BUY LOCAL FOR BETTER PRICE & QUALITY!

BUY LOCAL FOR BETTER PRICE!

Did you know that when you purchase flowers from an OUT-OF-STATE flower marketer, -- like Teleflora, FTD or 1-800-Flowers, Just Flowers, Wesley Berry and many others -- you are paying them BIG BUCKS to find a REAL florist (Like the Flower Hut) to fill your order?

That’s right. When you order from an Internet marketer, all they do is extract a HUGE COMMISSION and then PASS THE ORDER to a REAL Florist for design and delivery!

What does that mean to you?

Here's an example: The Teleflora Happy Face Bouquet is $39.95 on Teleflora's website. BUT they ADD a Handling Fee of around $14.99 (and MUCH MORE at Holidays!) Your total cost is $54.94!

Buy direct from the Flower Hut’s website, http://flowerhut.com and we knock 20% off OUR $39.99 price for a net $31.99. We don't add a Handling Fee but we add a delivery charge of $10.50 and local sales tax. You pay Flower Hut $45.57.

YOU SAVE $9.37...that's a 17% saving!

BUY LOCAL FOR BETTER QUALITY!

But there is MORE to the story than just saving money.

Remember the Happy Face above? After Teleflora takes your $54.94, they pick a Teleflora member florist in Charlotte  -- like Flower Hut -- KEEP the $14.99 handling charge, extract a 20% commission and send us the order for design and delivery. But it gets worse!

They ALSO extracts an additional (roughly) 10% in transmission fees. So the member florist ends up with just $27.97 to MAKE & DELIVER an item that YOU PAID $54.94 for!

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE! And that “Something” is CUSTOMER SATISFACTION!

Did you know that ALL the major Wire Services -- Teleflora, FTD and 1-800-FLOWERS, are rated by Yahoo! Shopping at just over 1 STAR!

 

RUSH LIMBAUGH & 1-800-FLOWERS

Rush...

 

You wouldn’t use a Middleman to help you buy a pizza, or a wristwatch or window blinds, would you? So why are you urging your loyal listeners to BUY FLOWERS that way?

But that’s what you do when you personally endorse 1-800-FLOWERS.

With the exception of a scant handful of franchised or wholly-owned shops, 1-800-FLOWERS do not SUPPLY any flowers. Instead, in coordination with Bloomnet – their order relay network – they TAKE as much as 50% of the customer’s money in FEES & COMMISSIONS. Then they pass the now-heavily-discounted order to a REAL LOCAL FLORIST for design and delivery.

And local florists are POWERLESS to compete because 1-800-FLOWERS has no Cost Of Goods Sold, no inventory, no designers and no delivery people.  Almost their ONLY COST is for advertising!

Since 1988, when you championed the “bake sale,” you have been (verbally) a staunch supporter of SMALL independent businesses.

Please, Rush. Put your money where your mouth is and STOP recommending Middleman companies whose actions are destroying local businesses!

Would you buy from a 1-Star florist?

OF COURSE NOT... If you knew about it. Go to this link: and enter FTD. You will find a range of products along with a STAR rating. Click on the rating to read some of the customer comments. Now do the same thing with TELEFLORA and 1-800-Flowers. You'll find that ALL TREE of these NATIONAL FLORISTS have the same appallingly poor ratings. BUY LOCAL!

Exporting NC Jobs?

"If you search online for Valentines Flowers, ALL the top listings will be from "National Florists." And if you purchase from ANY of them, you will be EXPORTING NC Jobs! Why? First, there is no such thing as a "National Florist." ALL these operations are Out Of State Floral Marketeers. NONE of them OWN any NC Flower shops! And ALL of them keep HUGE Commissions (as much as 50% OR MORE!) on each sale. Then these marketeers SEND your order (and what’s left of your money) to a REAL Charlotte-area florist for hand-crafting and delivery. Put simply, if you want to get your money's worth, BUY FROM A LOCAL FLORIST. If you do, 100% of your order value will be applied to Flowers and Delivery. And ALL your money will STAY in the local area! BTW... Local Florist prices are usually MUCH lower! That's especially true at the Flower Hut. Order online for local delivery -- or pickup -- and the little man that lives in our website automatically subtracts 20% off the prices that we copied from the Teleflora website! And there is NO SERVICE CHARGE!

Flower Power

Overview:


Through the ages, flowers have been the inspiration of great works of art, poetry and music. We give flowers to express love, joy, congratulations, sadness and grief. In this piece, we will examine the role that flowers play in the world and in our lives. We will consider the meaning of flowers, analyze famous quotations, design a flower garden, learn about flower poems and paintings and maybe even write a poem!


The Secret Meaning of Flowers


Flowers have a language of their own and that throughout the course of history people have attached meanings to flowers to communicate messages.


