About Us

Roses Are Red (previously Buckville Blooms and Kiwiflowers) is run from Auckland, NZ by Jane and Doug Rickit and their daughter, Claire Sawyers. Being ex-commercial growers who now operate a dynamic e-tail florist outlet, their reputation locally for quality and variety is very highly regarded. Combine this with customer service that is second to none and the result is a winning team.

From backgrounds in Administration/ Personnel Consultancy and 20 years serving the community with the New Zealand Police respectively, Jane and Doug began growing flowers in 1993 at their family farm in Pukekohe. To further develop their business their first retail outlet was established in 1994.

The business grew and added some impressive names to its already long list of prestigious clients including The Heritage Hotel Auckland, South Auckland Health, Auckland Tennis, Mainzeal Construction and Bledisloe New Zealand Ltd, the largest chain of funeral homes in New Zealand.

In 2001, due to popular demand - and many suggestions from existing satisfied clients - Jane and Doug made the decision to go online.

Roses Are Red was formed to enable the customer service values established in the retail stores to benefit online customers. There was a real need for a site that had excellent photography showing the real beauty of flowers, clear details of the item being purchased and confirmation of the actual gift sent. There was a missing link. Jane and Doug were determined to raise the standard of online floristry in NZ by inventing the unique "E-Guarantee" email photograph service.

Jane and Doug have an experienced team of florists working behind them, complimented with part time assistants. Roses Are Red also has a custom designed delivery van zips around town with Jane, Pepper and Brindy at the wheel attending to as many Auckland deliveries as possible. Many a smile it has created as it arrives at the recipients address bearing goodies from friends and family afar.

In 2003 Jane and Doug's daughter Claire joined the Roses Are Red team behind the scenes. After much persuasion and with a new fresh approach, Claire has recently completely revamped our website as well as adding many of the new gift items available. In her role as Marketing Manager, Claire fights with a passion to make sure Roses Are Red is seen as much as possible, whether it be online or off. In addition to working on Roses Are Red, Claire also runs DonateNZ - a charity which helps people donate goods, time and services to community. Check it out!

Finally, no team is complete without a mascot (or 3). Pepper (aka. Rattie) our gorgeous, fun loving Schnauzer, joined Roses Are Red in the Christmas of '03 and soon became the darling of the company. But to her initial dismay and now delight, they were not content with just on e- with the next recruit arriving in a delivery box on Valentines Day '05. Brindle (aka. Pirahna, Bumby, Ace Netballer) has enthusiastically thrown herself into her role as chief water inspector and teddy bear thief of Roses Are Red and also pulls off a good impression of a Rottweiler when she is woken up abruptly! In 2006 Jane & Doug also offered to take in another puppy from the breeder who had not yet found a home, called "Portia". Most commonly found out the back hiding underneath a bench, we have come to the conclusion she sees dead people, but are glad to report she is learning to cope with her "special abilities". "Team Schnauzer" ensures all customers are greeted with a cautious but friendly sniff and are thoroughly entertained by their fascination with the chasing of brooms and toys...

Photos of the Roses Are Red Team