A local florist has appealed to the public to support the industry in these difficult times.

Talahiva Chan Mow, of Salote Florist, told the Samoa Observer in an interview that local support for florists will go a long way in ensuring a steady flow of income for local growers of flowers.

"I really felt for the growers here," she said. "So basically what I wanted was to encourage our local flowers to customers, but because people want something different, they get tired of the local flowers, so that’s why we always bring in overseas flowers because there’s a demand for it."

The local flower industry has not really felt the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, according to Ms. Chan Mow, though business is currently slow.

"We thought we would really be affected, especially since they’ve closed the big gatherings such as funerals and weddings, that’s where we make money from, because we sell wreaths for funerals, and we do wedding bouquets and decorations," she added. 

"So far it hasn’t been really bad, we had a lot of people ordering fresh flowers for birthdays, it's slow but we’re getting something, it’s not as bad as we thought it would be, but we still get customers."

The only downside brought on by the COVID-19 is the absence of their overseas supplier in New Zealand after their government put the country in lockdown. 

Ms. Chan Mow said: "New Zealand has shut down for four weeks so all the florists and the growers have shut down so we no longer can bring in the overseas flowers."