Floral Trends & The Power of Permanent Botanicals with Sarah Botchick

Episode 270: In this episode, Vonda and Lori continue their conversation with Sarah Botchick, General Marketing and Purchasing Manager at Pioneer Imports & Wholesale. They dive into the world of floral trend forecasting—how trends are identified, what’s driving consumer preferences, and the evolving role of permanent botanicals in weddings, events, and everyday design. Sarah shares expert insights on mixing faux and fresh florals, common mistakes florists make when purchasing silk flowers, and why every florist should consider adding permanent botanicals to their repertoire. Plus, they discuss must-have varieties, new product innovations, and how florists can use floral installations to tap into new business opportunities. Don’t miss this inspiring and insightful discussion on the future of florals!

Pioneer Imports and Wholesale

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I would say if I was a florist, one of the things I would be going after is every local restaurant in my town.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

And we believe the business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda. So let's talk trend reports. My question to you is how can you come up with your trend reports?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Well, first of all, thanks for having me back. It's always fun to be with you guys. As far as how we come up with them, there's a variety of things. We watch and we we research. We just spend a lot of time Googling, frankly. And we watch the different trend shows across the world. We have different forecasting companies that we look at, and we try to put it all together into something that's, you know, we were talking earlier about Wall Street versus Main Street in the financial world. Yeah. And in fashion, like, you know, most of us aren't living on Rodeo Drive. We're living at, you know, your local Macy's or Coles. So we try to take what's shown in the trend reports and reduce it, sift it down to what's actually applicable for our industry. But the interesting thing about our trend reports is it's not just based on what people say. It's also based on our sales and things like that. Because I'll be honest with you, you know, one of the biggest trends everybody's screaming is the bright colors. Well, maybe that's true in fresh floral, but we're not really seeing it as strongly in silk. We have a whole exhilaration collection for our spring collection. If you want it, we've got it. But, you know, we're still seeing the more mid-tones and softer tones. And but maybe again, you know, it's just it's a silk thing versus a fresh thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

But that's what I was thinking. I was gonna say, I bet it's because in the permit botanicals, I want something for my home. And I don't necessarily, unless it's spring, I don't want something that's gonna be screaming color. I want something that's gonna be more home decor, something that I'm comfortable with all the time. So I would think that's probably why those softer colors would make more sense and would be more trendy in interior rather than in the fresh.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

And and we still do a lot for weddings, and we're not even sealing the brights necessarily for the weddings. Um yeah, I'm still adding the softer colors. Maybe it's because we're in Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

I'm just looking through the report you sent. I love that it starts with peace. The whole first section is about peace, the next section is called hope, and then the bright section is called fun. I love how you have it laid out. And I I agree with Vonda. I think if I had the permanent botanicals, I'm going to want for my permanence more of the neutral. And then maybe for fresh, I would add pops of color in and out, which leads me to a question. Uh oh, here she goes. Here are these questions that I had because I'm thinking of like all of our flower shop. Now I'm going totally rogue on you, so sorry. So I do know quite a few florists that you mix your faux, or what do we call them now? What's the right? What do you like to call permanent? Depends who you're talking to.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

What do you guys call them? To the floral industry, we say permanent botanicals. If a florist is talking to their customer, I would tell them to call it faux. That's what the retail consumer is. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

