Darling’s Holm & Olson Florist and Nursery

EPIC FAIL!
Here’s how the tale of woe begins:
It was Friday the 13^th and I was wrapping up my afternoon work, excited for the upcoming weekend and rejoicing in the supposition that I had made it through my first Friday the 13^th at work without incident. The sun was shining bright in the Los Angeles sky and the air was saturated with the sense of excitement and angst that accompanies the day before any holiday. I go to check my phone and discover that I have five missed calls from an unfamiliar number. I figure it could be an emergency so I call back.
A man picks up and says, «Is this Lisa?»
«Yes,» I answer.
«I got flowers for you but the clinic is closed,» he says with frustration.
«Flowers?» I ask confused. «Where are you?»
«In downtown» He says with annoyance.
«I’m not at that location today, and I didn’t order flowers,» I say.
«Well I have flowers for you from someone. Where are you? I need to deliver them.»
I give him my vicinity.
«I can be there in twenty minutes,» he says.
Well an hour later, no one ever shows. The office was excited with the anticipation of a flower delivery but as 5 o’clock approaches, the enthusiasm wanes and peoples minds start to turn to the weekend. I too am ready to go home. I call my husband, knowing he was behind the flower delivery. With confusion, embarrassment and frustration in his voice, he states the delivery was meant for Valentine’s Day and the flower company messed up. I wait a total of one and a half hours for flowers that never arrive and give up and go home. I never received a follow-​up call. They must have realized on their own that they had made a huge mistake, and instead of calling me to apologize, thought that they’d avoid the entire situation by ignoring me. I tell my husband, who at this point, gets in touch with the florist directly.
I cannot even attest to the quality of their flowers because I never got them. In addition to DELIVERING THEM ON THE WRONG DAY they called me on my cellphone, DESPITE instructions from my husband to contact him first should there be an issue with the delivery. He was supposed to get an update when the flowers were assembled, en route to deliver, and a delivery confirmation. He did not receive a single update and was shocked when I called him. It was supposed to be a surprise. Had he been receiving the promised updates, he could have nipped the problem in the bud.
To add insult to injury, and the reason for this one star review, is the attitude we received when we called them to inform them there was an error with the delivery. They were arrogant, non-​apologetic and unprofessional. Our offer was, «Well we can deliver them tomorrow or you can cancel your order.» Now, if I were a flower company who botched an EXPENSIVE ($ 340+) order, I would do my best to mitigate the situation by offering a sincere apology, a discount, an upgrade, or SOMETHING to show I value this individual’s business. We received no such sign of good faith from Darling and moreover, the delivery man who promised he’d have my flowers to me in twenty minutes never showed and never called me to follow-​up to say he was running late, or not coming at all. FAIL.
Well, Darling, it was a wild ride but it just wasn’t meant to be. Happy Valentines Day.

Such a cool little spot. And Vicki is very friendly and helpful. They also had way better deals than the big stores.

I’m sorry but I expected a heck of a red roses arrangement for $ 136. When I went to visit and saw what I paid for I was disturbingly disappointed :(really? Small button roses no taller of 14″ simple glass vase with a ugly red ribbon. Bunch of green leaves packed the rest. No other flowers mini fillers or attention to detail. I called super earlier as they were opening for a deliver a one mile away and it took all way to noon? Because there was in a route. Sad very sad; I could have done that arrangement myself in 5 min. For prolly $ 30 in flower cost.

Better late than never, totally forgot to review this place.
My lovely husband had these beautiful arrangement delivered on Valentine day’s, they were gorgeous and stayed alive for over a week. The arrangement was done nicely and secure.
Flowers smelled great as they bloomed.
Picture speaks for itself!

Great selection of flowers. Really friendly and helpful woman filling my order. She didn’t charge me for the extra filler and greens that I got. I picked out a nice little assortment and she made it shine.
What more could you want from a local flower spot?
I will definitely be back if I’m in the hood and need some flowers!

