Onalaska, WI Florists

Onalaska Flower Shop News

Steve Cahalan: Viroqua supper club converted to a cafe, flower shop returns in Onalaska - La Crosse Tribune

For more information, call 608-637-7398 or visit www.eaterycafeviroqua.com or the cafe’s Facebook page.Joe and Rhonda Sexton, who operated Flowers by Guenthers at 310 Sand Lake Road in Onalaska from 2000 to 2013, plan to reopen the flower shop within a couple weeks.They had been leasing the building to a couple who operated the business until it closed a few weeks ago. “We got it back,” Joe Sexton said last week. “The quicker we get it open again, the better.”The Sextons recently moved back to the area from North Padre Island, Texas, where Joe had been a barber. The past two years, he had operated his own barber shop kiosk – which he has moved inside the Onalaska flower shop. “It looks like a big barber pole,” he said of the shiny red, white and blue kiosk.Sexton said a couple prospects have expressed interest in buying the flower shop business. Even if the Sextons do sell it, he hopes to keep his Barber Joe kiosk inside and continue to cut hair there.“I’ll be a barber here until I’m 100,” Sexton joked. The barber kiosk might open before the flower shop reopens, he said.Hours for both the flower and barber businesses probably will be 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays, Sexton said. For more information, visit www.barberjoe.com or www.flowersbyguenthers.com. The latter website is being redone and will be up soon, Sexton said.Friday will be the last day for the Flair Hairstyling salon at 2412 State Road in the Village Shopping Center in La Crosse, owner Bill Freier said.Freier said he has decided to close his salon – which he’s owned since 1984 – because of a shortage of hair stylists and because he will be 70 years old in February and wants to cut back and spend more time with family.He said he told his staff on Sept. 13 that he plans to close the salon, and within two days, five of its hair stylists had found jobs elsewhere and a sixth decided to retire. Freier said he has had difficulty filling hair stylist positions this year because stylists are in short supply.A total of 16 people work at the salon, and Freier said he believes most of them have found new jobs. Besides owning the salon, he is a massage therapist there. “I’ll probably continue with massage therapy” by renting a space somewhere in the area, he said.The new Ohana Yoga Studio at 126 S. Leonard St. in downtown West Salem will open with an open house from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1-2, and classes will begin Oct. 3.The new studio is owned by Tina Wehrs, Beth Foor, Sarah Allen and Kelly Nedvidek. It’s in the former location of The Rusty Aw... http://lacrossetribune.com/business/local/steve-cahalan-viroqua-supper-club-converted-to-a-cafe-flower/article_ecefc349-f621-58f9-a22a-b879727c2e7d.html

Stephen (Steve) Robert Hanson, Roseville, MI/once Janesville, WI - Gazettextra

Hanson; brothers, Thomas (Kathy) Hanson of Wellington, FL and E.J. Hanson of La Crosse, WI; sisters: JoEllen (Patrick) Gavin of Delavan, WI, Debra (Al) Rebman of Appleton, WI, LuAnn (Chuck) Roth of Onalaska, WI; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Jane Ann; and grandson, Isaac Max Benton Morgan. He was a loving husband, father, friend, and person, and his hearty laugh and smile will be missed by many.Memorial service and visitation will be at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 313 East Wall St, Janesville, WI; on Saturday, October 8th from 10:30 a.m. until noon. In lieu of flowers, donations may also be made to The National League for POW/MIA Families, at: 5673 Columbia Pike Ste-100, Fall’s Church, VA 22041.Print... http://www.gazettextra.com/20161005/stephen_steve_robert_hanson_roseville_mionce_janesville_wi

Make sure your Mothers Day flowers are what you paid for - WSAU News

CDU) party congress in Hamburg, Germany, December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch MADISON, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network-WSAU) Mother's Day is Sunday. If you're looking to find a flower arrangement for Mom, make sure you're getting what you're paying for.State consumer protection director Michelle Reinen says one option you might have, if your mom lives here in the state, is to get a local florist to put together something with a Wisconsin touch. "If you are asking these questions and really looking, you may be able to get something special that's unique to our state, and give that as your gift as well."Reinen says ask about pricing and if a vase is included, and when possible work with a florist directly in your mom's area, rather than a floral service.Reinen said, "Other questions are what flowers are fresh and season in that specific area. In Wisconsin we're going to have different seasonal flowers right now than somebody in Hawai'i or Florida."= ... https://wsau.com/news/articles/2019/may/06/make-sure-your-mothers-day-flowers-are-what-you-paid-for/

