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When the Olympic winners take the podium over the next two weeks, they won’t just get a medal. They’ll also get a flower bouquet. All those bouquets had to come from somewhere, of course, and it turned out to be “Just Beginnings Flowers” with a little help from Margitta’s Flowers. The World’s Jason Margolis visited the little flower shop that could in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
For the Olympic order 'Just Beginnings' owner June Strandberg (left) teamed up with Margitta Schulz, owner of Margitta's Flowers in North Vancouver (Photo: Jason Margolis)
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MARCO WERMAN: The Olympic countdown is almost over. The Vancouver Winter Games finally start tomorrow. A lot of medals will be handed out over the next two and a half weeks, and every athlete that winds up on the podium will get something else, flowers. Somebody has to make all those Olympic bouquets, of course. The World’s Jason Margolis visited the little flower shop that could in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
JASON MARGOLIS: It’s quiet at the Just Beginnings flower shop. Owner June Strandberg is getting ready to close up at 4:00 in the afternoon. She peeks into her flower refrigerator and says, it was a good day.
JUNE STRANDBERG: Well we don’t have much left today now in here.
MARGOLIS: On a typical day Strandberg sells about 20 bouquets. For the Olympics and Paralympics, she’ll be making a lot more.
STRANDBERG: Eighteen hundred, 1800 bouquets total.
MARGOLIS: That’s a big jump for a small suburban flower shop. But you won’t find anybody with more experience than Strandberg.
STRANDBERG: I’m 75 years old, okay. So I’ve been in the business since I’ve been a very young girl. I was raised in it.
MARGOLIS: Strandberg’s experience helped her land the Olympic job. She was one of 58 florists who applied. But still, 1,800 bouquets is a lot of work for anyone. So Strandberg is teaming up with 67-year-old florist Margita Schulz, owner of Margita’s Flowers in North Vancouver. Schulz says the two women hadn’t met before they paired specifically for the Olympics.
MARGITA SCHULZ: When she told me that she had 60-odd year’s experience, I said oh sh–, I only have 20 years experience. And that’s what sort of bonded us.
MARGOLIS: The two women put their heads together and tried to design the perfect Olympic bouquet. They did their homework, studying flowers from Olympics past.
STRANDBERG: There’s a lot of bouquets to look at, definitely.
MARGOLIS: What’s your favorite?
STRANDBERG: You know, I didn’t really find one I overly like. I didn’t like last year’s, Beijing, I didn’t like that at all.
MARGOLIS: What didn’t you like about it?
STRANDBERG: I thought it was too big, number one. I thought it was very boring and I thought it was a little bit, I didn’t like the shape of it. It looked like a torch.
MARGOLIS: So Strandberg and Schulz set out to design something really different. And what will their new Olympic bouquet look like?
STRANDBERG: I don’t really have anything much to say about that.
MARGOLIS: Yeah. Strandberg deflected the question because the bouquets are being kept a surprise. The two women won’t get rich from this contract, but they say being chose as Olympic florists isn’t about the money. Schulz recalls the moment they found out that their flowers would be seen by three billion people watching the Olympics.
STRANDBERG: Well, you know, it was such a long process that at the end we said okay, that’s nice.
MARGOLIS: There’s more to story than flowers. Strandberg and Schulz weren’t selected just for their expertise. Strandberg’s staff also played an important role.
STRANDBERG: And I work mainly with people, women that are marginalized. And that could be women that are coming from prison, women at risk, that type of women.
MARGOLIS: And when Strandberg thinks about those women being recognized by Olympic organizers –
STRANDBERG: What a nice thing to do. I just thought it was a great thing.
MARGOLIS: For The World, I’m Jason Margolis, Surrey, British Columbia.
WERMAN: You can see Strandberg and Schulz’s bouquets when they are presented to the first medal winners on Saturday. You can see the flower ladies themselves now on our website, the world dot org.
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I particularly enjoyed this story and the humble attitudes that these women possesed.
Opens like typical bland npr story and then at the finish, surprise! Went somewhere else. The last line about using “marginalized” women to help make the flowers; that was like the beginning of a story itself.
And what was the piece of music played after this piece?
I am wondering what kind of flowers are used in the olympic bouquet?
what are the flowers? they are shaped like a torch
I, too, want to know about the piece of music played after the olympic bouquet piece!
I too would like to know what kind of flowers were used in the boquet.
Would like to know wnat the flower consists of
Ted
What kind of flowers are used in the bouquets that given to the medal winners.
Here is what the bouquets were:
it’s green mums and hypericum berries.
woh……..
this is a nice story, i enjoyed very well……and what kind of flower are used in the bouquet for olympic winners.