Local?

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Dee Dee

Dee Dee

Well-Known Member
Aug 5, 2008
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South Hadley
www.careysflowers.com
State / Prov
MA
Here is my question – What does ‘Local’ mean when florists use this term?

I use local when a farmer in my town grows the flowers and sells them to me.

* Come in and get flowers grown here in town folks! *

I see other shops saying local flowers and they are in big cities. I don’t know where they fit the farms in the big city?

Am I misunderstanding the term ‘Local’ I am not being a smarty here I want to understand.
 
"local" in our Hannaford stores means "Made In Maine"
 
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Dee Dee said:
Here is my question – What does ‘Local’ mean when florists use this term?

I use local when a farmer in my town grows the flowers and sells them to me.

* Come in and get flowers grown here in town folks! *

I see other shops saying local flowers and they are in big cities. I don’t know where they fit the farms in the big city?

Am I misunderstanding the term ‘Local’ I am not being a smarty here I want to understand.
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We yeah you are preety smart!!!! Ok to me it means it didn't get on that bus to come to ya, and I see lots of people using this in marketing, and I think one day " One will ask to see the garden plot it came from" LOL<> I know some that would be surprised as can be when this happens,,,:boggles:
 
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When we sell product as local we are referring to growers and farms in the Pa/NJ/Md
area. While shops may be located in big cities, they too can have resources that supply local product. I know many of the growers in the Maryland area, supply shops in Baltimore with fresh product that would be referred to as local product.

jan
 
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When florists use the term "local" I think they mean "the ‘brick & mortal’ retail florist trying to compete in their immediate vicinity
 
local flowers = flowers grown in my Tri-state area

We tell all our customers that our annuals, poinsettias & spring plants are locally grown (an hour north of us). Same with summer farm grown flowers. I don't think it has to mean "in town" to be local.
 
When I talk about locally grown flowers, I'm referring to those that are grown in New England, New York, and New Jersey. If I had to refer to only things grown in Worcester MA, I'd be picking weeds by the side of the road!

And when we get those fab lilies grown in Hadley MA, yes, they count as local. ;-)

My customers who are interested in "local", are mainly concerned with the carbon footprint as it relates to shipping, i.e flowers from Ecuador being more wasteful of resources than something from nearer. (FWIW, I don't even know if there are actual numbers to back that kind of stuff up - I'm thinking how heating and cooling a greenhouse in the Northeast uses resources! Although there's field grown stuff right now, it's not all grown outdoors.)

I do have one customer who cares about local as it refers to the working conditions of the farm workers. So if it's January, and I have nothing from the Northeast, California will be local enough for her.

I made a list of locally grown flowers for my clients - not the easiest thing to do. I buy things by the bunch and not enough of them are labeled.

Now, if we're talking local business, the business group I belong to, Worcester Local First, only has members who are located in the city and independently owned (not a franchise or chain).

(Humming "brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh" right now!)
 
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Jan and Sprout your answers where what I needed to 'get it'

Thanks to everyone who was willing to help me :)

I do have many Universites around me and that crunchy granola thinking (maybe called tree huggers too) so I do LOTS of explaining to customers. I think you are right I can call things grown in MA local and if I check again with my farmer friends I might even be able to call the South Hadley/Hadley stuff 'Green'

I am having more and more trouble discerning between deceptive advertizing and 'my definition' of words/phrases. I am learning that I am wrong many, many times. LOL go figure?
 
As far as "green" goes....I wish there was some code on my invoices that indicated if a particular flower was organic, or sustainably grown. Would make it much easier than trying to look for logos on cello wrappers...or even better - a peel off sticker on the wrapper that I could then stick right on the vase or bucket the flowers are going in!
 
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