The Green Initiative at Best Buds: Reuse, Recycle, Repeat!

The flower industry is a very beautiful and complex world. After working at Best Buds Flower Company in my early twenties, I was given the opportunity to purchase the business from my former managers. I have been fortunate to call this business my own for over fifteen years. Best Buds and I have grown together, allowing me to witness and adapt to how the floral industry has changed over time.

I was born and raised in rural Alberta to a family of farmers and small business owners. The ethics of sourcing products from neighbours and treating my staff and customers like family run in my blood. I have developed a business model that strives to support local businesses like ourselves however we can!

• We sell handmade cards, crocheted critters, and jewellery made by local artists.
• We work with family owned, independent floral suppliers.
• In the summer months, we carry Alberta grown flowers.
• We support local restaurants for all our staff lunches and dinners. You know we can’t resist a tasty treat! 

While we would love to source all our flowers from Edmonton-area producers year round, the harsh climate of Alberta does not allow for this reality. We witness how much joy and comfort flowers bring to our customers’ lives and believe that we need to provide this service all year round. The pandemic has compounded this point tremendously. Flowers have stood in for our bodies--gracing the family and friends we cannot physically visit with our presence and warm sentiments. They have continued to punctuate all of life’s milestones from welcoming new family into the world, honouring a birthday or anniversary, comforting families who have said goodbye to a loved one , or merely saying hello.

Flowers: sources and certified farms 

To continue providing floral services to our community year round and to the best of our ability, we must occasionally utilise internationally produced flowers and supplies. That being said, we are very cognisant of the negative effects the flower industry can have on the environment. At Best Buds, we have taken strides to mitigate some of these negative effects through several conscious efforts:

• We try to source as many Canadian grown flowers as possible. In the summer months, we carry various Alberta grown flowers. We order most of our product from BC greenhouses that, fortunately, operate all year.

• We educate ourselves. Our suppliers work with Fair Trade Certified floral farms that pay their employees legal wages. There is no Organic certification for flowers; however, we try to avoid flowers treated with harsh chemicals when possible

We strive for education and responsible consumption

• We strive to only order as much product as we will use in a week. In order to avoid over-purchasing flowers, we use our discretion to substitute some flowers in your arrangements. Our floral designers have a keen eye for composition to ensure everything that has substitutions looks as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than the pictures on our websites.

• We educate our customers on seasonal availability and try to dissuade them from ordering flowers that are out of season or only available from far away producers.

Transforming our arrangements into something unique and sustainable 

• We seek out ever evolving products that are better for our environment and try to use products that are not sustainable sparingly. For example, we carry recycled glass vases, biodegradable gerbera straws, biodegradable floral foam, and paper maché wreaths. We reuse packaging and recycle what we cannot reuse.

• Instead of throwing flowers in the garbage that are too old to sell, we dry them and incorporate them into our compositions. These dried botanicals add texture and a unique twist to our compositions! 

• We try to source as many one-of-a-kind vases as possible from second-hand stores and antique shops. 

Would you like to be part of the change?

You can help us reduce the environmental footprint of the floral industry in several easy ways!

• We will accept several items back to Best Buds such as gerbera daisy straws, water tubes, and even cardboard boxes.

• Bring in a vase or container from home and we will happily design your flowers in it.

• Have you accumulated more vases than you could possible use? We will accept them in store in exchange for a few free blooms.

• Compost your flowers after they have died.

• Alternately, many flowers dry very well once they have lived their lives. Simply tie the stems together with some string and hang them upside down in a cool, dark location. Flowers that usually dry well include Roses, Baby’s breath, Limonium/Statice, Protea, Eucalyptus, Hydrangeas, Delphinium, Sunflowers, and Strawflower.

We are excited to bring green changes into the flower industry and we are happy to have a community willing to participate in sustainable initiatives. Best Buds will always be grateful for your support and understanding!