Avante Gardens - florals unique, Anaheim, CA - Orange County Florist Since 1984

Mother's Day Flowers: Comparison Shopping

avantegardens — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:28:00 GMT

Readers of our blog know I've long urged shoppers to go local and buy direct when ordering flowers. You'll get the absolutely best gift delivery value dollar-for-dollar.

In case you still don't believe me, watch this consumer report from Washington DC's NBC4: Mother's Day Flowers. The reporter compared $50 in flowers from ProFlowers.com, 1-800-Flowers.com, FTD.com, OrganicBouquet.com and a local Washington DC Florist, Greenworks.

The bouquets were judged by shoppers at a local mall and by overwhelming majority, the Greenworks arrangement was chosen best. (As a quick aside, the company coming in dead last doesn't like it when people report about the shortfalls of their products. They recently sent a couple local florists a cease and desist for writing about their dealings with the company. The story of ProFlowers' reputation management can be found on FloristDetective.com.)

Similar comparison results were seen in a recent test made by NBC's Weekend Today: Tricks of the Trade - What Your Florist Won't Tell You. Two bouquets costing $50.00 - the one from the local florist on the left and the one through a 'national' online-only company on the right - say it all.

And the title of the piece is ironic since this is exactly the kind of information we local florists really want consumers to know.

It's not too late to send Mother's Day flowers and still get a great value. If your Mom lives in our Anaheim or Orange County delivery area, we hope you'll give us a call or order online.

If she lives out of our delivery area, I recommend using Google Maps. Type in your mom's address and click 'Search Nearby' on the pop-up balloon. Type 'florist' in the box and you'll get a list of local stores - many with user reviews, links to online ordering and business hours details. Then you can know what'll be delivered and save up to $20 in unneeded service charges from a national company.

But no matter how you order, don't forget Mom.

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Awesome Blossoms Featured Designer

avantegardens — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:11:00 GMT

Awesome Blossoms is an online floral design magazine covering news and trends in flowers, florists and floral event decorating and is published quarterly by leading US floral wholesaler Mayesh.

I've had the honor and privilege to be selected as their featured designer for the newly released Spring 2008 issue. The article includes a lengthy interview and slide show of some of my favorite designs. It's a real treat to be included in the company of previous featured designers like David Tutera, Rene' van Rems and Els Teunissen.

The issue also includes a terrific article about conducting a customer service check-up by Carol Caggiano, a profile of the gorgeous St. Brigid hybrid double anemones, and a delightful dishing of gossip about the Hollywood writer's strike and how it affected special event decorating.

Whether you're a florist or simply enjoy reading about flowers, Awesome Blossoms always gives an insightful look into the people and happenings in the floral world.

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Marisa Perring in 'Making it Big'

avantegardens — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:26:00 GMT

The Style Network has recently been airing the floral designer episode from Making It Big, a reality show where up-and-coming young professionals vie for opportunities to work with top members of their fields.

Shot two years ago, the segment included an Avante Gardens' design team member, Marisa Perring, as well as a former student of Phil's school of floral design, Corey Lonsert, AIFD. The third competitor, Jeremy Trentelman, lead designer at P J's Flowers in Phoenix, works for our good friend Tony Medlock, AIFD. Yes, it really is a small flower world. :)

A number of florists have called and written to ask Marisa about taping the challenge segment of the show so I talked her into writing a brief description and sharing her thoughts on the experience.

A chance to be on a reality TV show highlighting floral designers - finally, I had the opportunity to share with people what it takes to be in the floral industry….and that’s putting it lightly.

Being under pressure with the cameras, the questions, the re-takes, the time limit and the misinterpretations, that was a challenge in itself.

Of course, they didn’t explain much to the viewers about how little information we received in advance of the challenge. The only info the producers gave us (about the room to be decorated) was that it was a butter color with touches of gold…THAT’S IT.

Although we received a $500 budget for flowers, containers and accessories (wholesale of course), we designers know that to really show off our talent and to make an impressive display for a whole room, $500 isn’t a lot to work with. We had no idea how big this room was or how many containers we could use - we just got to know the styles. We didn’t know we were choosing the linens, the plates, the napkins etc... and they threw in our 2 assistants at the last minute. I also believe that they added that entry piece as well.

