Our Story
About Us
Long Stems is an award-winning, family owned and operated florist proudly serving Philadelphia and the Main Line since 1984. We are a two-time Philadelphia Magazine "Best of Philly" award winner, and have received numerous accolades from both local and national magazines, news organizations, and websites for our services. Delivering only the highest-quality flowers daily throughout the tri-state area from our location in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, we are committed to offering only the finest floral arrangements and gifts. We back our exceptional designs with friendly, prompt service, and are dedicated to making every customer's experience a pleasant one. We will always go the extra mile to ensure that each and every floral gift and event is perfect. Let Long Stems be your first choice for flowers!
Our Philosophy
At Long Stems, we believe that there is something inherently personal and extraordinary about flowers. They have come to signify an endless array of sentiments and occasions, and hold significance in nearly every life experience. Whether used to express feelings of love, jubilation, thanks, care, or condolences, flowers have become an enduring source of beauty and emotion in our lives.
Our unique approach to designing stems from a deep appreciation for the life of each flower and plant, a horticultural background that not only makes our staff highly knowledgeable, but also allows us to find more unusual seasonal selections. Your Long Stems arrangements will always be distinctive and exceptional, and with our gracious and easygoing family farmers market atmosphere, you will not only enjoy your flowers, but the entire process along the way.
The Original Design Team
Keith
Heather
A Family Florist
Keith Bell first bought Long Stems in 1997 and hit the ground running, quickly establishing a strong reputation around Philly for his exceptional work. Starting as a small but bustling shop on Bala Avenue, Long Stems has always carried only the best and most unique flowers available, whether delivered from local farms or shipped to us from anywhere in the world. This dedication to quality helped us find some truly outstanding suppliers we’ve been working with ever since. Business was taking off and Keith needed all hands on deck, so soon enough his brother Pat, his wife Anne, his mother-in-law Joanne, and his wife’s aunt Diane had all joined the team, turning Long Stems into an authentic family flower shop. We even had a store cat named Lumpy, who was very sweet and became a favorite among our original customers. On the busier days when they couldn’t find a sitter, Keith and Anne would bring along their three sons, Jimmy, Mason, and Johnny.
For providing the City of Brotherly Love with such stunning flowers, we won the Best of Philly award in 1999. Over the many years since then, the Long Stems family would together design and set up beautiful weddings and events throughout Philadelphia’s many incredible venues, from elegant hotels and country clubs to the home of the Phillies, all while continuing to provide . Our first shop was very special to us, but we needed more space as the business continued to grow, so in 2008 we moved to our current store on Montgomery Avenue. From there, we just kept doing what we love every day- what every florist loves- creating beautiful floral designs that bring people joy.
Keith sprinkling rose petals around a chuppah
Mason, Jimmy, and Johnny helping set up a wedding at Citizens Bank Park, 2004
Lumpy observing the designers
Farm to Vase
2020 was a scary year for everyone, and in the period after the shutdown but before we were given permission to reopen our shop to the public, we were preparing for the possibility that flower shipments might stop entirely. So a business venture we’d been wanting to explore for a long time then became an immediate passion of ours: flower farming. It began with a small patch of land just outside Keith’s home property, which his township granted him permission to farm on. By this point, Keith, Anne, Johnny, Mason, and Mason’s wife Rachael were all spending their days either on the farm or in the shop. The incredible tapestry of flowers growing in our own backyard, any of which we could pluck right from the earth and design into an arrangement for someone to enjoy, was a beautiful sign that we were growing our business in the right direction.
A few years later, we took a big leap in that direction by buying a beautiful property in Collegeville which would become our second location. After lots of planning, renovating, construction, and the many other steps that needed to be completed, the doors to our new store opened up in 2025 to a whole new area. Keith chose Collegeville to open a new Long Stems because it’s where he and Anne live, where they raised a family and have grown close with the community for many years. What stood out to us about this location was the acre of land behind the shop, which we’ve since transformed into a vibrant flower farm that supplies all different blooms throughout the season such as sunflowers, zinnias, dahlias, marigolds, snapdragon, lisianthus, and many more.
Pat
Anne tying bows on the backs of chairs at a wedding