Teacher of the Week (Week of April 27)

Gifts from the Heart would like to say congratulations to Martin Elementary kindergarten teacher Nancy Duncan for winning the 102.5 Moo Crew's Teacher of the Week.

Teacher of the Week is a promotion sponsored by Gifts from the Heart and 102.5 WoW Country that recognizes outstanding teachers in our area. Once a week, Joe and Ronni select a winner for the honor and surprise them at their school with a bouquet and other prizes. The selected teacher is then entered in a drawing to become Teacher of the Year earning more prizes as well as a dozen roses from Gifts from the Heart.

Winners are announced once a week and can be found on the Moo Crew's website at http://www.1025wowcountry.com/personalities/moo_crew/

Students, be sure to nominate your favorite teacher because the student whose teacher is selected also wins!

Harvard Study Investigates the Home Ecology of Flowers

Behavioral Research Concludes: Living with Flowers Strengthens Feelings of Compassion, and Decreases Anxiety and Worry

(Crossville, TN) – With people’s desire for tranquility and stress relief stronger than ever, fresh research takes an insightful look at flowers and the important role they may play in our daily lives. A behavioral research study conducted by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, reveals that people feel more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety, and feel less depressed when fresh cut flowers are present in the home.

“Other research has proven that flowers make people happy when they receive them,” Etcoff says. “What we didn’t know is that spending a few days with flowers in the home can affect a wide variety of feelings.”

The Home Ecology of Flowers Study at Harvard uncovered three main findings:

• Flowers feed compassion. Study participants who lived with fresh cut flowers for less than a week felt an increase in feelings of compassion and kindness for others.
  
• Flowers chase away anxieties, worries and the blues at home. Overall, people in the study simply felt less negative after being around flowers at home for just a few days. Participants most frequently placed flowers in their kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms, where they spend a lot of time at home. They reported wanting to see the blooms first thing in the morning.
  
• Living with flowers can provide a boost of energy, happiness and enthusiasm at work. Having flowers at home can have a positive carry-over impact on our mood at work, too. The study found that people were more likely to feel happier and have more enthusiasm and energy at work when flowers were in their home living environments.
  

“As a psychologist, I’m particularly intrigued to find that people who live with flowers report fewer episodes of anxiety and depressed feelings,” Etcoff says. “Our results suggest that flowers have a positive impact on our well being.”

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Editor’s Note: For high-resolution floral photography, visit www.aboutflowers.com/media.
The Home Ecology of Flowers Research MethodologyNancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and her research team investigated the effects of flowers in the home environment on well being. Fifty-four people, ages 25-60, were studied using a series of self-report measures allowing the research team to know where the person was, with whom and what they were doing when they experienced an emotion, both when flowers were and were not present. Half of the participants received a “control” home décor item, other than flowers, to ensure study validity. After living with either flowers or the control intervention for approximately one week, participants rated their feelings during specific periods of the day, recording emotions during each episode. The research team also took photographs before and after flowers were delivered to determine any changes in use or appearance of the room.


About Dr. Nancy EtcoffDr. Nancy Etcoff is a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative and a practicing psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry where she is the Director of the Program in Aesthetics and Well Being. At Harvard, she currently teaches a course entitled “The Science of Happiness.”

1st day of the 2009 Cumberland County Flower & Garden Show

Well today was the first day of the flower & garden show and it was busy! Hundreds of people along with dozens of exhibitors braved the heat and packed the grounds of the Community Complex today for the opening ceremonies of the 2009 Cumberland County Flower and Garden Show. Hosted by the Cumberland County Master Gardeners (http://www.ccmga.org/), the show highlights the best of landscaping, lawn & garden decor, and floral design in the county. Music, food, and tons of give-aways are just some of the many attractions you will find there between now and Sunday.

Along with many others, Gifts from the Heart has a booth filled with great gift items, fresh flowers, and green/blooming plants. (See the end of the post for a time-elapsed view of the booth going up.) In Building 1, our booth is #124. Today we gave away nearly 100 fresh roses and carnations and dozens of $5.00 gift cards. Although today was the only day to get a fresh flower, anyone who signs up with a legitimate email address between now and Sunday will receive a $5.00 gift card good for the purchase of any product in our store. With Mother's Day coming up, this will get you started on your flower-buying way.

Also today, we released our first radio ad for Mother's Day 2009. As soon as possible, I will have audio up, but until then you can catch the ad that will run everyday between now and Mother's Day on Crossville's Mix 99.3! (http://www.mix993.net/)

Notice the misspelling of the name on the sign! This was later changed and I am happy to say a new sign was posted properlly spelling the company name "Gifts from the Heart" :-)

Gifts from the Heart Announces Mother's Day 2009 Custom Arrangements

This Mother's Day, the designers at Gifts from the Heart have created a number of beautiful arrangements that will be sure to make any mother happy. Two of the best and brightest, however, are the two depicted here.

The first is Lattice & Roses for Mom available as shown for $44.95, but also available in a Deluxe version for $59.95, and a Premium version for $74.95. The higher the price, the bigger the basket and the more flowers you get! So, while the Standard version with its fresh stargazers, stock, alstro, dasies, and fillers is as amazing as any arrangement, you'll make an even greater impression with the Deluxe or Premium versions of this arrangement. This is a one-sided arrangement and measures 12.5"(H) x 13"(W).

Item # GH-14 @ http://www.giftsfromthehearttn.com/

The second arrangement is the Mother's Love Bouquet. This arrangement is inspired in its concept and design. Billed as an arrangement "as unique as your mother," the container used can be one of more than a dozen different designs, meaning that no two of these arrangements will be the same. For those looking for something unique, this arrangement is sure to be a hit!

