Amarillo florists prepare for Mother's Day, their biggest day of the year

Brianna Maestas, Amarillo Globe-News
·4 min read

Area florists have prepared for one of the biggest holidays of the year, Mother's Day, and discussed how that "day" spans across the whole week leading up to the maternal event, requiring almost every shop to bring in extra hands to help.

"Mother's Day is our biggest week of the year. It used to be Valentine's, but everybody has a mom, or a mother figure, an aunt, grandmother, abuela, some woman in their life that they want to celebrate. Thursday was Hispanic Mother's Day, or Día de las Madre, always celebrated on the 10th, which is a huge day as well," Bradley Gaines, director of floral for the United Family said.

Gaines said at their distribution center alone centered in Lubbock, they had 30 semis delivering only flowers, with additional truckloads of plants. To accommodate for the upcoming rise in orders, the flower shops across the chain begin planning immediately after Valentine's Day.

Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.
Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.
Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.
Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.

"Roses is our number one. Everybody loves roses; that is our number one flower that we sell. ... For Mother's Day, color is so prevalent, so although we do sell red roses, we sell more of the colored roses with pinks, purples, creams, bi-colored, guard roses. We sell a lot of tinted roses, which can come in blue, purple, orange, green, glittered, any way that we can get a rose. We even have rose globes," Gaines said.

The stores sell everything from a single rose to full 20-rose bouquets and more. Their options include carry out and every day deliveries for the week. Gaines said that while he was at the 29th and Bell United Supermarkets location in Amarillo on Thursday, they had more than 129 flower deliveries scheduled that day alone.

According to Scott's Flowers, they begin preparing the vases six weeks before the big day by adding bows and Oasis flower foam pieces. Once the flowers come in, they process all of them and hire in approximately 20 more people to help make the arrangements and make deliveries. Just to accommodate for holiday need, this flower shop quadruples their regular truckload order.

Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.
Market Street United on Georgia Street in Amarillo prepares hundreds of their best seller, rose bouquets, for Mother's Day.
Mary Ruth Albracht, owner of Scotts Flowers, helps make arrangements to be delivered for Mothers Day, the biggest week of the year for local floral shops.
Mary Ruth Albracht, owner of Scotts Flowers, helps make arrangements to be delivered for Mothers Day, the biggest week of the year for local floral shops.

Mary Ruth Albracht, owner of Scott's Flowers, said that the difference between Valentine's Day and Mother's Day for the flower shop is that Mother's Day spans over several days.

"We sell about the same amount of arrangements for both days, but Mothers Day is spread out. It's not an impact holiday, so it doesn't kill us like Valentine's Day does. They all want it delivered on a certain day, and with Mother's Day, some will have us deliver it two or three days in advance. That way the mothers can enjoy them longer," Albracht said.

This flower shop said that their most sold arrangements are mixed-spring bouquets with bright colors, including reds, yellows, purples, oranges and even some pinks and whites.

"Flowers are fragrant; it makes you feel good. It's cheerful. It's our gift from God, and a bouquet is a way of giving back to your mother. Everybody has a mother; not everybody has a sweetheart. Even those who may not have a mother, they have a maternal figure in their life, and they deserve the love and appreciation on Mother's Day," Albracht said.

Scott's Flowers organizes rooms full of arrangements to be delivered during the week of Mother's Day.
Scott's Flowers organizes rooms full of arrangements to be delivered during the week of Mother's Day.
What in Carnations flower shop owner Kirby Pantoja prepares bouquets ahead of Mother's Day, their busiest week of the year.
What in Carnations flower shop owner Kirby Pantoja prepares bouquets ahead of Mother's Day, their busiest week of the year.

Amarillo flower shop What in Carnations begins preparations in January by deciding their flowers and truck orders. According to the shop's owner, Kirby Pantoja, their biggest seller for the arrangement type is the trendy "blooming box," described as a hat box with flowers seeming to bloom from within. In addition, their biggest seller for flowers includes peonies, which came into season a week before the big day.

"This week is a big week. We have graduations, proms, Nurse Appreciation Week just ended, all mingled in with Mother's Day, so extra hands has been a big thing for us. We are a smaller shop; typically there are only three of us here, so we bring in as many more as we can," Pantoja said.

The owner said that, per the customers' requests, they began deliveries for Mother's Day flowers in the beginning of the week and still have some deliveries arranged for next week for those mothers who traveled during the holiday.

All flower shops said that they will close on Sunday, Mother's Day, to give the mothers who work with them the day off to celebrate.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Mother's Day the biggest week of the year for Amarillo area florists