Flower Shortage Impacts Oklahoma Florists

Area Florists and Event Planners in Green Country say a nationwide flower shortage is having a big impact on their business.

They say some types of flowers are much more expensive and you can’t even find certain types of flowers. 

“We used to just rely on certain types of flowers being available and now we are having to get more creative with substitutes when we aren’t able to get things that are more readily available,” said co-owner of Penelope & Lu, Julie Walsh. 

Co-Owners of Penelope & Lu, Julie Walsh, and Cassie Imel say weddings are normally stressful, but adding a nationwide flower shortage into the mix is making it even more difficult. 

"If we have someone who is set on a certain flower, that's hard right now," said Walsh. “Most of our clients have been very open and trusting that we'll figure it out and make it pretty for them.”

Because many 2020 weddings were postponed, florists are seeing double the events and are being forced to order flowers a month in advance. Many types of flowers are seeing a big price mark up.

“This rose is a cappuccino rose and they’re normally $2.30 a stem and they went up to over $5.00 a stem,” said Walsh.

"Anything that’s trending, roses that are neutral, your beige your tans, they can't produce the flowers fast enough to fill the events,” said The Flower Shop Pryor Owner, Callie Schmidt. "We're having to get creative to come up with something that's the same color and same style, but something that's not going to cost what roses are costing right now."

Flower Shop Pryor Owner Callie Schmidt says her 2020 wedding contracts reflected normal prices, now she's having to find a way to keep costs down.

"I didn't want to come back and say I know we talked about this last year and this is what it's going to cost now, so we just got really creative,” said Schmidt.

Florists say they try to buy locally when they can, but weather and a worker shortage in other parts of the world played a big role in the shortage.

"Many farmers had to abandon their crops,” said Chelsea LeGrange. “So they're not able to cut them, process them and send them over."

Gas Petal Owner Chelsea LeGrange is preparing to open her new store on Cherry Street on November 6th.

She says it's been difficult to find flowers to stock her flower wall.

"It's not like there's not any available anymore. it's just certain colors are harder to find,” said LeGrange.

Florists say patience is key as there's no real end in sight.

"It helps when a bride is super trusting and kind of trusts us to get the vision even when we can't get the product,” said Walsh.