The Flower Blog

We have had a couple of weekends of smaller proms and there are some definite favorites from our new 2013 Prom Flower Collection! Listed below is the top five!

 5.  Whether you are an Avon Orioles fan or just wearing black and gold, this corsage will make a big and flashy statement. The Oriole wrist corsage is created with Mokara orchids painted gold, black ribbon, thin gold ribbon, gold bead sprays, black leaves and a keepsake black bead and rhinestone bracelet! Item#13PN01          $48.95

4.  The Venetian corsage has warm, rich colors and textures! The Venetian wrist corsage is intricately designed with peach roses, mini lotus pods with glitter, bead sprays, cream and gold ribbon, green bead sprays, cream and pink accent flowers and a keepsake pink/clear crystal beaded bracelet with rhinestones!  Item# 13PN22                  $65.95

3.  Who says you have to wear a corsage?  This year we worked hard to create new designs to meet every girl’s style! The Black Magic Scepter is not a wrist corsage but is intended to take the place of it. Be the Queen of the Prom with Black Magic Scepter! This scepter is created with white posy callas, white tea roses, black glitter ribbon, white beads, silver wire and iridescent bead strands!   Item # 13PN48                  $69.95

2.  Here’s another alternative to the traditional wrist corsage! White Hot is a corsage like design of flowers we created to be added to a customer’s prom shoes. White Hot includes, three white tea roses, three glittered scabiosa pods, pink sequin accents and pink rhinestones. We create this with ribbons so you can easily attach the flowers to your shoe or bring in your shoes and we can do it for you!  Item# 13PN09                  $39.95 

1.  Our designers want to create prom flowers that match each girl's individual style and this corsage is the epitome of that! The Grim wrist corsage is shockingly repellent and inspires horror to any who look upon it! This corsage includes blood red roses, skull charms, black feathers, black ribbon, silver chain, glitter, other grisly accents and a keepsake bracelet! If we can create a corsage like this just imagine what we can come up with for your individual style! Item# 13PN26                  $74.95

We are happy to make changes to the color of flowers and other accessories in your prom flowers to suit your needs!

After our prom season is over, I will post another blog letting you know our overall Top Five Best Sellers! 

Shop our new line of Prom Flowers by clicking below!

Want to see some more of our favorite designs for 2013? Check out this video below!

Gillespie Florists Prom King & Queen

Post a snapshot of you and another person wearing flowers fromGillespie Florists on our Facebook Page and get the chance to be crowned the Gillespie Florists Prom King & Queen!

Here's how it Works:

·   Take a snapshot of you and your date wearing Gillespie's Flowers.

·   Post or Share it on our Wall.

·   Tag your self in the photo as well as anyone else in the picture.

·   We'll put it in our "Prom King & Queen Contest Album 2013".

·   Ask your friends/family to "Like" your photo or post positive comments on your photo.

·   One week after the end of Prom Season, we will tally up the "Likes" and Comments and whoever has the most wins!

What do you get if you win?

The Queen will be crowned with a tiara and flowers and

both King and Queen will be awarded a $25.00 Gift Card to Gillespie Florists!

And don't forget, Bragging Rights!

Contest ends May 22nd, 2013. Winners will be announced on Facebook May 25th!

Here's the Link to our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gillespie-Florists/196410082316

Here are last years contestants!

Click below to check out our Prom Flowers!

Yes, you read it right. Don’t wear a corsage this year! Do something different, be daring! Why not wear flowers on your shoes or around your neck? If you want to be the one to set the trend then I’ve got some options for you!

If you are wearing a strapless dress to prom you might like our Haute Couture necklace. The Haute Couture necklace comes with a golden yellow mini cymbidium orchid with silver accents, gold leaves and gold ribbon, a little fresh greenery and a sparkling rhinestone necklace! You will sparkle and shine with this lush accessory!

Wearing a short dress? You may want to add some sparkle to your prom shoes! Let us create flowers that can be attached right to your shoe that match your dress perfectly! White Hot includes, white tea roses, glittered scabiosa pods, pink sequin accents and rhinestones. We create this with ribbons so you can easily attach the flowers to your shoe or bring in your shoes and we can do it for you!