It was frustrating when the production crew told me not to bring my backpack onto set so when I was asked to show my sketches, I didn’t know where my bag was. At that point, I was getting a little irritated. With such little information, and of course for reality TV, throwing in so many more twists and what not, 2 hours was really pushing it. But did you noticed? I was the only one that completed my challenge with all the required elements.

And the tears…you can give me any challenge and I will never cry about it! To have the chance to be featured in Flowers& Magazine would make anybody cry tears of joy. (Since then, I have had the privilege to be a featured designer in the March 2008 issue.)

Having this being aired 2 years after it was taped, watching it now makes me realize how much I’ve matured. Patience is a big one for me and I’m finally learning to breathe and walk myself through it. I now accept things for what they are and I know that if I hadn’t come in 3rd place, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now.

Since then I have experienced so much that I now have a clearer vision of where I want to be in my career and I’ve learned to respect others opinions as well as respecting my own challenges, personally and professionally.

Marisa is a member of AIFD, winner of the national Flowers& Magazine competition, three-time People's Choice winner and two-time first runner-up at the California State Top Ten Floral Design Competition. She was selected from hundreds of applicants - from across the US and Canada - to participate in Making It Big.

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Organic and Green Flowers

avantegardens — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:51:00 GMT

Anaheim just hosted Expo West, the nation's largest natural, organic, and healthy products trade show and we were please to be selected to provide floral designs for many of the exhibitors and events surrounding the show.

Here's just a small sampling of some of the specialized custom arrangements delivered to the convention center and neighboring hotels:

Wheat Grass Cubes

These darling 6" X 6" glass cubes filled with white rock and wheat grass were used in a booth to display a line of natural skin care products.

Wheat Grass and Green Arrangements

This arrangement was part of a set of designs created to be used in front of stage podiums. In addition to featuring wheat grass, each arrangement incorporated tropical foliages, green dendrobium orchids, and curly willow and was accented with large spheres of fresh moss.

Organic and Environmentally Friendly Flowers

Using organic tulips and Veriflora certified roses generously provided by Organic Style, we designed and delivered the centerpieces for the Organic Center's VIP Dinner. It was a pleasure to work with the fantastic flowers from this leading-edge company, especially the 'Limbo' (chartreuse) roses seen in the arrangement above.

Organic and green flowers certified by organizations like Veriflora and Florverde are gaining in popularity and we at Avante Gardens make it a point to choose growers that support eco-friendly farming and handling practices. It's good for us as flower handlers, good for customers and good for our world.

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French Tulips!

avantegardens — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:01:00 GMT

The last couple weeks we've worked with the most spectacular French tulips I can ever remember. Though available year-round, Spring is truly French tulip season. With 24-30 inch tall, graceful stems and large blossoms, these elegant flowers are spectacular by themselves and can also be combined wonderfully with other premium blossoms and branches.

We're currently featuring a selection of French tulips in vases of 10, 20 and 30 on our website and the value is tres magnifique, starting at just $45.

Last weekend, we created a pair of designs featuring towering ivory French tulips, blue hydrangeas and willow in trumpet vases to grace the rectangular dining table for 14 for a special event. Each guest also received a leaf-wrapped and ribbon-tied French tulip favor.

French tulips have a much longer vase life than standard tulips and can last 7 to 10 days with proper care.

What better way to celebrate spring and the Easter holiday than with a glorious vase of these premium flowers?

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Del Norte Garden Club Spring Floral Fantasy Luncheon

avantegardens — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:10:00 GMT

Placentia's Del Norte Garden Club will be holding a luncheon and fundraiser Saturday, March 29 at 11:30 a.m. and I'm pleased to have been asked to be the featured presenter - designing and demonstrating contemporary Spring flower arrangements and sharing tips on working with the season's best blossoms.

Proceeds from the event will go to fund scholarships for students in the Horticulture Department of Fullerton College.

