Strike up a friendship with your florist
Why have flowers in your home?
Experts reveal that flowers spread peace and happiness. A recent academic study showed that:
- Fresh cut flowers in a home increased feelings of compassion and kindness for others.
- Flowers in a home spread calm and decrease feelings of anxiety, worries, and sadness.
- People who live among flowers experience less negativity and have lowered hypertension and anxiety. When was the last time you saw a miserable Flinders Park florist?
- Flowers boost energy levels and productivity. People with flowers in a home are more enthusiastic and happy. They are willing to help others and are more active.
Narcissus (daffodil)
Characteristics: A large and varied family, daffodils are among the most self-sufficient of bulbs. There is much confusion over the family’s name. For all practical purposes, the names daffodil and Narcissus are interchangeable; daffodil is the English common name for the Latin classification of Narcissus.
I know of one florist Invercargill with 4,000 different daffodils and there are more than three times that number of registered varieties. If well planned, a naturalized daffodil planting, including early, mid- and late-season varieties, can last two to three months or longer. A turn-of-the-century garden writer said, "One could never have enough of such a rare gold."
Cultural Information: Daffodils prefer light, well-drained soil, rich in humus. Plant the bulbs two to three times as deep as their diameter. Work the soil a few inches deeper than is necessary to plant, in order to give the bulbs a prepared bed into which they’ll send their delicate roots. Normal moisture usually provided by spring and fall rains is all they require. Some tolerate wet soil conditions better than others. Divide the bulbs when the plants produce nothing but foliage and replant in organically enhanced soil. Some varieties (’February Gold’, for example) increase more rapidly than others.
Anniversaries
Whether the occasion is a wedding anniversary or a birthday, an arrangement always makes a popular gift, as the recipient has no work to do. A ribbon bow or bows in an appropriate colour can be added — red for a ruby wedding gift, silver for a 25th or gold for a 50th. Keys are used for 18th or 21st birthday arrangements. Handtied bunches, wrapped in cellophane, are also excellent, as they are ready to be placed directly in a vase, after recutting the stems.
Over many years, wedding anniversaries have been given names that indicate the most suitable gift for the occasion. There are several variations on the lesser anniversaries, and it is as well to keep a list of the traditional names and the more modern equivalents. This will ensure that your flower delivery Redditch contains the appropriate theme.
Flowers have their own special anniversary — the fourth year — hut they are an acceptable gift for all anniversaries. Try to ensure that the flowers or accessories reflect the theme of the anniversary. With the landmark anniversaries — silver, ruby and gold — colour is important, and there are many accessories available to help emphasize a particular idea.
My dearest flower series - Muscari
Few spring-flowering bulbs grow as well with as little care as grape hyacinths, and few garner the reaction that people expect when you send flowers Northenden to someone you love, for the grape hyacinths’ many bright flowers make a remarkable impression. Their tiny, sweetly scented blossoms appear on spikes that generally grow 6 to 9 inches tall; the grass like leaves appear in the fall and lie on the surface of the soil uninjured by winter cold, then wither away in early summer. The plants are attractive in rock gardens and borders, among shrubs and under trees or naturalized in short grass. When cut, they make appealing miniature indoor arrangements, and they can also be grown as house plants. Outstanding selections are the Armenian grape hyacinth, including its variety Heavenly Blue, and the common grape hyacinth, all with sky-blue flowers; a variety of the common grape hyacinth, M. botryoides album, with white flowers; the taller-growing (8 to 12 inches) tassel grape hyacinth, with purplish green flowers, and its variety M. comosum monstrosum; the plume grape hyacinth, with fuzzy mauve-blue flowers; the golden musk grape hyacinth, with bright yellow flowers on the lower parts of its spikes that blend to purple at the top; the musk grape hyacinth, with purple flowers; and the Tubergen grape hyacinth, with two-toned blue flowers which are pale at the bottom of its spikes and darker at the top.
