Virginia Florist Readies for Valentine’s Day

Mother’s Day is a close second, but at , Valentine’s Day earns the status of the shop’s busiest single-day holiday.

Flowers are arriving at the combination florist and gift shop, located at 7908 Fort Hunt Road in the Hollin Hall Shopping Center.

“It’s a matter of cleaning a massive amount of roses,” said Virginia Florist manager and buyer Amanda Mertins. “They have to be de-thorned, fresh-cut, conditioned, and so that will all be done and they’ll be ready to go.”

Some rosebuds that are shut very tightly are left at room temperature so the flower will open slightly in the warmer air, Mertins said.

Scott Marchand, floral designer, said the shop starts with an order of 500 roses, but he can’t estimate how many additional roses the store buys.

“We start off with 500, and then we also have all kinds of Valentine’s packs of tulips, which are those reds, whites and pinks,” he said. “I don’t get a lot of carnations here, because most people want the roses and the tulips.”

Floral arrangements start at $65 for Valentine’s Day, he said. The store also offers Valentine’s Day chocolates and small gift items.

Mertins and store buyer Kim Weiler recently returned from the New York International Gift Fair and have ordered new items for the shop, some of which are arriving in time for Valentine’s Day.

The new items include Tyvek wallets, specialty beverage glasses, a “bubblegum” iPod stand, Jellycat stuffed animals, handbags and jewelry. The shop will soon offer new scarf belts, tunics and additional home decor items.

“We have a lot of fun, ‘gift-y’ things,” Weiler said. “ … The comment we hear the most is (people) can just come here and they don’t have to go to the mall.”