So we will call them permanent botanicals. Is that what I don't know? Go for it. We'll we'll answer that. Okay. Anyway, so they use mix because we ordered some things from you for my son's wedding, and they were beautiful, they were lovely, and I was so grateful that we had them because Vonda's like, we gotta get this from Pioneered in order for it to work for this wedding, because there was no real thing that was going to work for these things. My question is how does a florist talk to a bride or the event? You know, maybe it's not a bride, maybe it's somebody else. When you're doing events, how do you share with them that you can use these in combination with real flowers and make everything beautiful and it's okay? This is pretty normal. And either of you guys.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Okay, I'm gonna bounce that the banda because that's not my world.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Because I feel like I understood it because I'm in the industry. However, I will say, like my son and his wife, first of all, they had no idea we were doing it. We didn't even ask for permission, we just did it and they never knew, which was fine. Right. But they didn't know, right? And they probably would have gone, what do you mean fake, fake flowers, right? Because they can kind of get a bad rap. So, how do you have that conversation and tell them this is this has to be done?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Well, a lot of times when you're having that conversation, the bride or whoever's having the event is showing you something that maybe is off season. So it's something that's seasonal, and you're like, or you're doing hydrangeas and it's 110 degrees outside. Yeah. So it's gonna be that combination. You just say, you know what, I love this look. This is absolutely fabulous, and I'm glad you picked this out. But what I'm gonna suggest is we're gonna do a combination of the silk, which are the permanent or the faux, and a fresh flowers, because the combination of the two is gonna give you the look you're looking for without compromising quality, because we want those flowers to look the freshest and the most beautiful possible. And I'm here to tell you that if we do fresh in this bloom, it is not going to look good for your pictures for your wedding. And you don't want to ever compromise that or make it that's gonna be a little iffy. So I'm gonna suggest that we use these in fresh and this in the faux, and it's gonna be gorgeous. It's still gonna have that wonderful fragrance that you're looking for and the feel of fresh, but you and everybody else at your wedding will have no idea that these are faux flowers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

I think, I think that is key. I also think it's beneficial for florists to have pictures of previous events where they used the mix. That's why I think it's important for them to be friends with the photographers from the last one, say, Hey, can I have some of these pictures? So they can show the next brides or event coordinators or whoever and say, Look, this is 50-50 right here. You can't even tell.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

You know, well, and in the case of your son's wedding in Davis and Miranda, we use the garlands. You know, those really cool the broom, what are those called?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

But there's room, the cascading garland.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Then we use some eucalyptus and some fresh flowers that blew them right in there. And if that were me doing that for a bride, I wouldn't even tell her I was using perm, you know, the faux or the permanent botanical in there. I would say, we're just gonna do this garland, it's gonna table and it's gonna be this. Yep. They don't need to know the construction. I think sometimes as a designer, we think we need to explain it away. We don't. I mean, it's kind of the the magic that we make happen in the back. And and as a forest, you can make those decisions. Go to Pioneer, take a look and see what they have. And like, oh my gosh, this is a much better base. This is a much better idea than what I was thinking, and having to worry about, and sometimes cost-wise to get a fresh garland opposed to a permanent, adding a few fresh, your way ahead.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

I agree. And I would venture to guess, unless my son and his wife are listening right now, they still don't know.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

And neither do anybody else. If nobody else is there, then no one's gonna care.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So the florists benefit by saving that garland, those garlands, and using them in another event. Absolutely. You know, I mean, it's cost-graving.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yes. Well, and that's what we ended up doing. We we left it there in that storage room for somebody else to be able to use because I didn't want to fly home with it, but the place was so great. We're like, here, you reuse this. Um, so uh okay, next question. Sarah, how has the demand for faux flowers changed or evolved over the years? I'm assuming you've seen it kind of ebb and flow, you know, but where is it right now since let's say before COVID? So pre-COVID and now, how have you seen it change?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Well, the the one thing we've seen changing steadily for years is the application for flow flow hours. So it used to be more home decor and cemetery. And even before COVID, it started to start creeping up towards more wedding and events. And we see that incline continue. It peaked phenomenally during COVID because of the supply chain issues with fresh flowers. Um, and also the the micro weddings and the florists having something that the bride could take because of all the pandemic restrictions and things like that, somebody having a wedding in their backyard. So it got very high during COVID. Now it's kind of leveling off a little bit. But and part of it could be our us because we've changed, you know, when we start to see that, we start changing our product offerings. We still do have a strong, sure, strong customer base for cemetery flowers, and we still have people doing home decor, and we still have a lot of that. But the wedding and event is just it's really worth that. And even, you know, yeah, there's like installations and in restaurants. I would say if I was a florist, one of the things I would be going after is every local restaurant in my town would have agree. I would be trying to get floral installations in every one of those restaurants. Yeah. You know, even if it's small, it can be small, but I mean, the demand for that is you know, you just see it everywhere in pictures and social media. So just kind of a different application.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Yeah. Love that. Yeah, go after that business and give them reports on what difference it makes to have something that's flowering or a plant look in your business. And then how it shows the tension.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

