Floristry is most often understood as referring to the cultivation of flowers as well as their arrangement, rather than to the business of selling them. However, the floral industry is the basic drive behind floristry. Florists are people who work with flowers, generally at the retail level. Florist shops, along with telephone sales and online stores, are the main flower-only outlets, but supermarkets and garden supply stores have gotten into the business, selling flowers as one of their large range of products. Generally, a florist shop will contain a large array of flowers, often spilling out into the street, or will have a large plate glass window to display the flowers. To keep them fresh, the flowers will likely be kept in water, generally in plastic bulbs, sleeves, or other containers. Wildflowers A flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). ... In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells individual items or small quantities to the general public or end user customers, usually in a shop, also called store. ... An online shop, Internet shop, web shop or online store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. ... Exterior appearance of typical supermarket (Albertsons) Supermarket produce section A supermarket is a store that sells a wide variety of goods including food and alcohol (where permitted), medicine, clothes, and other household products that are consumed regularly. ...

The craft of floristry involves various skills. These include picking out flowers that will look good together (based on principles of design or general instinct), knowing how to cut, treat, and arrange flowers and other stock plants so they will remain fresh as long as possible, and (as explained above) selling them, which involves knowledge of customer requirements and expectations. Knowing how to form wreaths, bouquets, and other more complicated arrangements is also important. The flowers generally sold in florist shops are typically quite bright-colored flowers, with interesting shapes. Basic varieties, such as roses, tulips, irises, and [lilies]] are always present. Design as a process can take many forms depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating. ... A wreath is a ring made of flowers, leaves, and sometimes fruits, used as an ornament, hanging on a wall or door, or resting on a table. ... Bouquet can refer to: An arrangement of cut flowers A fragrance of something, e. ... Species About 100, see text A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa and the flower of this shrub. ... Species See text Tulips are plants of the genus Tulipa, in the lily family, Liliaceae. ... Iris has three main meanings, unrelated except for their derivation from the Greek word for rainbow: Iris (mythology), a messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, identified with the rainbow Iris (anatomy), the sphincter around the pupil of the eye, named for the color in human and animal eyes Iris...

Fashion plays a very major role in floristry; what is considered the flower that everyone needs to have today can change very quickly.

The floral market is extremely seasonal, focusing on a small list of events: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, weddings and funerals. ^[1] These occasions make up the largest part of the business, with the sale of house plants and home decor being a much smaller, but more constant, part. Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... Valentines Day postcard, c. ... Mothers Day is a day for celebrating motherhood and thanking mothers. ... Nubian wedding with some international modern touches, near Aswan, Egypt A wedding is a civil or religious ceremony at which the beginning of a marriage is celebrated. ... Underwater funeral in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea A funeral is a ceremony marking a persons death. ... A houseplant is a plant that one grows in a dwelling, such as a house or office. ...

Another basic requirement of florist shops is the purchasing of flowers to replenish their stock. The flower market, like other agriculture markets, is subject to many fluctuations due to natural factors, supply and demand, and fashion. Learning how to buy in such a way as to continue to make a profit is not a simple skill. The supply and demand model describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). ... For the 80s New Wave band, see Fashion The term fashion applies to a characteristic means of expression or presentation; fashions may follow trends, in which they gain or lose popularity. ... Profit is defined as the residual value gained from business operations. ...

Wreaths can be made out of many different types of flowers and plants. Typically, a florist will organize flowers by season and holiday. Most shops branch out into gift baskets, fruit, and chocolates as well as flowers and wreaths. Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... Chocolate comes in dark, light, and white varieties with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration. ...

Flowers have various different meanings in different cultures. The holidays and events for which flowers are used vary; for example, Mothers' Day is only an American holiday. Poppies are used to remember fallen soldiers only in England and the Commonwealth countries. The cultural meaning of colors also strongly affects the choice and use of flowers. People often prefer flowers that are associated with their ethnic group or country, and various colors may have special meanings of luck or death or love or other basic human traits. A flower such as a red rose might to some mean love, but to others it might be considered indecent or simply puzzling. The vastly divergent views on the color white can lead to major flower issues. White is viewed as standing for death in many Asian cultures but is considered a symbol of purity and innocence in many European and American cultures. Such differences can lead to difficult issues when a bouquet of white lilies, for example, is delivered. Mothers Day is a day for celebrating motherhood and thanking mothers. ... Papaver rhoeas Poppy at High Wood cemetery, France. ... This article is about good and bad fortune. ... In Western culture, skeletons are often the symbol of death. ... The heart, a symbol of love Love has many meanings in English, from something that gives a little pleasure (I loved that meal) to something one would die for (patriotism, pairbonding). ... White is a color (more accurately it contains all the colors of the visible spectrum and is sometimes described as an achromatic color—black is the absence of color) that has high brightness but zero hue. ... The term Asian in a geographical sense simply refers to something or someone from Asia. ... This article is about the continent. ...

References

[1] This list of five primary floral events is from Teagasc - Advisory - Factsheet 29: Floristry, Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, page reviewed on August 30, 2005