Speedy Thanksgiving Flowers!

Thanksgiving is coming at us a mile a minute. Amid all our other fall commitments, Canadian Thanksgiving seems to creep up before we know it.

In Canada, thanksgiving feasts and celebrations have occurred for centuries. Many First Nations communities already had traditions of giving thanks at the end of the harvest before the Europeans arrived.

Once they discovered America, Europeans also had many reasons to give thanks. During his search for the Northwest Passage, Martin Frobisher's ships got separated because of ice encounters and storms.

According to Wikipedia, they found each other once again and the priest accompanying them made a sermon telling them to be especially thankful for their good fortune in such unlikely circumstances.

In the 17th century French settlers who came over with Samuel de Champlain formed the Order of Good Cheer and shared their food with the Native people.

After the American Revolution, British loyalists escaped north and brought their Thanksgiving customs with them. Since 1879, Canadians have celebrated Thanksgiving every year, albeit at different times. Finally in 1957, the holiday was officially set on the second Monday of October.

That means we'll be celebrating in just over a week! The Flower Pot's arrangement this year incorporates the thing people were historically so thankful for: wheat! The mellow colours of the stems stick out from a vase full of oranges, yellows, reds, and greens. It makes for a truly autumnal vase and a great centrepiece for your Thanksgiving table, hence the name Thanksgiving Dinner!

Check out our website, call us at 514-938-1234, or visit our lovely store at 1340 Notre Dame Ouest in Montreal. We'll be glad to see you!

Fall, Flowers and Cider

Mmmmm, cider! Fall begins tomorrow, and what better way to kick it off than with a glass of apple cider?

One of everyone's favourite autumn activities is apple and pumpkin picking. Did you know that you can also visit professional "cidrerie" or cider-makers?

One such place is called Cidrerie du Minot which is about 45 minutes away from Montreal. You can visit the grounds, taste the different types of ciders, and check out the 19th century press the owners brought over from France!

If that excursion isn't an option for you, as usual, The Flower Pot has a solution. Order ice cider that comes with handmade chocolate and a vase of flowers, and enjoy the first day of fall snuggled into your armchair with a book and this delicious snack.

Never forget, the orchid discount is still on! Type "orchid" when you order online from our website. Cheers!

Orchid sale still on!

It's time to talk about the orchids and the bees. There are so many different types of orchids, it's hard to keep track. Wasps seem to like one in particular however, because it mimics their mating hormones, thereby tricking them into picking up pollen and depositing it onto other flowers. 

Check out this great BBC Worldwide clip that offers a more complete explanation as well as funny images of the confused wasps attempting to mate with orchids! Keep in mind that you can get a discount if you type in "orchid" when you order orchid plants online from The Flower Pot. Our sale is still on!

Small Florist Tips for Traffic

The Flower Pot has always been proud to be a small florist serving the local Montreal community and its suburbs. Online business is booming nowadays, and it can be hard to generate foot traffic.

Our florist Astrid had lot's of experience doing just that when she worked in Switzerland. Here are two of her recommendations to make your flower shop a local institution that everyone goes to for their gifts and flowers, just like The Flower Pot.

• Make sure your window display shows products that people can walk in and buy. Too often, florists create gorgeous and complicated displays in their front windows without showing customers the small things that they can afford on the spot. Showing off skill is good, but creates a barrier between you and your clients' actual needs. Most of the time, people are looking for unique bouquets or other gifts that won't break the bank. In short, make your store and your visible products relevant.

• Sometimes that special something that a client is looking for just isn't available as a ready-made bouquet. Work with your client's price point and their wishes. At The Flower Pot we invite our customers to the workshop where they can discuss what they need and how much they want to pay with the florist on duty. What they are getting is an experience. They get to talk directly to the designer while she works, and their bouquet comes alive right in front of them so they know that what they are getting is one of a kind. So, make yourself accessible to make loyal clients.

The product pictured here is just one of our great deals available for under $25. We only have a few different products and price points online, but much more when you come in the store, so be sure to visit us.

Don't forget our ongoing orchid sale, which is a great example of making your products relevant! The stunning phalaenopsis orchid plant is featured on our home page as the deal of the moment. Order one and get 25% off by entering the word "orchid" in the space reserved to that effect during the payment process.

SALE: Enter "orchid" and save!

Getting a good deal is the ultimate way to lift your spirits. The Flower Pot always has new discounts for our customers. Our new coupon system allows you to know exactly how much you are saving on our products. 

The stunning phalaenopsis orchid plant like the one pictured here is featured on our home page as the deal of the moment. Order one and get 25% off by entering the word "orchid" in the space reserved to that effect during the payment process.

According to Wikipedia, growing Phalaenopsis orchids at home has become very easy because of the creation of certain hybrids.

Here are some tips from our growers provided in a previous blog post on how to care for your orchid plant to keep it blooming beautifully as long as possible:

• Place your orchid in moderate light conditions and not in direct sunlight.
• Keep the plant in temperatures between 15 C and 25 C (59F -77F).
• Water every 5 to 10 days
• Never let the growers pot sit in water but drain out all excess water   
• After all the blooms have dropped, cut out the flower spike above the plant base

If you have any questions at all, be sure to call us 514-938-1234, visit us online, or stop by the store to check out our other products! We will be only too glad to assist you.

Online Small Business Tools

The Flower Pot is dedicated to improving its online presence and uses many of the free tools available online for that purpose. Google offers a free Small Business Online Marketing Guide that mentions a list of ten ways to use the internet to make your business grow.

Number four is Geotargeting. According to Wikipedia, geotargeting is the act of establishing where your potential customer is located, and providing location-specific content. Now, knowing where people are located is not that difficult with social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and more using the check in feature.

Remember Google Map's Street view option? Now you can get a tour of the inside of your store which will be accessible through Street view when you click on the double arrow. When you add this option to your marketing strategy, you're offering a far more interactive, rich, and content-filled experience to the customer.

This tour is connected to the business's Google places page where people will be able to see customer reviews, images and any other information you choose to upload.

The Flower Pot's Google store tour has been available online for several weeks now. Something nice might catch your eye while you're in our virtual store, and if you're interested in getting a tour or social media recommendations for your own business, don't hesitate to contact us, 514-938-1234. We'll tell you how you can get in on the action.

Pumpkin season's around the bend

 Fall is in the air! Just like fashion, flower styles change with the seasons. The Flower Pot's great Swiss florist Astrid designed these two adorable stuffed pumpkins.

This fall, like every other fall for flowers, the rich earthy colours are in. Imagine how stunning these pumpkins would look on the coffee table in your living room!

 

The Flower Pot is much more than the sum of its online products. Although we do display a wide variety of arrangements on our website, there are far more options when you visit us in person. 

Come in, and pick our florists' brains. You'll find something unique that you will be proud to offer someone. Our florists can tailor an arrangement specifically to your needs be they budget restrictions or design requirements.

What  makes The Flower Pot truly special is the great effort we put into having one-of-a-kind arrangements for our customers. We have an in-house photographer who photographs all of Astrid's creations. You won't find them elsewhere. 

In this case we made an exception for the blog, but as a general rule, if there isn't a Flower Pot logo in the bottom right, you know that it is a stock shot used by all florists, and you might not be buying what you see. 

Our images are real arrangements we have made and sold, so you know exactly what you'll get from us. To feast your eyes, come and visit your friendly Downtown Montreal florist located in Griffintown to browse through all our gift options, and make your requests. If you can't, visit our website, call us at 514-938-1234, or take our Griffintown shop tour on Google!