BUFFALO, N.Y. — Not to be your mother, but if you're planning to buy flowers for her this Mother's Day, call your local florist as soon as you can.
Maureen's Wholesale Flower Market in downtown Buffalo is expecting to fill thousands of orders by next Sunday.
"We're really rocking and rolling down here," said Maureen Bartley, owner of the floral shop.
According to NBC News, people across the country could pay more for flowers this Mother's Day due to rising shipping costs.
Much of the flowers we get in the United States come from major growers in South America. They're then flown into Miami before being distributed to local florists such as Maureen's.
Thankfully, Maureen says her shop is seeing those growers finally pick up more production that was lost during the pandemic.
"Valentine's Day did catch people a little bit short but I think they've really boosted up their production and I do see where things are very available," Bartley said.
She says hydrangeas are the only flower that seems hard to come by.
A big reason Maureen's supply wasn't affected too much is because she also gets shipments in from Canada, the same as they do over at Mischler's Florist and Greenhouses in Williamsville.
"We order early and we order quite a bit. We do order more than what we think we're going to need so we have enough for everybody," floral shop manager Maggie Wittmer said. "We're not feeling the pinch just yet."
Wittmer she says she has noticed a very specific trend throughout the industry.
"High demand things, you're going to pay for them. You're going to pay a lot of money for them. Glassware has become an issue, getting certain colored glasses, not available. Syndicate sales has gone to producing just the clear," Wittmer said.
With mother's day just 8 days away, she urges you to be patient with your florist, let them choose what goes in your bouquet since they know what they do and do not have, and you should always call a local florist instead of calling 1-800-FLOWERS to avoid additional fees.
Mischler's is already getting 50 orders a day right now for mother's day bouquets.
"Last year, the Saturday before mother's day, we did about 400 deliveries in one day," she said.