If you get flowers for your prom shoes but you still want a little something else to accent
it, you might want to get one of our flower rings! The Sugar Sugar fresh flower ring is created with a pink sweetheart rose, wax flower, beads and a few rhinestones! We make this with an elastic band so this ring is a “one size fits all” item!

Wearing a long dress? Wearing a dress with long sleeves or a higher neck? Maybe a headband is in order!  The Sorbet headband is designed with soft pink sweetheart roses, rhinestone dazzle chain, glittered scabiosa pods, a rhinestone heart, ribbon, soft green leaves and a headband.

Wearing a bohemian or Greek style dress? Check out our bohemian style headband! Taylor is a bohemian headband with a green orchid, dragonfly pin, dangling beads, blue glittered leaves, silver accent ribbon, rhinestones and a braided silver and white headband! The bohemian style is intended to be worn across the forehead.

Do you want to feel like the prom queen for the entire night? Let us create a tiara with flowers to match your gown. We want you to feel special on the biggest night of the year with the Head Trip Tiara! This tiara includes, rhinestones, sweetheart roses, hydrangea blooms and limonium. We have different styles of tiaras for you to choose from!

Are you wearing a sleeveless dress? Try one of our island style armbands. The Callista armband is silver with rhinestones, lavender sweetheart roses, silver leaves, silver beads and metallic silver ribbon!

Want to see more? Check out our Prom Night Category by clicking below!

Check out this video of some of our prom corsages and boutonnieres below!

Most florists get 10% of their sales for the entire year from Valentine’s Day. There is a ton of preparation that happens to get ready for this one day of business!

For me, I am in charge of anything that happens online. This includes Product Development, Designer recipes and marketing. Sometimes as early as November I will start making our Specials for Valentine’s Day and take pictures of them. Duane, one of our designers will help me with some of the designs. Then I compile the best pictures of the Management team to review. They select the pictures they want used for this year's specials and I start working with a graphic designer at a printing company to create a flier to distribute. I also have posters printed for our store and I upload the bouquets to our website. I thentype up a list of all the flowers needed for each bouquet ( we call that a recipe) and give a copy to each designer about 3 weeks before the holiday. I also make sure we have a good online presence before the holiday by sending out Tweets, posting pictures on Facebook, creating YouTube videos and writing a few blogs on the subject of the holiday. Then the week of Valentine’s Day, I join the design staff and help create bouquets to fill orders!


I asked our General Manager Sarah what she does to prepare for Valentine’s Day. This is what she had to say:

“The first thing I do is hire people for temporary sales, drivers, designers and flower processing positions at the beginning of January. I interview each candidate personally and I bring them in the second week of January for training and the training period lasts about three weeks. After that,  starting the fourth week of January going into the first week of February they go into their practical experience where they practice waiting on customers, answering phones and flower processing begins at that point as well. During the week of Valentine's we start tagging orders that have been placed early with the day of the week that they need to be designed and day of week they need to be delivered. We also determine of we have enough product for the more popular specials and if not make sure we get in enough product to cover our orders.”

Sarah is also in charge of pre-ordering all of our fresh flowers, she handles weddings and the Order Control desk!

I asked Pat our main delivery router what he does to prepare for Valentine’s Day. He told me that not only is he in charge of delivery but many others things in the store as well. He pre-orders all the supplies we need. That includes vases, ribbon, flower food and so much more! He orders a refrigerated semi and coordinates getting shelving being put up in it so we can fill it with our Valentine’s product! Then he lines up the drivers for the holiday and has a class with them and he gives each driver a kit that will help them during their hectic day. The kit includes things like Frequently Asked Questions, pens, door tags, ect.

The week before Valentine’s Day we try to do anything we can ahead of time, such as: filling vases with water and preservative, cutting balloon ribbon, filling water tubes, making bows, making extra planters, getting in extra chocolates, balloons, candles & plush, setting up additional cash drawers,  setting up temporary design tables and so much more!

