There is no such thing as a normal day in a flower shop.
I can arrive in the morning thinking I know exactly what the day will look like and be completely wrong by lunchtime. A delivery arrives. The phone rings. Someone walks through the door needing flowers that afternoon. A wedding order needs finishing. A funeral arrangement needs to leave at a particular time. Somebody wants a plant. Somebody else needs a card. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, there are flowers that need watering.
That is the reality of working in a florist. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
The day starts with flowers
Before the shop really gets going, there are flowers to check and prepare.
Fresh flowers are our raw materials, and they need attention. We check what has arrived, remove anything that shouldn't be there, condition the stems and make sure everything is properly hydrated and ready for the day ahead.
The buckets gradually fill the shop with colour. Some mornings it might be soft pinks and creams; another day there are bright oranges, deep reds and purples everywhere. At certain times of year, the shop seems to change colour almost overnight.
And then the day's orders begin.
No two orders are quite the same
One of the best things about being a florist is that every order has a story behind it.
There is the birthday bouquet where the customer knows exactly what colour they want. There is the person who says, “I don't know what flowers to choose — just make something beautiful.” There are anniversary flowers, thank-you bouquets, new baby flowers and flowers sent simply because someone is thinking of somebody else.
Then there are the occasions where the flowers carry a little more weight. Funeral flowers require a different kind of concentration. A casket spray, posy or personalised tribute isn't simply another arrangement on the bench. There is a person and a family behind it, and that matters.
Then the phone rings
Florists spend a surprising amount of time on the phone.
People ask what flowers are available, what would work for a particular occasion, whether something can be delivered that day, whether we can make something in a certain colour, and occasionally whether we can make something that we have never made before.
The answer to that last question is quite often “yes, let's see what we can do.”
Some of the most interesting work comes from those conversations. Personalised funeral tributes in particular can be anything from a favourite flower to an object, hobby or interest that was important to someone's life. It is a privilege to turn someone's description of a loved one into something made from flowers.
And then there are the customers in the shop
A flower shop is not just a place where we make bouquets.
There are cards to choose, plants to look after, gifts to arrange and customers who want advice. Sometimes someone comes in knowing exactly what they want. Sometimes they stand in the middle of the shop and say, “I need a present, but I have absolutely no idea what to buy.”
That's where we earn our keep.
A few questions usually help. Who is it for? What do they like? What is the occasion? What's your budget? And sometimes the answer becomes obvious.
Somewhere in the middle, we have to eat
If we're lucky.
There is a particular skill involved in eating lunch in a flower shop. You need to find the five-minute gap between orders, deliveries, phone calls and customers. And if you're halfway through a sandwich when the phone rings, the sandwich usually loses.
People imagine floristry as a rather peaceful job. Flowers, pretty ribbons, quiet music...
It can be.
It can also involve lifting buckets, carrying deliveries, standing for hours, cleaning leaves from stems, sweeping up bits of foliage and discovering that you've somehow got a piece of eucalyptus stuck to your clothing.
The bench never really stops
One order goes out and another takes its place.
A bouquet is finished and wrapped. A funeral tribute is carefully checked. Wedding flowers are prepared. A customer collects an order. Another order comes through.
And somewhere along the way, there is usually something unexpected.
That's what keeps the job interesting.
Flowers are seasonal and unpredictable. Customers are wonderfully unpredictable too. A florist has to be able to adapt, solve problems and make decisions quickly. Sometimes the flower you planned to use isn't available. Sometimes a customer changes their mind. Sometimes a particular flower arrives looking so beautiful that you completely change your original idea.
Then suddenly it's the end of the day
The shop gets quieter. The last customer leaves. The phone eventually stops ringing. The buckets are tidied, the benches cleaned and everything that needs attention before tomorrow is dealt with.
And then I look around and realise how much has happened in one day.
Flowers have been bought, conditioned, arranged, wrapped and delivered. People have celebrated birthdays, said thank you, welcomed babies, remembered people they've lost and sent messages that were sometimes difficult to put into words.
Tomorrow will probably be different.
There will be different flowers, different orders and different stories.
And that's probably why, after all these years, I still love being a florist.
You never quite know what is going to walk through the door in the morning. But you know there will be flowers waiting for you.