir & Meredith Warbinton

Carly Lewis & Jacob Miller

Brenda Danielle & Tommy Dennis

Ryan Page & Cory Urick

Michael Brissey & Simi Bean

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest! Until next year!