Flowers of Phillip Island is still preparing for a big Valentine’s Day even among cost of living crisis

Coming out of the pandemic and with cost of living high, one local florist still hopes there’s room for flowers this Valentine’s Day.

Florists everywhere are getting ready for one of the busiest days of the year and hoping that people’s purse strings can stretch enough to treat their loved ones this year.

Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest on the calendar for florists and Jo Brooks and her team at Flowers of Phillip Island are making sure the community can have fresh flowers to celebrate the day.

“It is absolutely one of the busiest days,” she said.

“There is so much preparation that goes into it.”

On Thursday morning Ms Brooks was up by 2am to get to the market in Footscray, ready to pick up the flowers for the Valentine’s Day orders.

Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest on the calendar for florists and Jo Brooks and her team at Flowers of Phillip Island are making sure the community can have fresh flowers to celebrate the day.

“We have to chose the flowers then we have to load them into the car, then we have to drive them back, then we have to strip them and pick out the not so good ones, and wrap and there is just so much work,” she says.

“We don’t sleep,” she jokingly adds.

Ms Brooks is hoping the cost of living pressures that have burdened households this year don’t stop people from sharing a bunch of flowers with someone for Valentine’s Day.

“Things have been really tough we know that,” she said.

“But we really hope people still have enough in them to get flowers, it’s such a beautiful way to show someone love.”

After Covid, Flowers of Phillip Island have no idea just how busy they will get with orders this year.

“Last year we had done all the preparation then we got shut down the day before so we had to do everything just from the window so we really don’t know what it is going to be like this year.”

“We know Covid has changed a lot of things but we are hoping people are still after the ‘reds’, the classic flowers.”

Ms Brooks really loves seeing people come into her shop and leaving with a beautiful bunch of flowers she knows will make someone smile.

“Giving someone flowers is beautiful, it really brightens their day,” she said.

She also said Flower of Phillip Island were very “pedantic” about the quality of their flowers and so only the very best are put up for sale.

The team love Valentine’s Day but breathe a big sigh of relief when it’s over, not for too long though.

“We have a shop to run so it’s straight back to it even after the day’s over,” Ms Brooks said.