This morning Weekend Today with Lester Holt and Amy Robach started a new series of reports, entitled "Tricks of the Trade". The first report was on the floral industry, this particular report was subtitled "What Your Florist Won't Tell You".

A wholesale florist gave consumers tips on looking for freshness in flowers, a floral designer presented ordering tips and Amy Robach and Vera Gibbons discussed ordering from a local florist verses using an online florist. Both agreed using a local florist gave consumers more for their money.

We thought on the whole the report was very informative for consumers, but we are a bit confused as to the subtitle of the report. Any reputable florist is willing to share the same information with their customers and to educate their customers on care and handling of the flowers after purchase.

In other words we WANT you to know, and we're happy to share information with you!

Informed consumers are happier customers and happier customers are what any business wants. Perhaps a better subtitle would have been "Here's What Your Local Florist Wants You to Know".

Near the end of the report Amy Robach asked Vera Gibbons if she had any tips for avoiding being ripped off at Valentine's. Vera Gibbons correctly stated that the increase in price at Valentine's Day is a result of supply and demand for product. Kudos to Vera for setting the record straight.

Perhaps Amy Robach would realize all that goes into a price increase at Valentine's Day if she spoke with a local florist before making such a short sighted statement. Reputable florists do not rip their customers off at Valentine's.

We would be happy to explain how much the price of everything going into a dozen roses increases, from the roses to the fillers and even labor. Most florists simply cannot fill the demand without a significant amount of overtime during Valentine's holiday.

In her book Flower Confidential, author Amy Stewart explains part of the increased cost of roses at Valentine's arises from empty planes being flown into rose producing regions to fly roses and other flowers back to fill the demand for fresh cut flowers during the Valentine's holiday.

We encourage you to build a relationship with your local florist, you'd be amazed at what you can learn and what we want you to know!

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