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Planting the seeds for a successful school year

Posted on by Neal

Spider plants are great for cleaning air.

New shirts, new shoes. Backpacks and notebooks. No doubt, one or more of those items was on your shopping list if you’re a parent preparing a child for the first day of school.
Don’t forget a little something for your child’s teacher and classroom.
A plant is a great option, not only for aesthetic reasons but certain ones help to improve indoor air quality. What’s more, the presence of plants has been shown to boost productivity and reduce stress, which can enhance a learning environment.
With the help of Cheryl Brill, Royer’s vice president of retail operations, and other resources, we compiled a list of plants that will help sow the seeds for a great new school year.
Cheryl’s list started with Chinese evergreens (aka aglaonemas), peace lilies, philodendrons and spider plants, each of which is great for cleaning the air, she said. What’s more, they’re easy to take care of and don’t require a lot of bright light.
As their name suggests, spider plants have tendrils or plantlets that grow out from the mother plant.
“That would be kind of fun for a grade-school situation,” Cheryl said.
For more on plants and air quality, click here.

Classroom conversation

Meanwhile, air plants aren’t that effective at cleaning the air, Cheryl said, but they are intriguing because they grow without soil. Also known as tillandsia, air plants are a type of bromeliad and relative of the pineapple.
Air plant leaves have scales, called trichomes, that absorb water and nutrients from the air.
“We just dunk them in a bucket of water every week or so,” Cheryl said, suggesting how easy it is to care for air plants.
The air plant’s unique characteristics alone make for a great classroom conversation. What’s more, they’re available at Royer’s in quirky “thinkers” containers.
Thinkers is what we want students to be, after all. Another plant option that can captivate a classroom is a terrarium, which only needs to be watered weekly. Cheryl described them as “neat to look at” and as providing “a little tranquil spot.”
Heaven knows, a bustling school can use a tranquil spot or two.
 
 
 
 

Royer’s ‘Power of Pink’ arrangement raises $2,640 for Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition

Posted on by Neal


Royer’s has donated $2,640 to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.
For each sale of its “Power of Pink” arrangement, Royer’s donates $10 to breast cancer organizations, including $7,730 to the coalition since 2015.
Based in Lebanon, the coalition (pabreastcancer.org) represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors and their families in Pennsylvania through educational programming, legislative advocacy and breast cancer research grants.
The Power of Pink arrangement, redesigned annually, is available year-round.
Photo: From left, Kristen Snoke, community outreach director, PA Breast Cancer Coalition, and Jaime Kevles, marketing coordinator, Royer’s.

Dawn of a new arrangement: introducing Farmhouse Sunset

Posted on by Neal


Being a professional interior designer, Kristin Iwancio said entering Royer’s name-the-arrangement contest was “totally in my wheelhouse.”
Indeed, it was.
Iwancio, of Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, submitted the winning name – Farmhouse Sunset – among 639 total contest entries.
“I love sunsets, so why not go with that? I’m never up early enough for sunrises,” she quipped.
The new arrangement includes two short-stemmed orange roses, a mini green hydrangea, a hot pink spray rose and purple statice.
It measures 13 inches high and nine inches wide.
Although Farmhouse Sunset won’t be available to the public until fall, Iwancio received one early.
It was her prize for naming the arrangement.

Royer’s Stems Hunger collects 1,700 pounds of nonperishable food for area food banks

Posted on by Neal


A big thanks to everyone who contributed to this year’s Royer’s Stems Hunger food drive.
With your help, we collected 1,706 pounds of nonperishable items, bringing the food drive’s seven-year total to more than six tons.
Royer’s Stems Hunger, which took place June 17-July 1, collected 163 pounds for the Greater Berks Food Bank and 1,543 pounds for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.
For each nonperishable food item, donors received a free carnation.
Besides Royer’s 16 stores, the food drop-off locations included Drayer Physical Therapy Institute outpatient centers in Carlisle, Dillsburg, Harrisburg, Hummelstown, Lancaster, Mount Joy and York.
Photo: Royer’s in West York collected the most pounds of nonperishable food (194) among our 16 stores. From left, Jamie Raffensberger, sales; Kelly Miller, assistant manager; Jackie Dahms, store manager; Jontra Marquardt, sales; Chris Lentz, designer.