The flower walls, the hang things hanging from the ceiling, you know, installation, like suspended installations that are permanent. We've known they've been around for weddings for a while, but having them in in businesses, local businesses, different shops.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Yeah. Plus, that's a great idea. What would you say are some misconceptions about faux flowers in this industry? Do you think there are any about using silk flowers in a flower shop? Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

I mean, there's there's there's the whole concept that they're old, that they're outdated. Um, and uh a few years back we did a marketing campaign called Not Your Grandma's Silks. And yeah, I was getting rid of the same grandma. Yeah. Um, and that's one of the things that I think people need to get over that that silks aren't dead. Silks are not grandmas. That uh what grandma had as her silk, yes, that should be dead. Right. But yeah, we have a but using them in these new ways, installations, suspended things, you know, dramatic things in weddings and in restaurants and in stores, and even for prom. Like, I mean, year after year we're using them for prom. The prom kids don't have the the dislike that the florists do necessarily. Um my gosh, no.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

You know, the kids don't care. I've no, I've seen some of our florists, they always use them when they make the rings, the prom rings, and with some little mini type of faux flower. They're gorgeous and they last all night. And, you know, they throw them in their little hope chest box and they can keep them forever. I'm like, that's genius.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

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SPEAKER_00 13:50

One of the tricks we're seeing for both um wedding and as well as prom is the purse bouquets, the different kinds of bouquets, purse bouquets, yes, the headpieces. All that you know, those cute perfect for for a faux. Yes. Because if you're you're gluing it onto a purse, then being on the silk is is a great option. It needs to be hearty.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Much better.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Go back to talking about not your grandmother's flowers. I used to bring my grandmother's flowers once a year in faux, right? And so I went the next time. So every four months we would go because it was a ways away. And I brought her some others, and she's like, Well, these are still alive. And I'm like, those are silk. Well, I've been watering them. I'm like, oh, that's hilarious. Okay, grandma. Well, I'm really glad that you made me. But anyway, it was just one of those things that when I you said, not your grandma's, I'm like, my grandma, she didn't love folk flowers, and she even wanted them because she thought they were that good. Oh I'm glad they didn't rust and bleed.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

I know, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:57

All right, here's a question. It's kind of more of a practical question. What are some must have silk flowers varieties that every flower shop should keep like some good staples? If I was a local flower shop and I have not dabbled in fresh silks, and I'm listening to this podcast, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna give it a try. And I give you a call, and I don't go to your website because I don't know what to order yet. And I give you a call and I'm talking to somebody, I'm like, okay, what's a good starter pack?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

What would you tell me? The number one thing I would say is hydrangea and have a variety. We have value and premium bushes, and then we have our stems. So have something of all three. So and and be conscious that you're gonna use them for different things. So if you're doing a suspended installation at a wedding, you're gonna use the value hydrangeas because they're gonna take up space and nobody's gonna be touching and feeling them. And then if you're doing, you know, table arrangements, maybe you're gonna use the premium bushes because you're still gonna save money, but it's not as expensive as the stems. And then have the stems that would maybe be in the bouquet or something else that people will be touching and feeling. I would also say orchids, again, both premium and value, because the premium you might use in home decor, whereas the value you might use to do a massive flower wall installation or something like that. Um anemones. Anemones are one of the big things for silk because of their hardiness. And as far as greenery goes, Ruscus, I mean, Ruscus is very strong for us right now, as well as smilex, because uh we just this year came out with a whole new line of smilex in bushes, stems, uh cascading garland, and a regular garland. And my understanding, and I am not an expert on fresh, Vonda could speak to this more than me, but my understanding of it's mylax can at times be a little difficult to work with in fresh.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

