Shopping for an out-of-town florist

What do you do? A relative from 2 states away is in the hospital, or worse. She's a favorite aunt and you want her to know you're thinking about her. How in the dickens to you get flowers delivered to her? Your first impulse might be to use one of the big floral wire services or order gathers, like 1-800Flowers, FTD, ProFlowers, Just Flowers or Teleflora. That may turn out not to be the best choice.

Wire services advertise a lot, and try to convince you that their services and flowers are the best, bar none. But it's what they don't tell you that makes all the difference. Like the huge service fees, like the non-florist taking your order, like the fact that they will try to find a local florist to fill your order at a huge discount. You have to ask yourself, do I want to order from a person who just takes orders or do I want someone who knows flowers and can give me options, do I want a florist who's only going to get 73% of the price filling my order? How motivated would you be to do a good job if you were only getting 73% of your salary? There are alternatives.

If you have a local florist you deal with regularly, chances are he has a network of friendly florists out-of-state on which he can call to get your order delivered. Some florists (like Blumen Garten Florists) will give you the phone number of a florist in your delivery area so you can call and place the order directly, and maybe save a few bucks in the process. If you're worried about the quality of the flowers with an unknown florist, do a search on the web, and read their reviews. On Google, you can search on "flowers in mytown, state", and get a list of local brick & mortar florists close to your delivery destination. But, again, be careful not to pick the first number that pops up - it might be a wire service. Look for a street address and ZIP code. If there's only an 800 number published, it's probably a wire service.

You can always call us for referrals. We're glad to help.