A person’s nose can build up a certain immunity to flowers over time.
Tundra Rose flower shop in Soldotna is lush with the smell of roses and ranunculus. But shop owner Dacia Cunningham is too used to the smell to notice — and frankly, too busy.
Valentine’s Day is less than a week away. In the floral business, that means it’s time for Cunningham and her small staff to buckle down.
“We will just design all day, and then I’ll come in and probably start working back at like 8 tonight and work all night,” she said. “It’s Super Bowl week — this is our Super Bowl."
Tundra Rose designs floral arrangements for holidays like Valentine's Day, plus weddings and other events. Arrangements start at $50 a piece.
Cunningham said she’s currently the only brick-and-mortar, independent flower shop on the Kenai Peninsula. She grew up in Soldotna and came to the floral industry through wedding planning.
“I did wedding flowers for one of my brides, and liked it more than planning," she said. “And I’ve come a long way. I look back at my old arrangements, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
In 2020, Cunningham signed her first lease for her store. Today, she’s in a small storefront in Soldotna — just enough room for a counter framed by shelves of vases and coolers of bouquets.
This time of year, most of her flowers come from wholesalers in Anchorage and L.A., who she said source from all over the world — from Ecuador, Mexico and Holland.
That can be a challenge, since the flowers aren’t as fresh, and she said they can sometimes freeze in transit — an added thorn to an already difficult process.
“Once we get our boxes in, they come and we have to give them a fresh cut,” she said. “And then we use a hydrating solution, because they’ve been out of water for sometimes 24 hours by the time we get them.”
They cut the stems, put them in buckets of clean fresh water. And then, they start designing.
Cunningham said she didn’t used to think of herself as a creative person. But she loves creating arrangements — making decisions about what kinds and colors of flowers to pair together to create bouquets that are full and bright. She’s taught herself from videos online, and through trial and error. Even today, she’s learning how to mix more modern floral arrangement styles with more traditional kinds, sprucing up dozen roses with other types of flowers, like dahlias.
She said what she likes about flowers is that they’re cheerful. Especially this time of year, they can be a counterweight to the grayness of winter.
“We started doing sympathy arrangements, which is a big part of the business,” she said. “So that’s one of the things where even if it’s sympathy, we try to make it cheerful, so if it’s going to someone that’s sad it brightens their day a little bit."
She said her biggest holiday is Mother’s Day. And they’ll sometimes get orders for unconventional occasions, like dog birthdays and St. Patrick’s Day.
But in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, there’s little time to think about much else. Cunningham said a lot of customers cut it pretty close.
“We will get most of our orders Monday" — the day before Valentine's Day, she said.
Cunningham said she expects the phone will ring so much that day that she won't be able to answer calls quickly enough.
"Sometimes, at holidays, it comes to the point where we have to turn the phone off, because we’re sold out or we just can’t keep up with people walking in the door and the calls," she said.
Her advice: Just pick up the phone and order now.
