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BEWARE of Deceptive Order Gatherers–has it happened to you?!?

Here lately in the Boulder Blooms family, we have been having some problems with people receiving the flowers they supposedly ordered from us. There is a Boulder Bloom (no “s”) that customers have been ordering from, but it is not a real flower shop with a true store front. Customers have been calling the business, placing their order, and then we will receive disappointed phone calls from them because they do not realize that they did not actually place an order with us. If this is something that has happened to you, be sure to call the storefront to make sure they have received your order. 
Here is the scam:
This business is called a Deceptive Order Gatherer. Deceptive Order Gatherers piggy-back off of a local florist’s name that usually incorporates the town’s name (like we have the city of Boulder in our name, Boulder Blooms). This way people think they are getting a local florist. However, these gatherers are usually not located in the town, but they rely on a web presence to attract customers to call and place their order with them. We think this Boulder Bloom is using a service like yellowpages.com or something similar. Once you have placed your order with these gatherers, they skim money off of your order, and through a wire service they relay the order to a local florist. Then, the florist does not have the ability to create your order at full value because they have taken money from your order and paid for the wire service.
With our situation, Boulder Bloom is not even relaying the order, so then our customers’ orders aren’t being sent out at all!
This is a good reason why you should always call a local florist directly after researching them thoroughly online. When you call direct, you can speak directly to staff members who can see, smell, and touch the very flowers you’re sending instead of a middle man! You can also avoid being hit with sometimes exorbitant wire service fees.
Here is some more information written by a member of the Floral Association of the Rockies (of which we are a member!) about this scamming. If this has happened to you…again, we are so sorry; we encourage you to read this article.
http://floralassociationrockies.org/pdf/articles/DeceptiveListers.pdf
Moral of the story… in the background of your conversation, if you don’t hear a bunch of people talking and scurrying around a messy store…
BEWARE of Deceptive Order Gatherers has it happened to you?!?
…or if you do not hear buckets of water splashing around…
BEWARE of Deceptive Order Gatherers has it happened to you?!?
…or the opening and closing of walk-in cooler doors…
BEWARE of Deceptive Order Gatherers has it happened to you?!?
…chances are, you should hang up the phone because you are probably not talking to us! We have had a storefront in Boulder for 8 years, and we have become one of Boulder’s most trusted florists and eco-friendly businesses. We love what we do, we love our customers, and we love being part of this community. Again, to our knowledge there is no shop located in Boulder called Boulder Bloom, and we urge prospective clients to be sure call us to make sure that we receive your order!
By Boulder Blooms
Published: March 31, 2010
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Calling All Local Artists!

We just joined forces with Art of the Flower on the hill. We also gave it a bit of a facelift, which left the walls completely bare. We want to use local Boulder resources to decorate the shop, which leads us to this question…

Would you like to host an open gallery featuring your creations? We are looking for you!! Every Friday we will be hosting an open gallery displaying your art work in a venue that calls for art. The space we are providing will be free of charge to you. We are searching for botanical art focused on nature or flowers; be it paintings, sculpture, or photography, as long as it is based on nature. We provide the venue, you provide the beauty. You are welcome to invite friends and fans alike. You are responsible for the hanging of and all logistics of your art work. Food, beverages and/or music are also something you need to arrange if you would like to supply these things.

Art of the Flower is the perfect place to showcase your art because it is in a high traffic area of Boulder. Tons of people will be passing by the shop as it is next door to Lollicup and across the street from the Fox Theater.  Please reply via email to info@boulderblooms.com with a brief introduction about yourself and your work. Feel free to include pictures as we will need to see samples.

Calling All Local Artists!
Calling All Local Artists!
Calling All Local Artists!
By Boulder Blooms
Published: March 12, 2010
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Local Yokel is the way to go!

Recently we have been getting loads of local Colorado flowers in our shop. Calla lilies, Hybrid Delphinium, Ranunculus, Stargazer Lilies, Asiatic Lilies, Freesia, Snapdragon, Larkspur, Tulips, Dianthus, and Scabiosa, just to name a few! We love getting Colorado flowers because they are so fresh and happy and colorful. We enjoy supporting our local economy and businesses.  We also know we are working with growers who are committed to the Earth’s health, just like we are.

local+collage Local Yokel is the way to go!

