How much would you pay for this bouquet?

[Disappointedflowers]

I ordered a bouquet online to be sent to my DP's and my DM sent me a picture of them to say thank you.
I was extremely disappointed considering what I had spent and said so. Only then did my DM say that she hadn't thought they weren't all that thinking I had probably spent £x amount to which I then said I spent considerably more.
She did say that there was also a hydrangea head that didn't really go with the rest of the arrangement, so she put that elsewhere, and a ridiculous amount of foliage, some of which she used in another bunch of flowers she received and the rest ended up in the green bin as it was too much.
I'd really appreciate some thoughts from you lovely bunch (see what I did there! 😜) as to what you think I should have been charged for these flowers? 🙏🏻

Roses are very costly as they are usually imported from Costa rica/ Ecuador and cost over a pound a stem from the wholesalers.
Hydrangeas are usually individually wrapped, with water, so also costly.

(I work for a farm shop, I see the invoices for cut flowers)

The white ones are lisianthus and they often don’t all open.

Leaving aside whether OP’s mum is any good at flower arranging, I think £70 seems a lot. Obviously there should be some foliage, but I dislike the stuff they often put in with hard stems that make it difficult to trim.

I think the problem here is in the word 'send'.

That's always going to be a rip-off. You can't choose or see the flowers yourself, and few recipients are going to complain to the sender, so it's really open to sloppiness and poor service. I've been embarrassed on the few occasions when I've sent flowers, just like you, to see what actually arrived!

I try to take flowers myself if at all possible - much better quality flowers and nowhere near as pricey. I do know that's not always possible.

Hard to say if it’s been partially dismantled but it’s clearly been a “large scale” bouquet which you don’t really get for under 60.

To be honest I like a good bit of foliage and I love a hydrangea. With delivery ( and in its original state) I’d expect probably about 70 quid.

Those white ones are called Lisianthus and they come with about 10 flowers on each stem. I bought a bunch in Sainsburys yesterday with about 50 flowers in total and they cost me £5. Foliage is cheap and costs very little. Florists buy wholesale too, so they don't pay supermarket prices for flowers.

It also depends on length of stems when they're bought in- longer cost more etc.

Look at this @DaniMontyRae . A much bigger bunch of flowers, inc. lilies, which are more expensive, and it's £15.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/cosmopolitan-bouquet

Oh sorry ! I’m late to the party …

Yes I’d have expected about that but that’s because I know florists are expensive.

I often buy from M and S as they make their margins on the food not the flowers and work out better value. They can be a bit recognisable but that is ameliorated by buying two smaller bunches and combining to make something more bespoke. They last ages too.

Lisianthus are very hard to grow, they are one of the slowest flowers to get going, they are annuals.
I you bought 5 stems for £5.00 you need to ask yourself why, how or at what cost?

Supermarket flowers are usually imported, they are coated with heavy metals and pesticides. The workers (usually women) are subjected to handling these all day long, at extreme cost to their health.

If they were Uk sourced, the farmer has been badly ripped off, that's months of work in heated greenhouses, plus all the plastic they came wrapped in, shipping etc.

Foliage is not cheap, it takes years to grow, it's bulky to cut, requires conditioning and skill.

It's similar to boasting about buying a £1.99 chicken.

@umberelladay all good points, but were the Lisianthus in the OP's bouquet grown in the UK and definitely not imported and exactly the same ones as I have? If they're organic ones from the UK - mea culpa - if not then I'm not sure what your point is.

Looks like a £15 Tesco bunch to me (no insult meant to you personally OP, you've clearly been ripped off).

My point is why boast about buying a cheap product, that literally cost the earth.
Some of the florists flowers and foliage will probably be uk sourced, the delphiniums will probably be as they don't travel.

You can never compare buying a cheap mass produced bunch with a florist offering. The florist has hand crafted the flowers, that's a skill you pay for. The Lisianthus were cut, bundled, wrapped and shipped.
Op's flowers arrived as individual stems, were selected, conditioned, hand arranged, wrapped, delivered etc.

It's like saying why did my handmade dress cost more than the Shein offering.

I wasn't boasting @umberelladay - I was pointing out that the OP had been ripped off! And you don't know that it was prepared any more lovingly than that Sainsbury's bunch I linked to. You can order a bunch of flowers off the internet and have absolutely no idea where they come from. The OP said I ordered a bouquet online so she could've ordered them from Amazon!

I'd say £35 for that.

£70 is daylight robbery

£25

£30 max and i hope that includes delivery.

The reason they get away with this is people don’t want to say they got rubbish flowers and just say thanks! After my gran died my mum got a horrendous bunch delivered she gave them all the details and wouldn’t deal with her because ‘they didn’t recognise the order number’. She didn’t want to contact her work colleagues as she felt it was rude.

I agree that it’s impossible to say since your mum was delivered a bouquet not in a vase which she then tore apart, decided the centrepiece hydrangea “didn’t go” so removed it and left a gap, and stuffed the rest in a too small, too short vase where they are leaning drunkenly at all angles. Of course it looks shite, she’s ransacked it. 😂

My instinct is that the £70 may have been a bit much but also that chocolates are perhaps a better choice for her as a gift.

I’d be questioning wtf your mum sabotaged them? Weird. I bet it was more than one hydrangea too. What is she up to OP?

You’re all mad!
It’s the equivalent of docs sing the value of this!

Foliage is not just 'a bunch of leaves' when it comes to flower arranging. It's part of the whole bouquet/arrangement & can be quite beautiful or interesting in itself. And florists don't get foliage for free!

What your mum should've done is used a bigger vase & arranged the whole bouquet in it. But I agree that for the money I would've liked a few more flowers (though I've just remembered that she took out the hydrangea 🙄.)

£50+. Foliage costs as much as flowers. Hydrangeas and delphiniums are premium flowers. The arrangement looks nothing like it did when it was delivered as your mum's taken things out of it, meaning it's not fair to judge the value based on the photo. Also, what she thinks is foliage may not yet have opened?

My head hurts, you can't see the difference between what you bought and a floral bouquet delivered? It's like complaining the hamper you ordered and had delivered cost more than if you popped in Tesco and bought a few bits!!! You bought a service and skill.

You were boasting.

I have to leave this thread as Op has posted a fraction of what was received, which her mum, ripped apart, binned and badly arranged.

I think splendid is a bit of an exaggeration.

Those plus a hydrangea and more foliage is a bit crap for £70 in my view. And I live in London