Tariffs impacting local flower shops ahead of Mother's Day

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Mother's Day is right around the corner (Sunday, May 11, if you forgot) and if you're looking to get a special mom some flowers, you might notice a wilt in your wallet.

Most of the flower shops in Springfield have items imported from other countries, whether that's the soil or actual cut flowers.

Because the bulk of the blooms are coming from overseas, you might notice a difference in your Mother's Day bouquets.

"They definitely have increased prices," said Rcena Maness, a manager at Flowerama in Springfield. "However, we knew that was going to happen."

The new tariffs put in place over the last few months have started to impact local flower shops.

Maness said their prices have changed since the tariffs went into effect.

"They have gone up slightly," Maness said. "However, it's just leaving out a stem here and there. We can still do that $30 bouquet and still just as beautiful. Just maybe you get a little bit less than you did a couple of months ago."

Flowerama's cut flowers are not grown locally, they are imported primarily out of South America. However, the greenery that fills the rest of the bouquet comes from Florida.

80% of flowers consumed in the United States are grown elsewhere. Last year the U.S. imported $2.2 billion worth of cut flowers and greens, the bulk of it from South America.

"The fact that they can grow year-round gave them a natural advantage," said Kate Penn, the CEO of the Society of American Florists.

Penn says local, small growers have flourished since the pandemic.

"The consumer does want to buy local," Penn said.

To help ease the costs, Maness tells Ozarks First they prepared as much as they could before the tariffs were put in place, stocking up on items like vases.

"We did prep a little bit ahead of time with some hard goods and things that came from other countries," Maness said.

Maness says if you want to plan ahead to beat the rush of everyone trying to buy flowers over the weekend, their flowers do have a four-day guarantee.