It is interesting how the same flower family can look completely different if the varieties are from different parts of the world. For example, the Zantedeschia species (calla lilies) have many different looks. The large Callas we get in Colorado look extremely different than the Callas we get from South America. The flowers from South America are more cup-like and closed, while the ones from Colorado are more relaxed and open. Take a look at the difference yourself!

Local Yokel is the way to go!

Local Yokel is the way to go!

These photos are the Colorado Calla Lilies. 

Local Yokel is the way to go!

Local Yokel is the way to go!
These photos are the Calla Lilies from South America

Local Yokel is the way to go!

This is a direct comparison of the two varieties. 

The “petals” (the white part of the Calla Lily) are not actually petals. They are part of the plant called a Spathe. The actual flower of a calla lily plant are the tiny nodules are the yellow Spadix, which is the inner yellow part of the flower.

By Boulder Blooms
Published: March 4, 2010
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Here’s what our Valentine’s Day was like…

Well another Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and as usual, we were extremely busy (especially since we just merged with another Boulder florist, Art of the Flower), so we were doing twice the amount of designing. We hope everyone had a relaxing day that was full of blossoming love and joy, but our day certainly was not like that at all! It was hectic, chaotic, and flowers were flying all over the place, which was actually kind of fun. We love days like Valentine’s Day because it helps us spread our passion of providing beautiful portraits of nature to the Boulder Community on an extremely widespread level. Here is a glimpse of what our day was like…

Even with all of our deliveries, our delivery drivers never stopped enjoying the smiles and glowing faces of all of the recipients. We went through thousands of roses, and we meant to take photos of the shop covered in them, but by the end of the day we were so swamped with orders, that it completely slipped our minds. Our cash register and credit card machine even broke. And people were coming in ordering arrangements, so we had to ring them up using our computer, which takes twice as long! In addition to bleeding fingers from all the rose thorns and a broken cash register, our 3 designers, Jerrica, Teresa, and Tim, were up one night designing until 12:30 am. Jerrica says, “I could probably sleep for a week after those 3 days! I only slept for 7 hours within a 48 hours time period. Thats how busy we were, but I had to get those orders done!”

We did an arrangement of 50 red roses that was as large as Jerrica’s arm span. That’s huge! Probably 5 feet in diameter. Our most popular arrangement was (no surprise here) a dozen red roses in a sleek tapered glass vase. The “Best of the Best” was the second favorite, and all the recipients gasped when we delivered it because it is very elaborate, being 4 feet tall with aspidistra wrapped inside the vase with elegant curly willow branches. In addition to thousands of roses, we also included gerbera daisies, fragrant garden roses, and ranunculus in our Valentine’s Day arrangements. Our customers had a tendency to want to send spring flowers, so all of the tulips, iris, freesia, asiatic lilies, and dahlias were bought locally.

So, as you can see, our shop was complete madness from February 12th, 13th, and 14th. Despite the chaos, we loved being able to provide Boulder with hundreds of arrangements for the holiday of love. Now wedding season is right down the road, which means Boulder Blooms will be busy for the next 6 months putting together wedding flowers!

By Boulder Blooms
Published: February 18, 2010
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Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award

Boulder, CO – February 3rd, 2010 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Boulder Blooms has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ in the category of Wedding Florists.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Boulder Blooms is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Boulder Blooms is among the very best florists within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

About WeddingWire, Inc.WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com. 

BCA logo top Wedding Wire Brides Choice Award
BCA logo bottom Wedding Wire Brides Choice Award
By Boulder Blooms
Published: February 4, 2010
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A Lesson in Our Eco-Friendly Floral Tools

As you all know, we pride ourselves in being Boulder’s eco-friendly florist. There are certain basic tools that we use on a daily basis to create our arrangements: vases, floral clippers, scissors, loppers, compostable wax tissue paper, recyclable BlumeBoxes, and the list can go on and on! Here is a glance at some of our behind-the-scenes, eco-friendly tools that we use.