It is comes like dead a lot.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

So having this as your backup in case you do get something that comes in dead, or it's hardy to have around. And definitely if you're doing wedding work, you gotta try cascading garlands. I mean, they're just yeah, they're just amazing, and they pack so much pump punch that you you can't get with the straight garlands.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

I love that. Great advice. I would add two things to that. Your curly willow.

unknown 17:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Because curly willow is great when it's fresh, but sometimes it gets very brittle. The curly willow you have, you think you have a couple different kinds. I don't know, it's been a while. Because I can reuse that. I can remember one. And the other one right now would be poppies because of Wicked. Because people are asking for things for Wicked. And so you can do the green hydrangea, what you would do, or you could do different fresh, but it's hard to get a fresh poppy. And if you want something like specially for dancer settles things coming up, that the poppies would be great to have in your store. Thank you. Well, I'm gonna jump in here, Sarah, and ask you some more of a business side because Lori's more the fun person, you know, she's the pleasure. So the question: what should a florist consider when they're choosing a wholesale partner for soap flowers and containers? I mean, they have a lot of choices. So tell me, what's the pioneer advantage?

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Well, if they're shopping online, there's a a lot of suppliers that claim to be wholesale. They're not really. So one of the things you're gonna want to look for as clues as to are they really wholesale is are they requiring your tax exemption information? While that form is a hassle, it's also a protection for you. So it helps you, not only does it save you money, it also helps you to weed out those that are are real wholesalers versus um those that are pretending to be wholesale. Do they stock the product or are they a shell website that drop ships? Because that is very common. So find out if they stock it and where they're shipping from. You want to look for somebody that's shipping domestically that has the merchandise in their warehouse and that can get it to you. I mean, no matter where you are in the US, you should be able to deliver within about five days. So if somebody's more than five days shipping out, then probably not locally in the US. Okay. Um you don't know when your stock is going to get here. You don't know if it's gonna get stuck in cut customs. I've heard of people, you know, oh, I'm gonna order from Timu or whatever. Well, you don't know what's gonna happen when it gets to the docks. So you want things that are are stocked domestically.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

So I I know when I see your website that I was looking for some stuff and it was out of stock, but it said, we'll be back in stock such and such a day. So that to me was kind of a sign that, like, oh, well, they're really controlling their inventory and they know what they have. Where others that I've looked at, then it doesn't give you anything, right? It just you feel like it's in stock and you don't know when it would be coming, right? Right, right. Okay, yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

All right, those are good. Also, do they have product expertise? Is there even anyone you can call and talk to? You know, you want to talk to somebody that knows the floral industry, you want to talk to somebody at our place, you call and somebody can go out to this to the sample room and check colors for you and compare things together, things like that. You you don't get that from one of these shell websites or something like that. And even though, you know, our people maybe they weren't ever florists, but they will try. Like you want to get somebody that will will try for you that's actual humans at the other end of the phone. A human. A human who has the access to the product. Yes. Yeah. And also transportation, as far as how they're getting the product to you, if you're ordering large quantities, you want somebody that's gonna look at your order and say, wait a minute, this would be better if it goes on a truck, goes on a pallet, than if it just goes regular parcel shipment. You want somebody that's really gonna be your advocate, even though you know none of us want to pay shipping costs, but you want a vendor who's going to work for you to get the best shipping costs. Like we negotiate with our shipping suppliers every year, and then we analyze every order to get the best shipping for a customer. So you want a partner, a wholesale partner. You don't want just somebody that you're ordering.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Those are great tips. Really good tips. On your website, it says, can you receive pallets of merchandise? Because I was like, I wonder why it says that. And there you go. And then I know that in case I need a lot of something, here it costs.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