Shown below are two columns. One is for various flower types. The other represents their traditional meaning.
Can you pair these flowers with their meanings?
Flowers Meanings

Daisy Peace
Forget-me-not Endurance
Cactus Childishness
Iris Pride, sunshine
Sunflower Faithfulness, virtue
Violet Good fortune
Apple blossom Wisdom, faith, hope
Buttercup Good luck, be mine
Four-leaf-clover True love, good memories
Olive branch Loyal love, innocence




Answers: Daisy: loyal love, innocence, Forget-me-not: true love, good memories, Cactus: endurance, Iris: wisdom, faith, hope, Sunflower: pride, sunshine, Violet: faithfulness, virtue, Apple blossom: good fortune, Buttercup: childishness, Four-leaf-clover: Good luck, be mine, Olive Branch: peace


Remember: These are traditional meanings. Different cultures often have different meanings!

Flower Quotations
Here are a variety of quotations, attributed to different people and different cultures. How do you feel about these?

Flower Quotations
Here are a variety of quotations, attributed to different people and different cultures. How do you feel about these?

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."
- Emma Goldman


"Where flowers bloom so does hope."
- Lady Bird Johnson


"The world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends."
- Persian Proverb


"The earth laughs in flowers."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Different Gardens


Shown below are several different types of gardens. Also shown are resources where you may look up how to structure a specific type of garden.


* Drought tolerant garden
* Fragrance garden
* Edible garden
* Deer Resistant garden
* Color (yellow/orange, blue/purple, or cream/white) garden
* Shade garden
* Full sun garden
* Bird or butterfly garden


* Cornell's Home Gardening Website http://www.explore.cornell.edu/scene.cfm?scene=Home%20Gardening


* The United States National Arboretum Website http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/gardeningr.html


* Perkins & Jackson's Garden-Inspired Living Website
http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/CategoryDisplay?cgmenbr=201&cgrfnbr=2


* Burpee Website http://www.burpee.com/jump.jsp?itemType=GATEWAY&itemID=9
This site contains a "Growing Zone Finder" to guide students in determining what plants will grow in their area.

Flower Poems and Paintings


The Poem Hunter website is an excellent resource for flower poems. http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/flower/




The ARTCYCLOPEDIA website provides examples and links to Georgia O' Keeffe's flower paintings. http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/okeeffe_georgia.html


The Japanese often write haiku poems about flowers. A traditional Japanese haiku has a total of seventeen syllables divided into three lines:


First line: five syllables Second line: seven syllables Third line: five syllables


Can you write a haiku about flowers?


The Flower Hut is a Charlotte Florist located in Charlotte, NC. We have been supplying floral arrangements and fresh flowers since 1988, and enjoy sharing floral ideas with our friends and neighbors.


The Flower Hut
6300 C E. Independence Blvd. Charlotte, NC 28212

Long Lasting Flowers

A few weeks ago, a man came into our store accompanied by his young daughter. He placed his order and, as I was wrapping up his roses, I heard the following exchange:

Girl: "Daddy, what's the difference between Supermarket Roses and Flower Hut Roses?"

Daddy: "About a week."

He was right, but why?

Chances are, the Supermarket roses are pre-wrapped at some "flower factory." Then they are shipped -- often by non-air-conditioned truck -- to the store. There, they may be stored in the same cooler with fruits and vegetables. Finally, they are plopped into water -- often without being recut -- in a display cooler until sold.

From start to finish, there are several errors. First, the "flower factory" receives their flowers direct from the growers -- just like the Flower Hut. Then, they are dry-wrapped and placed in storage until they have an order. During this (undetermined) time, the roses are slowly dehydrating. When they are shipped, they loose even more moisture. At the Supermarket, if they are dry-stored with fruits and vegetables, they are exposed to ethylene gas that is a natural by product of fruits and veggies. Simply stated, Ethylene is to roses what carbon monoxide is to humans.

When they are put out for sale, the store may cut the stems before placing them in the display cooler. If they do not cut them, the dried-out stem ends will not absorb water. Even if they are cut, they may not be placed in water immediately. And that is important, since UC Davis studies have shown that if a rose is recut but not placed in watter almost immediately (10 seconds or less) then the stem will oxidize shut and the rose's ability to absorb water is greatly reduced.

Finally, when the roses are on display, only the stems are refrigerated. The heads and foliage remain at or near room temperature.

Each one of these errors can dramatically reduce rose life.

In contrast, the Flower Hut receives almost all its roses direct from the growers -- via Miami. But they are flown to Charlotte, not sent by truck. And they are kept in cold storage until we pick them up.

When we receive them, they are re-cut, placed in special hydrating solutions, and stored at 35 degrres F in our HUGE walk-in cooler until we sell them. And we never allow fruit or vegetables in our coolers! And we never pre-wrap our roses.

New Website

In response to a number of requests, we have increased the quantity of items online. We have also diversified our line to include more non-wire-service items.

We did this by adding a second website. Please visit our new site at Charlotte Flowers from a Charlotte Florist
BUT we know that some items -- like the "Happy Face" -- are popular in all environments. So expect to see a few "old standbys" mixed in with the new addirions!

Please let us know how you like the "new look."