Arkansas florists see impacts of tariffs ahead of Mother’s Day holiday

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Cars, steel, aluminum and electronics—these are all items that will see or have already seen impacts from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 

Now ahead of one of the busiest holidays for the floral industry, you can add flowers to that list. So, if you are trying to buy a last-minute arrangement, the price tag could be a little bit more.

“We get them from Columbia, Ecuador, from California. We have some local growers. We get a lot from Holland, the Netherlands,” Howard Hurst, the CEO and president of Tipton and Hurst, said.

Flowers come in all shapes, sizes and price tags. Fertilizers can also have an impact on the shape and quality, but it’s the tariffs that could largely impact the price tag.   

“We are constantly looking, assessing, seeing what things are being inflated based on where they’re coming from, and we do have some price increases based on that, but that’s normal in floral, because floral fluctuates somewhat anyway,” Steven Beradesca, sales director and brand manager at Tanarah Luxe Floral, said.

A rise in prices is normal without tariffs, but with them, it’s a day by day scenario.

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty,” Hurst said.

Hurst said that while the tariffs are in place, the price difference from 2024 hasn’t changed the price tag so far.

“We’ve had some tariffs from South America and Holland and for the most part, we hadn’t really changed prices,” Hurst said.

When you think of spring, there are certain flowers that stand out, and Beradesca said that some of those fall under the tariffs.

“We always try to get peonies. They’re a crowd favorite. They can be a little bit higher. Some of our topicals, again, coming in from outside of America. There, we see more influx on some of those with tariffs,” Beradesca said. 

Over at Tipton and Hurst, this is the 139th year that the shop has been open, and like ones in the past and the shop is no stranger to differing economic markets.

“We’ve been here through a lot of recessions and depressions, and my grandmother ran the store during the Great Depression, and we made it. We’re still here,” Hurst said.

Industry experts said consumers can still get what they want, but to set a budget and let the florists work their magic.

For procrastinators—both locations said that there is still time to find floral arrangements before Sunday.