TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Mother's Day can be the busiest time of year for florists, and Bloomies Flowers on Tucson's east side is no exception.
Owner Susan Aguirre said the holiday outpaces even Valentine's Day when it comes to demand.
"There's a saying in the floral industry, not everybody has a lover for Valentine's Day, but everybody has a mother, whether it be a stepmother, a mother, a grandmother, a mother-in-law, a godmother, or somebody who just likes to mother you. Mother's Day is definitely the busiest," Aguirre said.
What started as a dream became reality five years ago when Aguirre opened Bloomies Flowers, and the shop has been growing ever since.
"I have to place my order for Mother's Day flowers by the middle of March to get the best prices and from my suppliers, and so it's a lot. I increased my order about 20% from last year because we've been growing about 20% every year," Aguirre said.
That growth has paid off. Before the Mother's Day rush, Bloomies coolers were filled with flowers — now they sit nearly empty.
"I ordered a little bit of extra flowers this year, and we really don't have much left, which is great. The flowers that I do have left will carry on until tomorrow," Aguirre said.
Every arrangement at Bloomies is handcrafted with love, care and creativity by what Aguirre calls her top team.
"I have the best designers in Tucson and we really try to carry the freshest," Aguirre said. "I have two master florists that work for me and then we bring in temporary people to help during the holiday, and we have really great energy between all of us."
Her children also play a big part in her business.
"I had three of my five kids here helping with deliveries and helping in the shop. It made my Mother's Day because I couldn't really do anything else today, so it made it very special," Aguirre said.
They helped complete about 180 deliveries since Friday.
According to the National Retail Federation, Mother's Day remains a priority for many Americans, who plan to lean into the holiday despite current economic uncertainty.
Aguirre said delivery charges have gone up because of rising gas prices.
"When we pay for delivery, we're paying for the transportation from our flowers. A lot of our flowers come from South America. So we're paying not only tariffs, we're paying for transportation from Florida to our supplier in Phoenix, and then when they truck the flowers down to Tucson, there's another surcharge for fuel," Aguirre said.
She says helium prices have gone through the roof as well.
"And so when the gas goes up, all of our pricing goes up. And I hate to pass that on to the customer because I really don't like raising the prices, but we increased it just a little bit this year," Aguirre said.
Some flowers are not so easy to get a hold of.
"This year, stock flower. We do a lot with stock flower. It's a very fragrant flower and one of the largest stock flower farms — their supply was about 30% of what it normally is because of weather and so we only got about 30% of our order of stock flower," Aguirre said.
She says peonies are also very hard to get.
"But we offered peonies this season, and so we were able to make several bouquets of peonies," Aguirre added. "when they came in they were about this big and so that's something that's rare. They're normally not in season until June."
Despite the challenges, Aguirre said her passion for the business keeps her going. She loves to be hands-on with every aspect in the flower process from ordering to arranging to delivering. She takes pride in being from Tucson and being able to share her flowers with the community that raised her.
"I'm a Tucson native. I've lived all across the country and I came back to Tucson to raise my children and I love Tucson," Aguirre said. "It's definitely a woman owned business and all of the women that work here, we're single moms."
She has a simple message for anyone still on the fence about what to give mom.
"I think all women like flowers. They enjoy flowers. I think they enjoy the colors. They enjoy the fragrance, and it's just a special gift to receive on Mother's Day," Aguirre said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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