Thank you to everyone who joined us Jan. 20 for the first of five kids club events planned for 2018.
Be sure to mark your calendars as you won’t want to miss these upcoming events:
March 17: St. Patrick’s Day theme
June 23: Stems Hunger food drive/Fourth of July
Aug. 25: Fall
Nov. 10: Bouquets for Books/Holidays for Heroes
Kids club events are open to children ages 5 to 12. To get the most out of the kids club, it’s best to register for it here or by stopping by any of our stores.
You’ll receive a membership card and Buds, our quarterly email kids club newsletter, which will tell you about opportunities to win prizes and support our charitable events.
We look forward to seeing you soon at another fun, free kids club event!
Author: Neal
We’re bringing ‘shabby chic’ to Columbus Weddings Show, Jan. 13-14
The HGTV series “Property Brothers” always starts with a couple oohing and aahing over a gorgeous home that, ultimately, they can’t afford.
Never fear, the twin-brother hosts help the couple find a fixer-upper that affordably mimics their dream home.
That dynamic is not unlike some prospective brides who come to us with photos of gorgeous photos they’ve found on Pinterest. Sometimes the flowers in those photos are more expensive than a wedding budget will allow.
Jill Elmore, Connells Maple Lee’s bridal consultant, is OK with that. She wants to know what brides envision for their dream wedding. If she ultimately must bring them back to reality, she said, she can do that.
Jill will bring that philosophy with her to the Columbus Weddings Show, Jan. 13-14 at the Ohio Expo Center, 717 E. 17th St. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
You’ll find Jill and her Connells Maple Lee colleagues in Booth 102.
Jill has plenty ideas of her own to share. She said “shabby chic” is the current trend.
“It’s not really country,” she said, “but it’s not really elegant, either.”
It includes lots of giftware items that brides can incorporate into their weddings, Jill explained, such as wooden lanterns, chalkboards, whitewashed screens.
Jill said the elements also might include a variety of greens with hand-tied flowers, or garland running down a table, across a doorway or above a backdrop of latticework. Connells Maple Lee’s booth also will feature giftware that could be given as gifts to the wedding couple.
Jill encourages brides to share their visions. She can work with that, she said, sounding just as confident as those HGTV hosts in her ability to deliver the look they want at a price they can afford.
“I can give you the wedding you want but within Dad’s budget,” she quipped.
You’re going to love the kids club’s free Valentine’s Day-themed event Jan. 20
The 2018 Connells Maple Lee Kids Club season kicks off Jan. 20 with a sweetheart of an offer: a free Valentine’s Day-themed event.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make a special arrangement in a heart teacup and will receive a balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
This is the first of five kids clubs events planned for 2018.
Bouquets for Books collects 166 children’s titles for Bexley and Delaware County libraries
Thank you to everyone who contributed new children’s books to “Bouquets for Books.”
Connells Maple Lee’s annual book drive collected 166 titles for Bexley Public Library and Delaware County District Library.
Bouquets for Books ran Oct. 28-Nov. 11.
Anyone who donated a new children’s book was eligible to receive a free bouquet.
Connells Maple Lee collecting cards and coloring pages Nov. 11-Dec. 4 for ‘Holidays for Heroes’
Connells Maple Lee Flowers will collect cards and coloring pages for military veterans in each of its stores Nov. 11-Dec. 4 as part of the American Red Cross’ “Holidays for Heroes” program.
Collected cards and coloring pages will be handed over to the Red Cross, whose volunteers will organize them for delivery. Destinations include military installations, VFWs, American Legions, VA hospitals and retirement homes in 45 counties in the Ohio Buckeye Region.
Cards may be dropped off at any one of Connells Maple Lee’s three area stores: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell.
Coloring pages are available at the stores or can be downloaded here:
Christmas Tree
Santa
Ornament
Reindeer
Dreidel
Preparing cards
The Red Cross offers these guidelines for preparing cards:
- Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member” as cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.
- Include messages of support and thanks.
- Sign your name to them.
- Don’t include letters or other personal information (photos, addresses).
- Refrain from choosing cards with glitter.
The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.
A Guy’s Guide to Flower Buying
There’s a gender gap when it comes to buying flowers: Women buy 65 percent of fresh flowers, according to the Society of American Florists, while men buy 35 percent.
To the extent that men might be intimidated or uncomfortable buying flowers, we’d like to make the experience a more enjoyable one for them.
To do this, we tapped the expertise of our own Cheryl Brill, who shared these insights based her more than 20 years of experience in the flower business.
Roses are red – and lots of other colors
Too often, men think only of roses for their significant others, and then only in red. Cheryl encourages male customers to be more adventurous, whether it’s with other colors of roses, other flower varieties, or other looks such as a textured garden appearance.
Don’t stop at Valentine’s Day
Maybe the tendency to focus on red roses has a lot to do with Valentine’s Day which, let’s face it, is ruled by red roses. But the year has only just begun when Valentine’s Day rolls around, so why not mix it up for the 364 days that don’t fall on Feb. 14?
