Loose cut flowers

[lori042499]

How do you wrap your loose cuts to make them stand out?

All of my stems leave my store in a fold over wrap or cello, backed with either purple, lime green, orange yellw, orange or hot pink tissue, tied at mid stem with matching curling ribbon.....This is true of all bouquets over 15.00...anything under that is roll wrapped in cello and single or double stems are speed wrapped in cello....same curling ribbon around stems...cash and carry bunches, when I have them available are wrapped in random wrap.

Most of my walk-in customers want 15-30 dollar wrapped bunches...and I have been hearing that of all the bunches bought the recipient thought mine were the nicest....hence the growth of my walk in biz...I am having a hard time getting it straight what in their mind is nicer about them...they all just say they just have a certain something about them that is prettier...to me that screams presentation...but I don't know, I think like a designer not a consumer...

To me a loose wrap is a loose wrap, it is the most basic thing to make and it, in my mind is very hard to screw up or make look ugly....especially in a real flower shop....in all of your experience, is this something that flower shops can rountinely mess up? Is it the wrapping that presents better or are the flowers and selection just a step above, I do carry a wider selection of flowers than most in the area, maybe 15-20 varieties as opposed to 5-8....what do you all think???

 

[TGDragonfly]

I love these little boxes. I still can't find them, I think they are cute as bugs.

 

[twiggy]

Thom, that looks like a regular 'ole drink carrier. you can probably find something like that at a restaurant supply place?

 

[Johan]

Definately drinks carrier. I like that the flowers are in the drink cups and the straws, nice idea for kids party table centres. Cute and quirky.

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

Lori, do you hand make your loose tieds in your hand? I find that most shops in our area don't, and lay the flowers on the cello, staggering them slightly. This technique ends up in a pretty flat bouquet, where hand arranging them in your loosely circled fingers gives a more 'vase ready' look to the bouquet - starting with some greenery, adding filler, inserting flowers through the filler.

We get comments on this style all the time; we wrap the same as you, cello/tissue & shoelace #9 ribbon strip. For larger bouquets, we'll use several strips of ribbon, making a pseudo bow, that's really a bunch of shoelace ties.

 

[emilymoonflower]

I also do a fold-over cello wrap, but first I pop my stems in 1/3 oasis brick.
I wrap this in 2 sheets of tissue (different colors) and do the cello overwrap.
Next comes 2 colors of curly ribbon. I don't charge my clients for cards and envelopes.
I normally carry 20 - 25 varieties of flowers, plus 6 rose colors (60's).
My wrapping is what makes me stand out in this market and my customers love it !
I encourage them to recycle the cello and tissue, and tell them to use the oasis in the bottom of their potted houseplants.
Emily

 

[wildflowerschicago]

I used to see some real crap come through our delivery pool at holiday time. What amazed me the most was (and still does when I go in some shops) is the lack of greenery used...or the complete overuse of it. The bouquets either have 2 hidden stems of leather or nothing at all?!?! We used to get compliments on our tied bouquets all the time. People acted as though they had never seen a novelty green before (pitt, ming, ruscas...even salaal).

Last week I was at Trader Joes, and was looking at their $7.99 bouquet (which is darn near $7 wholesale of flowers, but that is another thread). It was SO much nicer than the regular chain grocery store bouquets. The difference was the greenery...well, and the fact that they weren't dead like the other stores.

I also think your use of more flower varieties helps your presentation. Give them 3 things they have never heard of, and they'll keep comin' back.

 

[terri]

I agree with Tracy. We never do the "flat" bqt. unless it's a presentation bqt.
This time of year we're using fall colored tissue under clear wrap, tied off with either a pretty fall coordinating ribbon or raffia. We put the flower food inside the wrap so the colors don't conflict. We don't let the tissue hide the flowers completely (we can do this when the weather permits.) It is totally set up so you just have to drop it in a vase.
terri

 

[OB1]

We also use numerous varieties of foliage, and people do recognise the difference. No leather leaf here.
And all bouquets go out as hand-tieds...never a "flat bunch".
But we don't use cello and tissue...too common in our area. I get silver mylar rolls from France. Love it, because it has a mirror effect, so it makes the bouquet look twice as big.
We're the only one doing it in our city, so it's a true trademark look.
We still put a custom label on everything that goes out of the shop, with a custom care tag and floral preservative. But it's the wrapping and foliage that seems to make the difference. We even have people try to purchase our wrapping by the foot...which, of course I don't allow.