Location: Placentia United Methodist Church, 2050 Valencia Ave., Placentia, CA

Reservation Deadline: Monday, March 24

Make your reservations by contacting Eleanor Barbour at (714) 993-5585.

Hope to see you there.

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Flowers for Surprise Weddings

avantegardens — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:32:00 GMT

Want to get married surrounded by friends and family without all the pre-wedding craziness that usually surrounds traditional ceremonies? Then consider a surprise wedding.

We had back-to-back weekends with surprise weddings this month and for couples who want a simple, fun and more stress-free event, they're a great choice.

The first couple invited guests to a Chinese New Years Party at the bride's home.

The residence was festooned with flowers, linens and decor in red and gold with arrangements strategic placed in the buffet areas and in the space later to be used for the ceremony. The couple wanted to be married in front of the fireplace hearth, but didn't like the thought of having the large plasma TV above it in the background.

Solution? The bride created a red fringed banner featuring the Chinese good luck symbol and hung it to cover the screen. Two recessed areas were filled with up-lit vases of bamboo, orchids, anthuriums, tropical leaves and hand-woven golden birds to create a simple yet stunning setting.

Table centerpieces were created in wok-style dishes and featured ginger, orchids, anthuriums, bamboo and gold-highlighted lotus pods.

Near the end of the cocktail hour, the groom gathered their guests in front of the fire place setting and announced, "We're getting married." Greeted with smiles and polite applause, he finished, "Right now!" and the room erupted with loud clapping. The bride, carrying a petite clutch of green cymbidium orchids accented with a gold fan, and her two granddaughter flower girls appeared and the ceremony took place to the delight of all.

Our second surprise wedding took on a more classic look and was held at the Los Coyotes Country Club. The event was originally scheduled to be an engagement party with a small group of approximately 50 friends and family members. Just 9 days before the event, the couple decided the night would be the perfect time to get married. Bride and groom tipped off their kids in advance of the event, but the other guests arrived to be surprised with the good news.

The bride carried a petite cascading clutch of 'Casa Blanca' lilies, 'Message' roses and dendrobium orchids wrapped in ivory satin and pale gold ribbons. For centerpieces, the couple chose low, causally elegant designs featuring 'Friendship' roses, raspberry lilies, dendrobium orchids and berries and we added a light dusting of rose petals to accent the ivory linens and creamy gold chair cover sashes.

The ceremony area, facing the golf course, featured two tall designs of garden flowers in white, cream, raspberry and crimson.

For both weddings, the brides mentioned that the only gifts they really wanted were to have the people they cared most about be in attendance as they married the men of their dreams. No doubt, these two marriage ceremonies will be unforgettable to their guests. They are to us.

We wish both couples a lifetime of health and happiness and are thankful they chose Avante Gardens to add to the beauty of their special days.

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Fun, Flirty and Sexy Valentine's Day Flowers

avantegardens — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:03:00 GMT

It's Sweetheart Season with the approach of Valentine's Day next week. While the classic flower gift of choice for the holiday is a dozen longstem red roses, there are many more fun, flirty and sexy ways to express your Valentine wishes.

For just plain fun, we're offering a Valentine's Day Puppy Dog flower arrangement, complete with a heart-shaped nose and a glorious red rose.

It's a great choice for dog-lovers, fun-lovers, kids or anyone else you want to tell "I Woof You!".

When a dozen roses sends too strong a message, and you just want to flirt a little, we've created a contemporary design, Groovy Kinda Love, that's more a sassy wink than a knock-you-over kiss.

Featuring red roses and gerberas, the arrangement is energetic with its chartreuse plateau container and bright gift box style ribbons.

For your sexy sweetheart, the Avante Gardens design team offers My Luscious Valentine, a romantic and stunning bouquet of imported roses, tulips, hydrangeas and orchids in a contemporary pave' style.

The crimson, cerise and fuchsia bouquet arrives in a gather vase and is trimmed with luxury red ribbons.

And don't forget the Valentine's Day Flowers for guys. They get a kick out of receiving flowers, too - especially at the office.

Whatever your choice, follow our Top Ten Tips for ordering Valentine's Day Flowers to get the very best value and service during Sweetheart Season.

