Blooming Mother’s Day: The Busiest Time of Year For Amor Flowers and Tux

Vince and Merle Villanneva own the pink pinstriped  on Second Street and Palm Avenue, and Mother’s Day is one of the busiest times of the year for the family owned and operated business.

Most of the store’s hundreds of customers looking to delight mama’s sight and smell are in south San Diego, but calls have come from as far away as Escondido in the past week, Vince said.

When it comes to holidays that demand much of the flower shop, Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year. Last February, there was a line out the door of customers primarily looking for roses, and they had to turn people away. 

Mother’s Day poses a different challenge.

“Every year is different. You never can tell what’s going to be the big thing,” Vince said, referring to people’s choice of flowers.

This year, yellow and white daisies have been popular, he said.

Each year is also a bit different, Vince said, because Mexican Mother’s Day falls on May 10 every year while Mother’s Day in America is the second Sunday in May. 

To get ready, Vince, Merle and the family start to pay attention to delivery requests they begin to receive a few weeks before the big day.

Fridges to keep the flowers cool are jam packed a few days prior in anticipation. 

For Vince, sometimes it’s tough to decide what to get his wife for Mother’s Day.

He can’t just walk to the cooler and hand her a bunch of flowers.

Some years, he might buy her something she has had her eye on for a while, but Merle likes it best when he makes something creative or tries to specially design a bouquet on his own. 

“But she does the designing most of the time so when I try she laughs,” he said.