Mother's Day Mayhem: Florists race the clock during their busiest week of the year

May 11—How many flowers does it take to make a county full of mothers happy? Colonial Florist might be getting close to the answer.

Colonial Florist averages 30 deliveries a day the week leading up to Mother's Day. But the hustle of the holiday pays off when they see the heartfelt reactions.

Mother's Day is one of the most popular holidays for florists, challenging Valentine's Day and Christmas for busiest time of the year.

"I wish there was some way we could photograph a lot of these surprised people, 90% of them are always there and elated, and love to call back the next day to say, 'thank you,'" said Jack Nichols, owner of Colonial Florist. "And they're thanking us, but we're just filling the order."

Nichols said Mother's Day is a 'joy time' for the shop, as well as a busy season.

Cole Smathers of Colonial Florist said the bustle of Mother's Day sales starts as soon as he walks through the door during the week leading up to the day.

"We come in in the morning, and the phone starts ringing, the computer starts going off, and it gets hard to really know how to judge it," Smathers said.

Fulfilling orders can be a stressful time. Florists are the couriers for many people delivering acts of love and gifts commemorating Mother's Day. People who can't be with mothers in person want to make a long-distance delivery or hope to show their love with a bundle.

Nichols gets the flowers from wholesalers far and wide, all of which deliver fresh bundles daily during the busy season.

"One of my biggest ones comes from Ecuador through Atlanta, comes in three times a week," Nichols said.

Flowers make the journey across both continental and state lines to end up on mothers' doorsteps.

"A lot of it is like our one in Asheville. Their main wholesaler has one in Miami, which means theirs is shipped into Miami and then transferred up here. So, it's hard to tell where it all comes from," Nichols said.

Once the colorful assortments are delivered, they are all ready to be plucked from a bucket and placed in a beautiful arrangement.

Smathers can whip together a bouquet within minutes, he said, adding it takes a special eye to do so.

"It probably takes me five minutes now. It's not a long process anymore," he said. "A lot of people will go on our website and get arrangements that are pre-designed. But then we also have people call and say, 'You be creative.'"

Many orders request just one specific flower be in the bouquet, Nichols said, whether that be a rose to say 'I love you' or a carnation to say, 'thank you.'

"You won't ever see two alike," he added.

Once arranged, the dash to get to the doorsteps is a tedious task in the perishable flower industry. Flowers need to be swiftly rotated in and out of the refrigerators to preserve their vibrancy.

The arrangement is precious cargo. The florist must try to keep every petal intact before knocking on doors for drop off.

"We try not to keep anything more than a couple of days. We want to move it out to keep from losing it because they're not something that lasts forever," Nichols said. "We try to make them the day they order, to get it that fresh."

Nichols and Smathers both shared the secret to making the bouquet last — trimming the stems.

Nichols compared the flower stem to a flesh wound; it heals over stronger after opening. The key to freshness is to trim the stems so they can continually take up water through the stem straw.

"You clip the tips off of them, and you can look at them and tell the difference. They'll be dark at the end, and once you clip them, they're light green, so they're ready to drink," Nichols said.

The water should be changed every three days, Smathers added.

"We have customers who keep an arrangement for two weeks, and they still think it's heaven-sent," Nichols said.