Brad Parker: Hi! My name is Brad Parker and my company is MyFlorist and we are located in McLean, Virginia. Today we want to talk about how to buy the perfect floral arrangement for Valentine's Day.

Today it's becoming increasingly popular to go to the Internet. My favorite thing to do is to go Google and you just type in florist, your ZIP code, or the ZIP code where you want to send flowers. Google will provide for you the names and addresses with maps of the local florists. So start there.

My number one recommendation though for finding a good florist is to get a referral. Someone who has an established relationship with the florist and they have been getting a good results. The number one choice and the right choice in the majority of the cases is a dozen long stemmed red roses. Roses for centuries have been symbolic of love more than any other single flower, and it's also an American tradition on Valentine's Day.

Roses are graded in three different lengths. 40 centimeters are considered short, 50 to 60 centimeters are considered medium, and 70 to 80 centimeters are considered to be long. For Valentine's Day you want a dozen long stemmed red roses. When you have the long stemmed roses you get a much fuller showy arrangement.

Roses should be in this stage when you receive them. You don't want them completely tight. It's what we call in the industry, a bullet. On the other hand, you don't want a rose that's completely wide open. Those roses would be old and they won't last that long. So you want a rose that is maybe 20% to 30% open, it will take another three to five days to fully open, and another two or three days before they finally expire.

25% of the purchases on Valentine's Day are not roses. If you take a look here at some of these flowers, like gerbera daisy, nice tight focal point and vivid colored. So your options actually are large, but you want to find a florist that has the right inventory of flowers and the designers who can make something really unique and beautiful for you.

The key to a long-lasting arrangement is floral food. You always want to use it because in it there is not only food, but there is also agents control the Ph of the water so that harmful bacteria does not accumulate in the water. And the water that you use should also be room temperature. Don't wait to the last minute. If you wait to the day of the 14th or even the 13th, in many instances, the selection will be greatly limited. So order early.

And here's my final tip. Consider having your flowers delivered on the. 13th, beat the rush. Not only will she get the flowers before anyone else, but she'll know that you didn't wait to the last minute and she will be the envy of the office for that much longer. So these are just a few tips to enhance your purchasing of flowers for Valentine's Day. Thank you very much!

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