What are things that florists do or happens in a flower shop that most people wouldn't realize?
Hey amy,
I’ve had to think about this one for a while, but I think what most people don’t realise is just how much physical work really goes into being a florist. It’s a job that requires standing for numerous hours a day not simply because florists deal with customers but it is also a necessity to properly prepare arrangements of any kind. I’ve tried, it doesn’t work. I only ended up having to redo my arrangement because I had messed up the proportions. Not to mention that bouquets don’t only go up but down as well – there needs to be ample room for all those flower stems.
Other than that the job also involves a lot of carrying things that are heavy other than the prepared arrangements, like buckets full of water or palettes of flowers, which are a lot heavier when watered. Terracotta usually also adds weight. Anyone ever tried to lift a watered buxus? Heavy like whatnot. And if that hasn’t strained the wrists of your character enough let’s all collectively remember that bouquets may be prepared two-handed but only one of those hands carries the weight and there is only so much room in a person’s hand. For anyone who’d like to get an idea what that’s like grab a few different mugs and glasses and fill them with water. Now pick it up and hold it for a good 5-20 minutes. That’s the average amount of time a bouquet spends in the hand of most florists.
The other thing I’ve come up with is that not all florists have green thumbs. It’s gardeners that keep everything alive, florists just need to make things pretty. And well, keep things alive temporarily so in theory, even a florist with black thumbs knows a lot about plant care but the practical execution may still lack. Severely. I couldn’t keep a cactus alive if somebody asked me to but I sure as hell have extensive knowledge about hydrangea care and am happy to talk somebody’s ear off about it.
– Mod Jana
From a work perspective: cleaning the stems and prepping the flowers. Just constant go-go-go when it’s a busy time or big order. How even when it’s not busy there’s a ton of things to do. My floral design professor said that for his short certification programs he’d get people in there that decided to change to floral design or retire to it from nursing or something and they picked it because they were tired of being on their feet all the time.How trite some of the designs can be - you want to be creative but most customers want basic stuff, and when you’re making dozens or hundreds of vase arrangements for Valentine’s Day, you don’t have time for much creativity. If there’s decorative stuff in the vase, it’s really there to help make the stems stay where we want them. Bow making is a skill you will get, so many bows.
- Mod Den
Disclaimer
This blog is intended as writing advice only. This blog and its mods are not responsible for accidents, injuries or other consequences of using this advice for real world situations or in any way that said advice was not intended.