Royer’s employees donate $740 to American Heart Association’s Lancaster division

Posted on by Neal

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Royer’s employees have donated $740 to the American Heart Association’s Lancaster division.
In January, employees had the opportunity to purchase red polo shirts bearing the Royer’s logo. For each shirt, they donated $10 to the heart association.
The American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke.
Photo: From left, Jill Williams, manager of Lancaster West, with Katie Harlin, executive director, and Danielle Figueroa, Heart Walk director, American Heart Association, Lancaster division.

Terrariums back on the job — and perfect for the office

Posted on by Neal


Entire TV shows these days are dedicated to tiny houses, so perhaps it should come as little surprise that mini-gardens are popular again.
Royer’s recently reintroduced terrariums to its product lineup. They are individually crafted in our dish garden department in Lebanon and come in rope; dome (small, medium and large); and greenhouse versions.
“You look in them, and you just feel good,” said Cheryl Brill, Royer’s vice president of retail operations, comparing the look of the light-green reindeer moss covering the soil to that of a forest floor.
She described terrariums as a “little tranquil spot.”
“They draw you in,” she said, “and I think that’s part of the appeal. And they typically have a lot of texture.”
Growing plants in transparent containers dates to Greece at least 2,500 years ago, according to University of Missouri Extension. The practice in the United States is traced to New England.
“The invention of the terrarium as we know it is credited to Dr. N.B. Ward, a 19th-century London physician. … While studying a sphinx moth emerging from a chrysalis he had buried in moist earth in a closed bottle, he was amazed to see a seedling fern and some grass growing inside. He watched them grow for four years, during which time not one drop of water was added nor was the cover removed.”
Closed terrariums are best at keeping humidity inside (followed by open terrariums and dish gardens), so they only have to be watered once per week. Terrariums and plants are great for offices as they are known to improve air quality, boost productivity and reduce stress.
 

We’re putting our best ‘Bunny Face’ forward with free kids club event March 25

Posted on by Neal

Bunny Face 2
Bunny Face, I love you. Bunny Face, I need you.
If you’re between the ages of 5 and 12, you can make your own Bunny Face to bring home for Easter.
The Royer’s Kids Club will play host to a free kids club event March 25 in all stores. Besides making a carnation bunny, participants will receive a balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Royer’s store.

Royer’s employees raise $990 for Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition with purchase of pink polo shirts

Posted on by Neal

Royer's Flowers donates $990 to PA Breast Cancer Coalition (Jan 2017) 2

Employees of Royer’s Flowers have donated $990 to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.

The contribution reflects the employees’ fall purchase of pink polo shirts bearing Royer’s logo. The sale of each shirt raised $10 for the Lebanon-based nonprofit.

The coalition (pabreastcancer.org) represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors and their families in Pennsylvania through educational programming, legislative advocacy and breast cancer research grants.

Photo: From left, Candace Oliver, manager trainee at Royer’s Flowers in Lebanon, and Kristen Snoke, community outreach director, Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. Oliver is wearing one of the pink polo shirts Royer’s employees purchased to raise money for the coalition.

 

Ribbon cut, we’re open for business in Chambersburg

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With the help of the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce and its members, we ceremonially cut the ribbon — actually a floral garland — on our new Chambersburg store on Sept. 7. The store is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Our new Chambersburg store is scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Sept. 6

Posted on by Neal

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Our new Chambersburg store is scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Tuesday (Sept. 6) at 7 St. Paul Drive, next to Sonic and Sheetz.
Not only is it Royer’s first store in Franklin County, but it also will allow us to expand deliveries into the Hagerstown, Md., area. Chambersburg represents both the farthest west and south that Royer’s has operated from our Lebanon County base.
“With a beautiful new building in a terrific new market, we’re thrilled to be a part of the Chambersburg community and beyond,” said Greg Royer, president and CEO of Royer’s.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony — the ribbon actually will comprise flowers — is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in conjunction with the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce.
The 4,000-square-foot store’s grand opening will include specials on hardy mums and loose carnations.
The store will be open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
Store manager Gregory Royer represents the fourth generation of Royer family involvement with the company. He will be joined by assistant manager Heidi Trate and design supervisor Sherry Carbaugh on a 15-person staff.
Royer’s traces its roots to 1937, when Hannah Royer, who grew African violets on her windowsill in Lebanon, began selling them at a local garment factory and area farmer’s markets.
With Chambersburg, Royer’s operates 16 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Franklin, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties. Sister company Stephenson’s Flowers & Gifts has one Harrisburg store.