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Tom Brady's Flowers

avantegardens — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:09:00 GMT

Flowers and the Super Bowl run-up merged last week when the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was spotted carrying a gorgeous white bouquet and wearing a boot on the way to girlfriend Gisele Bundchen's home.

The Boston Herald's Renee Nadeau covered the Tom Brady flowers angle with local florists speculating as to why Brady might have been bringing the bouquet. Love? Just Because? A ticket out of the dog house? Whatever the reason, the bouquet made a big splash and was the source of nearly as much speculation in the press as the boot.

One of the comments sure tickled me:

"Brady’s most recent arrangement may be considered cutting edge, mixing ferns, baby’s breath, white carnations and white roses."

The design was in a classic dome-shaped look, more retro chic than cutting edge, but seeing him chose carnations is a strong signal the variety may no longer considered verboten by style setters. I've sung the praises of carnations in a previous post and am hoping they'll get yet another fresh look.

We at Avante Gardens have whipped up a Tom Brady inspired bouquet so Anaheim and Orange County guys can send flowers like an MVP, too.

After informally polling customers last week, the only fellows to pass on this look were San Diego Charger and New York Giants fans. Can you blame them? ;)

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Flowers for Guys in Trouble

avantegardens — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:04:00 GMT

The Netherland Flower Bulb Information Center has launched a new Web guide, SavedBytheBud.com, geared toward showing guys what they "need to know to use flowers to get, keep, impress or redeem themselves with women."

The wittily written site offers advice about flower choices and includes video demos on choosing, buying, growing and caring for a variety of bulb flowers like tulips, daffodils and lilies.

Their advice to guys in the dog house is dead on:

"When the aim is to apologize, only cut flowers will do.

Potted plants have many uses, saying you’re sorry isn’t one of them."

In my more than 30 years as a florist, I've seen a few guys in trouble opt for potted plants since they're considered more "practical." Now if your wife or girlfriend is a plant lover, potted flowers may be a good choice but fellows, the real usefulness of apology flowers is in the receiving, not the keeping.

Do you really want a plant sitting there for months reminding her why she was mad at you in the first place?

Visit SavedBytheBud.com to learn more fun tips on how to "get your bud out of a sling."

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Orange County's Million Dollar Florist!

avantegardens — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:42:00 GMT

A big congratulations to Orange County's own florist Rachel Rosales and her partner TK Irwin for bringing home the Million Dollar prize on CBS's The Amazing Race.

Challenged with two floral oriented tasks during the season, making an Indian wedding garland and selecting a real bloom from a sea of faux flowers in a Tokyo flower shop, our real florist proved to have the right combination of temperament and smarts to bring home the top prize.

In the midst of planning for Valentine's Day at her Costa Mesa flower shop, no doubt Rachel will be much in demand for press interviews in the coming days. Hopefully, she'll have a few spare minutes to talk about her experiences through the eyes of a florist.

Rachel, TK was right. You are smart! Way to go!

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I've Been Nominated for a SEMMY

avantegardens — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:47:00 GMT

Well, knock me over with a heliconia. One of my blog posts got nominated for a SEMMY in the category of Local Search and I'm pretty sure to hold the distinction of being the only florist on the list, (although I did try to get Michael Gray to play one).

First, I want to thank Matt McGee of SmallBusinessSEM.com not only for the nomination, but for the time and effort he puts into posting, gleaning and chronically the information out there that's so essential to SMBs. It was through his blog that I found other bloggers whom I also consider to give the best of the best in Local Search coverage: Blumenthals, Screenwek, SEO by the Sea and the Search Engine Land Locals Only team to name a few.

Second, I gotta say that having my name on a list with the luminaries of Local Search is a hoot since those guys and gals are my must-read resources. My nominated post is but a view from the Local trenches.

To the SEOs and SEMs reading this and wondering who the heck I am, well... I'm a national award-winning floral designer with a flower shop in Anaheim, CA who spends way too much time tracking information about Local Search and attempting to synthesize it to share with my fellow florists, mostly through discussions at FlowerChat and posts at The Real Florists Blog. I'm focused on promoting my own local brand and those of other independents rather than becoming beholden to a McFlower Factory system which one Wall Street analyst just called fundamentally broken.

