Cacti, Cactus, Cac…

In 2018 we’ve embraced the humble Cactus… in a LARGE way!

In the past we had settled for the smaller, ‘desk size’ cactus in our Geelong indoor plant shop, but in true style, bigger always seemed better for our Daisy. So off she went, in search of a local Cactus Supplier, someone who wasn’t the usual corporate big business.

That’s the thing with our Daisy, where she can, she likes to ‘spread the love’ in business with the ‘little people.’

Daisy will even put her body on the line… yes that’s right, you feel a story coming on!

So… in the floristry world, Valentines Day is ‘kinda a big thang’ you know!! As with each Valentines Day, the Asdaisydoes Shed is a hive of excitement and activity over the days leading up to February 14th.

Well the Monday and Tuesday had sure lived up to expectations, a steady flow of customers and occasionally awkward, uncomfortable looking spouses flowing in to get their gifts for a certain someone special. When it comes to Valentines Day gifts, customers either know their sh*t or they are clueless. My favourites are the ‘blokes’, who just want a ‘bunch-a-flowers for the Mrs’… when questioned on whether they want a romantic arrangement adorned with lots of reds, or whether they want a fun loving colourful and quirky bunch… you start to see a flush of pink across their faces… ‘Romantic’ they generally whisper, trying to be out of earshot of their mates. Off we rush to try and earn this everyday ‘fella’ some additional browny points with the ‘mrs!’ I also love a good ‘make it really tacky’ challenge from customers, when asked what they would like written on their cards. And lastly, which was my highlight for 2017, is the phone order for flowers where the spouse wants something seriously raunchy written on the card… something I don’t imagine they could actaully tell us face to face… yep we get it all!

Ok I need to get back on track, so on this day, Valentines Day… our shop is humming… the music is upbeat, the shop is alive with enthusiasm. We are midway through the day, our eucalyptus stained fingers are starting feel the pain of hours of stripping flowers and carefully caressing each arrangement.. 1 stem at a time! Mel and I are racing between counter and flower room, and when the phone rings… we are generally racing away from that (if you didn’t already know, we hate answering the phone. Actually, I lie, I love answering the phone!) When we hear an ‘OH SH*T’ from the Cactus area.. Daisy quietly wanders over, with her hand being carefully held.

So a little lesson here…. if a cactus is falling over… DON’T try and catch it with your bare hands… they are tough bastards… pretty sure they could pierce the concrete to be honest.

Yes so Daisy had, embedded deeply into the really flesh part of her hand, the bit below your thumb… one MONSTER of a cactus thorn. Oh and it had kindly broken off under the skin… so no, we couldn’t just pull it out!

So here we are, in the midst of the Valentines Day rush.. with the boss, chief flower lady, on the phone to the doctor about what on earth, let alone how on earth she was going to get this beastly prickle out.

Well to cut a long story short, after many poor ‘can you lend us a hand’ jokes, when the sedative effect of the prickle had taken effect… our Daisy did manage to dig the prickle out of her hand… and she was pretty darn useless to any of us for the remainder of the day! The end.

 

We are always on the hunt for Cactus, the more awkward in appropriate, the merrier… they make a fantastic feature on their own, or give a very Texas feel on mass.

However you like your cactus, tall and thin or short and stumpy, we think you’ll really like our Geelong Cactus collection!

 

 

*Due to the high demand for cactus, you will find many of our plants on our website… however many don’t stay with us long… so keep an eye on our Instagram and in store.. before they walk out the door (see what I did there ;)  )