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Holly Chapple's Post-Covid Flower Demand Commentary

 

Florists Dealing With Flower Demands Post-COVID

Flower demands post-COVID are going through the roof. Why is this happening, how are we going to make it, and can we solve it?

WRITTEN BY: HOLLY CHAPPLE | 22-09-2021

For almost two years, the world of weddings was put to a stop completely. By Covid-19. But I knew that if everything would go to more normal again, there would be a huge storm! And I hope that we will all survive. Because I’ll tell you: it will be a challenge at least. You probably all know what I’m talking about. We worked so hard to have people falling in love with flowers through social media so that they would buy flowers for themselves, and it worked! People want flowers, period!

For me, it feels like the most complicated time ever. So many things can go wrong, two years of work and we try to push it all together in one year now. Through social media we promoted ourselves and this has worked. For their weddings and many other occasions, people want flowers, many flowers. The demand for flowers never was this big I guess. Some flowers are harder to get than others, some colors are harder to get, the offer is low, the demand is high.

Lower Production at Flower Farms

I had a talk with Joey, my friend from Alexandra Farms and he told me they hardly can fulfill all orders. The production on the farm has been lower than expected due to the weather which has been very different this year. The environment is damaged. Grey skies, tornados, floods, and colds make flowers are not opening and proceeding to grow. So there is scarcity and on the other hand, the demand is huge. So does the whole world has enough flowers to fill in all those orders?

Prices of Individual Flowers Are Going Up

Because the demand for several flowers is so high, the prices go up! Some flowers are doubled in price, others at least 30 to 50 percent more expensive. In our flower business clients are very important: try to be as open as possible. Tell them you are facing a lot of these challenges, and that it’s possible you need to search for substitutes, or maybe the color will not be the exact one they wanted or the quantity will be a little bit different.

The Floral and Wedding Industry is Suffering

I’m lucky I grow flowers of my own, and that I have a huge network. But I hope it’s clear to everybody that our industry is suffering. To have a corporate account at this moment is a struggle, it’s not ok. 18 months of no income, now it’s so good, but the prices are unbelievable, so what do we do with the contracts we have for the weddings already booked before Covid-19? I see it on the Instagram of Mayesh, or the one from Delaware, they are all sharing it’s difficult.So I ask all of you: try to have some sympathy with what we are going through, forgive us if it’s not exactly how we discussed, or if it’s less in quantity, or even if it’s more expensive. Your florist is doing the best he can within the possibilities he has.

AIFD "Save the Dates"

 

From HI NOW, Hawaii News Now - History of the King Kamehameha Celebrations

https://www.hinowdaily.com/palaau-celebrates-the-history-and-legacy-of-king-kamehameha/

"Sponsored by King Kamehameha Celebration Commission

A Pala’au community group created a festival to celebrate Kamehameha I. This festival highlights pa’u, which refers to the skirt that female horseback riders wear. Volunteers at the festival came together to create floral displays with a variety of Hawaiian flowers. Then, each participating island appointed a princess, and with the Grand Marshal leading the festivities, celebrated King Kamehameha’s legacy."

Punahou Carnival 2021

Normally the Punahou Carnival is held on the first Friday and Saturday in February but because of Covid, it had been reduced to a virtual carnival for everyone except for the students and faculty.  Therefore, our annual Haku making had strict rules regarding color and availability of product.  So we worked with what was given to us.  We were allowed to contribute our own materials but we had to keep the color palettes in mind.

The following is from our Haku instructions:

The lei were sold online to the students and faculty, in the following color categories:

1. Buff/Blue
2. Pink/Orange/Purple
3. Red/Orange/Yellow
4. Green
5. Native/Traditional 

* Please keep this in mind while making your lei, as we will try to follow these color combinations.

 

 

The pics shown above were the examples given to us to choose from.

 

This is what we actually received.

The purple bougainvillea was our donation.  Much of the orange bougainvillea was dried and dead so I dumped it.  The "red" cup and saucer was falling apart so I tried not to use too much of it.

 

 

 

 

My original plan to make a "red, orange and yellow" haku became a peach, yellow and orange-ish one.

 

My second one was an all foliage, more "Hawaiian" style with mini red/green ti leaves.

 

For the keiki

For the keiki

My daughter, Sarah, also made two beautiful haku (lei po'o).

We are happy to help keep the tradition alive and hopefully next year we can be back to in-person making lei.

Kalo or Taro