Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and

flower delivery Flower delivery is a service in floristry. In many cases it is conducted through websites which allow consumers to browse online catalogues of flowers. They are often delivered to a third party, the recipient of the gift. Historically, these were ...

. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related supplies to professionals in the trade. Retail florists offer fresh flowers and related products and services to consumers. The first flower shop in the United States opened prior to 1851. Floristry concerns the cultivation of flowers as well as their arrangement and sale. Much of the raw material supplied for the floristry trade comes from the

cut flowers Cut flowers are flowers or flower buds (often with some stem and leaf) that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is usually removed from the plant for decorative use. Typical uses are in vase displays, wreaths and garlands. Many garde ...

industry. Florist shops, along with

online store Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

s, are the main flower-only outlets, but

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s, garden supply stores, and

filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoli ...

s also sell flowers.

Floral design Floral design or flower arrangement is the art of using plant materials and flowers to create an eye-catching and balanced composition or display. Evidence of refined floristry is found as far back as the culture of ancient Egypt. Professionally ...

or floral arts is the

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

of creating flower arrangements in vases, bowls, baskets, or other containers, or making bouquets and compositions from cut flowers,

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, s ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

s, ornamental

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

es, and other

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

materials. Often the terms "floral design" and "floristry" are considered synonymous. Florists are people who work with flowers and plants, generally at the

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

level. Floristry differs from

floristics {{Short pages monitor

Modern/European Style

Modern/European Style floristry involves contemporary, linear designs that highlight unique forms of both individual floral materials and of the designs themselves. Arrangements generally feature negative space and incorporate asymmetric placement of materials. The style stands in direct contrast to traditional radial arrangements such as English Garden. Modern designs are identified by their play on the space used between each bloom, which is often dramatic, and the play on the use of color and different textures, which can be quite experimental. Modern/European Style designs often incorporate unique, exotic or tropical flowers such as bird of paradise,

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, ''

Anthurium ''Anthurium'' (; Schott, 1829) is a genus of about 1,000Mantovani, A. and T. E. Pereira. (2005)''Anthurium'' (section ''Urospadix''; subsection ''Flavescentiviridia'').''Rodriguesia'' 56(88), 145–60. species of flowering plants, the largest ...

'', and ''

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

'' of the Caribbean and other exotic locals, but may also employ more common blossoms, such as Roses, Gerberas and lilies.

Contemporary/Dutch Style

Contemporary/Dutch Style designs also involve contemporary and linear designs. The Dutch designs use a lot of different kinds of greens are used in a natural way. The "Dutch Garden" style arrangement—started in the early 1980s—is a very good example of a Dutch style arrangement. Stones, bark and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es are used in these designs.

Significance of particular flowers

Typically, a florist will organize flowers by season and holiday. Flowers have various different meanings in different cultures. The holidays and events for which flowers are used vary.

Poppies Poppies can refer to: *Poppy, a flowering plant *The Poppies (disambiguation) - multiple uses *''Poppies (film)'' - Children's BBC remembrance animation *"Poppies", a song by Patti Smith Group from their 1976 album ''Radio Ethiopia'' *"Poppies", th ...

are used to remember fallen soldiers only in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries. People often prefer flowers that are associated with their

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

or country and the cultural meaning of the flower color strongly affects their choice and use. Colors convey different meanings to different groups so that, for example, various colors may be associated with

luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

. A flower such as a red rose might communicate love in some cultures, whereas in others, it might be considered indecent or simply puzzling. The vastly divergent attitudes to the color

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

can also lead to miscommunication and sometimes give offense. White, for example, represents death in many

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n cultures, whereas white is usually a symbol of purity and innocence in countries with a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an heritage. Early Victorians, among others, developed an entire, comprehensive

language of flowers Floriography (language of flowers) is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers. Meaning has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form of floriography has been practiced in tradition ...

sometimes referenced in the floral industry today.

Role in personal relationships

Due to the rich and nuanced significance of different flowers and the myriad design possibilities using floral materials, it is hardly surprising that floral arrangements play a number of roles in personal relationships. They're sent to express love, celebrate special occasions, offer condolences, and more. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

of 2020-2021, floristry became an even more important means of communicating with loved ones from a distance. As

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

noted, "in lieu of saying it in person, we're all saying it with flowers." This has led to an increase in profit for the American floral industry; over 80% of respondents to a survey conducted by the Society of American Florists said their holiday sales had increased in 2020 compared to 2019.