The local florist channel of the flower industry has been upended by 'online only' florists, with an estimated $3B in annual sales now funneling through national marketers before it makes its way back to the local florists (less 40-45% of consumers' dollars) that create and hand delivery those orders. For the past ten years, the size of the florist pie has remained relatively stagnant, so 'online only' growth has primarily just been dollars shifted from local sales.

It's my belief that Local Search is the bright spot for the future viability of independent local florists, which I why I follow it, write about it and volunteer time in the floral industry to help my fellow florists understand the issues, opportunities, pitfalls and the pretenders.

With so many great posts nominated in the SEMMYs Local Search category, I'll still go out on a limb and highlight a few articles I'd like to see move on to the finals:

Local Search Interviews, Information and Resources by Michael Gray. It's a comprehensive series of terrific interviews with Local Search authorities.

Yahoo Local Now Features "User Denigrated Content" by Mike Blumenthal for Search Engine Land. I love it when anyone shines a bright light on shenanigans in Local, especially when it includes florists. :-)

The REAL problem with Local Search by David Mihm. Very interesting theory that Google now features local businesses because consumers want to find us - plus it forces national companies to buy Adwords.

Anatomy & Optimization of Local Business Profile by Chris Silver Smith for Search Engine Land. Solid, easy-to-follow advice about the nuts and bolts of local listings.

Google Local Search Glossary by Bill Slawski, SEO by the Sea. Terms and definitions from Google's patent filings to help understand the factors that effect Local/Maps results.

Finalists in each category will be announced around January 23. Bouquets to all the nominees and to the SEMMY team.

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What Kind of Flowers Reflect Your Mood?

avantegardens — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:38:00 GMT

Rich and Kathy of Bloomery posted about the Flower Council of Holland's new interactive site called Read My Mood so I decided to take it for a spin by requesting a flower based on the feelings they sensed from of our blog, too. Here's the result:

I wonder if we FloristBloggers will all turn out to be in the same mood? :) (I love muscari and poppies, too.)

Another site that offers a fun flower as an insight into your personality is the always-wittily-written This Garden Is Illegal. The flower quiz is hysterical, including queries like:

"Your workspace looks like:
	I haven't seen my desk in over a year.
	The paper volcano just erupted
	There is enough open space for your coffee cup and a few essentials
	There are a few papers waiting to be filed.
	Hermetically Sealed

If you've seen my office, you know I picked #1. ;) According to the site,

I am a
Daffodil

What Flower
Are You?

So what's your mood and exactly what kind of flower are you?

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When being a florist really pays off!

avantegardens — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:50:00 GMT

Orange County florist Rachel Rosales, a competitor with partner TK Irwin in CBS's Amazing Race, must have thought she was dreaming when given a choice between hanging a multi-piece Bollywood poster or creating a traditional Indian wedding flower garland in this week's episode.

Rachel, co-owner of Costa Mesa Florist, effortlessly strung the 108 flower lei and she and TK went on to finish in first place in the Mumbai, India challenge; earning a trip from two to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

I haven't spoken to Rachel since last month, but no doubt she'd say being a florist paid off this week.

The couple are now in the final four. Here's wishing that well-crafted garland turns into a million dollar lei for the pair.

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We're Not Review Mavens?

avantegardens — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:59:00 GMT

Miriam noticed that Google Local/Maps isn't counting her user review. Mine don't appear in the thumbnail summaries either.

Discussions about user review updates at Maps/Local's started last month at Mike Blumenthal's Understanding Google Local and Yahoo Maps and continued on to Convert Offline and Miriam's SEO Igloo. Tim of Covert Offline theorized that dropped reviews might have been due to reviewers lacking 'maven' status.

"if I were Google, what would I look for in a review? I couldn’t filter bad reviews and just show positive ones, obviously. No, I would want reviews from mavens. People who love to shop and give their well informed opinions. What would these people have in common? They would have a lot of reviews to their credit. So, I would look for reviewers with a large number of reviews to their credit."