Check out this video of our staff and see what they said they do to prepare for Valentine’s Day!



The most important thing we do is make sure we are surrounded by lots a great people who can help us help our customers!


Want to order your Valentine’s Day Flowers with Gillespie? Check out our wide selection of Custom Products by clicking below!

Are you a Valentine's Day hater? Does cupid make you want to puke? Actually, Valentine’s Day doesn’t make me want to puke but there are a lot of people out there that hate this holiday all about love. Every year we have a few customers admit they don’t care for the holiday and we even have some customers buy flowers and corsages for Anti-Valentine’s Day Parties. 

If you have a friend who have recently gone through a breakup and isdown in the dumps about it, why not brighten their day and make them laugh a little by sending them a Anti-Valentine’s Day bouquet? This bud vase will not break the bank at just $29.95. The Little Stinker Bouquet is filled with yellow gerbera daisies, baby’s breath, greenery and a keepsake plush skunk holding a heart thats says “Love Stinks”

Anti-Valentine’s Day Parties are gaining in popularity in recent years. Now there have always been people who didn’t care for the holiday but now people are getting tired of all the lovebirds having all the fun. If you are going to an Anti-Valentine’s Party think about getting a corsage for you or a friend! Last year a customer came in and bought two corsages, one for herself and one for a friend. They were going to Anti-Valentine’s Day Party being hosted by a local radio station and she said getting a corsage always make her feel special and there’s no reason why she couldn’t feel special that day!

One corsage you might like to get is the Sugar Skulls corsage. Sugar Skulls is a wrist corsage that has lavender sweetheart roses, statice, black lazer leaves, black feathers, rhinestones, black beads, black flash ribbon and little skulls. Think of the skulls as: Death to Valentine’s Day! You could also ask us to make you a corsage in deep red and black or colors that match your outfit!

No matter what day of the year it is, I think that everyday is what you make of it. So, if you are a Valentine’s Day hater, try to find a way to have fun with it! Invite some friends over to watch movies about the opposite of love, send your single friends Anti-Valentine’s flowers or cards, or have an Anti-Valentine’s Day Party! Turn this day you dread into a day you look forward to!

Check out our other Anti-Valentine’s Day Bouquet by Clicking below!

13V01                  Beary Lovable               $29.95

The Beary Lovable bud vase includes two red long stem premium roses, babys breath, seeded eucalyptus and a keepsake teddy bear! This is a gift perfect for a guy or girl and is the perfect size to sit on their desk at work!

13V02                  Tulips Renoir             $44.95

Send the gift of spring with the Tulips Renoir bouquet! This bouquet includes ten fresh cut tulips in mixed colors and tree fern elegantly designed in a keepsake vase decorated with hand painted tulips! This painted tulip vase will be cherished for years to come! 

13V03                  Love Is...                      $44.95

This bouquet is so popular that we remake it year after year! This year, Love is... is filled with tea roses, alstroemeria lilies, carnations, daisies, mini-carnations, limonium and a keepsake silver heart keychain. Roses, lilies and a heart! What can be more perfect than that?

13V04                  The Love Bug Bouquet                $39.95 

The Love Bug bouquet is a small vase filled with carnations, alstroemeria, limonium, daisies and a small keepsake plush love bug that makes kissing noises when you press on the belly! This bouquet is filled with all long lasting flowers! With proper care you can expect this bouquet to last your two weeks!


13V05                  The Key to My Heart Bouquet          $34.95

The Key to My Heart bouquet is filled with daisies, alstroemeria, carnations, limonium and a keepsake keychain!

The Key comes packaged with a poem that reads:
“Late at night when I’m sound asleep, Into my heart you so softly creep. I sit and wonder how it could be, But you must have stumbled across the key. This key holds the secret to true love and more, So take it now and unlock the door. And I pray that we will never part, Now that you have the key to my heart.”

