Pick and Paint Dried Floral Materials While on Your Drive

Whenever I go anywhere I am prepared to gather dried materials with which to design. I carry brown bags, plastic bags, spray paints, rubber bands, wire, and plastic cellophane sleeves. I carry all these supplies in a box in the trunk of my car. It really takes up very little space. It is a lot of fun and the more you get out and walk around your surroundings, the more flora you will find. You will want to make sure that nothing you cut is protected. Be sure to cut dried material in moderation, so that it can reseed and come back next year. Carrying a flower and tree field guide with you will be very helpful in identifying plants; you can find the guides specific for your area. Your local library probably has this type of reference material. Gathering floral materials to use is fun, economical, and can be a good addiction.

Rice Grass
I live in the southwest. This is the area with which I am most familiar. In the spring, rice grass comes to life. It can be picked while green and also after it has field dried. It will then be a beautiful natural tan color if picked late in the summer. You will want to harvest rice grass before it gets wind blown which is what happens as the summer progresses. Pick bunches not to big. I trim the bunches of rice grass so they are nice and even so when I get home, they are ready to hang. If I want colored rice grass, I paint the bunch right there in the field. Rice grass in great for wreaths and to use as a filler flower in flower arrangements.

Peppergrass
I love peppergrass. It can be used as fresh cut material while in bloom. Use it right away in fresh floral arrangements or hang to dry. It is white when in bloom. Peppergrass works the same in flower arrangements as baby's breath. It is a bit lacier. If it is picked when naturally dried in the field it is a nice tan color. Whether you harvest it dried or fresh, make bunches not too large and secure the ends with a rubber band. When picked dried, you can spray paint your bunch any color you desire, then bring them to your shop and hang. Do not wait too late into the season to pick, as it will become too brittle.

Curly Dock
Curly dock is found throughout most of the United States along creek banks and in abandoned fields. Early in the season it can be picked while green and hung to dry. Later in the season, it turns naturally an awesome chocolate to russet color. It can grow up to 2-3 feet. I would cut as the dock long as possible. You can always cut shorter, but it is harder to lengthen materials. If cut earlier in the season, May -July, there is less chance of shattering. When picked in the fall, you may need to spray with a sealant to prevent shattering. Curly dock is a very versatile floral material. Use in autumn arrangements, wreaths, or dried and fresh arrangements.

Mullein
Mullein grows on dry hillsides and on roadsides. The leaves are grayish green and they feel like velvet. Mullein flowers are yellow and the stalk grows to a height of 3-6 feet. The mullein plant reminds me of liatris in nature, only taller, thicker, and dries to a soft gray to brown color. The stems can be cut and hung to dry. I would paint them after they are completely dry. If you need a very tall line flower for a dried arrangement, mullein is perfect.

Sage
Of course in the southwest, sage is plentiful. I would gather sage while newly bloomed early in summer. Gather in small, shorter bunches. It can be hung upside down to dry and used year round. Sage is great for wreaths and hand wrapped tussie-mussies. It is very pungently fragrant. Add other herbs for a wonderfully natural bouquet.

Just get out and wonder about. There is no end to the materials you can find to use for home and professional use. Seeking out unusual floral materials is what helps to set your flower shop apart from all the others. Have fun and do not forget the sunscreen and big garden hat!!

The Dried Flower Book — Growing ? Picking ? Drying ? Arranging

The Dried Flower Arrangers Year: A Complete Guide to Picking, Drying, and Arranging Flowers Season by Season

Natural Dried Curly Ting Ting Artificial Flowers - Long Stem Fuchsia Color

Green Earth Accents Double Magnolia Flowers 36" Long, Pack of 2 Stems

Zodax CH-2024 Peony Stem, White, 43-Inch Long

Green Earth Accents Okra Pod 19" Long Including Stem, Package of 12 - Natural

Green Earth Accents Curly Willow 4 Feet Tall, Package of 10 - Natural

1000 Poppy Flower Seeds. Papaver somniferum. Giganteum Poppies.

Dogwood Branches - Dried Dogwood branches for sale

Successful Sales Strategies For Selling Dried Flowers Online

Garden Splendor in a Watering Can

Perfect for springtime sales in your shop or for your home! Buy several metal watering cans. They can be plain. They can be old. The watering cans can be bought from a wholesaler or a thrift store. You can decorate them any way you like or leave natural. We are going to really decorate these up!

This display is best done in a grouping in at least three watering cans. In one can use a topiary herb or ivy plant. Some other plants to use for topiary herb plants would be rosemary, thyme, lavender, or sage. If you have large potted herb plants they can be trained into topiaries. Plant the topiary into the watering can. At the base of the topiary, plant a creeping herb such as mint, oregano, or lemon verbena. Now, to add a wonderful wispy effect, bind bunches of bear grass with a wooden floral pick or a steel picking machine. Place the picked bear grass among the lower creeping herbs. You may also want to pick in spring silk flowers or fresh daisies using a water tube or two.

