Florists are often asked this question – How does a flower bouquet arrive at my doorstep?

They go through a journey from either a seed or plant, grown in greenhouses ( flowers sold in florists are always from greenhouses as opposed to field-grown) under superb temperature control, watering, trimming and care. The maturing time depends on the type of flowers, then they are cut and immediately put in water to limit the shock. Growers will pack the flowers to the same length and bundle up for delivery to local floral wholesalers or the airport to be flown to other cities or country.

Flower business is a billion-dollar business worldwide. Any variety of flowers that cannot be grown locally can be flown in from other countries with warmer climate. Columbia, Brazil, New Zealand, Thailand, Holland, Denmark, California, Florida, Equador, Hawaii are just a few exporters of flowers. Over the years, Americans and Canadians have successfully grown tropical ( or most commonly called- Exotic) flowers  like Orchids, Anthuriums. But certain varieties of exotic flowers still need to be relied on other countries.

Flower growers also transport large shipment of flowers to local flower Auction Centre. Vancouver, has the second largest Auction, behind Holland. Every week millions of flowers and plants are sold through the auction, run by a sophisticated computer clock, with prices being set by demands. Vancouver is the main centre for flower purchase, distributors from all over Western Canada purchase flowers from auction and fly them to cities all over.

Terra Plants & Flowers get our supply directly from greenhouses and growers all over the world. We pick up our flowers from the airport, or auction, and it quickly arrives at our workshop, and our experienced designers will condition the flowers with luke warm water and floral preservatives. The stems have to be cut under water to give it good fresh drink as the stems naturally seals up after a period of time being out of water. That is why sometimes you will see a fresh stem of flowers looking wilted.

After a hour or so of conditioning, we will keep the flowers in our cooler, the temperature is set between 3 to 8 degrees. Whenever we take a stem of flower out of the bucket, we always recut the bottom inch to assure they get another fresh drink of water. After arranging them in either a bouquet, basket or vase, it is now ready to go enroute delivery, and arrive upon our customers doorstep.

Now that you know how delicate the journey for flower delivery is. sit back, enjoy, smell and appreciate the flowers!