What’s more, 63 percent of flower purchases are for the buyer, compared with 37 percent as gifts. And 86 percent of purchases are for non-calendar occasions, 50 percent of which fall into the “no special occasion” category. The bottom line is that people like to receive flowers any day of the year.
Bouquets don’t have to break the bank
Flower prices tend to rise around Valentine’s Day, in concert with a spike in demand for what is the floral industry’s equivalent of football’s Super Bowl. If that’s the only time of year that you purchase flowers, you can get a warped sense of how much they cost on a day-to-day basis.
Cheryl described how a $7.99 rose bunch made a positive impression on one male customer, who realized that he could afford to be a more frequent flower buyer.
Get the right vase
If she likes to arrange flowers, Cheryl said, then get her a vase that lends itself to arranging and one that fits the décor of the room where it will be used. Does she tend to put flowers on the kitchen counter or on the coffee table?
You don’t have to DIY
In this age of do-it-yourself, there’s a tendency to think that we must go it alone with everything. Rest assured, your trained florist is eager to help. It starts with the right container; she noted that it doesn’t have to be a plain, clear vase. Either bring one in, or your florist can help you select one.
Think about what you want to say
Before you visit or call your florist, Cheryl advised, think about the words you want to send along with the flowers. She said florists are a bit like bartenders: they’ve seen and heard everything, so don’t be embarrassed. Speak from the heart because the sentiment is just as important as the flowers that it goes with.
Valentine’s Day is an oasis amid the darkness of winter, Cheryl said, but it’s nice to see male customers the rest of the year, too.
Connells Maple Lee’s children’s book drive returns Oct. 28-Nov. 11 to benefit public libraries
Connells Maple Lee’s annual children’s book drive returns Oct. 28-Nov. 11 to benefit Bexley Public Library and Delaware County District Library.
For each new book, donors will receive a free bouquet, up to three per family per visit. Used books will not be accepted.
For more information, including library wish lists, visit cmlflowers.com/bouquetsforbooks.
Kids club event Nov. 11 celebrates Veterans Day
The Connells Maple Lee Kids Club will celebrate Veterans Day with a free event Nov. 11.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make a special Veterans Day arrangement that includes an American flag.
Participants also will receive a balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
Highlights from our fall catalog
Every year, we introduce a fall catalog that contains approximately 20 percent new products. We asked Geoff Royer, a member of our product development team, to describe how some of the new arrangements came about. Here’s what he told us:
3617
One of the tasks of the product development team was to come up with more arrangements that are specific to birthdays. This arrangement does just that with the birthday bear that’s attached to the vase.
This is the fourth in our lineup of Big Hugs vases. We also have redesigned the baby boy and baby girl versions of that style.
3618 and 3619
We realized in the spring that we could do better on the pricing of the mini callas than we had before so we opted to develop a few arrangements with them.
3631 and 3633
This collection of arrangements is a new style for us, each one in a nine-inch glass bowl that we’d never carried before. We used them in some new lifestyle shots we are using to enhance our brochure and websites.
3644 (photo)
This addition features several flowers that are new to us, namely the Memphis daisy pom, charmellia alstromeria, and Nobbio cherry carnation.
We had featured Memphis at previous holidays. We loved the color and the lateral lengths on the daisy but no one grew it year-round until now.
Charmellia is a new product in the floral world. It lasts incredibly long and, as it opens, it changes from dark pink to a lighter pink.
The colors and variegation of the Nobbio cherry petals are like nothing we’d ever seen. This carnation is from a farm called Geoflora, which is associated with South American carnation breeder S.B. Talee.
Talee developed the Nobbio series in response to a Japanese market that wanted something beyond the standard red, white and pink combination with a longer stem length. We can take the sizes the Japanese markets don’t want at a good price.
Refresh: Connells Maple Lee launches new website
Temperatures go from warm to cool, green leaves turn gold, red, orange.
And just as fall is the season of change in the natural world, it can be in the digital realm, too.
At Connells Maple Lee, this fall coincides with the launch of our new website. It’s still at cmlflowers.com, of course, but it has a fresh, crisp new look and functionality that should make the shopping experience even more fulfilling. (This look also is evident in our e-blasts and printed fall catalog.)
Among the improvements, both functionally and aesthetically:
- The website now features “responsive” design, which means that it adjusts to the size of the browser in which it is viewed. We realize that customers shop online from different-sized screens, from desktop to laptop, tablet to smart phone.
- Additional filters help shoppers more readily find what they’re looking for. For instance, instead of just searching by price across all products, it’s now possible to narrow that search by categories. Soon you’ll be able to filter by flower and color, too.
- Arrangements are shown bigger and scale according to screen size.
- Text is set against transparent colors, allowing more of the background flower images to shine through.
- If the curvy page designs have a familiar feel, it’s because they are macro-views of actual flower shapes. The size, color and placement of the shapes are not determined by templates but rather are unique to each layout. This allows the layouts to remain fresh and change with the seasons.
What do you think of our new website? We’d like to hear from you. Please share your comments below, or let us know the next time you visit one of our stores.