I have wondered why premium flower arrangements cost so much – Over the past 10 years or so the styles have shrunk in size but the prices have soared. For a while there, I was passing the higher costs off to wage pressure, frictional business costs like local employee taxes & all the various insurances small businesses have to carry now but that still did not give me a satisfactory explanation.

I work with many of our San Francisco florists for my personal needs. They are all so talented, smart and have great integrity and style – but the price for a vase of peonies with accent flowers that still fit on a coffee table was $250 – albeit breathtakingly gorgeous – I would have thought the costs more like $150. On another occasion I asked for a silver urn I have to be filled with just white French Tulips – those are the ones that are large headed and long stems (as opposed to Dutch tulips which are smaller all around and thus less expensive). The urn takes about 50-60 tulips and it cost $400! What’s going on!

I decided to do an experiment – I would do it all myself.

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