October in the Cooler — What's Blooming Now
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People think spring is a florist's favorite season. I get it — tulips, peonies, that first burst of color after a long gray winter. But October? October is where the fun starts.
The colors turn. The stems get moodier. Everything gets a little richer, a little more layered. And customers finally stop asking for "just something bright" and start asking for something that feels like a room in candlelight. Which is exactly what we love to make.
So here's a walk through what's on our bench right now. If you've been in the shop lately you've probably seen some of these. If you haven't — this is your invitation.
Dahlias, dahlias, dahlias
Early fall is prime dahlia season, and we go a little overboard while it lasts. Cafe au Lait (the enormous cream-and-blush ones everyone photographs), ball dahlias in deep plum, and the tiny pom-pom varieties in every warm shade. Once the first hard frost hits, local dahlias are done for the year — so we use them everywhere we can until then.
They show up most in our Designer's Choice Seasonal Mix, where we build around whatever came in best that morning.
Ranunculus is back
We missed them all summer. Ranunculus doesn't do heat, so they disappear in the warm months and then come back as it cools off, like a favorite sweater. Right now we're getting them in butterscotch, coral, and a deep red that photographs like it's on fire.
They're the little flame in a fall arrangement — you'll spot deep red ones tucked into our White Pumpkin.
Chrysanthemums (yes, really)
I know. Grocery-store mums have a bad name. But the varieties we get from wholesale — spider mums, Kermit greens, brushed bronze cushions — are honestly stunning. Not the plastic-bag-at-the-checkout kind.
They're the workhorse of fall. Long vase life, moody colors, and they hold up in October's temperature swings better than almost anything else. Bronze mums anchor October Blush, golden ones light up Late Light, and burgundy mums run down the middle of the Harvest Centerpiece.
Roses in fall shades
Orange, peach, cranberry, and a color our wholesaler calls "toffee" that I can't stop putting into everything. Roses in these shades are the layer that makes an arrangement feel finished without feeling stiff.
October Blush is orange and peach roses with those bronze mums and silver eucalyptus in a white ceramic cube — probably my favorite thing on the site this month.
Sunflowers, wheat, and the Thanksgiving table
Sunflowers get a second life in October. Paired with wheat, dusty miller and deep red blooms they stop looking like summer and start looking like harvest. That's the idea behind The Long Table, a woven cornucopia made for the middle of the table, and the Harvest Centerpiece, a long, low wooden box finished with two taper candles. If you want one of these for Thanksgiving, now is a good time to start thinking about it.
Branches, seed heads, and everything in between
The other thing about fall: it's the greenery season. Bittersweet vine, dried grasses, seeded eucalyptus, oak branches with the leaves just turning. We layer these in more now than at any other time of year, and they're what makes a fall bouquet look like fall and not just "flowers that happen to be orange."
What to send this month
If you're picking flowers for someone in October, my honest advice: go moody, not bright. A rust-and-cream arrangement reads as "thinking of you at this specific moment in this specific season" in a way a rainbow bouquet never will. It shows care. It shows attention.
Everything we're building this season lives in our Fall Flowers collection — Bonfire, Cider Season, Sunflower Sunday, Late Light, The Last Warm Day, October Blush, White Pumpkin, The Long Table and the Harvest Centerpiece. Or come in and we'll put something together on the spot. That's honestly still the best way.
Coming next month
November brings the deep purples, the dried textures, the first branches of red berry. We're already sourcing for it. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26 this year — we're closed that day, so our last deliveries go out Wednesday the 25th. If you're planning a centerpiece, let us know by the second week of November; we book up.
See you in the shop.
— Four Seasons Flower Shop
Same-day delivery around Mt Kisco if ordered by 1 PM (11 AM on Saturdays). Order online, call (914) 666-7240, or stop by 322 East Main Street. We're open Monday through Friday 9 to 4, Saturdays 9 to 1.