Sweet Huckleberry Instead of TapeOne of the tools that florists often use is tape. Usually it is used to make a grid like pattern on top of a wide-mouthed vase to make working with flowers easier. This grid pattern makes the flowers stay in place when making the arrangement. At Boulder Blooms we do not use tape for this purpose. Instead, we use Sweet Huckleberry, which comes from the North-West. The branches are very jagged, and they get tangled really easily. We wrap it together and place it inside our vases. When we arrange the flowers, the branches of the Sweet Huckleberry are a great source of tension for the flower stems, so they stay in place. We also love to use Sweet Huckleberry as foliage to give some arrangements a sophisticated, edgy look. Best of all, the Sweet Huckleberry is compostable.

sweet+huckelberry A Lesson in Our Eco Friendly Floral Tools

Horsetail Instead of Plastic PitchforksWhen you receive a flower arrangement from most florists, you will usually notice a plastic pitchfork that holds the card with your arrangement. You won’t see those in a Boulder Blooms arrangement! We use stems of horsetail as our “pitchforks”. Horsetail is a type of grass, and it usually grows along the banks of riverbeds. We have even seen it growing along Boulder Creek! It is sometimes grown in organic gardens to attract dragonflies. We cut a slit in the horsetail and that’s where we put our cards. We feel they are better than the plastic pitchforks because they are eco-friendly, compostable, and it blends in with the arrangement.

reduce+revase+tag A Lesson in Our Eco Friendly Floral Tools
Reduce, Reuse, Re-vase Tags
At Boulder Blooms, one of our main focuses of being eco-friendly is reusing everything we can. This includes the vases we send to you! So, one of our eco-frindly “tools” is to get the community involved in being green as well. We have a program that allows you to return your cleaned, Boulder Blooms vases and we will give you $5 worth of flowers in return. Pretty cool, huh? We think so! Check out the tag that comes in your arrangement, and feel free to bring us back your vase. We would love to reuse it if we can! 
By Boulder Blooms
Published: January 29, 2010
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Extra, Extra!!!

newspaper+flat+small Extra, Extra!!!

That’s right, folks. Boulder Blooms and Art of the Flower have joined together. Two locations, free delivery to CU Dorms, and now with free delivery to CU Sorority houses. Come say hello!

By Boulder Blooms
Published: January 26, 2010
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Did You Know There Were So Many Edible Flowers?

Being an eco-friendly florist, I like to think that we have a good sense of working with the earth in everything we do. We really respect everything that comes from our environment, and we try to utilize the local plants and flowers that grow here in Colorado. we also give back to the earth by composting all living plant matter. Since we are so in touch with the nature that surrounds us, I thought it would be interesting to list some edible flowers. Unfortunately, most florist’s flowers are not organic because they are grown for their blooms. If you want to purchase flowers for consumption, check with your florist first to make sure they can get edible flowers. Otherwise, farmers markets are a great place to buy them because they are organic and safe to eat. I got this list from About.com: Home Cooking, which you should look at for a more complete list. You might want to think about adding in these flowers in to our next recipe! My personal favorite is how you can steam sunflowers like artichokes!

calendula Did You Know There Were So Many Edible Flowers?
Calendula*
It has a spicy, tangy, and peppery-taste, and it adds a golden hue to foods, the same way that turmeric does.
Carnation
It is clove-like with a spicy/peppery taste.

Chrysanthemum*
Mums have a slightly bitter taste. 

Cornflower*
Like carnations, they are also clove-like with a sweet to spicy taste. Did You Know There Were So Many Edible Flowers? 
Gardenia
It has a light, sweet flavor.
Gladiolus*
Tastes like lettuce.

Lavender
We love getting lavender in the shop because it makes the whole place smell delicious! Lavender oil may be poisonous, so be careful! It has a slight “perfumey” flavor. 

Lilac
It has a strong, lemony flavor.

Marigold
It tastes spicy to bitter.

Rose
The stronger the fragrance, the stronger the flavor. It has a sweet, aromatic taste. Be sure to remove the bitter white portion of the petals before you eat them! Rose hips, the red fruit part of the rose bush left after the blooms have died, are also edible. 

