Awesome Blossom

Awesome Blossom has been an independent Westmount florist since 1993, and the way it works shows that age: everything is designed in the shop by its own staff and taken out by its own drivers. It is the sort of neighbourhood shop people phone rather than click — for a funeral that is tomorrow, an office order that repeats every Monday, or a birthday somebody nearly forgot.

What to come here for

The everyday half of the trade: birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations, get-well, new baby, thank-you, and the hand-tied bouquet for no reason at all. Grad season is its own event here — Edmonton schools crowd prom and convocation into a few weeks of late spring, and corsages and boutonnières move in volume. Weddings are booked work with a consultation behind them, and corporate and business gifting is a separate strand, including the standing weekly order that keeps a reception desk looking alive.

Sympathy and funeral work is handled here too, and the shop treats those orders as its highest priority: staff will check the viewing time with the funeral home and re-time the delivery if the service has moved.

Delivery and urgency

Same-day is real but the window is tight: an order needs to be in by early afternoon on a weekday, and by late morning on Saturday. Sunday the shop is closed, so a Sunday request lands on Saturday or Monday, and the shop will tell you which.

The delivery map is wide: across Edmonton proper and out to St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Beaumont, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan, Nisku, Acheson, Ardrossan, Namao and the county land around them. Where a bouquet lands in the day depends on the address type — offices during the working day, homes, hotels and hospitals later in the afternoon, and schools early, because high schools will not hold deliveries for students at all and those orders should go to a home address instead.

If nobody answers, the driver may leave the arrangement somewhere sheltered, hand it to a neighbour, or leave word to arrange a second attempt. Ask for it on the porch and the risk becomes yours, which in an Edmonton January is not a formality. Hospitals and nursing homes still restrict what may be brought in, so check with the ward before ordering a plant or anything strongly scented. Post boxes are not delivered to.

Highlights

• Independent since 1993. Owner-run, with Karen Hickey and a bench of designers behind the counter rather than a call centre.
• Designed and delivered in-house. No shipped boxes, no third-party courier.
• Funeral orders come first. Viewing times are verified with the funeral home and the run re-timed if the service moves.
• The suburbs are on the map. St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Beaumont, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan and the county roads between them.
• A written substitution rule. Shape, size, style and colour are kept; where one flower is the whole idea, that flower wins over the colour scheme.
• Grad season is a specialty. Corsages and boutonnières in the weeks when every Edmonton school needs them at once.

Where the flowers come from

The shop does not publish its suppliers. What it does put in writing is the substitution policy that follows from buying at market: if a variety is not to be had that morning, the design keeps its shape, size, style and colour scheme, and the value does not drop.

The shop, the service and what else is on the shelves

It is a working storefront with a showroom and a cooler — you can walk in, look at what is actually in stock that day and have something built rather than ordering blind from a screen. Beyond cut flowers there are blooming and green plants for people who want the gift to outlast the week, gift baskets, and gourmet and fruit baskets for the hospital-and-new-baby end of the trade. After three decades in one neighbourhood, a lot of the custom is repeat, and the counter is run accordingly.

When to come and how to get there

The shop sits in Westmount, in west-central Edmonton, close to the Westmount shopping centre and an easy drive from Glenora, Woodcroft and the north-west — a car errand rather than a downtown walk-in, with parking at the door. The crushes are Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, the grad weeks of May and June, and December; on those dates a couple of days’ notice is the difference between choosing and taking what is left. Remember the Sunday closure when you plan a weekend gift.

Questions and answers

Can I still get flowers delivered today?

Yes, if the order is placed by early afternoon on a weekday or by late morning on Saturday. There are no Sunday deliveries.

I need something for a funeral tomorrow. Is that possible?

Funeral work is the shop’s top priority and it will confirm the viewing time with the funeral home; call rather than order online so the timing is right.

Do they deliver outside the city?

Yes — St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Beaumont, Devon, Fort Saskatchewan and the surrounding county areas.

Will they leave the flowers at the door?

They can, at your request and your risk. In winter that risk is real, so it is better to give a neighbour’s name or a second attempt.

Can I send flowers to a hospital or a care home?

Check with the facility first: many still restrict deliveries, and plants and strongly scented flowers are often refused.

Can flowers be sent to a student at school?

No — high schools will not accept them. Send to the home address instead.

What if the flower I asked for isn’t available?

The designer substitutes while keeping the shape, size, style and colour of the arrangement; if a single variety was the point of the order, that variety takes precedence.

Do they do weddings and grad flowers?

Both — weddings by consultation and booking, corsages and boutonnières in season.

Opening hours