Behind the Blooms
School Is In Session
Thursday, April 2, 2009



Clara's been busy teaching Floral Design Classes by request for special groups. Lately she presented for the Seabrook Island Garden Club and Wine Savvy Women. Both groups had a blast, as Clara wowed 'em with early spring arrangements. The classes are a way for us to show our stuff, meet new people, and feel like a rock star.


Here's a little irony for you. Before we started Tiger Lily, Clara took a floral design class at our local technical college. No credits or anything, just an evening "fun" class taught by a local florist. She had never made a single arrangement before then, and didn't even know the names of the flowers. She enjoyed the lessons, and took a picture of her very first arrangement. She was so proud of it she put the photo on our home refrigerator for all to see. Alas, the instructor wasn't too impressed and told Clara to "stick to her day job." He shouldn't have said that. It was kind of like when Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. There was going to be a reckoning.


So 14 years later, Clara now owns the largest florist in South Carolina, voted the City's Best for a decade and won Charleston's Business of the Year award. She's been in Southern Living, televison, radio and all that. She also teaches the class that started her on the floral path. So there.


Actually, Clara and our staff teach 4 classes throughout the week for Trident Technical College. The classes are Floral Design I, Floral Design II, Wedding Design and Sympathy Designs. All are sold out every session, and people always call trying to sneak in. Several florists send their designers to the class for training. We also hold the special classes for various organizations.


Honestly, we get as much out of the classes as the students. After a long day of designing and processing flowers, consultations and ringing phones, we're often exhausted. We may have just finished processing 500 roses, making 40 centerpieces and and a bunch of large event focal arrangements. We're wiped out. At 6pm the students roll in all stoked about flowers they see, it reminds us what a great job we have. We know it's the highlight of their day, and we feed off of that and get re-energized too. All good stuff.


Once in a while our staff will come across the photo of Clara's first arrangement. The design is way out of date and there were some serious flaws with it. It would never leave the shop now. We'll smirk and poke fun out of it to her. She's still proud of it though, and we're proud of her.

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Posted by Manny Gonzales
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Keeping It Real
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's been a tough year for a lot of folks. We've all had headaches and drama, but some people have it real bad.
Earlier this year I became involved with the Lowcountry Food Bank through a mutual friend, Mark Smith. Mark is a partner in the McAlister-Smith Funeral Home chain here in Charleston. Mark is a great guy, hard worker, smart, and runs a real successful business. Like me, he is also raising a family and trying to balance it all. When he invited me to be on the Board of Directors for the LCFB, he assured me it was a special opportunity. Because of my respect for him, I told him I would check it out.
I've served on boards before, and find that I'm just not cut out for it. Things move too slowly, too few people are active, things get off on tangents, the politics involved, and overall I just find it a frustrating experience. Not so with the LCFB.
From the first board meeting, I realized I was sitting in a room with a bunch of overacheivers. The board is made up of folks from all walks of life, but they all have one thing in common: They get it DONE. From preparing the financial statements, to filling at-risk school kids backpacks with food for the weekend, to the new multi-million distribution facility, it's getting DONE. For a guy like me, that's real inspiring. So to see these people rocking and rolling, well it challenged me to take action. But what could a flower shop owner do?
I was in the process of having our four delivery vehicles graphics re-worked. Driving down the I-26 one day, I saw a billboard for the LCFB stating "Together we can end hunger in the lowcountry". I thought it was a great sign, and was surprised I hadn't seen it before. Then I realized that I was on a section of highway I just don't drive very often. I thought it would be great if I could put it on one of our vans and create a moving billboard. Craig McLaughlin of McLaughlin Design created the lay-out, donating his time and expertise. Matt Brooks of Fast Signs jumped on board and did it at a discount. Again, it was inspiring how these folks just stepped up and made it happen. Now this van is on the road 40 hours a week, spreading the word. It won't change the world, but it might help just a bit.
We came up with another opportunity to help the LCFB. As you may know, we teach many flower design classes at Tiger Lily through Trident Technical College. They are very successful, and quickly sell out with a waiting list. We wanted to use that pent-up demand to help the LCFB.
On December 16th, we are holding a one night Tiger Lily Holiday Flower Design Class to benefit the LCFB. We hope to have 50 people at the new LCFB Center. Each will donate $50 to the LCFB, roll up their sleeves, and create their own fresh flower holiday arrangement valued at $100. Clara and the rest of our award-winning design team will be on hand to instruct. We will donate our time, flowers and other product, with the help of several of our vendors. It should be a high-energy, fun evening raising $2,500 for the LCFB. We would love to hold at least four per year, with an overall annual contribution of $10,000. That will fill a lot of backpacks with food.
This year Paul Hulsey committed to a $1 Million donation to the LCFB. He is a very successful local lawyer, who grew up with personal experiences of hunger. What a story. Anita Zucker committed a $500,000 donation. The Zucker family has long been an inspiration to me and Clara. Everyone in Charleston knows them as probably the most successful business people in our community. It's no secret that are on the list of the world's billionaires. I've had the oppotunity to speak with them a couple of times and it was easy to see what they are all about. It is NOT business, money, or stuff. It IS family, children and education. That's keeping it real.
Not all of us can cut a check for a hundred grand, but we can do something. We'll start with a moving billboard and a flower design fund raiser and see where it takes us.

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Posted by Manny Gonzales
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