The Arrangements

These are a few of the holiday arrangements Especially for You was making for the holidays. While I was there, I greened many of all three of these arrangements. They used a combination of white pine, various spruces, and princess pine. Unfortunately, I had an allergic reaction to the princess pine, it made my hands red and itchy. Since the princess pine was an important element in the arrangements, I wore gloves while I worked with it. Each of the arrangements were very different in how the greens needed to be placed. They required different lengths, and needed to cover different areas, since the arrangements each had their own unique shape. The candle arrangement was oblong, with big pieces coming out of the ends and shorter ones around the middle and coming up from the top. The ornament arrangement was all a circle, and the top mneeded to be round. There was a piece that was to be inserted into the top, it was made to look like the top of the ornament. I had to place it in the best spot, and add in red ornaments, spreading them around the arrangement. The Santa's Workshop arrangement was gently placed on top of a plastic piece in the middle of the container. It had a switch on the back which makes the windows light up. It was a more one sided arrangement, so the front needed to be much fuller than the back, but the foam at least needed to be covered in the back. My favorite arrangement to do greens for was the ornament. It was my favorite in terms of the end result, and it was pretty easy to green. In the end, I learned a lot from Marlene.

Customers

At Especially for You, they usually recieve phone orders from their customers, to either be picked up or delivered. They have several drivers who take the vans owned by the shop and deliver the flowers all around the area to many other towns, including Freehold Township, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, and even Monroe. But sometimes, customers come in to the shop and pick up arrangements made just for them right there. Sometimes , customers even come in just to complain! One of the days I was at the shop, and older woman came in just a few days from Christmas complaining about an arrangement she had delivered. There were burgundy carnations, which she claimed were dead, thought they were clearly not. She was mistaking the naturally dark color of the flowers for them being dead, and insisted they be replaced. She was incredibly rude to the employees, and followed Laura, the one helping her, into the back of the shop! Laura asked her several times to please stay in the front, but she refused and hovered around watching Laura's every move. She ended up paying extra to get pink roses substituted in for the carnations. They didn't match the original design, and she complained about the bow Laura made, so she had to make a new one. In the end, Laura kept her composure, and the rude customer got her way and left the shop satisfied.

Commonly used flowers at the shop

Carnations:


At Especially for You, they commonly use carnations in their arrangements. Carnations come in tons of variations of color, and different sizes. They also stay alive for longer, and will continue to look great. Carnations are very versatile in term of arrangements, because they can easily be made to look fancy or casual. They have a nice look to them, and a pleasant fragrance.

Roses:


Roses are also a very commonly used flower. There are many different types, colors, and sizes of roses. They are a favorite of many, and can be used in almost anything. The different colors can even have different meanings, such as a red rose meaning love, and yellow meaning friendship. They are fragrant and are a nice focal flower.

Pompon and Daisy Mums:


Daisy Mums and Pompon Mums are great for filler flowers. They are relatively small, and have a cute look to them. There are many variations and several colors and sizes. They are long lasting, and depending on color, can change the whole look of an arrangement, adding different elements.

Lilies:


Lilies are another commonly used flower at the shop. They are a bigger flower, and there are a few different types, such as stargazer lilies, day lilies, and oriental lilies. They are normally used as a focal flower, and give a burst of color to the arrangement. They are also often used in large funeral arrangements.

December Experience- 26 Hours Total

December 2010, I started an unpaid internship at a flower shop in Freehold Boro called Especially for You. I chose to intern at that shop because my parents got their wedding flowers there, and we've always had good experiences when buying flowers there. When I went in, I talked to the owner, Marlene. She told me I could come in Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays. 4-6 on week days, and 10-3 on Saturdays . The first day I was there, it was really difficult for me. I was not used to standing for so long, and I was picking ornaments the whole time, so my fingers got very sore. I thought that it would be like that every day, and worried about what I had gotten myself into. The next day I came in, Marlene started me on picking ornaments again, and I was fully prepared to do that the whole time. After an hour though, she started me on greening arangements. It was very different from what I was used to, since in class we had never worked with Christmas greens before. I still had some difficulty with standing so long, but it wasn't as bad. I also used a knife to cut and clean the bottoms of the greens, which I was unfamiliar with. The next day was the same, but by the next week, I was just greening. I got faster and better at it each day. I worked from December 6 to December 23. On my last day, Marlene gave me a present and asked if I would come back and work for them when Valentine's Day came around. She told me that times I worked for them in the future, I could be paid. I thanked her, and promised to come back in February. It was a great experience.