Aliso Viejo Florist Braces for Valentine's

Valentine’s Day can creep up on us and for those who make a living helping the day be easier for you, it can be even more hectic.

For consumers, Valentine’s Day is a one-day event. For your florist, it lasts about a week and crunch time starts three days before the holiday. For , Feb. 14 is the busiest day of the year.

“Thanksgiving and Christmas are really busy as well, but we have more time. People are ordering arrangements throughout the week. For Valentine’s Day it’s all about that one day,” said florist Rusna Jhita.

This Valentine’s Day, Aliso Viejo Florist will be creating approximately 350 arrangements to help their customers celebrate the holiday. They have reserved 2,000 red roses alone for these arrangements. This number is down from the 500 orders they received last year.

“You can really feel the effect of the economy this year. Not only are orders down, but so are deliveries. More people are picking up their flowers rather than having them delivered, which saves them about $15-$20 on the delivery charge,” said owner Darshan “Dee” Kaur.

The prep-work for Valentine’s Day starts about a week prior to the holiday. To ensure quality, the flowers arrive no earlier than three days before. This doesn’t leave a lot of time to create the 350 arrangements that will be delivered on Valentine’s Day.

“We start at about 7:30 a.m. Valentine’s morning and our goal is to have all of the orders out and delivered by 1 p.m. During the days leading up to it, we’ll start at 8:30 in the morning and don’t finish sometimes until midnight, 1 a.m.,” said Jhita.

The store, which typically employs two florists and one delivery driver, hires an additional florist and four additional drivers to make sure their customers get their order in a timely fashion on Valentine’s Day. Despite the manic pace of the holiday rush, Kaur and crew are all smiles and busy hands.

Sandie Webb rounds out the shop’s trio of florists during the busy holidays. Webb’s father was the proprietor of Briar Rose, a floral shop in Mission Viejo. She has been creating beautiful bouquets since her early 20s. Semi-retired from the floral industry, she now freelances with different shops during their busy seasons.

“We’re really lucky to have Sandie. She has so much experience. She’s really great with customers and helping them create arrangements,” said Kaur.

Picking out the perfect bouquet for a loved one on Valentine’s Day can be a daunting task. Luckily, you don’t have to know much about flowers to succeed, thanks to florists like Kaur, Jhita and Webb.

“Guys never know what they want, but we’re here to help. I’m always impressed when someone comes in with pictures or ideas, though,” Jhita said.

If you’re worried that your demands might be too wild, florists at Aliso Viejo Florist said they have you covered.

“We’ve had people request lights and crystals and all kinds of stuff, but we can do anything,” said Jhita.

Kaur bought the shop five years ago, but the shop itself has been around for 15 years in Aliso Viejo. Kaur entered into floristry as a hobby while her children were in school, taking flower-arranging classes at the Yorba Linda Adult Education Center.

“It was something that I was interested in and as my kids got older and could take care of themselves, I had less to do around the house so I started taking classes. Eventually I decided that it was something I would like to do as a business,” she said.

Jhita, a recent UC Irvine graduate, is not only Kaur’s employee, but also her daughter. She began working for her mother before starting college. She was happy to hear her mother wanted to turn her hobby into a profession.

“I was like, ‘Cool! I got a job!’ I needed some income since I was starting college and it’s nice to be able to pick my hours and know I won’t be fired,” Jhita said.

As far as their mother-daughter/boss-employee relationship, they say it has worked out well for this family of florists.

“She’s been such a great help, a blessing. I’m thankful I have her here to help me. It’s a nice creative break for her from study biology in school, as well. And the customers love her,” Kaur said.

Soon Valentine’s Day will be over and the shop will have a break in the holiday action until their other big day on a florist’s calendar — Mother’s Day.

“Mother’s Day is the most fun,” said Webb while working on a Valentine’s Day arrangement. “All of the flowers are available and you can create these beautiful spring garden bouquets. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

If you haven’t decided on a bouquet for your Valentine, there’s still time to make it a day to remember. The florists at Aliso Viejo Florist will be more than happy to help keep things running smoothly in the romance department.