DES MOINES, Iowa — As florists across Des Moines gear up for Valentine's Day, demand is high—and so are prices.
"There will be 1600 deliveries in our greenhouse ready to go by Sunday night," said Tom Boesen, owner of Boesen the Florist.
He said he has about a quarter of a million stems in his cooler, with more on the way. But the prices of those stems, along with the vases they come in, are much higher than they were in previous years.
"Like anything else, the cost is certainly going up, basically because of the transportation to get them here," Boesen told Local 5.
Glass vases are also harder to come by this year because they need to be shipped in from China, but there are bottlenecks at seaports.
Maya Boettcher, the owner of Wildflower in Des Moines, is dealing with the same price hike.
"Costs have gone way up," Boettcher said. "I would say that's the one thing that's affected our business and our margins, and the major difference from years past."
Demand remains high across the board. Both Boesen and Boettcher agree they have plenty of product to sell, and both said they will be taking orders all the way up until Monday with no deadline.
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