Rosemary
Everyone knows this herb! We use it in arrangements as greens and fillers! It is very sweet and pine-like.

Scented Geranium
The citronella variety may not be edible. The taste of a scented geranium can vary from lemon to mint, depending on the variety.

Safflower*
It is like another “poor man’s saffron” without the pungent aroma or flavor. 

Snapdragon

An interesting fact about snapdragons is they grow towards the light! They have a bland to bitter flavor. 
snapdragon Did You Know There Were So Many Edible Flowers?
Sunflower*
Okay, so I ate the petal of a sunflower here in the shop, and it really does taste leafy and slightly bitter, like the article says! You can lightly steam the petals to lessen the bitterness. And…the most interesting thing is that the unopened flower buds can be steamed like artichokes! Try those for appetizers at your next dinner party! 

Violets
Violets have a sweet, nectar taste
*Only the petals of these composite flowers are edible. The pollen of composite flowers is highly allergenic and may cause reactions in sensitive individuals. Sufferers of asthma, ragweed, and hayfever should not consume composite flowers, and may have extreme allergies to ingesting any flowers at all. 
By Boulder Blooms
Published: January 15, 2010
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2010 is here!!! Can you believe it??!!

I cannot believe that 2010 is here. It seems like yesterday we were all freaking out about 2000 and the possibility of computers crashing. I remember exactly what I was doing when 11:59 pm December 31, 1999, became 12:00 am January 1, 2000! I bet a lot of you do too! Well, an entire decade has passes since then, and a lot of things have happened. I have been reading all the magazines lately, and all have their lists of the best and worst moments of the decade. And trust me, we have had some wild, fun, and crazy moments this past decade at Boulder Blooms!

With a New Year always come New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think we really have many resolutions here at Boulder Blooms, because we try to stay on our A-game year round. Being the best we can be is what makes us such a great choice when deciding who to use for your floral needs. So, in case you aren’t familiar with Boulder Blooms, here is a list of reasons why to use us as your florist in 2010. 1) We are Boulder’s eco-friendly floristwe recycle, compost, and re-use almost everything! We only dispose of 35 gallons of trash per week!

eco+friendly+award 2010 is here!!! Can you believe it??!!
2) Our motto is “the freshest thing in Boulder.”

 We buy from the best, so you can be assured that your floral creation will be the freshest it can be and last for at least 10 days.  

3) We are local
We are a local, Boulder business, so we try to use the flowers that are native to Boulder and the state of Colorado. One of our specialties is making beautiful wildflower bouquets!
wildflower+bouquet 2010 is here!!! Can you believe it??!!
4) We are very flexible
If it were not for you guys (the customers), we would not be in business. So, it is our pleasure to work with you until you are COMPLETELY satisfied with your order. We want to please you and provide you with exactly what you imagines. And we are not afraid of complicated orders! We actually like them… it makes our jobs more interesting and fun!
5) Our staff is from all over the United States
Colorado, Massachusettes, Illinois, Louisiana, California, and Florida… Because of this, there are different ideas floating around our shop all the time, giving us loads of creativity for the arrangements we produce. 

staff 2010 is here!!! Can you believe it??!!
6) We can do almost anything and everything!
Really tall arrangements, really small ones, huge parties that need loads of flowers, small parties that only need 1 arrangement, massive weddings, small weddings, corsages, boutonnieres, wreathes, garland, arch pieces, standing orders for business and homes, and the list goes on and on… there is nothing we can’t handle!
7) We love what we do
I find that when you really love what you do, the work you produce is much better. This is definitely true at Boulder Blooms. Our passion is flowers and satisfying all of our customers, therefore; we send out only the best of the best!
So, please stop by and see us this year, and we wish you all the very best!

By Boulder Blooms
Published: January 5, 2010
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Happy Holidays!

To our extended Boulder Blooms family- a very heartfelt wish for a warm, safe, and happy holiday season for you all. Thank you for another great year in Boulder! Looking forward to another fabulous year full of exciting things- check back in January for more details.

By Boulder Blooms
Published: December 24, 2009
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