While visiting Los Angeles from Seattle last month I stumble onto Darling’s Flowers using the search nearby feature on google maps. I simply wanted to thank a friend for letting me stay at his house during my visit.
Pulling into the driveway I was a bit confused if they were open or not since it looked as though they were remodeling. Inside a busy crew arranging flowers with artful eyes in preparation for Mother’s Day. Though I didn’t see the usual coolers chocked full of flowers on displays. A woman asked what I wanted as I followed her to the hidden cooler out the backdoor. Inside a great assortment of flowers and roses exotic and local plump and firm not a wilt or sag in sight. I named my price $ 20 – 30 and what flowers appealed to me. She arranged them quickly charged me $ 20 they looked amazing. Everyone I encountered in the store was so warm friendly and helpful. I sat a talked with them for a bit just because they were so delightful.
Here’s the BEST part when I got back to my friend’s house I noticed he didn’t have a vase. So I went back to Darling’s with a picky eye. You see my friend is a collector of mid-​century furniture he’s an artist has excellent taste. I wanted to find a vase that matched that mid-​century style. Searching through the asile of assorted vases I found one that was perfect. Then the guy at Darling’s said that the flower arrangement I got wouldn’t look good in this vase that I would need more filler I said that’s fine I’ll just purchase more flowers he said no that would be too busy he gave my some filler, I’m a dude I don’t know what it’s called it’s the smaller flowers and greenery that you put with the bigger flowers that make the arrangement look awesome. The thing is he just gave me the vase and the extra flowers for free. I insisted to pay and he wouldn’t take my money. The vase was probably worth $ 20 itself. He said «No, this is California’s gift to you I hope you enjoyed your stay here.»
Honestly when’s the last time any business made you feel special. And his advice was spot on if he didn’t give me the filler the arrangement would been splayed out sideways. My girlfriend who slept in was sad she didn’t meet the people at Darling Flowers. Thanks again.

Full disclosure: I started writing this review last fall but forgot to finish it! It’s all still relevant, though!
My favorite native plant store in all of Los Angeles. Maybe that’s because they’re the only one in LA proper!!! If you ever need to rejuvenate your garden or potted plants in your apartment, this should definitely be your first stop. The owner is also a landscape architect and his whole family is involved in this amazing one stop shop! Aside from my favorite part (the eco-​friendly native plants), they also do flower arrangements — hence the name of the shop!
This family is extremely knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. My entire front yard is now full of their plants, which are still growing well thanks to their advice.
Every trip to Darling’s is a new, wonderful experience! I haven’t been back there since they started the renovations, but I hear the front room is almost a Japanese restaurant, which would be amazing!
Can’t wait to go back and see it all spiffed up!

So, I saw the sign they have on the 101 Freeway, and decided to go check it out. I was looking for plants– so I didn’t visit the florist side of the business at all. It was about 4 pm on a Thursday afternoon.
It was the Thursday before Valentine’s Day, which might have explained the deadness.
I’m not convinced this is a real, operational, open nursery. It was deserted. No one came out to greet me, and there didn’t really seem to be anything for sale. It was like walking through Miss Havisham’s garden– some things alive, some things not– much of it looked like it had been forgotten mid-​project.
I wandered around for about 20 minutes, and then left.

Go to this flower shop!!! The flowers are FRESH! The people are SWEET! What more could you want!!!
Seriously, the woman there made me a $ 25 dollar bouquet that was so spectcular it knocked my wife out. Enough said.

How awesome is this place? So awesome that I was able to create the coolest little brown metal pot of cactusy goodness ever! I was in LA this week and it happened to be my Dad’s bday (coinkeedink, I think not) and since I am the most awesome, kickass daughter ever, I couldn’t very well show up empty handed. I entertained a couple of ideas and as time was getting the best of my busy schedule, I was running out of time and decided that a really cool orchid would be a neat gift since they last for a few months and that would be a pretty reminder for him when I was away.
Well, as soon as we walked in, we saw a beautiful orchid that had these amazing rich reds and vibrant pinks and it was perfect… until we realized that the poor little thing was on it’s way out and wouldn’t have lasted very long. So it was time for plan b. It was then that we ventured outside and looked at plants that bloomed as I thought that might be a neat alternative but nothing was really catching my eye, until I saw it…
The happiest little burst of green I’d ever seen. That was it, I loved it and wanted it. From there, with the help of the very cool man working here, I selected some friends for the happy burst and after picking a cool pot to arrange them in, he went to work and put this bad boy together. And at the end of it all, what did it cost me?
(Dad, if you’re reading this, cover your eyes)
$ 32.
Kick ass! This place is really cool and they are super sweet, so if you are on that side of town, check em out! :)