INDIANAPOLIS — The countdown to Valentine's Day is on, and florists across central Indiana are already getting ready for the holiday.
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"I think rush is a good word," laughed John Goetz, owner of SoBro Flower Co.
While it may look calm inside the storefront for now, each day, more flowers are arriving.
"We have just thousands of flowers coming in from South America, really South and Central America," Goetz explained.
SoBro Flower Co. is owned by the same company as 21 Petals Flower Market in Lafayette. The company directly imports flowers from around the world.
Other local flower shops source their flowers from wholesale distributors, like Kennicott in Indianapolis.
Flowers can make it from flower farms around the world to Kennicott in about five days.
"They cut the flowers to our orders. They pack them. They ship them. They put them on a cold, refrigerated truck or plane. They land in Miami, and then they're on a cold truck all the way up to their location here in Indianapolis," explained Kennicott Branch Manager Cameron Truemper.
Many Valentine's flowers are sourced from South America.
"We have our own flower farm up north, but this time of year, we can't really produce any flowers from the farm. We even have a few greenhouses up there," Goetz started, "This time of year, there's just not enough sunlight to produce the flowers, so we buy most of our roses out of Colombia and Ecuador."
Why these countries?
"Ecuador is actually the best place in the world for roses. Number one, they get a ton of sunlight, and the roses love the sunlight," Goetz said. "They grow high in the mountains, and that high altitude really helps produce a much stronger, sturdier stem."
The weather in these countries can impact the flowers we receive in the United States.
"Right now, South America is experiencing a lot of wet weather. It's ruining some of the crops. Some roses we can't get in right now. We got an email today saying that they're just not going to be available. They just didn't bloom big enough," shared Truemper.
Will this be problematic for Valentine's shoppers?
"This location, we have over 50,000 stems of roses coming this way. We're ready and available to take all orders," said Truemper.
Boxes of flowers and greenery are already starting to fill the coolers at Kennicott and SoBro Flower Co.
"Greenery lasts a little bit longer in a cooler than regular flowers," explained Truemper. "So we brought those in early, and they're ready to go, and they'll last for weeks on end."
The flowers, with a shorter shelf life, play into the "rush" part of the process.
"The bulk of the flowers will be coming in this weekend, for our customers on Monday and Tuesday," said Truemper. "Monday and Tuesday, we'll probably be here twelve plus hours."
Just how many flowers will be flowing through Kennicott to local florists?
"There are customers that are getting upwards of 300 boxes of flowers delivered to them on Monday and Tuesday," said Truemper.
It's a similar situation at SoBro Flower Co.
"They're actually scheduled to arrive around 10:30 p.m. tonight," Goetz said of his next flower arrival. "We've been working on this order for several weeks, because Valentine's Day is one of our biggest days of the year."
The work is just getting started as the flowers arrive.
"We're bringing in extra drivers," shared Goetz. "We'll bring in extra designers as well, so we're just going to be cranking out flowers like crazy."
Both Goetz and Truemper predict that Valentine's Day deliveries will fall over a period of several days this year, since the holiday itself is on a Saturday.
"Valentine's Day really starts around the 12, and goes through the 14," Goetz shared. "I expect a much bigger end of the week next week."
Kennicott expects a few more last-minute sales next week.
"You think of husbands as the ones that procrastinate and wait until the last second to get roses. There are some florists that do that as well. Obviously, at that point, we're going to be stocked and ready to take care of them, and we'll be happy to see them," Truemper said.
If you're looking for a bouquet from a local store, there's still some time for you to pick up your flowers, but delivery options may become limited.
"Make sure you order early, so that we can plan to get those delivered during business hours," Goetz concluded.
