Florist News

Hi yes its me again but can anyone tell me which is best. Am I better of buying ready made xmas wreaths or making mossed ones and dressing them. Undecided about costs or time wise as I know mossed ones will take up quite a bit of my time (not that I'm flooded with customers anyway, but you never know) lol. Can anyone give me some good advise as this is my first christmas owning a shop. help needed P.S. If I go with mossed which is best time to start making them.

HI

In past experieince I have found that making the wreaths from scratch is a nightmare and Christmas is a busy time as we all know. Some of my local suppliers are starting to supply read made ones for us to decorate. THERE IS A GOD!!!!! I wonder if yours are the same, if not ask them and start somethingg new!!!

Hope this helps? Take Care
Ian

Hi Ian, thanks for your reply, I know they can be a nightmare to make from scratch but with us being newly opened I was considering the cost. And yes I would be nice for us to even get customers buying flowers but its completely dead, for us. I have made 5 very large wreaths for over the shops in our row. It was our contribution to the christmas decorations for the whole row. Plus I got the conifer and holly for free we only had to get the moss and the wreath rings.

hiya, it depends whether you want to sell holly rings or pine. We had a nightmare with holly rings(bought in) last year, they were dead in a week, so we mossed up some rings, cut the bottom branches off xmas trees and made our own pine rings!! result, they look soooo much classier and you can sell them cheaper. You can start mossing them now. xmas trees I think you'll find are cut in occtober, as long as they are kept outside, theyre fine when its cold. It takes a couple of mins to add the pine to the mossed rings, hope this helps

Hi flowerfairy thanks for your reply, yes that info is of great help. I will do mossed ones due to cost as the conifer is free and also the holly. And your right they look brill. Ive had lots of comments on the couple I have made but no buyers yet. At least now I know they will keep I can get a head start with the mossing. Thanks Carol

My wife has been making 100+ holly wreaths each year for about 15 years. We always sell out. Whenever i've bought in ready made wreaths, i normally end up chucking them or giving away. When you see how much is involved in making a nice holly wreath you start to appreciate that you can't do that and then wholesale them, so you've got to expect a very, very basic wreath when you buy in around the £3 mark.
To make your own you can moss up a few weeks ahead and just leave them outside so they wont dry out. If you can find a local farmer or someone with lots of holly this helps a lot. The best holly is on young trees or at the top of older trees. You won't get at this standing on the ground. If you cut the 'prickly' leaves, your hands will be ripped to shreds by xmas. Dont worry too much about berries, we use the plastic wired berries. you can then place these evenly. The natural berries are nicer but normally are in larger clumps and sometimes difficult to arrange properly. you could do a combination of both. I normally fill a large van when i cut holly. You'll be amazed how much you get through. Find some variegated holly as well and use a few bits in each wreath. Bind the individual pieces to the mossed ring with mossing wire adding any decorations as you go. We add small pine cones. You should be collecting these well in advance before they rot on the ground i.e. months ago. You can always buy bags of cones from wholesalers but this adds to your cost and they are normally a bit larger (nicer for selling loose) Crazy as it is, this area is covered in pine trees, so millions on the ground until everyone is looking for them when they are rotten, so yes you can sell them.
You can add a red poly bow as the cheapest option or make up a nice bow with tartan ribbon. These look really classy.
Yes, it's very time consuming but at least you will be selling nice wreaths that won't be dead on xmas day.

Hi thanks for your reply I went ahead and made five large ones for each shop on our parade (free advertising) and everyone who has seen them has commented on them so yes you are right the hand made ones are best. I got the conifer for free from a friends garden and the holly grows at the back of my shop so again free, I also used poly ribbon (cheap) I only had to buy moss, rings, wires and cones. The wreaths I made for that size would normally retail at about 20 - 25 pounds as they were quite large. And yes youve helped me make my mind up I will start mossing up this week and then I will decorate with not just red or tartan but different styles. Thanks for your help. (Me Trying to keep positive) aswell as giving me something to do.

Good to see you're thinking positive!
Just another thought...I've never done it myself but you could always approach any local churches that hold rememberance day parades and offer to donate some holly wreaths. Around here they tend to reuse the same artificial ones each year and it makes me cringe! It will cost you a bit of time but may get you some free PR on sunday morning

Hi , thanks for that idea there are a few churches locally and It wont cost me a fortune to donate some wreaths. A brilliant idea cheers. I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks Carol

Have been making wreaths using holly and fir from my garden but am having some enquiries for the variegated holly but can't seem to find any - have scoured the local countryside Is it something that grows anywhere or would I have to try to get some from a wholesaler