It might look like magic when Valentine’s Day flowers and gifts suddenly appear on your desk at work, or are delivered unexpectedly to your front door, but it takes more than the wave of a wand to make it all happen.

Behind-the-scenes at the florists it is hard work, planning, logistics, long hours and dedication that are the order of the day in the run up to February 14.

Of course, there’s fun too, such as creating imaginative and creative bouquets and checking out this year’s additional gift novelties, which include stiletto shoes made from chocolate and balloons that ‘sing’ love songs.

But first there is work to be done to ensure Valentine’s Day goes smoothly for every customer.

Carmen Phillips worked as a project manager in the banking sector before taking over Demco florists in Devonshire four years ago. If you ask her which job is more challenging, her answer is unequivocal.

“This is the hardest thing I have ever done,” she replied, as she checked orders on a computer in the back office of the shop on South Road.

With thousands of roses and flowers due to arrive later that day, the pre-Valentine’s Day activities were in full swing.

Upstairs orders were being processed from the shop’s website, on the phone and with customers popping by in person. Downstairs a small team was assembling displays of roses in vases, while another staff member was busy tending to buckets of red roses in a cold storage area.

This week there were three scheduled airfreight deliveries of flowers, which included 3,500 red roses, 1,000 coloured roses, and 200 bunches of tulips. The flowers were sourced from around the world and consolidated at two wholesalers, in Boston and Philadelphia, before being flown to the Island.

Demco started initial planning and ordering of the flowers back in September.

The blooms arrive in boxes. The flowers’ stalks are deleafed and given angled cuts, and roses have their thorns removed before they are placed in cold water in the walk-in fridge and left for 24 hours.

“It’s like after you have been running and you want to have a drink. The flowers need to become strong enough to be handled and made into displays,” explained Ms Phillips.

Ensuring there are enough flowers and gifts in stock for Valentine’s Day is only half of the story, filling the orders and delivering them is an even larger logistical undertaking.

Ms Phillips has a shelf where she zones orders by type, such as one section for the traditional dozen red roses in a vase, and other sections for bunches of 24 red roses, orchids and other flower arrangements, and for order that have a combination of flowers and gifts.

Last year Demco handled about 300 deliveries, not including the orders that were picked up in person from the shop, or the Hamilton outlet, Demco to Go on Church Street.

In the run-up to Valentine’s Day the work hours increase.

“We have three extra staff for the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. They all have floral arrangement knowledge,” said Ms Phillips.

“We need people with stamina. Last year we had 36 hours when most of did not leave the shop.”

The shop ensures staff take proper breaks, and that food is available to keep up energy levels.

This year there is an extra hurdle to tackle because Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday.

“When it is on a weekday we mostly deliver to offices, which are in a concentrated area [in Hamilton] and we employ students to make the deliveries. We have 10 or 15 delivery walkers,” Ms Phillips said.

However, Valentine’s Day on a Saturday means deliveries need to go to individual home addresses, spread across a much wider area.

To make things a little easier, Demco is encouraging people to have their orders delivered on Friday. It is something that is being done in other parts of the world.

Ms Phillips said that many women appreciated receiving a gesture of appreciation in front of their co-workers.

Explaining why she feels running a florists is more challenging than project managing for a bank, she said: “It is more personal. You meet many of your customers face to face, or they write to you on Facebook. I might even be involved in the delivery of the flowers.

“You want to make everyone happy, to do it right. There is a real personal touch.

“Clients sometimes come in afterwards and give staff a ‘high five’, or bring them cookies and that’s because we take the time to get to know the customer and the recipient of the flowers.”