July sun beats down on Kristen Raney as she works in her Clavet, Sask., flower garden.
Weeding and watering are constant this time of year and so, from June to August, this flower farmer, blogger and writer maintains a strict routine to keep up with the demands of weddings, artisanal markets and the farm stand at the end of her driveway.
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Monday and Tuesday
First thing Monday mornings, Raney looks through orders and figures out which wholesale retailers she’ll need to contact to fill any missing flowers she doesn’t have growing or ready in her gardens.
For instance, Raney monitored her forget-me-nots for days, waiting for them to be ready for a wedding order — only for them to bloom two days after she needed them. “That happens,” she says, and her brides are aware that the flowers they want may not be ready in time. In this case, she was able to supply delphiniums from another grower to match the bride’s colour requirement.
“I’ll let them know ahead of time the likelihood that I think those flowers will be available, but I do state really clearly … as much as I show you what was available last year around this date, every year is slightly different.”
Raney picks up replacement orders on Tuesdays or Thursdays since Friday is when she prepares her orders for pick up.
Wednesday and Thursday
Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved for cutting flowers. Some blooms, however, will not last if they are cut too early, because of the fragile nature of the blooms or because the blooms perform better when cut closer to the big day.
For example, Raney says that even though some of the forget-me-nots from the order mentioned above looked ready, they would have appeared “floppy” if cut too soon, so there was nothing she could do except wait for the best time to cut them.
She says pastels and softer hues have been big sellers this year. Three of her wedding clients chose all-white flowers and Raney’s white cosmos have been the most popular choice. While her cosmo patch is normally small, she decided to plant triple her usual amount and has benefitted from the decision.
“I’m selling (another florist) all my cosmos on Friday, because she also has an all-cosmo wedding, which is funny, because I predicted this last year. I just knew cosmos were going to be big.”
She has a helper and babysitter on Thursdays so she can take time to organize her orders. She does her best to spread out flowers across orders, so everyone has a chance at the most beautiful blooms from her selection.
DIY buckets — literally a bucket of flowers that bridal parties arrange themselves — have also been very popular this year. An order of 300 stems is enough for a small wedding to make bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids, boutonnieres and centerpieces.
Raney recommends three flowers per vase and two or three vases per table. A modest wedding size of 10 tables of three vases per table and centerpieces will use approximately 90 stems of a DIY bucket.
Small additions can make a huge difference to any arrangement. Marigolds are not a big seller for bridal bouquets, but Raney’s patch of Tangerine Dream gem marigolds has a pronounced citrus scent that is a welcome, if surprising, addition to many bouquets.
“Nobody actively wants marigolds, but you just sneak it in a bouquet, and then they (the brides) are like, ‘Oh, it smells so amazing’,” she says.
Given the state of the economy, Raney says that she and other florists have noticed a change in wedding orders. Her clients fit in with the DIY aesthetic, she says, but economics do play a role as well.
Friday
Depending on what flowers are still required, and what needs to be or can be harvested, Raney will go for one last “Hail Mary Friday” cut on Fridays.
“There are so many times where I felt like, ‘Oh no, I just don’t have what I need’ … It’ll often end up being a bucket or two. Surprisingly, what I need is there.”
Friday is for flower arranging and when pick-ups occur, for her bridal clients and for the farm stand at the end of her drive. It’s also the day she films her “100 Days, 100 Bouquets” series for her social media channels which is a huge part of her marketing strategy.
And after the work is done on Friday, she can take the weekend off before starting all over again on Monday.
If you missed the first two instalments of this series, you can read them here and here. Stay tuned for future instalments throughout the summer as we follow Raney on her business decision trail.
