HELENA — Tawna Stoddard, owner of Knox Blooms and Beyond flower shop, has been working diligently to get orders out for Valentine's Day. Like many florists, this is her busiest time of the year. But this year, she’s dealing with a thorn, and a pricey one - tariffs on importing flowers into the U.S.
“Roses always go up,” Stoddard said. “I mean, supply and demand is huge for Valentine's Day for roses, obviously.”
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Other flowers impacted the most are carnations and daisies, which are popularly used by florists in arrangements.
To stay in the green, florists have had to increase their prices just to keep up with how much it costs them to bring in their supplies.
“I mean some of our flowers have doubled in price in the last, even year, and that's just really hard to pass onto the consumer,” Stoddard said.
In the United States, most flowers for Valentine's Day come from South and Central American countries, with over 80% historically coming from Colombia and Ecuador. Colombia has a baseline 10% tariff on all imported goods, while Ecuador goods are seeing tariff impacts of around 16%.
Not all florists import, though. Savanah Webb, owner of Forget Me Not flower shop, tries to get her flowers from United States vendors.
“There’s a lot of delays on the flowers, so I stay within the United States when it comes to shipments of flowers,” Webb said.
Florists are seeing the cause and effect of higher flower prices, as customers steer away from larger flower purchases, or even buying them at all…
“I definitely think people are cutting it down a little bit, buying smaller arrangements,” Stoddard said.
Webb says she’s also noticed an impact on her business.
“I have seen a lot of people buy less,” Webb said. “It’s considered a luxury item now.”
It’s not just affecting the flowers, but also delays or cancellations for orders on all the other vases, materials, and supplies that go into floral preparation.
Webb and Stoddard say they are focusing on what they can control, changing business methods like implementing preorders, incorporating other decorations like balloons, and self-promotion.
“Keep on marketing and keep on putting myself out there and just keep on going,” Stoddard said.
