Like many of Sarah Ryhanen's devoted fans, we came across her flower shop Saipua via Instagram. Located in Redhook Brooklyn, Saipua has made a name for itself as a place to buy locally sourced flowers of the extremely non-basic variety. (She also sells candles and soaps in subtle scents like clary sage and dill or coffee mint.) Ryhanen splits her time between shop life, her flower arranging school, and her hundred acre flower farm, The Farm at World's End, about 30 miles west of Albany. Among flower enthusiasts Ryhanen is seen as the reigning queen of a new school of floral design—flowers styled to be less precious, more artistic, and much closer to the way flowers look in the wild. We spoke to her about how to be a romantic hero and ace your Valentine's Day bouquet.
What was the impetus for starting Saipua and the farm at World's End?
In 2005 my partner Eric gave me a bouquet of flowers for my birthday. I'm not sure I'd ever gotten flowers before and it just moved me in this indescribable way. I started visiting the shop where he bought the bouquet and would bring home a few stems here and there for my apartment. I was amazed at how something as simple as a single stem of ranunculus could elevate my dumpy Brooklyn kitchen.
We started Saipua in 2006 to sell my mother's handmade olive oil soap. I was teaching myself as we went, and all the profits from the soap fed the flower business. Later after we had established ourselves in NYC as florists, we moved on to the dream a lot of florists have—growing flowers ourselves. That's how World's End happened. Actually, World's End happened more because we were priced out of buying an apartment in our neighborhood. So we put our money where we could afford to buy a house—way up west of Albany. It's worked out though.
How should a man go about choosing flowers to give on Valentine's Day?
I want to stress that it's impressive to get any flowers. That no one should obsess over the perfect bouquet or the right style, it really is the thought that counts, I think. That said, you might try giving an alternative to the predictable price gouged red rose bouquet. I like the idea of a dozen red ranunculus or a dozen red anemones.
How much should he expect to pay?
I feel like prices vary so widely. Most individual stems cost us $1.50 to $3 wholesale for really quality flowers. That's the kind of flower that is perfect and unique beyond the South American grown roses (which are toxic, treated with so many pesticides and fungicides, and can be grown with unfairly treated or even exploited labor). I'd say expect to pay $75 -$150 for something quality.
Is a bigger bouquet better?
What can a man do to blow his significant other away?
Hmmm...maybe give the gift of flowers that keeps on giving? Like an arrangement with a gift certificate to a flower arranging class (www.littleflowerschoolbrooklyn.com).
Are rare flowers better than classics?
That's a matter of opinion. I love a well-grown clean garden rose just as much as I love a rare, impossible to find Auricula. Depends on my mood. I think the thing with the classics is presentation. Are you giving a dozen red roses from the bodega in white plastic sleeves? Or are you giving a dozen Yves Piaget garden roses that have the most intoxicating fragrance wrapped in black tissue with a velvet ribbon?
What should everyone know about buying flowers ethically?
The best way to do it is to have a conversation with the person who's selling you the flowers. If they are a responsible florist, they'll be able to tell you about where the flowers came from and how they were grown. Someone who doesn't know their grower, doesn't care enough about flowers to know the whole story.
What are the most common mistakes men make when buying flowers?
Is there any mistake in men buying flowers? No, there's a mistake in men NOT buying flowers.
If he lives in a place where the only flowers he can buy are at the super market or old fashioned florist, how can he still make the bouquet special?
Maybe just by taking it out of the awful plastic wrapper. Nothing's more romantic than a man holding a bunch of roses naked. Naked flowers, I mean.