When I first started getting into flowers, Trader Joe’s was my go-to. It actually still is. On a week that I’m not selling flowers and making flower arrangements for my clients, you’ll find me at Trader Joe’s picking up a fresh bunch of tulips or, if in season, a bunch or two of coveted peonies. And honestly for $9.99 a bunch, that can’t be beat.

Anyone that’s in the flower business has likely heard the rumors. Flowers from Trader Joe’s are a “loss leader”. What’s a loss leader? A loss leader is a strategy that involves selling a product or service at a price that is not profitable, but is sold to attract new customers, or to sell additional products and services to those customers.

Coming from a person that has access to flowers at wholesale pricing, the cost of flowers at Trader Joe’s really are a bargain. For example, when peonies are not in season, they are brought into my local wholesaler for clients that still want them. Guess how much we pay for those coveted beautiful stems? A whopping $6.95 each. You read that right. For a bunch of 5 peonies, yours truly pays $34.75. So next time you order a flower arrangement from your local florist, don’t roll your eyes at their pricing. Flowers are extremely expensive, especially post Covid.

Now on to the good news! If you have a Trader Joe’s store near you, you lucked out. Trader Joe’s sells a beautiful selection of flowers that come in fresh each morning, and like I mentioned earlier, at an extremely affordable price. It’s the perfect place to buy fresh blooms for a flower arrangement.

Today I’m going to show you that you’re perfectly capable of creating beautiful centerpieces with your local Trader Joe’s flowers. Whether you like to have flowers on your Shabbos or Yom Tov table, or maybe you’re making a kiddush in your home for your brand new baby girl, I’m here to help you!

Not sure where the nearest Trader Joe’s location is? Find out here.

3 TRADER JOE’S FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

OMBRÉ TULIP TRIO

I love the idea of picking up three bunches of tulips or roses in different shades of the same color. Here I used tulips in a dark pink, medium pink, and light pink, which creates a beautiful ombré effect and wow factor with very minimal effort. You can do this using many different flower types. Each bunch of tulips were $5.99, for a grand total of $18 for all.

There’s an old wives tale trick to keep tulips perky: to place a penny into the water. The science behind it? Copper is a fungicide, so it naturally kills off the pesky bacteria and fungi that are trying to camp out in your flowers’ vase and shorten the life span of your stems. I’ve actually tried it before- it works really well!

For these tulips I used a tall slender vase that would hold the stems up nicely. You can find similar vases here.

ALL-WHITE BUD VASE COLLECTION

I love the simple yet magnificent look of these going down the center of a dinner table.

Here I picked up a variety of white flowers that looked nice and arranged them together to create an organic and loose feel that looks effortless.

The flowers used here are two bunches of “premium assorted greens” for $3.99 each, one bunch of “stock” for $4.99, one bunch of “spray roses” for $5.99, one bunch “mini calla lilies” for $4.99, one tulip bunch for $5.99, and last but not least, a dozen ivory roses for $9.99. This beautiful, Yom Tov-worthy centerpiece is just under $40. Not bad.

You’ll notice the ivory roses are “open”. The right term for this is to “reflex” or “invert” a flower. It’s become a very popular practice to do this to flowers like roses and tulips, to make them appear grand. This process requires a little bit of practice and some trial and error. Use your fingers to gently flip out each petal, starting from the outermost layer and working your way toward the center, leaving a small bulb in the middle.

You can never go wrong with classic white vases. For a dramatic look like I created above, buy a few of the same vases, like these.

CLASSIC HYDRANGEA ARRANGEMENT

I love the style of these types of arrangements because they really make a statement. Make one, two, or three depending on your table size. This style is ideal for round tables. When making arrangements using a vase with a wide mouth, I recommend you make a crisscross pattern using tape or floral tape to help the flowers stay in place.

Hesitant about buying hydrangeas? Read my article on how to keep them lasting longer, here!

Pedestal vases are great for hydrangeas. They give off a classic vibe and help the arrangements look super abundant. You can find many on Amazon like this one here.

TRADER JOE’S TIP

Last but not least, I wanted to share a little Trader Joe’s trick when buying several bunches of flowers at once. Ask them for an empty wine box. You can easily place the different bunches in the individual spaces so they don’t get squished while you drive home. Just a really easy way to transport them in bulk. Another good idea is to ask them nicely for one of those black flower buckets with water (which is ideal for transporting your bunches in your car).

 MORE FLOWER TIPS

1. It’s important to remove all unwanted leaves from your flowers. When leaves sit in water for a long time they rot, which is what causes your flowers to die quicker and the water to become dirty and contaminated.

2. A good trick to know where to cut your flowers is to place them against your vase and measure where you want them to sit. Then snip off the extra part of the stem.

3. I recommend cutting your stem on a deep angle. This gives the flowers easy access to drink water. When they are cut straight, they literally sit flush against the bottom of the vase, obstructing the way for water to enter the flower through its stem.

I hope this was helpful and you enjoyed reading this article. Flowers are one of my passions and hobbies, so this was really fun for me to write!

Until next time,

Vera Newman