Hydrangea, lilies, roses, and gerbera daisies, are just a few of the many flowers that fill the beautiful metal container for the Deluxe version of the arrangement, which sells at $54.95. Also available in a less expensive Standard version and a Premium version, anyway you give it, this bouquet will make any mom happy.

Item # GH-14 at www.giftsfromthehearttn.com

New POS Technology Makes it Easier to Serve You!

Today we finished the installation of our new Point of Sale (POS) System. The new Dell system is part of a package created by Teleflora to help make life easier for florists. The technology is so sophisticated, yet so simple that even those who are not overly computer literate can operate it. Besides making placing your orders easier, this system will help us better serve our customers because we can better track orders, deliveries, and products sold and offer you the most up-to-date information about your order, and provide you with the most timely service available. We hope that you will visit the store and experience the newest, fastest, and most accurate floral experience in Crossville!

Our employees have undergone 2 days of intense training on this new system so that we can provide you with the best service possible. So...don't expect any delays or mistakes!!

Please Avoid Order Gatherers! Call Your Local Florist

If you've ever hear of Proflowers.com or Just Flowers.com or From You Flowers.com, then you know what I'm talking about when I say "Order Gatherer." If you don't, then let me inform you. Order Gatherers are floral websites that advertise as if they were located in any given city that a customer searches for online without actually being in that city or physically delivering arrangements there. Put another way, if you do a Google search for "Crossville, TN florist" then probably two out of the top ten results will be websites for florists actually located in Crossville, TN. The rest will be Order Gatherers...websites devoted only to taking orders, and once they have taken the order and received payment, they then forward the order to shops actually located in the delivery area with promises of 100% satisfaction, same-day delivery, and guarantees of certain products.

The simple search listed above (Google search "Crossville, TN florist") returns results at the top of the page that are advertisers who pay a lot of money to have their ads appear at the top of the results page. These are what we in the floral industry like to call "Order Gatherers." The simple Google search that I performed brought one of the top 3 worst order gatherers...Just Flowers. com.

These insidious companies lead their customers to believe that they are actually located in the city that the search results say they are, however you can search every small town between Crossville and Nashville and 9 times out of 10 you will have a search result that lists an order gatherer as serving the city you are looking for.

This is devestating to small floral shops that don't have a large advertising budget and can't afford to secure a top listing on every search engine out there. As a consumer though, one must ask what is the downside to this development. Sure the flower shops are upset because they are loosing business, but what why should you as a flower-buying customer be concerned about the emergence and online dominance of order gatherers?

There are many answers to this question. To begin with, the customer is being misled to believe that the florist they are ordering from has a store located in the city where they are sending flowers. This is not the case. Order gatherers are located all across the country, and rarely ever in the city to which you are sending flowers. From You Flowers, for example is located in Old Saybrook, CT. However they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee and a guaranteed delivery on orders sent to Crossville, TN...orders that they never physically design or deliver! Customers are promised specific products that companies like From You Flowers can NEVER actually deliver upon. (Actual example from our shop) A customer orders a funeral arrangement from From You Flowers who promises that red gladiolas which appear in the picture on their website will be sent to a funeral in Crossville, TN. From You Flowers uses Teleflora or FTD to send the order to us during a period of the year when gladiolas are out of season and are not available. We substitute for a comprobable arrangement, however we receive a call from the sender complaining because he did not receive gladiolas like he was promised. When he placed the order, he was promised by the From You Flower call center representative that he would receive gladiolas in his arrangement. From You Flowers, however, never bothered to contact a florist who actually serves the area and ask if glads were available. This hurts local florists because when products that appear on order gatherer's websites are not available, they must reject orders or substitute for other products and risk complaints, and hurts consumers because they don't receive the product that they actually order.

The point of this post is to warn you to avoid order gatherers and ALWAYS call your local florist when you need to send flowers. Even if you need to send flowers out of town, you should always consult with your local florist and let them send the order or at least get a number to a florist that is actually located in the city to which you are sending flowers. Never trust order gatherers...they will always let you down!!

As always visit us at http://www.giftsfromthehearttn.com/ Unlike an order gatherer, we will never promise what we can't deliver!

Crossville Flowers Now Online!

So this is the opening post of the Gifts from the Heart blog.

Gifts from the Heart is THE premiere florist of Crossville, TN and greater Cumberland County. We serve the Plateau from Pleasant Hill to Fairfield Glade and everywhere in between. Our designers are highly skilled and talented and have over fifty years of combined floral experiece. We carry a wide range of gift items, blooming and green plants, balloons, and fresh flowers. We run continuous delivery to Hood, Bilbrey, and Crossville Memorial Funeral Homes as well as Cumberland Medical Center.

Although we specialize in contempoary and high-style arrangements, our floral designs have been praised by the most traditional to the most contemporary customer.

We are located at 573 South Main Street in Crossville. (Down the road from Cumberland Medical Center and across the street from Shadden Tire Co) If you are unable to visit our store, visit our website at http://www.giftsfromthehearttn.com/ There you will find custom arrangements designed by our staff that are sure to please! Call us at (931) 484-5520 or toll-free at 1800-457-0969. We're open Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm.

Browse online or in our store and you will be sure to find exactly what you're looking for. Stay tuned to this blog for posts about our shop, Crossville, and flower news in general. Check out the links to other Crossville businesses as well as sites for others in the floral industry.

We try to stay busy and we will be featuring our designs and gift items at the Cumberland County Flower & Garden Show at the Community Complex beginning April 24...before closing I want to remind everyone out there that Mother's Day is just over one month away so be sure to order early and if you need flowers in the Crossville area, call or come by or visit us online at www.giftsfromthehearttn.com