Do you want to learn about the latest varieties to hit the market? Do you have a question about care and handling on a specific bloom or are you having trouble finding the perfect substitute flower to fill an order? The newly launched Sierra Flower Finder Wiki (www.sierraflowerfinder.com ) is the perfect online resource to help you do all of the above.
The website is a free, collaborative site that breeders, growers, wholesalers and florists can use to share their knowledge. It’s basically a site that takes the same approach as Wikipedia but is specific to the floral industry. Users can upload photos of varieties, edit and give information as to which lengths, cuts, and colours are available, share their ratings for the flower as well as provide care and handling tips to maximize vaselife. There’s also a forum where they can pose questions and discuss flowers with one another.
Tom Leckman, president of Sierra Flower Trading, says the site has evolved from the original Sierra Flower Finder, which began in 1998. “Back then, clients would ask us questions and you’d have all these breeder catalogues. You weren’t sure which breeder had which variety and you’d have to go and chase that down,” says Leckman. To compile this information, Sierra Flower Trading staff began collecting pictures and variety information, posting it to an online database. Demand for the database grew, as did the number of new introductions, and this made it hard for the staff to keep up. The best way to resolve this problem was to open the website up to everyone and create the Sierra Flower Finder Wiki. Today, the website hosts more than 3,600 varieties.
“In the past, the staff here at Sierra were the only ones who could upload a picture, add information, correct information or create substitutes to varieties,” says Leckman. “Now everyone can.” As soon as someone registers to the site, the user can add high-resolution photos or information on any variety and the change will automatically be applied to the website – no wait or approval process is required. As is evident with Wikipedia, any mistakes on the page are usually quickly corrected. “What happens is that because the community is involved and they care about the information, it’s self-correcting,” he says.
The Sierra Flower Finder Wiki has a number of features that will assist flowers in the day-to-day operations at their shop. When users are looking through varieties, they can mark a variety as their favourite and add it to their own personal album. Users can build any number of albums – they can edit the album name and description, and add their own notes. “If you’re building a wedding or an event, you can collect 10 varieties (or more) in an album, you can add all kinds of information about them and you can use the site to find substitutes in case you can’t get something. You can say this is what I want filled. You can send this album to your supplier and you can send it to your client,” he says. The albums can be shared via e-mail or even through Facebook.
Florists also can use the site to search for a certain colour or bloom. If the user is looking for green roses, the website will highlight the latest introductions, show you which varieties are available, and provide detailed information about the flower.
The website can act as a training tool for new staff or as a resource to consult for care and handling issues. It’s a way to retain and pass along industry tips and tricks. “None of the information, none of the experience in this industry is really kept. You may pass it on to somebody in your flower shop but there’s no real school for flower information in our industry. So, by having a wiki, here’s a chance for everyone to download information and it’s kept in perpetuity,” he says.
Leckman hopes that each sector of the flower industry will embrace the website so it can grow into a fabulous resource. “If everyone starts contributing and referring to the site, what we believe is that we will be much more intelligent flower sellers. We are going to have a lot more information and we are going to be more attuned to what the latest varieties are.”
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