Once, not so long ago, flowers decorated homes during festivities. However, now, it is becoming a trend, a fad even to have radiant blooms tastefully arranged in nooks and corners of the house on all occasions – be it festivity, weddings or day-to-day life. While some pluck flowers from their gardens, others head to nearby florists.
Flower baskets
“More and more people are buying flowers to add colour to their homes. There is something about flowers, be it in a basket or a single bloom in a vase that brightens up a room,” says Aloysius Anthony, proprietor of Sharon Florists.
Baskets, he says, are what customers tend to pick up the most. “A basket of flowers looks much better in a room, be it on a dining table, a corner table or on your living room teapoy. They also last longer,” he says.
While there are those who prefer baskets containing a single variety of blooms, others opt for a variety of flowers in baskets that come L-shaped, round, heart…
When picking up a basket of blooms, it is important to pick one that suits your table. “Small flowers like carnations and roses look good in a basket on small round tables, while for corner tables pick flowers with long stems like birds of paradise, lilies and orchids,” says Madhushankar of Lalith Florists while Sabu John K. of Kusumum Florists says: “Try to pick multi-flowers in similar shades. Contrasting colours in a basket tend to jar although if you have an eye for colour you can blend them aesthetically.”
And although roses are an evergreen favourite amongst customers, flowers like tulips, carnations, and chrysanthemums are hot sellers too. “We have dealers who send these flowers from Bangalore,” says Madhushankar.
But it is not just homes that people buy flowers for. Offices too have flower arrangements sent to them on a weekly basis. “Orchids, anthuriums, heliconias and hybrid carnations are popular among the office crowd as they last longer,” says Sabu.
Flowers as gifts are fast becoming a trend too, says Aloysius with bouquets and baskets containing double coloured roses, carnations, alpinia, gerbera and lilies being favourites, he adds.
“In fact people gift flowers for Onam now. Gerberas and chrysanthemum are what people choose as they have the golden glow that is considered auspicious for Onam,” says Sabu. “They also come in to buy gerberas, marigolds, roses and the like for various pookalam competitions and for their own attapoos at home,” he adds.
In demand
As the Malayalam month of Chingam, is also the season for weddings, the demand for flowers doubles with flowers decking halls, sported on cars or neatly arranged into a bouquet for gifts.
While flowers like oleander, marigold, crossandras and the like are what decks the halls of Hindu weddings, roses, lilies, geberas and orchids are what's in demand for others. As for decoration on cars, flowers are picked to match the colour of the car and for gift bouquets or baskets, its roses that top the list.
According to Madhushankar, when once florists would suggest flowers and colour combinations to customers, customers today are “flowers savvy.”
He says: “Customers now know what they want. In fact many come asking for rare flowers to be sourced from Bangalore.” When asked if this trend for flowers will stay rooted in the day to day life of denizens of the city and he says, “Of course.”
And so it looks like flowers will continue to bloom all seasons.
