When Joe, a U.S. Army veteran and avid gardener, broke his hip, he lost more than his mobility. He also lost the abundant collection of fruits and vegetables he’d lovingly cultivated in a greenhouse at the Alexander “Sandy” Nininger State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Unable to tend his plants during his recovery, Joe watched the plants in his once-thriving greenhouse die.
A chance encounter with a floral industry professional preparing for the Society of American Florists’ Petal It Forward flower giveaway is helping bring it back to life.
The connection began with a simple goal: bring veterans flowers and a reason to smile. That same spirit united 800 floral businesses and organizations across all 50 states as well as Colombia, Canada, Ecuador, England, Jamaica, India and The Bahamas for SAF’s 12th annual Petal It Forward on Oct. 14. Participants surprised people with two bouquets — one to keep and one to share — creating moments of joy and connection in hospitals, schools, shopping centers and other community spaces.
Jena Gizerskiy, CFD, FSMD, PFCI, of Tessa Corporation in Doral, Florida, chose Joe’s nursing home for the company’s giveaway. During a planning visit, she met Joe, who showed her a photograph of his greenhouse in its heyday.
“It was lush, beautiful and absolutely full of life,” Gizerskiy recalled. “Standing in his empty greenhouse and then seeing the photograph of what it used to look like really stayed with me long after I left the facility.”
She rallied industry friends and colleagues to contribute money and plants, then surprised Joe with 30 fruit and vegetable plants to begin restoring his garden.
At the Petal It Forward giveaway, Gizerskiy and her daughter also handed roses to residents and staff during the nursing home’s happy hour. Activities Director Jill Rutenberg said the celebration “brightened everyone’s afternoon,” adding that “flowers truly do make everyone happy!”
The connection with Joe extended that kindness beyond the flower giveaway.
“What started as a plan to bring flowers to veterans for Petal It Forward has turned into something even bigger,” Gizerskiy said. “A beautiful reminder of what can happen when our industry uses flowers and plants to connect with the people in our communities.”
Kindness Knows No Borders
In Little Rock, Arkansas, Norwood Day Floral Company distributed bouquets at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where patients arriving for appointments and treatments received an unexpected lift.
“Seeing them walk up, expecting to just go into an appointment or a treatment and then going, ‘I get flowers and they’re free?’ and it just really brightens their day — that makes us smile as well,” said co-owner Christina Day.
Some of the most touching exchanges came when patients passed their second bouquets to the loved ones accompanying them.
“Seeing these patients turn and hand their additional bouquet of flowers to their caregiver, it’s something really incredible to witness,” said UAMS board member Natalie Rockefeller during an ABC 7 news segment, describing the appreciation conveyed by the gesture.
Elsewhere, Bachman’s Inc. distributed 3,000 fresh flower stems at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, encouraging shoppers to keep one and share another. The event generated 14 television and digital media placements with an estimated reach of 616,000, amplifying the message well beyond the mall’s rotunda.
Beyond the goodwill generated in communities across the country, Petal It Forward also puts flowers — and the floral industry — in the media spotlight, extending the campaign’s reach well beyond those who receive bouquets. These are just a few examples of the media coverage generated by this year’s events: WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama, covered Norton’s Florist’s giveaway outside UAB Hospital, while WJJQ in Wisconsin reported on Trig’s floral teams distributing bouquets. In South Dakota, Carrie Moore, AAF, PFCI, SDCF, of Petals & Pages distributed carnations alongside local businesses in Hill City and Custer and appeared on KOTA TV to discuss the science behind flowers’ mood-boosting effects.
Growers and wholesalers were part of the effort, too, and showcased their efforts on social media alongside hundreds of other Petal It Forward posts. The team at California flower grower Joseph & Sons were shown in a social reel handing out bouquets at a shopping center. DVFlora teamed up with Kati Mac Floral Designs to distribute more than 700 bouquets in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Kennicott Brothers handed out 500 bouquets on the campus of DePaul University in Chicago. And in Houston, Bill Doran Company partnered with a barbeque restaurant to bring smiles to diners.
Across the globe, Pandharinath Mhaske, director of Sneh Florist in India, handed bouquets to passersby in Pune.
“Right now many people are under a lot of stress and times are a little difficult, but we know what flowers can do,” Mhaske said. “They lighten the mood. They lift the spirits.”
The next Petal It Forward is slated for Oct. 13, 2027.
Katie Vincent is the senior contributing editor for the Society of American Florists.
