The Flower Blog

Now that Prom season is officially over here at Gillespie Florists, I like to print product analysis reports to see what we sold more or less of to help me order supplies for next year’s Proms! Then I like to share our Top Five Bestsellers on our blog for all of those inquiring minds!

5. Vamped - This corsage is very popular because we use different types of ribbon that dangles down to one side of the corsage. The Vamped wrist corsage includes: red sweetheart roses, red rhinestones, silver micro-wire, black glitter ribbon, black glitter leaves, two different types of red ribbon and a keepsake silver bracelet! Item # 11PN07

4. Platinum - This corsage includes: white dendrobium orchids, black feathers, green and black leaves, rhinestones, silver and green ribbon and keepsake a bracelet! Dendrobium orchids have delicate look to them but hold up really well for prom! Other types of orchids are more sensitive than others and be torn very easily so when ordering your prom flowers make sure ask how the orchid will hold up if you use a different variety!  #12PN03

3. Sugar Sugar - 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! Some girls get a flower ring as well as a corsage and some wear just the ring to make a more clean look.  #13PN07

2. Mardi Gras - Be the life of the party with the Mardi Gras wrist corsage! This corsage is done in Ben Davis High School Purple and White colors and includes purple orchids, white sweetheart roses, purple ribbon, purple wire, silver beads,  black glitter leaves and a keepsake bracelet! Customers really love the mixture of roses and orchids!

1. Pandora - The Pandora corsage has been a best selling corsage for two years!. This corsage is designed with three orange sweetheart roses, purple & lime green glitter ribbon, blue & sea foam green feathers, blue, turquoise & green silk leaves, blue & green wire on a keepsake Bracelet. I think this corsage is liked so well because we use many elements to give if depth and interest!

When looking at the types of flowers being used rather than the specific design chosen by the customer; we sell more sweetheart rose corsages than anything else!

Check out our entire selection of Prom Flowers by clicking below!

Check out our latest Prom Video!

As I watch the rain falling outside, I imagine the trees, grass, flowers, etc. joyfully drinking up the cool rain drops.  The plants look refreshed in the steady rain, especially after several days of sunny, warm weather.  However, I see a large peony bush, which yesterday was full of large, perfect peony blooms, now lying against the ground, the blooms beaten and bruised by the heavy rain.  This sight reminds me of the problem with peonies.

As our state flower, peonies are a very popular flower in Indiana.  Over the last couple of years, I have seen an increased popularity of peonies in wedding celebrations.  Peonies are large, fragrant blooms, which lend themselves to simple, yet elegant bouquets for the bride and her bridesmaids.  So, what’s the problem?  Peonies have an extremely short season of availability.  Local peonies are only available for about 3-4 weeks a year, depending on the weather.  With the heavy rain today and with more heavy rain expected over the weekend, the season will be coming to an abrupt close for the local crops.  Local growers keep a close eye on the weather forecast to try and preserve as much of their crops for as long as possible.  If heavy rain is forecasted, the growers will harvest the peonies a little early.  They can then place them in water with floral preservative, and store them in a refrigerator, cooler or very cool environment, until they sell the blooms to a local florist.  

Peak season for the local peonies this year is now (late May).  Last year, the peak season was in April!  This is because in March, we had steady temperatures in the mid 80’s.  This year, our weather remained cooler than normal for April and even the beginning of May.  Generally speaking, the peak of our local peony season is around Mother’s Day.  Last year, the peak occurred early and this year the peak occurred late.  Therefore, another problem with peonies is trying to include them in an event (such as a wedding), not knowing if they will be available at the time of the event.  

Before you scrap peonies from you wedding plan altogether, here are some tips that I share with brides when I learn of their interest in peonies for their wedding.  

1. Plan the date of your wedding to coincide with peony season.  If you really wish to include fresh cut peonies in your wedding, plan your wedding early in the spring.  Peonies are not available in the summer and fall months.  Peonies are available from other countries in the late winter, which increases the probability of their availability.  Keep in mind, however, imported flowers are much more expensive due to the packaging and cost of shipping.

2. Have an alternative plan in place.  If weather affects the availability of the peony for your planned event, be sure to have another option ready to go, just in case.  I suggest garden roses (large headed, fragrant roses) or hydrangea.  

3. Source some “silk” (fake) peonies.  The silks that are produced now are very high quality compared to silks 20 years ago.  There are even times when I suggest silk flowers over fresh flowers if a particular color of flower is not available in nature.  On a number of occasions, I have designed fresh bouquets with silk accents to achieve the desired color or texture.

4. Cold storage.  Have the peonies on hand a week or two before you need them and keep them in water and cold storage.  We store flowers in our 500 square foot cooler at a chilly 34-36 degrees to keep them fresh for days.

Mother Nature does not always cooperate with our plans.  However, with a little planning, the problem with peonies can be minimized.

Check out some of our wedding creations by click below!

A couple years ago, we at Gillespie Florists thought it would be fun to have a Prom King & Queen Contest and have been having it every year since! 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...

Miranda wore a three-sweetheart rose corsage similar to the one pictured here. Miranda’s was yellow, black & silver and looked great with Darrien's matching sweetheart rose 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:


Cole & Morgan
Nick Fallen Adams

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

Every year I do a blog on the flowers of the Glee Prom but there is usually a prom on Glee by now. Vampire Diaries however has had a Prom this year with a great scene showing off some different Prom flower options!

If you do not watch Vampire Diaries, let me give you the 411 on what’s going on in this episode. The series follows the life of Elena, who falls in love with a 150+ year-old vampire named Stefan. Their relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Stefan's vicious older brother Damon Salvatore returns and eventually falls in love with Elena as well. The series is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia and includes other supernatural beings such as werewolves, witches, ghosts, and hybrids. Through a complicated series of events Elena is turned into a vampire and because of the death of her brother Jeremy, she “turns off” her emotions. In this episode, Stefan and Damon are convinced they can get Elena to turn on her emotions by taking her to Prom and reminding her of all of the good times in her life and showing her how many people still love and care about her. 

