My dilemma (warning - it is definitely a 1st world thing)

I always have flowers in the kitchen and sitting room.

I buy from the supermarket (depending what one I am in).

I also buy from the independent florist in my road, they tend to have different varieties of flowers especially lilies which I adore.

I love flowers in the house too, and have to confess to buying them from Morrisons when shopping, good value and they last well.

Ask the florist if she has thought of doing a less expensive range ?
She is going to go out of business if she continues with expensive, but not lasting flowers
Maybe she is just catering for special occasions

The air miles!

I told my dh years ago no more flowers from the florist. The supermarket flowers, as you say, last so much longer. As long as 3 weeks. Much as I do like to support the smaller shops in our little town. For something special as a gift I go to the florist and for £20 he will make me up ..... a Hydranga or a Bird of Paradise bloom with a couple of large green glossy stems in a small water container and presented beautifully in brown paper and finished with raffia/eucalyptus..

Aldi flowers are mostly lovely and last for ages.
We are dictated to by our purse and not by propping up businesses who really can’t afford to keep going much as we would like.
There is an appeal on our local Facebook pages today from a wool shop who is fearing she may have to close.
If you have young children who need to be clothed and kept warm you are not going to consider a local business when to do so would cost many more £s, and effort, when you can do so at the local supermarket or market stall.
This is hard but true.

I do the flowers every week for the tables in our community café.
They are all from my garden, other gardens or hedgerows. I love to see what I can find whatever season, whatever weather.
Today it was bluebells and lily of the valley.
I was tempted to take apple blossom but resisted.

If I buy flowers it's usually a potplant.
Next best would be the local florist or a local grower

www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk

The carbon footprint for those flown in flowers must be big.

Aggie these are not expensive flowers as such.

She had tulips that were nearly as much per bunch as 3 times as many in Waitrose.

I fear that, if she closes we will get yet another barbers, coffee shop or vape shop.

She wouldn’t have Waitrose’s purchasing power would she? So of course her flowers are more expensive.

You can blame Brexit I think!

Look at the provenance of the flowers in Waitrose. They are often a cash crop grown in fertile soil in Kenya.

Local florists have to source their flowers in the uk now as they can’t nip over to the Nederlands because the uk is no longer part of the EU.

I’d buy local, and leave the land in Kenya to support food security there.

There have been a lot of floods in Kenya recently and famine in Sudan with thousands of refugees arriving daily.
Let Kenyans grow food rather than roses for your vase.

I always have flowers in the entrance hall, just by a picture of Jesus. Nothing fancy, just a mixed bunch from Tesco/Asda. and it lasts about 2 weeks

Germanshepherdsmum

She wouldn’t have Waitrose’s purchasing power would she? So of course her flowers are more expensive.

Yes, I get that. But it doesn't help solve my dilemma.

Only you can do that.

Speak to her?
Let her explain her situation?

You may not feel so bad either way, after the conversation.

I always have flowers in the house, along with the plants. I try to use the garden flowers and do grow some for cutting.
Other than that I buy at the supermarket, Waitrose are generally good as are Sainsbury’s.

There are two florists where I live .
One has the most expensive flowers that I've ever seen , but the staff are charming and chatty .
The other has a smaller and more affordable range , but the owner is one of the most unpleasant women that I've ever met .
There's a limited range of flowers in my small supermarket . They are more expensive that they used to be .
So it depends - I buy from all three depending on my need .
I've just done the church flowers and I used flowers from my garden without buying any !

Perhaps, next time you buy flowers from the local florist, you can “ask for advice” re keeping the flowers lasting longer - extending it to a conversation about how rising costs of everything mean one has to eke things out more……

VenusDeVillendorf

You can blame Brexit I think!

Look at the provenance of the flowers in Waitrose. They are often a cash crop grown in fertile soil in Kenya.

Local florists have to source their flowers in the uk now as they can’t nip over to the Nederlands because the uk is no longer part of the EU.

I’d buy local, and leave the land in Kenya to support food security there.

There have been a lot of floods in Kenya recently and famine in Sudan with thousands of refugees arriving daily.
Let Kenyans grow food rather than roses for your vase.

So agree with this, I will only buy seasonal GB flowers. So often it’s green pot plants and no flowers. I’m aiming to get lots of daff and tulip bulbs in this year for me to pick next spring as I love them so much.

I must be alone in not buying flowers. Neither do I cut those in the garden except sweet peas to keep them flowering.

I made a new year's resolution to always have flowers in the hall - the one NY resolution that I have managed to keep. I also love to have them in the kitchen

Germanshepherdsmum

I must be alone in not buying flowers. Neither do I cut those in the garden except sweet peas to keep them flowering.

It’s interesting that we’re all different, isn’t it? I would find it hard to never have flowers in the house. I find them cheerful, uplifting, and more so if scented.

Germanshepherdsmum

I must be alone in not buying flowers. Neither do I cut those in the garden except sweet peas to keep them flowering.

No you aren’t but…..
I do buy tulips when they are in season , so far this year I’ve bought one bunch from the market.
I anyone buys me a bunch I thank them nicely and then keep them going as long as possible, tidying them up and moving them to smaller vases until they end up on the compost heap.

My budget doesn't run to buying flowers, but I have currently got a small posy of periwinkle and pink geranium (not pelargonium) in a vase. Usually I can find stuff in the garden. Last week it was lily of the valley. Next week it might be from a hedgerow, cow parsley and buttercups.

I prefer my flowers growing, never buy cut flowers, no need the green in my garden is as nice as flowers, The changing seasons and right now, apple green, berry greens, sedum green, pops of colour from hardy geraniums. My living plants keep bumblee bees content and fed and do not cost air miles