And if you're getting containers, you know, if you're getting a lot of containers, that's really a better way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

It's safer and less damage, safer and less expensive, right? Right. Less damage, less money. Makes sense. So, what are some of the common mistakes florists make when purchasing silk flowers in bulk? Well, I have to laugh because my personal

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Answer to that was not purchasing in bulk. Okay, there you go. I mean, we offer on our website, we offer each's boxes and cases. If there's any way you can order the boxes and the cases, do it. You're gonna save money. The only real mistake I can think of as far as purchasing in bulk is those that don't purchase a sample first.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

That's what I was just gonna say. That's exactly what I was gonna say, Sarah. Is that the people who are like, oh, I think I'm just gonna go with this value one because it's gonna be good enough and they buy it in bulk and they're like, oh dang, this isn't the quality I thought it was because I wanted it for this and not a hanging, you know, suspended structure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

So that's the only thing I was costs a little more because you there's a four charge for every box that we send out on the shipping companies. So if we put a pencil in a box and we ship it down the street, it's gonna cost at least $12. So yeah, you're gonna pay that for your sample order, but it's it's so much worth it to not not have any questions. And even color. Like we do the best we can with our photography, with the color, but everybody's monitor is different. Like you need to check that color. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

True. And that's that happens in our flower shops too, right? I mean, everybody's monitors, you're exactly there. Everybody's mom and monitors are different. Those are great. I love that. All right, we got a couple two more questions, then we'll let you get back to your day job. Number one, do you have a favorite floral trend, a design trend or something right now that's going on?

SPEAKER_00 23:35

I'm really excited to see the grounded installations coming in. I love the suspended installations that have been around for a long time. There was archers, then there's suspended installations and now grounded. And I I love the suspended, because like I'm saying, I love the cascading garlands. But I think the the grounded installations, I'm waiting to see how they evolve, and I think they're they're gonna be pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah. I think it's because they're fresh and new, right? I think that's sometimes there you have seen so much, and it's like, oh, and you wait to see the creativity that comes forth with all of your products and putting it in the hands of some pretty amazing designers, and then you're like, oh my gosh, look what our product can do in the hands of these amazing designers. I think that's exciting. True.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

And speaking of your product, what is one product from Pioneer that you are really excited for florists to get this year?

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Our smilex. When I saw it first come through, and I was like, I love this. And I'm like, we're going deep. And we talked about it, and my dad's like, yep, we're going deep. It's just, it's, it's a good smilex. And we've got these four options, and we've got it. The cascading, the butcher's broom garland that you guys were talking about earlier. I love it. I mean, I I remember seeing it the first time I saw it, and I got super excited. I'm like, we gotta have this, we gotta have this. And everybody around me, I was in China at the time, and everybody around me is like, Why is she so excited about that garland? So I have a long history of being excited about cascading garlands, but the smilex one is just it's a different feel, a different kind of shape and texture than the butcher's room one. And I'm I just I love our whole new Smilex one. It's a standard item that's been in Florida shops for years, so it doesn't probably feel very exciting to florists, but it's very exciting to me.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I could imagine having that in your store, like you said, a backup if something doesn't come in. But even if they're still using the RELF smilex to take that and put a little bit of this and that, if if your smilex come in the bad, then you have that combination again. Yeah, I think that'd just be great. And it would be easier to hang and utilize the the faux than it is the the fresh, because sometimes it can be not the easiest to use.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Well, and even making a hanging gar garland of any kind in fresh, the cascading, the dripping down, that's that's not gonna be easy. So, you know, the faux can only be a timetaber. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Well, as usual, you've been a plethora of information, Sarah. Thank you for having us. You've inspired us, and I look forward to 2025 to see all of these trends come to fruition. It's exciting. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

We look forward to seeing you next week. So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.