Seasonal flowers that extend beyond traditional Christmas holiday
Seasonal flowers that extend beyond traditional Christmas holiday
I love the month of December because it is full of so many different looks in our floral industry. There are seemingly endless options with the availability of Paper Whites and Amaryllis, unique blooming hydrangea plants, Zygo plants, Ornithogalum, gardenias and Calla lilies to add to the sales of the traditional Poinsettias, cyclamen, Christmas cactus and holiday mums. The key to increasing sales at this time of year is to keep all of the many holidays in mind.
• Dec. 16 is the beginning of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication, which is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the second century BC. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, and many families gather together for celebrations and exchange small gifts. Merchandise some flowers that can be purchased for a hostess gift, table centerpiece or buffet arrangement. Blues and whites are especially popular colors and they are also the colors on Israel’s flag. Different types of flowers to have available in whites to creams and dark blues to light blues would be callas, roses, hydrangeas, daisies, white fillers and carnations. Some greens to have on hand would be eucalyptus, different types of grasses, salal leaves and springerii.
• Don’t overlook Kwanzaa, the weeklong celebration that begins Dec. 26 and ends on Jan. 1. This holiday honors African heritage in African-American culture, with the seven core principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. The colors used during celebrations are bold, strong colors like deep reds, oranges and greens. It is symbolic to light black, red and green candles for this holiday, so it would be a good idea to merchandise them along with a variety of colorful flowers.
• And don’t forget to merchandise for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations with lots of glitter and glitz, and a myriad of white in both plants and bouquets.
There are many great selling opportunities in the month of December, so take full advantage of all of the holidays during this season.
Sue DeMuth is the manager of floral merchandising for SpartanNash in Edina, MN. She can be contacted at [email protected].