Hands On BY JENNIFER SPERRY SNAPSHOT
Plants Put the Spring in Spring Sales
> When spring arrives, plants don’t just signal the season — they drive it. For many retail florists, green and blooming plants are a key revenue engine in spring, delivering color, longevity and strong consumer appeal at a time when shoppers are eager to refresh their homes and gardens. At Rothe’s Florist & Flower Delivery in Philadelphia, plants account for roughly
25% of annual sales, a share that swells in spring as customers gravitate toward indoor and outdoor options that feel fresh, hopeful and enduring. The shop has been in business for more than a century, operating out of a stone
building in Philadelphia’s Colonial Germantown Historic District that once served as the Rothe family home. In 1955, the grandfather of current owner Herb Rothe added a Lord & Burnham greenhouse to expand flower-growing capacity. “It was one of the first aluminum greenhouses ever built,” Rothe says. In 2021, the glass top was con- verted to polycarbonate to improve light filtering and heat retention. Now, 70 years later, the historic greenhouse is a major draw for plant shoppers.
It’s also a charming destination that’s warm and bright, the perfect place to browse for new flora on a gray day. Rothe’s approach has sharpened. As plant trends come and go, he follows a
simple rule of thumb: Plant merchandising doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. To attract buyers, he changes the selection seasonally and displays offer- ings grouped by type so customers can easily find what they want. Come spring, the greenhouse teems with plants, and for Easter, Easter lilies reign
supreme. If Easter is late, he shifts to hydrangeas, ‘Martha Washington’ geraniums, pansies and impatiens. For Mother’s Day, he adds more garden varieties like rhodo- dendrons and azaleas. No matter the season, Rothe’s most popular gift is a European garden basket
available in two sizes. They arrange green and blooming plants in a heavy willow basket and cover the surface of each pot with Spanish moss. “This makes it easy for recipients to plant everything separately,” Rothe says. Succulents are consistently big sellers as well.
8 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | Mar/Apr 2026 |
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