More than 60 percent of retail florists said their Valentine's Day sales increased compared to last year — and just under half (47 percent) said sales were slightly or much better than their expectations. That's according to SAF's post-Valentine's Day online sales survey. Slightly more than 20 percent said sales decreased, while 17 percent reported sales about the same as a year ago.

SAF members met in 166 legislative offices on Capitol Hill last week during the 28th annual Congressional Action Days.  Their goal: to raise awareness and generate support for three industry concerns: immigration reform, increased floral and nursery research funding and permanent estate tax reform.  Feedback — both good and bad — from those meetings helps focus the work of SAF's legislative staff throughout the year. 

Over the course of two jam-packed days at SAF's Congressional Action Days, held Feb. 25-26, SAF members, speakers and politicians said many intelligent, helpful, profound and even surprising things.

New ethics regulations on Capitol Hill, including greater enforcement of gift rules meant that attendees of SAF's annual Congressional Reception, held Feb. 26, didn't leave with armloads of flowers as many have in the past. But the estimated 700 attendees nonetheless left the reception with flowers in hand as well as a new take on the design talent in the industry.

The Connecticut Florists Association (CFA) invited SAF's own Renato Sogueco, chief information officer, to talk about how florists can increase traffic on their Web sites.

Part of SAF's outreach to funeral trade publications in 2007 led to a three-page color spread in the January issue of International Cemetery,Cremation & Funeral Association Magazine (ICCFA). After receiving SAF's information packet on the role of sympathy flowers in the bereavement process, ICCFA editors asked SAF for an exclusive article about the personalization of sympathy flowers.

After staring at the floral arrangements at New York’s Waldorf Astoria every day during her lunch breaks to give herself an emotional boost, an aspiring actress/clerical worker came up with a plan to bring that same happiness from flowers to others in need.

Employers aren’t the only ones that are likely to have an opinion on their employees’ body piercings — co-workers have a strong opinion they’d like to share on the subject, — they really don’t like working with individuals that have “highly visible” body art.

 Heads-up florists: There’s a new competitor out there angling for sympathy business, and it specializes in providing permanent florals and live plants for gravesites.

With Internet social networking sites and discussion groups on the rise, more business owners are harnessing the (inexpensive) power of word-of-mouth advertising, according to a recent story in The Wall Street Journal.

Brides have a new place to dish about bridal industry vendors — and said vendors can “listen in” — on a new review section on WeddingSolutions.com. The section allows members to “publicly praise the providers they used for their wedding if they did a great job, or warn other brides if they did not.”

•  "Keys to Communication" by SAF's PFCI featuring Sharon McGukin, AAF, AIFD, PFCI: July 7, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m. in Chicago, in conjunction with the AIFD National Symposium.
• SAF Palm Beach 2008: Sept. 17-20, 2008, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.

Looking for ribbons, refrigeration units or how about baby novelties? You can find it all using SAF's Ultimate Floral Industry Supply Guide. The guide is a one-stop, searchable source for a broad selection of fresh product, hard goods, business supplies and gift items.

Members discuss everything from POS systems, Bloom Net versus Teleflora to offering floral classes.

Politics really are a hot topic with almost 72 percent of respondents to last week's e-poll admitting conversing with co-workers about the subject.

Retail florists were asked on the post-Valentine's Day online survey how a Thursday holiday ranks compared to when Valentine's Day falls on another day.