Since Stefan and Damon are over a hundred years old, it’s not surprising they take part in the time-honored tradition in bringing their prom date flowers (even though they are taking the same girl). Stefan gives Elena a hand tied bouquet (a.k.a. nosegay) of gerbera daisies and green roses. Even though her emotions are turned off, she does accept the bouquet. I think that is very telling of Elena true feelings toward Stefan because when Damon tries to give Elena a white rose with pink ribbon corsage; she tries to refuse it and not wear it. Of course if you know Damon, he won’t take “No” for an answer and with his super Vampire skills; he grabs Elena’s wrist and straps that corsage on her like her life depends on it! Elena does show up to prom with Damon’s corsage on and doesn’t have Stefan’s bouquet so, we could say that is very telling as well. But I’m on team Stefan so I am choosing to read more into Elena accepting the flowers from Stefan.

 
Pictured here is a three sweetheart rose corsage, that would be perfect for Elena to have worn in this episode! I don’t have a picture that looks like her corsage but hers had sweetheart roses and a keepsake bracelet so, I thought this one would be a good fit. By the way, I think it is great we are seeing keepsake bracelets on television! This corsage is called Angelina and includes pink sweetheart roses, white accent flower and pink bracelet.

Later in the show I noticed the character Matt had on a single white rose boutonniere. I wonder who got that for him? The witch Bonnie? The vampire Caroline? Or did he get one for himself? I’m just glad he was wearing one because I noticed Elena didn’t care enough to get her dates a boutonniere.  The Focus boutonniere is similar to the one Matt is wearing with it’s white rose and accent flower. I think it would have looked better on Matt because of the boutonniere holder it is in. Boutonniere holders are easier to use than pin-on ones and they have a cleaner look.

I love the centerpieces for the tables! They were fresh flowers with a lighted lamp in the center. I like how they combined two things people like to have in the center of the table and combined it instead of choosing one or the other. The bouquets included white lilies, purple stock, burgundy carnations, white buttons and accent flowers. A lot of schools choose not to have fresh flower centerpieces at their proms but we have a local high school that still does it and the kids love it! They keep the cost down by bring us their own containers and many times bring in items for us to include. This year they brought us party masks to include in the bouquet.

Caroline, vampire and friend to Elena, left the Prom early because she was upset that she couldn’t spend her senior prom with her werewolf/vampire hybrid boyfriend, Tyler. She came home to set up for a party she was having later that night and there was Tyler waiting for her with a hand tied bouquet of flowers. This bouquet included lavender daisies, cushion pompons, alstroemeria lilies and solidego. It was very pretty and very sweet of him to bring.

Hopefully there won’t be vampires at your prom but there should be flowers! Go to our website to view our entire selection but clicking below!

Check out our latest video on Prom flowers below! 

Vampire Dairies airs on the CW network on Thursday nights. Make sure to catch the next episode or watch an episode on thier website now by CLICKING HERE! 

All images of Vampire Diaries are owned by the CW Network. 

It’s important to show Mom how much she means to us! This Mother’s Day get Mom one of my top 5 gifts! I based this off of sales from last year and compared them to comparable gifts we are offering this year.

5. WoodWick Candle - We carry a wide selection of fragrances of WoodWick candles, as well as RibbonWick, Spill Proof Diffusers, Car Scents and Wax Melts! Customers can add a WoodWick candle to their flower order online or over the phone. You can also stop in and pick one up to take to Mom!

4.  Wind Chime - Gillespie Florists is proud to carry Arias, Arias Elite, Festival and Shenandoah wind chimes. These wind chimes are hand crafted, hand tuned and made in the USA! We do not offer them at this time online but hope to soon. Until then, you can call us and we will tell you about our great selection or stop in the store to pick one out!  

3.  Hanging Baskets -  Our hanging baskets are filled with lush outdoor blooming plants and we decorate it with a lovely bow with streamers! When you order online, we select the most beautiful and full hanging basket we have in stock for your Mom! If you would like the know the exact kind of hanging basket we will send, please call us and we will go over the varieties we have in stock! You can also stop in the store and hand pick a hanging basket for Mom to take with you or to send out on delivery!

2.  Dozen Pink Roses - There is something about pink roses that says “Mom”! Year after year, a dozen pink roses proves to be a popular favorite as the perfect gift for Mom on Mother’s Day! Pink roses mean happiness, admiration, sweetness and appreciation! I think that makes perfect sense for Mom! One of my favorite rose colors is called Attache, they are a beautiful medium pink and have wonderful fragrance! When placing your Mother’s Day order I suggest asking for the Attache pink rose!

1.  Fresh Flower Bouquet with Keepsake - Every year we offer a variety of fresh flower bouquets. Some in clear glass vases and some in keepsake containers that can be enjoyed throughout the year! There’s always one bouquet that from the moment I see it, I know it will be a big hit! This year that’s the Fern Valley Bouquet! This small whitewashed watering can is filled with gerbera daisies, daisy poms, button mums, sword fern, bear grass, solidego, euc and a butterfly!

There’s more at Gillespie’s than these five items! Visit our website or stop in our store to see gifts like: South Bend Chocolates, Jellycat plush, Northern Lights Candles, Music boxes, silk bouquets, angels and figurines, snack and gift baskets, balloons, corsages, indoor & outdoor plants and hundreds of options in fresh flower bouquets!

Check out our entire selection by clicking below!

Watch our latest Mother’s Day video below!

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!