When a customer walks into your shop, it can be an overwhelming experience. There are beautiful flowers everywhere and shoppers often don’t have a clue what they want. It’s a good thing you’re there to help! You have specialized knowledge of your products and exclusive information that you can share to help them make a purchase. The way you communicate this is important as it can help set you apart from other shops and help position you as both an expert and a professional. This is especially true when it comes to the names of flowers - florists often need to choose between using Latin flower names or common names. On one hand, using the Latin names can help convey your knowledge and set you apart from the corner store that sells flowers. On the other hand, a long confusing flower name might confuse or intimidate your customer.
For this month’s point of view question we wanted to explore the type of language that florists use in their shop. We asked florists: do you use Latin floral names when interacting with your customers? Why or why not? Here’s what your fellow florists had to say:
In my dealing with customers I use the English name and not the Latin name. When customers come in they generally ask for a specific flower by the English term. To be honest, I don’t remember all the Latin names so I use the English name when asked. Since opening my shop there have been a few customers who are interested in the Latin terms and again, to be honest, I pull out my flower book from Holland and have used that as a reference and I will spend time with the customer going through the different names. This is a great way for me to learn all the names as well.
I do try and spend time talking about the difference in designs and styles with customer like “pave” etc. The customer finds this very interesting and it has helped to sell a few arrangements as well.
When interacting with our customers we will use both the Latin floral name and common name depending on the customer. If it is a customer that we know from the horticulture or garden club, they definitely appreciate the Latin name. The majority of our customers are much more familiar with the common names.
-Tony Manders of Regency Florist, London, Ont.
Normally we don’t [use the Latin name] and we use the generic name that comes from the wholesaler. It’s easier for people to use the common name rather than the Latin. It’s just not overly used and usually if people are shopping off of websites the more common names are used there as well rather than the Latin.
-Lisa Leblanc, designer at Domano Florist in Prince George, B.C.
We use the Latin name 50 per cent of the time. Often the common name or the Latin name are the same or is part of the name and that’s why we will use it.
-Art’s Flowers Ltd. in Winnipeg, Man.
We pretty much use common names rather than the Latin names. I find that it’s hard enough to explain to people what I’m talking about and when I start throwing in names that they’ve never heard before it just causes more confusion with them. Everyday names are usually what people pick up on. It’s easier to explain when I’m trying to get across what flowers I’m going to use or what I have in stock.
-Kelly Massa, owner of Kate Ashton Florists in Edmonton, Alta.
Many species of flowers are known to customers and florists alike by their scientific name. Other species’ scientific names bear little resemblance to their ‘everyday names.’ A practice in my own shop is to identify all the ‘buckets’ of flowers with a label that had both the common and scientific name. Customers very much appreciated knowing the names of the flowers they were purchasing and particularly appreciated knowing the variety of roses. Labelling in this manner provides a good in-store marketing tool and is a mark of a professional.
-A guest to the Canadian Florist blog at www.canadianfloristmag.com .
Point of View appears regularly in CF and offers our readers the opportunity to hear the perspective of other industry members. If you would like to suggest a topic or be part of the Point of View column, please contact Sue at
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