Fresh flower sources

There are usually three major sources of fresh flowers for retail florists: local growers, local wholesalers and flower auctions. The majority of these are supplied by specialist

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

and

cut flower Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut ( ...

suppliers. Internationally there are hundreds of wholesale flower markets and auctions, the largest of which is located in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands: the Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer. Other major markets include the fledgling

Dubai Flower Centre Dubai Flower Centre was developed to handle flower imports and exports, as Dubai is a major hub for the import and export of flowers and the airport required a specialist facility since these products need special conditions. The flower centre's ...

and the Ota Flower Market in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Within North America,

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

is considered to be the main distribution point for imported fresh flowers. Many local wholesalers purchase fresh flower stock from importers in Miami to resell to local florists in their areas. Wholesale flower districts are present in many North American cities such as New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Carlsbad, California. Flower auctions are run using the Dutch clock system and are mainly located in Canada:

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Floristry shops

In the Netherlands gardeners started to sell flower arrangements from around 1850. In 1851 Butz Flowers opened its doors in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and is still operating today as one of the oldest floristry shops in the United States. Soon after, around 1900, the first flower shops started to open in The Netherlands. At that time the flower shops also had small greenhouses from which they sold their flowers. Generally, a florist's shop will contain a large array of flowers, sometimes displayed on the street, or will have a large plate glass window to display the flowers. To keep them fresh, the flowers will be refrigerated and kept in water, generally in glass or plastic

vase A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non-rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree species ...

s or other containers. Most shops have a refrigerator/chiller cabinet/cooler near the front of the shop/store with large glass doors so that customers can easily view the contents. Some shops also have another cooler out of the customers' view where they keep extra stock and arrangements for customers' orders. Most stores have a separate work room in which the design florist or

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

s can work on orders with more privacy. The flowers sold in florist shops typically represent the varieties abundantly available in the season but also include blossoms flown in from around the world. Basic varieties in temperate latitudes include

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

es,

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s and

lilies ''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...

. Fashion sometimes plays a role in floristry; what is considered the flower that everyone needs to have today can change very quickly. Ball of Wool

Some shops also stock gift baskets,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s, and chocolates as well as flowers, whereas some shops will purchase these things only when needed for an order. Floral business is seasonal and is heavily influenced by the following holidays and events:

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

Administrative Professionals' Day Administrative Professionals Day (also known as Secretaries Day or Admin Day) is a day observed yearly in a small number of countries. It is not a public holiday in any of them. In some countries, it falls within Administrative Professionals Week ...

, Mothers' Day,

All Souls Day All Souls' Day, also called ''The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed'', is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed, observed by certain Christian denominations on 2 November. Through prayer, intercessions, alms and ...

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s and

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s.This list of primary floral events is fro
Teagasc – Advisory – Factsheet 29: Floristry
, Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, page reviewed on 30 August 2005. These occasions make up the largest part of the business, with the sale of

house plant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

s and

home decor Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

being a smaller, but more constant, part. Flowers for personal enjoyment as well as those selected to celebrate

birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many re ...

anniversaries An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

, thank-yous and get well wishes are also a significant portion of a florist's business. File:Aalsmeer marche aux fleurs4.jpg, Flower market in

Aalsmeer Aalsmeer () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its name is derived from the Dutch for eel (''aal'') and lake (''meer''). Aalsmeer is bordered by the Westeinderplassen lake, the largest open water of ...

File:Amsterdam- Floating Tulip Shop.jpg, Tulip shop in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

File:Mariehamn aland.jpg, Flower market in Mariehamn File:Florist Shop at Dusk in Melbourne, Australia..jpg, Florist Shop at Dusk in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Australia. File:Tallinn flower market.jpg, Flower market in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

File:Drawing_by_Marguerite_Martyn_of_a_flower_shop_in_St._Louis,_1907.jpg, Front page of Sunday Magazine of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', dated 31 March 1907, shows the interior of a florist's shop. Illustration is by

Marguerite Martyn Marguerite Martyn (September 26, 1878 – April 17, 1948) was an American journalist and political cartoonist with the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' in the early 20th century. She was noted as much for her published sketches as for her articles. ...

. File:funeral.name.tribute.arp.jpg, A name tribute ("MUM") at a funeral in England, made by a florist using

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

Supermarket flowers

Cut flowers are widely sold in supermarkets and petrol stations. These outlets offer a limited selection, usually in the form of mixed bouquets and roses by the dozen. Flowers purchased at these outlets are generally less expensive than the flowers purchased at a florist shop. Professional florists may offer a greater selection, higher flower quality, or more skillfully arranged flowers.

Technology

In the United States, the number of florists has dropped since a peak of over 27,000 in 1992 to fewer than 20,000 in 2007. The

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

has contributed to this decline by making alternatives more accessible.

Floral wire service Flower delivery is a service in floristry. In many cases it is conducted through websites which allow consumers to browse online catalogues of flowers. They are often delivered to a third party, the recipient of the gift. Historically, these were ...

s play an intermediary by gathering orders to be fulfilled by local florists. Floral wire services take a percentage of customers order value for orders provided through their websites and additional fees for the transmission of orders to local florists. Few companies ship flowers direct to the consumer. ProFlowers,

Interflora Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company. History In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighton's ...

Teleflora Teleflora is a floral wire service company which brokers orders to local florists for delivery.Teleflora Web ...

, FTD typically function as ''order gatherers'' and will work with local florists to have the order delivered. Floral foam is a

foam Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the ...

used by florists to fixate flower stems for storage and delivery. It usually consists of phenol-formaldehyde plastic. Due to an additional treatment with detergents, the substance can soak up water and increase the longevity of arranged flowers. Floral foam is non-biodegradable, non-recyclable and toxic for both humans and animals.

References

External links

{{Commons category

Modern/European Style

Contemporary/Dutch Style

Significance of particular flowers

Role in personal relationships

Fresh flower sources

Floristry shops

Supermarket flowers

Technology

See also

References

External links