Materials and accessories for a floral bouquet
Selecting materials and accessories that harmonize in colour and yet contrast in form and texture takes a certain amount of effort and practice, for the different components must produce a harmonious whole. If the correct flowers and foliage are not selected for the flower delivery Brookside Park then the client could be disappointed with the final result.
Fresh flowers and foliage possess a greater volume of petals and foliage than dried ones, so to achieve a good visual effect.
To ensure that the arrangement is completely stable, pebbles or cleaned gravel can be used to weight the bottom of the vase. Once the tying is completed, the stems can be cut to length and the bouquet can be placed in the terracotta container or wrapped, ready for presentation.
Topiary Designs
Topiary designs have developed greatly, and many variations on the original theme can be produced. The current fashion trend is to use an old terracotta flower pot as a container, with a single support stem of natural wood, such as birch, the sphere being covered with either lichen or bun moss. This represents the ‘natural rustic’ look, developed by many florists as their designer style.
Topiary trees are very versatile, ranging in size from miniature designs to imposing trees some 3.75m (l2ft) in height, used to decorate churches, hotels or marquees for various celebrations and events. Arrangements of this size obviously create quite a headache when organising the flower delivery Croftfoot.
Preserving in glycerine
Preservation by glycerine is long-lasting and the stems keep their natural shape and form, just deepening in colour as they absorb the glycerine.
Leaves and branches are the best subjects for this method. Mix one part of glycerine and two parts of hot water and pour this into a narrow jar or jug so that the solution goes as far up the stem as possible. Hammer woody stems well, about 8cm (3 in) up the stem and be sure to soak thoroughly in water any branch which is freshly picked, as they can flag. After an overnight drink, put the stems in the glycerine solution, leave them for about ten days or until the stems have changed colour. Green leaves turn brown and you can gradually see the mixture creeping up the stem and changing colour. Some local florists Childwall could offer advice on the best way to do this.
Thick leaves benefit from a coating of the mixture: dip a little piece of cotton wool in the glycerine solution and coat the leaves. This prevents them from curling and can be repeated as often as you like.
Hard, leathery leaves of mahonia and laurel take twice as long as branches of beech, so watch carefully and as soon as the glycerine has almost reached the top of the branches, remove them from the container and hang upside down for a couple of days.
Methods for Drying Flowers
In earlier, more romantic days, a single flower was placed between the pages of a book or bible to preserve its beauty. Even scientists used heavy books to carry home new and unusual plant material for study. Drying methods have since become more advanced, and today we have a variety of ways to preserve flowers and retain much of their natural beauty. This is important, since Rumney flower delivery has become so popular and flower preservation is in rising demand. The six basic methods of preserving flowers and foliage are air-drying, water-drying, drying in a microwave oven, using desiccants, preserving in glycerine, and pressing. Each method has its advantages and its disadvantages and some methods are better for some plants than for others. For example, foliage dries best if preserved in glycerine. Air-drying is the simplest method. And when the desiccation method is used, flowers retain their natural color and shape (indeed, they’re often mistaken for fresh flowers). Serious flower driers use all the basic methods, alone and in combination.
Forcing
Some varieties of virtually all the spring-flowering bulbs, including tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, daffodils and bulbous irises, can be persuaded to bloom indoors in winter, bringing the garden into the house from early January through April. Many Waterside Plaza florists and a good many amateurs refer to the techniques as "forcing." Though I use the term myself, I rather dislike it, for no force is involved. The procedures consist, broadly, of manipulating temperatures and light conditions to simulate the period of cold needed by bulbs for their annual rest period, then awakening them earlier than they would wake by themselves if they were outdoors. The techniques for forcing should not be confused with the care of regular house plants that are allowed to bloom in their own good time indoors.
Can’t get enough aye?
Ok, so you need even more facts, tips and information on flowers? Well, you’re in luck, just head over to Flower Trivia Gold for more great information. Say hi from us as you browse through their mountain of flower and florist tips.