Ellen Frost, owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, joins host Jennie Love for a five part series focused on key drivers of flower math for floral shops.  An informative listen for both florists and growers!   In Part 3 of the Flower Math series, we discuss quality and how that can impact flower pricing. What is "quality" to a florist?  There's baseline quality that should be observed with all flower sales.  But then there variable factors like product mix, stem length, stage of harvest, amount of processing, and even sleeving that are all part of how florists make decisions on what to buy.  Growers, find out why pumping out only premium stems can be hurting your florist sales.   Be sure to listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of this series to learn how price per stem and product shrink impact flower math.   Ellen and Jennie both teach online courses that may be valuable to your floral business.  Here is a link to Ellen's course and here is a link to Jennie's courses.   Ellen also has a YouTube channel and a valuable weekly education email.  This podcast is brought to you by the Philadelphia Floral Guild, where we're building community around sustainable local flowers.  If you're a florist in the Philadelphia area, we'd love to have you shop with us!  Click here to learn how.    Why use local stems?  You'll hear a lot about that throughout this podcast series but here's a few of the reason:   Less Shrink: Without the stress of a long ride in the global supply chain, local stems are superior in quality with much less breakage and far better hydration. Less Labor: Local growers do all the work of a studio assistant, stripping stems and making fresh cuts on stems that go directly into water and never leave a water source. This means you do not have to process anything! Less Trash: There are no boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, box straps, plastic sleeves, and all the other usual trash that comes with a flower delivery from the traditional wholesaler. Less Carbon Burned: Imported flowers in the US typically travel 2,500 or more miles in refrigerated planes, trucks and boats to reach you. Less Disconnect:  When you buy flowers from far away, you don't have a relationship with the grower and your dollars fly away from your local economy, the one you do business in yourself.  Buying local means you stay connected and contribute to your local community.