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Working: Bill Bowman, Floral designerBy JOHN REINAN© St. Petersburg Times published May 29, 2002 BILL BOWMAN, 60 Floral designer Hayes Florist, Pinellas Park How long have you been doing this? Forty-five years. Wow. I grew up in a farming town in Ohio, and I started working for the florist when I was 15. I made deliveries, swept the floor, cleaned the greenhouse, all those kinds of things. What drew you to the flower business? Probably the fact that I needed a part-time job, and I'd always been interested in flowers. I used to plant them in my yard. Its beauty and creativity -- once the creative thing gets into your blood, it kind of sticks there. So do you consider yourself an artist? Absolutely, it's an art. People probably don't look at it that way, but you can tell the difference between floral arrangers who have the knack and those who are just there to do bread-and-butter arrangements. What are some of the more interesting arrangements you've done? I worked in Chicago for four years, and we were really dealing with the upper crust -- the kind of people who didn't know what anything cost because their accountant paid all the bills. I did some work for one of the Rockefeller descendants. Every year, she'd have a party on the anniversary of her divorce. She had an apartment on the shore of Lake Michigan, three floors, all glass. And we'd just fill that place with flowers. What's your favorite part of the job? Doing unusual designs -- something that requires a little more intensity. I enjoy doing specified things: working with a particular color scheme or doing something tied to a specific piece of furniture. I also like seeing the look on people's faces when they get flowers. When someone gets flowers, it's always a welcome surprise. What's your least favorite thing? Prepping flowers when I come in. Cutting, putting them in water, that sort of thing. Prep work. You're surrounded by beauty every day. Is that good for your mental health? Absolutely. It's good for everybody's mental health. It's good to have flowers around. It's good to have nice things in your home. How many arrangements do you do in an average day? Anywhere from 20 to 35. What are the most popular arrangements? A dozen roses are very popular with men. A lot of men don't know a lot about flowers, so they come in and pick roses because that's one thing they know. Springtime arrangements are also very popular. What are the busiest days for you? Mother's Day, Valentine's Day and Christmas. In the week before Mother's Day, I might do 100-plus arrangements a day. Easter's kind of fallen by the wayside. We still do a lot of business on Easter, but nothing like we used to. What kind of money do you make? Well, I make enough to keep going forward. But there's not a lot of money in this. I would not recommend a young person to start out in floral design, because it is not a well-paying job. Don't get me wrong, though -- I love my job here and I work with wonderful people. It's been a real highlight in my career. But you make sacrifices for your art -- is that what you're saying? Yes, that's right. I like the way you put that. You have to be a nature lover in this business. If not, you might as well give it up. What would your dream job be? Well, a lot of people might think this is a dream job. But put them in here the week before Mother's Day and see what they think of it.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
