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A Flower Display in Burlington Honored the COVID-19 Dead - Seven Days

Dozens more roses surrounded the heart and extended down the pedestrian walkway. Each represented one of the more than 200 Vermonters who have died from COVID-19 since the disease struck the state nearly a year ago. "It often feels like we're just talking about numbers and tallies," said creator Jayson Munn, a florist who mainly works weddings and other events. "I thought this was a great opportunity to do it in the public square." Burlington was one of about 80 cities nationwide that hosted an art installation as part of the Floral Heart Project. Created by New York City-based artist Kristina Libby, the idea was to designate March 1 as a national day of mourning to publicly grieve those "lost to and suffering from COVID-19." As of Tuesday, more than 515,000 Americans have died. Munn said one woman he talked to had lost her husband to the disease. She told him that visiting the flower memorial had been the first time she'd publicly grieved his death; both she and Munn "started bawling," he said. He gave her a rose. "It was a really touching, touching moment," Munn said. Daniel "D.J." Boyd of Wilmington was walking down Church Street when he saw a crowd by the display and thought, Gee, only in Burlington do you see a bunch of roses in the street and everyone just walking around taking pictures. Boyd walked over himself and read the sign that Munn had erected explaining the display, "and it just struck me," he said. His uncles, twins Leon and Cleon Boyd, had died of COVID-19 early last April, just six days apart.  "It's amazing," Boyd said of the display. "It's a good gesture. It puts it into perspective, you know?" Boyd walked over to Munn and told him he'd lost his uncles. Munn picked up two long-stemmed roses from the bricks, and then handed them to Boyd. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-flower-display-in-burlington-honored-the-covid-19-dead/Content?oid=32450871

COVID-19 losses to be marked with floral heart placed on Church Street Marketplace - Burlington Free Press

Burlington florist Jayson Munn, according to the website for The Floral Heart Project. A map on the website for the project shows that the Burlington display is the only one scheduled for Vermont.According to the website, The Floral Heart Project not only acknowledges those lost to the virus — more than 500,000 Americans and 2.5 million people worldwide — but those affected psychologically by the course of the virus in the past year.More: 'Suffering silently': The pent-up demand for mental health services in Vermont“Following trauma incidents, large portions of any population will experience PTSD in the form of heightened anxiety, depression, physical violence and substance abuse,” according to The Floral Heart Project website. “Psychologists predict that 15% of the population or 50 Million Americans could suffer from PTSD following COVID-19. The severity level can be even deeper when people are forced to delay their grief and abstain from funerals, shivas and other mourning traditions. To combat the potential deluge of PTSD, we must show support for those suffering and those lost.”The nationwide floral displays will be in conjunction with a COVID Memorial Day proclaimed by the organization Marked By COVID. The purpose of that group, according to its website, is “Elevating the truth about COVID to save lives.” More than 100 grassroots COVID Memorial Day events are planned around the country for March 1, according to Marked by COVID.Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck. https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/2021/02/26/covid-19-pandemic-losses-floral-heart-church-street-burlington/6833906002/

How Vermont florists are preparing for Mother's Day during the coronavirus - Burlington Free Press

Maleeha SyedBurlington Free PressPublished 7:45 PM EDT May 8, 2020You might not be able to stop and smell the flowers at your local shop, but Vermont florists are adapting to make Sunday special during the coronavirus outbreak. The annual celebration falls on May 10 this year, and while Vermont is loosening up on some fronts, there are still restrictions in place for COVID-19. Vermonters gifting Mother's Day flowers might find it difficult to pop into a store and sort through the different bouquets.So the flower shops are coming to you.Long-time flower shop owners adapt The owners of Chappell's Florist in South Burlington and Sally's Flower Shop in Winooski both shut down operations for weeks starting in March, in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. Kristin Eaton bought Chappell's a few years ago but has managed it for nearly three decades. Mother's Day usually keeps the shop busy all week, but things look different under the Stay Home, Stay Safe order."The phones are a lot busier," she said.The volume of orders is down due to a smaller staff and lower capacity. Instead of more than... https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2020/05/08/what-mothers-day-looks-like-during-coronavirus-vermont-florists-covid-19/3097947001/

Flower growers see sales wither as planting season launches - CBC.ca

Canadian production stems from Ontario. Neighbouring New York and Ohio have also forced garden centres to lock their doors, while Michigan and Vermont have banned retailers from selling non-essential products, including home gardening items. "If they don't open, the damage is going to be astronomical," said trade group head Andi Kuyvenhoven, noting garden centres' crucial role for bedding plants in particular. British Columbia — the second-biggest flower and plant producer — Alberta and Manitoba and have allowed garden centres to keep running, while Quebec deemed them essential along with nurseries as of April 15, though not in time for Easter. Kuyvenhoven, who with his wife co-owns a $2.5-million business selling potted Chrysanthemums and indoor calla lilies — largely to U.S. distributors — on a pair of farms west of Toronto, says clogged supply chains south of the border remain a problem. 'I haven't slept in five weeks' "U.S. customers for a time closed their distribution systems to floral and so the main grocery chains were not purchasing plants," he said, which was hard on growers of cut flowers such as roses and tulips. "If a truck can take 24 skids and four skids were flowers, the flowers came off the trucks and they put more food on the truck — which we completely understand. The only challenge is, when you're growing flowers as we do, they also have a shelf life," said Kuyvenhoven, who bought his business from his parents in 1990. "Now we're now facing liquidity issues...I haven't slept in five weeks." Flowers Canada Growers says exports to the U.S. make up about one-third of greenhouse flower and plant sales, which hit $1.6 billion in 2018, according to Statistics Canada. Nursery sales topped $500 million. While garden centres can continue to operate across much of the continent, growers wonder whether bouquets and flower pots will remain on the shopping list of consumers struggling to make rent amid soaring unemployment numbers and a looming recession. Kuyvenhoven is hoping that families confined to their homes for most of the day will choose to spend what they've saved from unpurchased vacations and lattes on plants for their vases and flower beds. "That's part of what's carried us through downturns in the past," he said. Growers associations are in talks with federal and provincial governments over potential financial relief, with Flowers Canada Growers asking for a "cash injection" as well as extended debt repayment plans secured in part by Ottawa, Kuyvenhoven said. So far, the federal government has extended a stay of default for eligible farmers until Oct. 31, giving flower and potted plant producers an extra six months to pay off federal loans that would have been due at the end of April. Ottawa has also granted exemptions on air travel restrictions to temporary foreign workers and invested $50 million to help farmers fly in labourers on charter trips. "New flights are being booked ever day," the agriculture department said in an email. Back at th... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/flower-growers-hamilton-1.5546023