Capital - Why are flowers so expensive? - BBC News

Jeanie McKewan, who has been growing flowers for 13 years in the US states of Illinois and Wisconsin, points to insect damage as a big challenge, saying there’s a “zero tolerance” policy: “It is through constant vigilance and the use of integrated pest management that we keep the little buggers from getting the best of our crops,” she says.Then the flowers have to bloom on schedule. In the case of Mother’s Day tulips planted in January or February, they have to bloom by early May in time to be picked and shipped.Labour costs are already high – according to the 2012 US Agricultural Census, contract and hired labour accounted for 10% of total agricultural operating expenses in the US, but that number soared to 40% for greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production because of a tighter farm labour market and rising wages. Then you add extra costs for peaks.McKewan hires extra hands during peak periods but says cutting flowers “requires experience and cannot be done by just any part-time employee”. Chris Drummond, a Philadelphia-based florist, says wages average around $13.25 (£10.16) per hour in the US. “In order to ramp up production to meet holiday demand, growers are required to pay far above that average,” he says.In developed countries like the Netherlands or Germany, Stewart says that there are greenhouses with automated technology like sophisticated watering machines or robot transplanters and harvesters, where fewer workers are needed. But in poorer nations with cheaper labour, there’s less use of technology.  Then it’s time for shipping. While flowers are waiting on the runway or in the back of a lorry, temperatures can’t be too cold (for Valentine’s Day) or too hot (for Mother’s Day). When they arrive at the wholesaler, they must look perfect. That means no bug bites, no missing petals, no dead buds. Otherwise, they get thrown away. “It has to be flawless,” Stewart says.Complicated logisticsChris Drummond, the florist, estimates that the holiday volume “is usually nearly 20 times the everyday volume”. He says many farmers nurture flowers all year long to ensure enough blooms for the handful of holidays. During the other months on the farm, he says, flowers are sold at cost, below cost or discarded and turned into mulch.“So, of course farm price increases as demand increases,” he says. “Consumers are paying a premium to make sure that grower is compensated for their expense and effort to maintain the plants year-round, thus ensuring the wide variety of flowers is available at each holiday.”He highlights costs across the supply chain, saying industry participants must “rent temporary space, pay fuel surcharges, find space on airlines, hire independent drivers, find more refrigerated trucks, pay overtime to staff” and more. Roses flown from Bogota to Miami are hit with a 15-cent (£0.12) importer’s fee to clear customs and inspection. Domestic refrigerated shipping can vary, but that’s another eight cents (£0.06) per rose.It also depends on what kind of flower you’re shipping – Drummond says 300 carnations can fit into the same box as 150 roses, so the transport price per stem is halved. Transit time from field to florist can be up to a week (though it can wildly vary depending on where the flowers are coming from), and the blooms must be carefully handled every step of the way.Hans Larsen is a cut flower grower in the US state of Wisconsin and has ... http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190507-why-are-flowers-so-expensive

Susan In The Sky with Spring Flowers - Ricochet.com

Madison Wisconsin, Spring 1975She was house sitting, that week, as memory serves. The teacher’s home had an adobe-style wall fencing in a plethora of dogwoods and cherry, plum and almond with an occasional Japanese maple thrown in. There were hydrangeas and rhubarb, the stalks of irises, and some jonquils so newly yellow peeking out from behind some type of vegetation.“I love it here, don’t you?” she asked. We, two young women, sat swinging on the porch couch, sipping our coffee and enjoying our lives. The sky above us yawned so that the silvery grey clouds revealed a slumbering sun. From the way things felt around us, it was hard to know if it would be sunny or rainy, chilly or warm. Being Wisconsin, it could be all of those things, in just ten or twelve hours!“We could bike over to the lumber yard, if you want.” She could tell I was battling simmering emotions. Friends always know these things.“Are you sure Dar hasn’t forgotten?” I asked, feeling nervous. The deal was, today was crib day. W... https://ricochet.com/623926/susan-in-the-sky-with-spring-flowers/

Flowers Done Green - local flower shop keeps it unexpected - Volume One

Valley.“We don’t have to always go looking to the exotic to find something exceptionally beautiful. We’re celebrating what’s beautiful about Wisconsin.” – Sarah Lambert, Hive & Hollow“What I’m trying to do that’s different is having all of my flowers sourced as locally as possible,” Sarah said.  In the spring and summer that means using supplies from her own greenhouse and garden and supporting local flower growers.  When the winter months restrict local options to willow branches, pine cones, and evergreens, rather than ordering carnations and roses from Central American farms, she brings out the best of the seasonal options, accentuating them with plants from a Minnesota greenhouse.“We don’t have to always go looking to the exotic to find something exceptionally beautiful,” Sarah said.  “We’re celebrating what’s beautiful about Wisconsin.”Sarah is also celebrating sustainability through her choices in product.  She recalls a conversation with a fellow florist from ten years ago, when her coworker expressed concern the effect of floral industry chemicals on fertility.  Before then, she hadn’t realized the proliferation of carcinogenic chemicals in pesticides and plastics associated with flower arranging.  Sarah aims to carry as many organic, recycled, and locally grown products as possible to avoid negative environmental impact.Many of Sarah’s arrangements are presented in thrifted tins, glassware, and pots.  On a recent Friday, she placed a bridal bouqu... https://volumeone.org/articles/2018/11/28/27005_flowers_done_green