OCTOBIJB 9, 1913. 



The Florists^ Reviey 



9 



COLONIAL BOUQUETS 



FOR THE AUTUMN BRIDES 



The Rftail Florist Wjbio Bu|lds vBis: Business Must Supply 

 Ideas ftr One pStronWhilf Executing the Ideas of Another 



the curiosities of 

 is the difference in 

 But if it is true 

 ''ariety is the spice 

 we should be glad 

 one patron is absolutely de- 

 void of ideas as to what is 

 wanted, while another is so full of some 

 preconceived notion that nothing else 

 will be considered. " If they were all 

 alike, flower selling would be a most 

 uninteresting occupation. As a matter 

 of fact, customers are like flowers — 

 roses, for instance. At first glance they 

 all look more or less alike, but when 

 you come to study them each has its 

 individuality, its little differences that 

 tell how it should be handled. 



The retail florist can not divide his 

 customers into two classes: Those who 

 know exactly what they want and those 

 who will take up any suggestion that 

 is offered. Indeed not; there are in- 

 numerable variations between the two 

 extremes. 



The florist who has in his own make- 

 up the ability to grasp other people's 

 ideas, and execute them, always finds it 

 easy selling when the customer comes 

 along with the demand for the carrying 

 out of a definite decorative scheme, and 



Front View of a Colonial Bouquet. 



the retailer who is himself fertile in 

 ideas finds little trouble in fixing up the 

 patron who is ready to accept any rea- 

 sonable suggestion. But the abomina- 

 tion of us all is the person who does 

 not know what is wanted'and who lacks 

 the ability to make a choice and settle 

 on any one of the ideas suggested. Such 

 a person is extremely difficult to please; 

 3'ou all know the type; the kind that 

 can not decide, that goes over the 

 ground time after time, and then comes 

 back next day to declare a change of 

 mind. With such a customer it is a 

 mistake to offer too many suggestions; 

 the more choices there are the longer 

 it takes to get one of them accepted. 



Making Things Match. 



These are the days when things must 

 match. When milady demands that her 

 lap dog be in harmony with her motor- 

 ing furs, and her hat of the same hue as 

 the hosiery that shows through the slit 

 in her skirt, is it to be supposed she will 

 be any less exacting in the matter of 

 her flowers? 



And herein lies a hint for the florist: 

 If particular people demand that their 

 flowers fit into some specific scheme of 

 dress or decoration, a sure way to be 

 right with the people who do not know 

 what they want is to inquire into the 

 plans for other accessories and then 

 match up with the flowers. The cus- 

 tomer will accept the suggestion as be- 

 ing logical and will, be pleased with 

 the result, for it will be good. If the 

 lady wants flowers for a luncheon but 

 can not make up her mind what, "they 

 are all so beautiful," find out if she is 

 using the pink dishes and suggest pink 

 roses; that will get her mind off a lot 

 of other things and centered on some- 

 thing definite. Also, she will be better 

 satisfied and her guests will think bet- 

 ter of the flowers than if it turns out 

 that she is using the blue dishes and 

 you have sold her something that works 

 a color-clash. 



The other day a florist, a milliner 

 and a dressmaker had a tough time of 

 it on a wedding order — they all had to 

 use cosmos and the trouble came in 

 getting the same shades of pink in the 

 embroidery of the dresses and in the 

 artificial flowers on the hat that the 

 florist would use in the bouquets. In 

 that case it was up to the other fellows 

 *o match the flowers; usually the florist 

 has to do the chasing. 



The Fad for Things Colonial. 



Nowadays the colonial wedding is in 

 vogue. As like as not the happy couple 

 are making their home in a colonial 

 house, or a colonial apartment building, 

 with colonial furniture and colonial 

 silver. Of course, the bride and her 



maids, having their heads full of things 

 colonial will want colonial gowns — and 

 colonial flowers. 



Some florists call them old-fashioned 

 bouquets. But, oh, dear! How hope- 

 lessly old-fashioned and behind the 

 times such florists are! Colonial bou- 

 quets, to be sure! No matter what Wil- 

 liam said, there 's a lot in a name — at 

 least, a lot of selling value. Florists 

 would not hurt their business a bit by 

 knowing the names, the right names, of 

 the plants and flowers they try to sell, 

 and by coining good, easy-sounding, up- 

 to-datj names for the things somebody 

 else hasn 't already named. 



But to go back to the colonial bou- 

 quets, they are an extremely handy 

 thing for the florist — easy to sell, easy 

 to make, easy to attract attention with, 

 sure to please the customer and sure to 

 return a nice profit to the florist if he 

 charges anything like the right price. 

 Indeed, the florist can clean up, better 

 money on colonial bouquets than he can 

 on the conventional shower bouquet of 

 valley and still not charge so much. It 

 is not necessary to use so much expen- 

 sive stock. The flowers for a first-class 

 colonial bouquet must each be perfect, 

 but they do not need to be long- 



I Side View of the Same Bouquet. 