 

[Rhonda]

If it's a quick walk-in, I hold in hand and make 1 sided to drop in vase, wrap in cello with the juicy colors (neon green, raspberry, eggplant etc) tie with raffia. Of course it's coming onto frost zone time, so the top of the cello must come over and then I adhere my sticker to hold it closed.
If it's a walk-in that wants "fancy" then I spiral tie, wrap with tissue then cello with fancier ribbon shoestring bow. ($45 and up)

But I do also tend to carry a larger inventory - delph, lark, sunflowers, asiatic and oriental lilies, spider mums (green my fave), and various greens. Surprising (not), lots of my repeat cash/carry customers are coming back for alstromeria (I'll Still Marry Ya) because of their vase life.

 

[lori042499]

Lori, do you hand make your loose tieds in your hand? I find that most shops in our area don't, and lay the flowers on the cello, staggering them slightly. This technique ends up in a pretty flat bouquet, where hand arranging them in your loosely circled fingers gives a more 'vase ready' look to the bouquet - starting with some greenery, adding filler, inserting flowers through the filler.

We get comments on this style all the time; we wrap the same as you, cello/tissue & shoelace #9 ribbon strip. For larger bouquets, we'll use several strips of ribbon, making a pseudo bow, that's really a bunch of shoelace ties.

Depends on the flowers, I will do a presentation style if it is roses or lilies, but a mix is usually hand tied style, like a euro wrap...it also depends on my mood and what the customer wants...

 

[marigold]

How do you wrap your loose cuts to make them stand out?

All of my stems leave my store in a fold over wrap or cello, backed with either purple, lime green, orange yellw, orange or hot pink tissue, tied at mid stem with matching curling ribbon.....This is true of all bouquets over 15.00...anything under that is roll wrapped in cello and single or double stems are speed wrapped in cello....same curling ribbon around stems...cash and carry bunches, when I have them available are wrapped in random wrap.

Most of my walk-in customers want 15-30 dollar wrapped bunches...and I have been hearing that of all the bunches bought the recipient thought mine were the nicest....hence the growth of my walk in biz...I am having a hard time getting it straight what in their mind is nicer about them...they all just say they just have a certain something about them that is prettier...to me that screams presentation...but I don't know, I think like a designer not a consumer...

To me a loose wrap is a loose wrap, it is the most basic thing to make and it, in my mind is very hard to screw up or make look ugly....especially in a real flower shop....in all of your experience, is this something that flower shops can rountinely mess up? Is it the wrapping that presents better or are the flowers and selection just a step above, I do carry a wider selection of flowers than most in the area, maybe 15-20 varieties as opposed to 5-8....what do you all think???

Depends on the season, time of year. Right now , I love chocolate tissue, sometimes two different shades of chocolate and love a black ribbon tie.
I use satin , or wraphia, sometimes tulle.
We also use cello. but, sometimes this can look grocery store, so, I jazz it up
with a cool ribbon.
Kraft paper...love it, with red raffia. Yum.
Yesterdays news.... we ask if they would like it wrapped with Yestersdays
News...Newspaper and tied with raffia, wraphia,or any other ribbon.
We usually add on a tie on....such as a broken flower stem that we keep
in a vase at the wrapping station, or , seasonal things, like a birch bark
piece, or a cinnamon stick or dried apple from potpourri etc.
Valentines day...I love Black wrap with deep red or purple velvet.
Sexy.

 

[marigold]

I love these little boxes. I still can't find them, I think they are cute as bugs.

But, what I want to know is where do you surf to find these appropiate
links and ALWAYS with a cute chic?
Love the box, but I don't get it....looks like an arrangement.Think?

 

[KTudor625]

Pics Please

I would love to see pics of how people wrap their bouquets, arrangements. I want to see how the flowers get wrapped and sent off. I wanted to create a menu like the fast food restaurants do. If they want the plain jane look its this price, if they want to add this to the bouquets its this much, or they can get the premium or supreme flowers for this much. How does that sound? Just need a few recipes to get this started....

 

[marigold]

I would love to see pics of how people wrap their bouquets, arrangements. I want to see how the flowers get wrapped and sent off. I wanted to create a menu like the fast food restaurants do. If they want the plain jane look its this price, if they want to add this to the bouquets its this much, or they can get the premium or supreme flowers for this much. How does that sound? Just need a few recipes to get this started....

Like the suggestive wrap idea!

 

[Johan]

All our bouquets are hand tied unless just a very few stems. Wrapped normally in natural kraft paper and natural raffia, shop sticker flowers food and cute butterfly. The wrapping is either a cone wrap if a very small bunch or for a larger bouquet we create a roundel from kraft paper in two halves then a wrap at the bottom. Or if the customer wants fancy wrapping we do a cello and tissue version (like picture) frosted plain cello, plain cello, cream or chocolate tissue (as these go with everything and means you can keep wrapping costs down). Voile ribbon colour to co-ordinate with flowers. All wrapping bio-degradable/and from stainable trees. Very important to shopper in the UK.