One of Breen's employees, Ruby McKnight passed away on January 6, 2012. She had worked at Fisher Florist and then continued to work with Breen's Florist after the combining of Breen's and Fisher as our bookeeper and accountant.

Ruby had been an activate member of the floral industry for over 30 years with Fisher Florist and Breen's Florist and 18 years as the treasurer for Allied Florists of Houston.

She will be remembered for her love of family, helping and feeding others. Ruby loved playing the organ, painting, dancing and through her positivity and determination, made everyone feel welcome and at home.

These creative designs were used as centerpieces for a very contemporary and unique wedding where the colors were lime green, dark purples and lavenders with accents of white thrown it. Each centerpiece was created with imagination and could be whatever shape or design that came into our designers head. They all had the same paved them using the colors requested.

There are traditional centerpieces but sometimes you have to think outside the box for unique containers to hold flowers in. How about some cowboy boots?

This event used the cowboy boots with the flowers inside them as the focal point for the two tables and were a hit in creating a western themed dinner party

Sometimes the most interesting and challenging design pieces are when we have to copy a picture. This happens more times than you would think, especially with funeral pieces. This shield was created with flowers of a fire department's logo with a motocycle on it. In the photos you can see the shield and the floral design we created.

When someone asked for a bear... we thought it was gonna be a nice plush snuggly bear, but nope!!!  They wanted a bear of flowers. Our design artists created exactly what they wanted. Not a lion, or a tiger... but a bear. OH MY!

As our employees know, we often get phone calls for people trying to call The Denver Post. These calls normally are about subscriptions and missing papers... but today we had a doosy of a call. The call was left on our after hours answering machine voicemail. Now, I always get floored by people leaving messages that our not for our company because our telephone system announces our company name. So when we do get wrong numbers, I always tend to laugh.

Today, I was not laughing... more confused and a little scared.

The phone call was hard to make out, the line seemed to cut in an out but what could be made out was a name of a retirement, violence, assasinated, I have to go cos they are shooting guns, and a street address in Denver, Colorado.

I played the call back, trying to make out as much as I could make out. Then searched the internet for any kind of incidents in Denver Colorado. Without any luck, I took the call to Marcia and we relistened to it a few more time and then decided that it was probably a resident who made the call. We found a main number to the retirement community and gave a call to the nursing administrator. Everyone there sounded alive and healthy. She informed us that they do have a resident who thinks people are being killed and murdered and has called 911 several times. She did apologize to us... but we just wanted to make sure everyone there was doing fine.

As sad as it is, these things do occur when dealing with retirement communities. Our hearts go out to those who work so hard to care for the elderly. You guys do awesome jobs and we appreciate it. Thanks!

Now, while our main 800 number is similar to the Denver post, we also have a cell phone for our delivery dispatcher that is one digit off from the Harris County Warrant Department and at least once or twice a day, we get calls asking if they have a warrant. Oh, silly people!

This is just one of the many crazy things that go on at Breen's Florist.

One of our customers wanted to send flowers for an event and it was for a person who loved to sail. Bill, our head designer, created this beautiful display in a sailboat with gerbera daisies, calla lilies, carnations, hydrangea, and delphinium. The boat was a hit... Do you have a unique design request? Give Bill a call and he'll create the perfect design for your imagination.

Berta has been with us for over 22 years. Over the years, we have seen Berta grow into an excellent designer and woman. We watched her get married the first time, watched her kids grow up into fine young men, and now... Berta's heart found love a second time, but unfortunately it is taking her to Canada to live with her new husband. We will miss Berta, not only as a designer, but as a person of excellence. Here are a couple pictures of Berta and her fellow co-workers, even some past employees who came to wish her well. We will miss you Berta!

Channel 39 News came by our Post Oak location to talk to owner, Marcia Wilson, about the rising gas prices and the toll it will take on local businesses who deal with delivering and companies that are on the road as a part of their everyday business. Florists take a beating when the gas price go up and as everyday people try to cut their driving down to save money, florists are still on the roads making deliveries all day long.

Breen's, unlike many florists in town, service the whole entire city of Houston and surrounding areas too. That is over 120 square miles of driving we do in a day. With that said, it is why news crews are interested in find out how florists (and us) are handling the rising prices in gas.

This Valentine's Day, one of our customers decided that he wanted to give his wife something that she would remember for a really long time. Leaving the actual design up to our creative designers with only the requirements were pink roses and some layers... Our designer, Bill Morgan came up with a tiered heart design and then the fun began to creat this work of art.

One of our owners, Jim Adam, created the base from plexi to hold the water and foam. Had to keep water off furniture, you know. A massive foam base with used with two heart shaped wreaths in the middle. Both of the heart wreaths are the same as you would use for a heart sympathy wreath. It shows that with creativity the use of non-traditional items can be used for multiple different things.

The bottom layer was created with white cushion poms, the first heart was created by a two-toned hot pink roses, while the inside top layer was a pastel pink pink rose. Down the middle was a few stargazer lily blooms to add texture and dimension to the piece. I wish we had a scale to weigh this piece, but it took two people to carry it into the cooler and one of our stronger male drivers to deliver this to the residence.

It was truly a work of art.