When it comes to flowers, moms more popular

NEW YORK — You don’t write, you don’t call. The least you can do is buy your mom flowers for Mother’s Day.

OK, Mr. Original. Did you know that more flowers are sold on Mother’s Day than on Valentine’s Day? This year U.S. florists expect record sales. Tells you something about how much children love their mothers. Or how guilty they feel about not writing or calling.

Doesn’t matter the reason. More than two-thirds of celebrants will buy Mom flowers for the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation. The only gifts that are more popular are greeting cards. Retailers call those “gifts,” but they aren’t fooling anyone.

The rush to make Mom feel loved with fresh, fragrant blooms has New York florist John Kromidas hiring three extra workers and keeping his Lexington Flower Shop open longer.

“This time of year, everything goes,” Kromidas said as he cut roses on Wednesday at his midtown Manhattan store. “Every mom has a favorite flower. The best sellers are peonies and lilacs this year. Orchids are also popular, and that’s something that’s come to the market in the past five years.”

Americans, loving and/or guilt-ridden, will spend about $3.9 billion on fresh-cut and potted indoor flowers for the holiday, said Tom Prince, the president of Columbus, Ohio-based Prince &Prince Inc., which has been tracking the market for more than two decades. That’s the highest since at least 1996 and compares with $3.6 billion in 2013, the last year the firm ran the survey.

“Spending for Mother’s Day has been bumping lower and higher for the past few years, but has recovered a bit since falling after the recession in 2008,” he said. “Floral spending is highly discretionary.”

This year, prices for popular bouquets “have essentially remained the same” compared with 2014, Amy Toosley, director of public relations for Downers Grove, Illinois-based FTD Companies Inc., which includes Proflowers, said in an email.

For Mother’s Day, celebrated May 10 this year, Americans on average will spend $172.63 on flowers, jewelry and other gifts, including … greeting cards, the Washington-based National Retail Federation estimates. That’s almost $10 more than last year.

Whether you pick a carnation or a hydrangea, Mom’s present will probably come from California, Ecuador or Colombia, the top foreign supplier of flowers to the U.S.

The bloom industry has turned the Bogota airport into the Latin America’s “foremost air-cargo handler,” with 200,000 metric tons in annual airfreight, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a February report. The nation’s exports in 2015 will climb about 5 percent from last year’s record, according to the the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, or Asocolflores.

“Colombia is sort of the floral supermarket of the world,” with more than 1,000 varieties grown in the country, Augusto Solano Mejia, president of Asocolflores, said in a telephone interview from Bogota.

For Marta Cecilia Diaz, the commercial director at flower grower Flores El Capiro in Colombia’s central Andes’ Valle de San Nicolas region, rising demand from the United States has spurred her company to double its planted area in five years to about 183 acres over five farms. The weeks leading up to Mother’s Day are among her busiest of the year, and she’s keeping her mobile phone handy at all times to ensure planes and coolers are available to fulfill shipping commitments.

“This year, demand has been so important” work ran through the weekends, Diaz said in a telephone interview. “This holiday is key for us and we must make sure that the flowers arrive on time, fresh and looking beautiful.”

Not that your mother would complain if they didn’t.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.