Plymouth Flower Supplier Works to Meet Busiest Day of Year

Local flower shops are in scramble mode this Valentine’s Day to fill orders for people looking to please that special someone.

“Flowers are emotions. They always bring a smile to a face,” said Jake Ziebarth, a sales representative with Len Busch Roses.

But before the flowers make it to the store shelves, employees at the sprawling campus of Len Busch Roses in Plymouth have to grow, harvest, pack and deliver them.

“We deliver in the middle of the night to all of our florists so that they receive their product ready to go in the morning, so that they can get a fresh start at their day, so that they can distribute the massive quantities of orders for Valentine’s Day,” Ziebarth said.

And it may come as no surprise that this is their busiest time of the year.

“We work around the clock 24 hours a day for a 10-day period,” Ziebarth said. “We do about 18 percent of our total yearly business for this one single holiday.”

Roses are the most popular flower. In fact, Ziebarth says they’ll distribute more than 1.2 million stems of roses to retail flower shops in the five state area.

To help them achieve that tall order, more than 200 employees are hard at work.

“We have to flex up almost 20 to 30 different employees higher than during our regular time,” Ziebarth said. “So this is to help the florists out a little bit so they can move it in and move it out quick like.”

Moving flowers in and out of the stores will be important, considering that the forecast calls for a high in the 40s on Valentine’s Day.

“That is so important for us. So important for the florists,” Ziebarth said. “It gets people out. The sun shining, the warmth of not having to freeze flowers on your way home, the ease of getting around without the snow and parking lots being a mess. And so the weather is on our side for sure.”

While Valentine’s Day is the busiest holiday of the year, the second busiest is Mother’s Day.