Mum’s day no bed of roses for florists
“You don’t get Mother’s Day off if you’re a florist.” That’s according to Cole Bradburn, operations manager at Wild Poppies florists in Morningside, Auckland.
Mother’s Day rolls round again on Sunday and with it the flurry of activity to get flowers to the world’s best mums around New Zealand.
Bradburn says trading for this special day now surpasses Valentine’s Day and is about eight times busier than a normal week. The demand for fresh flowers has driven prices “sky high”, he says, and people are paying crazy prices for some, especially roses.
“Roses are tricky to get at the moment.” said Bradburn. “I try to steer people into tulips as they are coming into season and are the best value at the moment.”
Wild Poppies sources its tulips from Pukekohe, but other flowers can come from further away.
And it’s not just flowers in demand. Bradburn says that finding skilled florists is a problem which means that the regular staff are working around the clock to fulfil orders.
“The phones started ringing on Tuesday,” he said, “and they’ll carry on until Sunday lunchtime.”
If all that sounds crazy, it’s not a patch on last year.
“If we’re doing about eight times a normal week now, last year it was about 18 times,” he said.
But last year was an outlier. “Mother’s Day fell just after level 4 lockdown and people couldn’t go visit their families, so they just wanted to send mum something,” he said.
So what will Bradburn being doing on Sunday afternoon when he finishes work?
“I’ll just be putting my feet up for a well-earned rest.”