Gardenia Organic

THE BEGINNING...
New York's first sustainable florist™

At Gardenia Organic, providing an extensive range of high quality, gorgeous, healthy flowers is what we do and this has been our commitment from the outset.
Opened in December 2007, Gardenia Organic was the first sustainable florist in New York. New York Magazine named us ‘Best Florist’ just a few months after opening our doors.

Shaking up the industry – both sides of the pond

Less than 5 years on and we’re both delighted and excited to expand on the success of our New York studio by opening our first UK studio in 2013.

In the US, we’re still the only florist 100% dedicated to a sustainable supply chain. We're the first New York florist to be become certified by VeriFlora and the first to be awarded Green America's 'Business Seal of Approval'.

On the other side of the Atlantic we’re pushing the industry to source locally and in season – supporting British farms. Our goal is to use 100% British grown product. We don’t have our own land to grow on, so we’ve searched the length & breadth of the British isles to find flower farms. We have a lot of suppliers, which means a lot of work – but it also means we’re supporting a lot of farmers! So we feel it’s well worth the effort.

Our values

Our business is based on three founding principles:

We practice a form of business that is not solely driven by profit margins
We believe a successful business does not have to come at the cost of others
We only source from companies with high ethical and environmental standards

How we do it

In the USA, Fair Trade is still in its infancy. Over the last few years we’ve seen the term promoted more and become more familiar, but there’s a long way to go. Most of the flowers sold in the USA are imported from South America. These farms do not all have the same human rights standards as those that the Dutch auctions source from in Africa for the UK market. We’ve worked hard to support the South American farms that have gone through extensive effort and passed stringent inspections by governing bodies.

As well as trading and building relations with growers in developing countries, we are equally as committed to sourcing as much as possible locally. In such a vast country, this means looking at a 200-mile radius of our studio - eliminating the need for any air miles, reducing our carbon footprint and supporting our local economy.

Back in Britain, we’ve committed to sourcing from British farms. Not just British companies – as many of these actually grow their flowers overseas, as far away as Kenya.

Wherever we work, we’re dedicated to bringing our customers the best quality product with the most consideration for our environment and our people. By reducing our carbon footprint, supporting Fair Trade and buying from local small businesses the only impact we’re having is positive.
Beyond the stems

It's not just our flowers that are green. We recycle and compost our own generated waste - glass, organic matter, plastic, paper and cardboard. We continuously ask our suppliers to reduce the packaging they use and to not send us any paper catalogs or invoices.

We re-use as much of our own waste and supply only from sustainable and/or Fair Trade organizations. Our shopping bags, business cards, tissue and wrappings are all recycled and/or biodegradable. We even have vases made from recycled glass.

In both our US and UK locations we prefer and, strive to, source from companies that manufacture on our own turf.