Miriam, let's face it, at this point I guess we're just not mavens (but it doesn't appear any of the other Google users who've taken the time to write reviews are either.)

I've been tracking reviews and writing them since early summer when an informal group of local florists at Flower Chat, with more than 1200 active members, decided to make an effort to create reviews about other local flower shops. Since we deal with other florists nationally and internationally, we're in a unique position to give first-hand accounts of the quality of work provided by others in our field. In fact, most every flower shop has an internal data base which can be customized to write comments about other florists; rating them from 'preferred' to 'good' to 'poor' to 'never use' and noting their specialties, i.e. 'great contemporary designs', 'large selection of exotics' or 'good a basic work'.

While most florists use wire services to transfer orders for distant delivery (and earn commissions in the process), many of us also believe consumers will get the best value by ordering direct from a quality local shop that will deliver their order. My own site explains about sending flowers out of town and I customized a local florist search via Google Co-op to further the effort.

Our informal review group was/is based on the following:

Goal: Tell consumers about the good things your fellow local florists do. Who better than us to tell consumers about the best shops around?

Create a login at any of the following:
InsiderPages.com
Yelp.com
local.Yahoo.com
Google.com

- Write reviews of florists that consistently do a great job filling your orders or with whom you've made direct purchases as a consumer. (You do buy flowers, don't you?)
- Highlight their specific benefits - quality, value, design, service, e-receipts, delivery confirmation, photo of your arrangement, etc... (If they've goofed and then fixed it properly, tell how they professionally handled the issue.)

Identify yourself as a florist if you are writing about a shop that only fills your orders through a WS.

Do Not: Review your own site
Do Not: Review your competitors
Do Not: Request reviews of your own site in this forum. Those posts will be deleted on sight.
Do Not: Quickly lash out in anger at a florist that blew an order. We all make mistakes from time to time so the more important story is how a problem is/was handled. Before you type, ask yourself if a bit of patience would serve you, the other florist and consumers better.

Effect: Raised awareness of good local florists.

In addition to writing reviews, we also reported a number of black hat reviewers. I give props to InsiderPages.com since they consistently and quickly took down obvious review spam once reported. (Unfortunately their down-stream users, including Google Local/Maps weren't nearly as responsive.) It was certainly a surprised to note that a few of the black hat reviews had been up for a year and that the victim-florists appeared to have never reported the issues themselves. Quite an indication of how disengaged from the web many small business owners still are.

In the midst of fighting my own battle with Google Maps/Local about their publishing and leaving up (for months) black hat reviews, my husband and I received a prestigious national floral industry award. With the irony that false reviews could unfairly damage (at least temporarily) a reputation that took a lifetime to earn, needless to say, the bloom was off the rose as far as my endearment of Google Local/Maps. (And I don't even want to take the time right now to go into how they've twice this year allowed some mystery data provider to override our LBC business information and are currently publishing a fax number as my business phone number in the Maps One Box.)

They also 'lost' user reviews about us. Here are two, from Google users Eric S and Richard S, both florists, that have also completely disappeared from our company profile.

It's unlikely any of us florists who've filled in our user profiles will write scathing reviews about other flower shops since we're clearly ID'd and therefore sitting targets for revenge. But are we going to have to go negative to gain a trust rank? I hope not.

Google obviously needs a better way to separate the useful reviews from the Urban John spammers (whose bogus 'reviews' still appear on some flower shop profiles weeks after being reported), but if they want more users to participate, they'll need to show that the time and effort counts. (Don't you wonder why someone would mark those bogus reviews as 'helpful'?)

I'd like to add Google to our review request list from our customers (right now we refer them to CitySearch, InsiderPages and Yahoo Local), but want to send them places where their words will seem to matter.

Like Mike said, we're all trying to be patient and add feedback because we really want Google Local/Maps to succeed. As unpredictable and seemingly unresponsive as they are now at dealing with obvious errors, they're still a useful local resource and have no doubt helped more florists get found by location than just about any place else on the web.

Maybe, one day, they'll also let us earn Review Maven status.

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