Cosentino’s Florist
Jessica and Carmen Cosentino
Your family has been in the floral industry since 1933. Tell us how the business started.
Carmen: It began when my parents found this place for rent in 1933. They had been in business before and were very successful, but lost that business during the early years of the Depression.
Later, they found and rented a property. We still have the original papers that say it was $200 a year, and they could keep a cow and pigs. It had very large greenhouses because it was the estate of a wealthy Auburnian. One of the greenhouses had French grapes and roses for his table, and he had a gardener who started selling flowers. That place goes back to a flower shop all the way back to 1895.
I started to work when I was very young during those depression years. Kids at five and six were put to work, and I worked here until I went off to Cornell for a degree in horticulture, came back, and purchased the business from my parents in 1962.
When did you start working at the family business, Jessica?
Jessica: All of my siblings were all floral laborers as children [laughs]. I went to college and did some work with social services. I ended up coming back after 16 years and I’ve been here ever since. I focus heavily on the funeral industry, which I love. And bridal.
What is it like working together as a father and daughter team?
Jessica: My mom, Anne Marie, had always been here as well. Unfortunately, she passed away 14 years ago. 15 years this year.
Carmen: Our friends often marvel at the fact that my wife and I had a very happy 50-year-old marriage. We not only lived together, slept together, but also worked together. Unless I was traveling, we were together 24 hours a day.
Jessica: She was always the buffer between us. My father and I are very similar and we butt heads during the day, but at 5 o’clock, we can go to dinner and just be father and daughter. We are very similar in the way we go about things; sometimes, we do it a little differently, but we have a good working relationship, and we just want the best for our customers. We have a close bond that most people will never understand.
Why are floral care techniques and education so important? What do you do that makes your flowers last so long?
Jessica: One of the main things I hear when I do funeral work is, “They’re just gonna die.” And I often ask, “Why are they just gonna die?” And they say, “Because when I buy flowers, they die.” So the next question I ask is, where are they buying their flowers from? Because our flowers don’t just die. Flowers are supposed to die eventually, but they don’t die in a week from Cosentino’s.
If you’re buying flowers from a supermarket, they might die in a week because they have a lower cost of flowers, and they don’t do the care and handling. Supermarkets are a great place to get flowers for somebody at one in the morning. Or a great place to get flowers because you’re on your way to someone’s house for dinner.
But care and handling are so important because flowers should last a long time, and that’s something we really train not only our staff, but also our customers in. I want to make sure the flowers last two, maybe 3-4 weeks. Even if they’re “just funeral flowers.”
Cosentino’s Florist has been voted “Best Florist” by local organizations. What makes Cosentino’s a local favorite?
Carmen: I think it’s our staff. It’s the training. Our staff is fantastic. They answer the phone properly, and they’re very social. When a customer walks in, they’re greeted. Our staff answer questions and make suggestions. Our designers are well-trained. All of our arrangements are developed here in-house. If we find a new design, it goes up on our website the next day.
Jessica: I think the other thing is people know us because we’re involved in our community. When there’s something going on at the library, we send a bouquet. If the event is a theme of a book, we put the theme in the bouquet. Not just our name is out there, but also our time and commitment to the community. If you don’t care about your community, why are you in business?
Are there any flowers that are especially popular (or hard to get) right now?
Jessica: People want things that are not available, especially during wedding season or funerals. People want lilacs in their wedding bouquets or for funerals, and I’m not a fan of lilacs. People want peonies in December. You can get a steak year-round and freeze it, and it works. Flowers are just not available year-round. Most flowers, if they are available, you’ll have to pay for them. I can always call Greenland or Finland or Holland, but they’re going to have to pay the shipping fees.
Carmen: I remember once a bride came in and wanted peonies, and Jessica sold a beautiful peony bouquet. I asked her when the wedding is, and she said late April. I said, “Well, there are no peonies in late April.” And Jessica said, “They’ve got to be someplace.” So, after a lot of work, she found them in Israel, shipped them to Holland to the famous flower market, they were bought by our wholesale house in Miami, shipped to Miami, and then shipped to Auburn. That’s the kind of thing we do here.
What trends are you seeing this year for holidays like Mother’s Day, and weddings?
Jessica: Whatever is trendy in California right now will be trendy here in about two years. Right now, peonies are popular, and small bouquets are popular. Prom is very big here in Auburn, so we love doing flowers for prom.
Carmen: Sunflowers have been popular all winter long, and they grow them in Colombia. Most people don’t realize that we grow very few flowers for commercial sale in the United States. Most of the greenhouses were in prime land with lots of sun, and all those greenhouses are now condominiums or parking lots.
What advice do you give to a customer who wants to send flowers but isn’t sure exactly what to send?
Jessica: My main advice is to go to a florist. Don’t order online. Either call a florist or walk into a flower shop and ask for help. The second thing is to know what your budget is. Don’t go thinking you’re going to get hydrangeas and lilies for $30. You can look at pictures to get an idea of what you want, but know that you have to go to a flower shop.
What are some challenges of running a floral business today?
Jessica: The amount of flowers versus the amount of flowers you can keep in your cooler is huge. Imagine if you come in, and then Cindy comes in, and you want a hot pink rose, but she wants a light pink rose, and then Samantha comes in and wants a yellow rose. It’s keeping the door open for everybody, and next week, none of you come in. It’s trying to have what’s available for everybody’s individual liking. I think that can be tough for a florist.
What is something we might not know about being a florist or the floral industry as a whole?
Jessica: I do like weddings, but I have a lot of empathy for funerals.
Carmen: Because we do a lot of hospital work and flowers for babies, and we do weddings, and we do a lot of funeral work, she thinks our motto should be “We hatch them, we match them, and we dispatch them” [Laughs].
Jessica: I have some sort of peace with this business. You are definitely giving smiles in the darkest of days. When you’re doing deliveries, people are genuinely happy to see you. I think we’re one industry that keeps on going because we bring happy smiles and happy times, but also bring kindness during the worst days of your life.
Do you have a special memory you can share with us?
Jessica: I have so many great memories. I think one of the hardest memories is doing your own mother’s funeral flowers. It was probably the biggest memory. And now I’m planning my father’s funeral and constantly asking what he’d like [laughs].
It’s very special that this is a family business. Both of my grandmothers worked here. When I say it’s a family business, it truly is.
Carmen: In 1988, my wife and I were asked to join a team of 100 florists to do the flowers for the George H.W. Bush Presidential Inauguration. We did the Clinton inauguration and both Bush inaugurations.
Jessica: He goes, and they decorate all the parties. After the inauguration, there are huge events and parties, and they have humongous arrangements. They use about a million flowers during that week. Many of them are donated by growers around the world. And the florists donate their time to be down there.
What do you love most about being a florist?
Jessica: I like helping the customers. And I do like when there are conventions and stuff that are flower-oriented to meet other florists and learn new techniques. You have to stay educated in your craft. I went to a convention one time, and someone said, “I don’t need to learn this. I’m too old to learn anything new.” And she was like in her 60s. And I just looked at her, and I’m like, wow, that’s crazy. My dad is in his 90s and loves these conventions and learning new techniques. My dad has said that anytime he can learn something new about his craft, he wants it. Even if he already knows it. He can do it better. And I remember that. If I can better myself, I want that. I love learning new techniques. How to do funerals better. How to wrap something better. Especially for weddings. I am not a pro at anything, but if I can learn to do it a little bit better, that makes the customer happier.
April 2026