13V06                  Sweet Annie                            $29.95

If your Valentine loves to get flowers but doesn’t get into the decorative hearts and roses, this will be the perfect gift for them! The Sweet Annie bouquet is a small vase filled with lavender daisies, alstroemeria lilies, carnations and wax flower! A long lasting bouquet in wonderful spring colors! 

13V07                  Vin Rouge                     $79.95

Vin Rouge is the classic symbol of Valentine’s Day, an elegant dozen roses! This clear glass vase is filled with 12 long stem red roses with babies breath, greenery and a bow! Red roses represent love and this bouquet sends a lot of love! But if your Valentine doesn’t like the color red, ask about the other colors we have in stock for no extra charge! 

13V08                  Cupid's Choice                    $64.95

Send a bouquet that makes a big statement like a dozen roses with out hurting your wallet! The Cupids Choice bouquet is a clear glass vase filled with nine pink carnations, three pink roses babys breath and a keepsake plush bear! Pink roses stand for appreciation. Tell your Valentine you appreciate them with the pink roses in this bouquet! 

Check out our Valentine’s Day Specials and more on our website by clicking below! 

It may sound funny, but some of my greatest inspiration comes to me while I am driving to work! As I drove into work this morning, I noticed the sun peeking over the snow covered branches of the trees. I thought to myself, “What a beautiful scene! I would like to capture this feeling in an arrangement.”

I found myself thinking about how to create the feel of winter with fresh cut flowers. I visualized the snow and imagined arrangements of flowers in shades of whites and creams, like a fresh and crisp snowfall.
I also pictured natural accents such as birch, pinecones (frosted are my favorite) and lotus pods, which reminds me of the barren landscape all around us. Even berries (Winterberry, seeded eucalyptus or hypericum) add a splash of color and/or texture that enhances the overall winter look. We offer several options in monochromatic arrangements for a variety of occasions. 
   

Planning a winter wedding?
Contact us for a free consultation!

One of my favorite things to give for Christmas is the poinsettia! Poinsettias get a bad wrap because they are poisonous to animals but did you know that it can take up to 10 whole poinsettia plants to be poisonous to a cat?  I have two cats and they will nibble on various plants and flowers I bring into the house but they don’t eat the whole thing.

So, What is poisonous in the poinsettia? The milky white sap found in poinsettias contains the chemicals: saponin-like detergents & diterpenoid euphorbol esters.  While poinsettias are commonly known as poisonous plants, the poisoning is greatly exaggerated. Also remember that poinsettias on affect cats and dogs, they are not poisonous in any way to humans.

But just in case you are worried about your cat or dog being poisoned, here are a few symptoms to watch out for: vomiting, drooling, and rarely, diarrhea may be seen. If the milky sap is exposed to skin, dermal irritation - including redness, swelling, and itchiness- might develop. There is no at home treatment for poinsettia poison. If you feel your pet has been poinsettia poisoning, you will need to go see your vet.

Since there is no true threat to your animals from poinsettias, feel confident to pick up a poinsettia before Christmas and enjoy having the beautiful colorful plant in your home all winter and spring!

There are a few poisonous plants I want to note that you should worry about if you have pets.

Lilies, holly and mistletoe.

Just a few bites from a lily can result in severe acute kidney failure in cats. When holly is ingested, it can result in severe gastrointestinal upset thanks to the spiny leaves. If ingested, most dogs and cats lip smack, drool, and head shake excessively due to the mechanical injury from the spiny leaves. As for mistletoe, most of us hang it high enough so it’s out of reach of our dogs and cats but the leaves and berries can dry out then fall from the stem to the floor. So, keep an eye on your mistletoe after it is hung.  Thankfully, American mistletoe is less toxic than the European varieties of it. Usually mild signs of gastrointestinal irritation are seen with mistletoe ingestion.

When ordering your Christmas bouquet or a bouquet at any time of year, just mention to our sales staff if the home the flowers are being delivered to has animals and we will make sure to exclude anything that may be harmful! Because our designers love the look of variegated holly, we keep silk holly on hand to use in bouquets for homes with pets!

Check out some of our great poinsettias and other plants by clicking below.

Check out our  Christmas Video below!