A Texas wholesaler and a retail florist joined forces to put a new spin on an educational program designed to get kids interested in flowers.

Greenleaf Wholesale Florist in Austin, Texas, partnered with local retailer Phil Enderle of Marvel's Flower World, Inc., in Kileen, Texas, to present a Flowers for Kids program in late-April — but rather than limiting attendees to the 235 third through sixth graders at the school, they invited soldiers from the local Ft. Hood military base to participate. Fourteen local soldiers participated, handing flowers to the children as they made their bouquets, and, according to Ray Liehr, manager, they enjoyed the program as much as the kids.

The nonprofit Flowers For Kids, which was started in early 2006, is designed to increase demand for cut flowers by teaching kids how to care for, appreciate and make their own bouquets, so they encourage their parents to buy flowers.
 
Liehr calls the program "the single most effective marketing tool" that directly benefits the retail florist and wholesaler. "We can only assume that more people buying flowers from shops that are exposed to and offer Flowers for Kids classes will result in more business for the retailer, wholesaler and their suppliers," he says.

Flowers For Kids will be part of the Floral Paradise Show on August 8-9 at Ontario Flowers Growers in Mississauga.

Keeping flowers and local florists on the forefront of consumers' minds this Mother's Day sums up the result of Teleflora's "America's Favorite Mom" months-long promotion, says Teleflora Chairman Tom Butler, AAF. The contest for moms captured numerous headlines in newspapers and magazines, not to mention five back-to-back spots on the Today show, and a primetime TV special on NBC.

"For the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, Teleflora wanted to go above and beyond how America traditionally celebrates motherhood by creating an unprecedented multi-media and marketing promotion," Butler says in a press release. "The America's Favorite Mom program has been an extraordinary success for Teleflora and its member florists and has created a whole new paradigm in the floral industry on how to drive tremendous sales and profits for our member florists."

Each of the 15 semi-finalists heard the good news via a delivery of flowers from a local Teleflora florist, and they were featured on the Today Show during the week prior to Mother's Day. The five finalists received $25,000 while the remaining 10 received $10,000, and all of the moms (with the exception of the two military moms currently stationed in Iraq) were flown to New York City, courtesy of Teleflora. "The families were overwhelmed," says Butler. "Some of these stories were from people who could really use the money."

Patton-Bader and other semi-finalists from across the country, received bouquets from their local Teleflora florists. The local florists designed and delivered a series of arrangements to each recipient's home so it would look nice for the taping of the TV special, Butler says.

"In every [video] shot of each of those moms, there are flowers all over the house, shown on camera," Butler says. "It was fantastic, and the cooperation we had from the local florists at the homes of the finalists was superb."

When Forbes.com turned its attention to flower imports from Ecuador just before Mother's Day, the story highlighted the industry's efforts to be proactive and environmentally friendly.

"This has been good news for mothers everywhere," writes Kerry A. Dolan for Forbes. "The lavish bouquets brightening the days of U.S. moms have meant steady paychecks and relatively safe jobs in countries such as Ecuador."

The story, which also was printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, provided readers with an in-depth summary of Ecuador's floral industry. Among the highlights:

• "The flower industry and related businesses are providing steady jobs for 200,000 people in Ecuador... a country of 13.7 million people."
• The industry provides an alternative to drug trafficking for many workers.  '
• In Ecuador, "60 percent of the workforce in the flower business is female," and the story focused briefly on a woman working for Valleflor, a grower outside Quito, who "earns $375 a month, gets health care benefits and can pay $2 to see a dentist who comes to Valleflor 10 days a month."

These positive stories of late, are providing a nice balance to the once-negative stories about flowers from offshore. This is good news for the floral industry and we remain hopeful this shift in reporting will continue.

The story also acknowledged the real challenges growers in Ecuador face, including an uncertain future for trade agreements such as the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which enables growers to send flowers to the United States duty free, and accusations by international human rights groups concerning worker harassment and pesticide-related health concerns at some farms.

Despite the current economic situation, the proportion of American adults purchasing fresh flowers or plants for Mother's Day held steady compared to 2007. A solid 36.7 percent of adult consumers purchased floral gifts for the holiday, less than one half of one percent below the finding in 2007 (37.1 percent). Forty-three percent of adult males and 31 percent of adult females made floral purchases for Mother' Day.