VACUUM CLEANERS AND ROSES seem an unlikely pair. But for long-time Waseca businessmen and friends, Rick Morris and Charlie Mathern, pairing the two has become a pre-Valentine’s Day tradition that began some 20 years ago when Rick noticed Charlie had vacuum cleaners on sale.
Rick, owner of Waseca Floral, suggested he pitch flowers and Charlie, owner of Charlie’s Hardware, push vacuums in a joint half-page print ad with this long-standing lead-in:
On Valentine’s Day, Charlie & Rick say—Sweep her off her feet! Vacuum Cleaner?…or Roses?
Then the fun began as each tried to persuade potential customers, via poetry, to choose a vacuum over roses or roses over a vacuum. This year’s ad, published February 5 in The Waseca Area Shopper, features these poems, among others:
Charlie:
Thorny roses? Fussy violets?
Wow her with flowers and you’ll be the pilot
Rick:
Roses are the language of Lust
Vacuums are the prattle of so much dust
The back-and-forth bantering continues amid photos of vacuums intermixed with red poetry hearts on the left side of the ad and images of floral arrangements interspersed with poetry hearts on the right.
The valentine ad has always been about vacuums and flowers.
And, clearly, it’s also about fun.
“We just get silly with them (the poems),” says Ann Mathern, Charlie’s wife and the author of Charlie’s vacuum cleaner poetry. “The crazier, the better. I don’t know if we can call this poetry.”
Rick concurs: “I write a couple of lines at a time. It’s not exactly poetry.” He pulls out a blank sheet of paper and, in a few hours or less, pens floral-themed couplets like:
She wants roses, there is no doubt
Give her a vacuum and she may throw you out
Ann, a first grade teacher, meanwhile, sits at her computer and, in about 45 minutes, centers her eight rhyming poems around whatever vacuums Charlie is trying to sell:
Come on—admit it—flowers in a vase
Can’t compete with a Sebo, they’ll never keep pace

Rick Morris, owner of Waseca Floral for 40 years. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo, February 2012.
The poetry/sales competition gets exactly the results Rick and Charlie want—attention, laughter and sales. “People look for it (the ad),” Rick says, and will mention the ad when they purchase Valentine’s Day flowers.
Likewise, down at the hardware store, the ad generates sales. But it also sparks the occasional call from female customers angry about suggesting a vacuum cleaner as a Valentine’s Day gift, Ann Mathern says.
Charlie, who fields those sometimes unhappy calls, explains that the Valentine’s Day ad is all in good fun by mutual agreement with his good friend Rick. Occasionally Rick and Charlie need to remind themselves of that, especially when they read some of the barbed poetry.
Rick:
Flowers are beautiful and oh so sublime
Vacuums are ugly and filled with grime
Charlie:
Your honey might settle for a pretty bouquet
But she’d choose a Hoover if she could have her way

Flowers pack a cooler for Valentine’s Day 2012 in this Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo from Waseca Floral.
No matter what’s written, Rick and Charlie take it all in good humor. After 30-plus years of friendship and eating breakfast together between 6:30 – 7 every morning except Wednesday (when Rick has bible study) at various Waseca cafes, they know each other well, even sharing the same dry sense of humor, Rick says. Their wives, Ann and Sheila, join them for breakfast on Fridays.
Just like the daily breakfast tradition, Rick expects he’ll continue publishing the joint flowers versus vacuums ad with Charlie as long as the two are in business and he and Ann can keep writing their so-called poetry.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Disclaimer: My sister, Lanae, is a floral designer at Waseca Floral. That did not influence my decision to write this post. I know a great story when I see/hear one.
What a great story!!! I love it!!! So what are the results?? Who wins every year??? 🙂
I love this story, too. I never thought to ask who “wins.” I think they both do as the ad brings in customers to each of their businesses.
This is so great. I expect people look forward to this ad every year. The flowers are beautiful, but, frankly, a vacuum cleaner lasts longer!
Yes, both Rick and Ann said people look forward to the ad. You’re right on a vacuum lasting longer than flowers. But I’d still take the flowers any day over a vacuum for Valentine’s Day. Give me the vacuum the day AFTER Valentine’s Day.
Nice feature.
Thank you kindly, Clyde.
This is so funny, I would so look forward to this ad every year. These guys really do have a unique and fun friendship. I love that they have breakfast together everyday and that the wives get to come on Fridays!
I agree. Funny. And that long-time friendship is something to treasure.
I agree with the “give her a vacuum and she might throw you out” poem. 🙂
So do I.
I love, love, love smaller towns! And these days, humor will save many a moment……could be used a lot more like, maybe, Washington, D.C.???
Now there’s a thought.
And there’s the “catch”….I don’t think there’s much “thinking” going on over there!
I have laughed over these ads since moving to Waseca in 2001. Thanks for the history lesson!
2001 is also when I retired from floral design….and I don’t miss Valentines Day madness one bit!
Great that you appreciate the ad. Yeah, it gets pretty crazy in the floral shop around Valentine’s Day. My sister will attest to that.