BEWARE of Deceptive Order Gatherers--has it happened to you?!?

Here lately in the Boulder Blooms family, we have been having some problems with people receiving the flowers they supposedly ordered from us. There is a Boulder Bloom (no "s") that customers have been ordering from, but it is not a real flower shop with a true store front. Customers have been calling the business, placing their order, and then we will receive disappointed phone calls from them because they do not realize that they did not actually place an order with us. If this is something that has happened to you, be sure to call the storefront to make sure they have received your order. 

Here is the scam:

This business is called a Deceptive Order Gatherer. Deceptive Order Gatherers piggy-back off of a local florist's name that usually incorporates the town's name (like we have the city of Boulder in our name, Boulder Blooms). This way people think they are getting a local florist. However, these gatherers are usually not located in the town, but they rely on a web presence to attract customers to call and place their order with them. We think this Boulder Bloom is using a service like yellowpages.com or something similar. Once you have placed your order with these gatherers, they skim money off of your order, and through a wire service they relay the order to a local florist. Then, the florist does not have the ability to create your order at full value because they have taken money from your order and paid for the wire service.

With our situation, Boulder Bloom is not even relaying the order, so then our customers' orders aren't being sent out at all!

This is a good reason why you should always call a local florist directly after researching them thoroughly online. When you call direct, you can speak directly to staff members who can see, smell, and touch the very flowers you're sending instead of a middle man! You can also avoid being hit with sometimes exorbitant wire service fees.

Here is some more information written by a member of the Floral Association of the Rockies (of which we are a member!) about this scamming. If this has happened to you...again, we are so sorry; we encourage you to read this article.

http://floralassociationrockies.org/pdf/articles/DeceptiveListers.pdf

Moral of the story... in the background of your conversation, if you don't hear a bunch of people talking and scurrying around a messy store...

...or if you do not hear buckets of water splashing around...

...or the opening and closing of walk-in cooler doors...

...chances are, you should hang up the phone because you are probably not talking to us! We have had a storefront in Boulder for 8 years, and we have become one of Boulder's most trusted florists and eco-friendly businesses. We love what we do, we love our customers, and we love being part of this community. Again, to our knowledge there is no shop located in Boulder called Boulder Bloom, and we urge prospective clients to be sure call us to make sure that we receive your order!

Calling All Local Artists!

We just joined forces with Art of the Flower on the hill. We also gave it a bit of a facelift, which left the walls completely bare. We want to use local Boulder resources to decorate the shop, which leads us to this question...

Would you like to host an open gallery featuring your creations? We are looking for you!! Every Friday we will be hosting an open gallery displaying your art work in a venue that calls for art. The space we are providing will be free of charge to you. We are searching for botanical art focused on nature or flowers; be it paintings, sculpture, or photography, as long as it is based on nature. We provide the venue, you provide the beauty. You are welcome to invite friends and fans alike. You are responsible for the hanging of and all logistics of your art work. Food, beverages and/or music are also something you need to arrange if you would like to supply these things.

Art of the Flower is the perfect place to showcase your art because it is in a high traffic area of Boulder. Tons of people will be passing by the shop as it is next door to Lollicup and across the street from the Fox Theater.  Please reply via email to info@boulderblooms.com with a brief introduction about yourself and your work. Feel free to include pictures as we will need to see samples.

Local Yokel is the way to go!

Recently we have been getting loads of local Colorado flowers in our shop. Calla lilies, Hybrid Delphinium, Ranunculus, Stargazer Lilies, Asiatic Lilies, Freesia, Snapdragon, Larkspur, Tulips, Dianthus, and Scabiosa, just to name a few! We love getting Colorado flowers because they are so fresh and happy and colorful. We enjoy supporting our local economy and businesses.  We also know we are working with growers who are committed to the Earth's health, just like we are.

It is interesting how the same flower family can look completely different if the varieties are from different parts of the world. For example, the Zantedeschia species (calla lilies) have many different looks. The large Callas we get in Colorado look extremely different than the Callas we get from South America. The flowers from South America are more cup-like and closed, while the ones from Colorado are more relaxed and open. Take a look at the difference yourself!

These photos are the Colorado Calla Lilies. 

These photos are the Calla Lilies from South America

This is a direct comparison of the two varieties. 

The "petals" (the white part of the Calla Lily) are not actually petals. They are part of the plant called a Spathe. The actual flower of a calla lily plant are the tiny nodules are the yellow Spadix, which is the inner yellow part of the flower.