In one of the other plant watering cans, plant a spring blooming plant such as cineraria or gloxinia plant. A blooming plant in the can alone is nice but we can accent it further. Add tall dogwood branches or curly willow. Somewhere in the branches or among the blooming plant, nestle a little bird or two. In at least one more can, for the set of three, plant an exacum plant. This is a low compact plant with tiny purple daisy-like blooms. Exacums are especially available in the spring season. Once again, pick bear grass and tuck in the middle of the plant for a long, wispy look. You can also buy extra bunches of bear grass and hang them upside, in a dark cool place to completely dry. Once dry, use Design Master floral spray paints to spray any color needed. You can also lightly tip them off with glitter spray or go for a regal look by spraying gold. This way the bear grass will be everlasting in your designs.

The watering cans themselves can be spray painted bright spring flowers; baby pink, yellow, mint green, powder blue, or purple and lavender. They can be given an old-fashioned look by crackling them and adding floral decals. Paint some cans ivory and antique them. It is best to keep the same theme going with each grouping. These designs would make for great spring sales in a floral shop; very distinctive and fun. Give as a hospital gift, a birthday gift, or just for every day spring sales.

Esschert Design USA 2023 Secrets du Potager Indoor Watering Can

Metal Watering Can

Package of 12 Mini White Tin Metal Watering Cans

Haws Traditional Metal Outdoor Watering Can. Titanium Finish

Comic Character Metal Sand Toys

Package of 4 Galvanized Metal Watering Cans

Steel Watering Can

KIDS WATERING CAN KIT

Green Metal Watering Can

Package of 12 Black Metal Watering Cans with Sunflowers

Threesixty Innovation Little Garden Angels Children's Metal Watering Can Blue CWC021

Miniature Galvanized Metal Watering Can by Dijon Miniatures

Haws Indoor Metal Watering Can Gift Boxed - SageHaws Indoor Metal Watering Can - Pink

Cat Metal Watering Can Alpine NER112

Metal watering can, pig

Marketing Tips for Your Flower Shop

Here are some ideas and marketing tips to use in your flower shop.

·         Brand Your Flower Shop. Create an image for your floral shop. Take the time and spend the money necessary to build an image for your flower shop. Everyone likes to go the popular place to shop or eat. If your flower shop was called Daisy’s Flowers, it would be your success if everyone said, “Let’s go to Daisy’s for our corsages! Make your shop name a household word. Make your shop easy and fun! The days of stuffy old flower shops are over.

·         Purchase roses and carnations in bulk. Whenever possible purchase flowers in quantity and at special prices then pass on the savings to your customers. In the summer roses dip in your cost. Buy them in 500 lots of assorted colors. You can sell them quickly by advertising and putting them outside your shop if appropriate. Those roses you do not sell can be hung and dried for dried floral arrangements. Now that’s a win-win situation. The smell of roses in your store will be wonderfully intoxicating! Carnation cans be bought for pennies in the summer. Run super, super specials. Let your customers feel like they can splurge on themselves.

·         Create standard arrangements. Generate some designs in several different price ranges, preferably at least three different selections of prices. The key here is to standardize the arrangements so that costs on kept low, and the design labor is kept to a minimal. By reducing cost of labor and cost of goods, you can offer your valued customers a budget item yet while keeping the quality of the product offered high.

·         Give your customers ranges of choice. Design floral arrangements at price points that will produce a nice amount of lucrative sales. Find what price points at which your patrons seem to hesitate. Examples may be $10-20, $20-30, $35 and up. Also bud vases are necessary to add sales for under $10. But customers want choices. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. One thing they are putting into consideration is the occasion for which they are buying. An extreme example would be buying for a 50^th wedding anniversary bouquet versus buying for a get well flower arrangement

                                                                                          

·         Advertise specific arrangements or products. Every week have a weekly special. It could be a three carnation bud vase for $5.99. Maybe a balloon bouquet of one Mylar balloon and eleven latex balloons. Get creative and original. Look what others are doing, and do it a step better somehow; this advertising always keeps your flower shop name out there. Go into other shops and see what they are doing. When I would do this I always came out feeling like I was doing a good job. It made me feel better. As business people, we always want to feel we are at least doing as good a job as our competitors.   

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Florist and Floral Business Both Online and Off: With Companion CD - ROMHow to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Florist and Floral Business Both Online and Off: With Companion CD - ROM 

Flower Shop Florist Start Up Business Plan NEW! 

Easy Instant Decoration Wall Sticker Decal - Spring Flowers and Birds 

Flower Store Business Plan - MS Word/Excel 

Start Your Own Florist Shop and Other Floral Businesses