All About Flowers – Our Blog | Flora2000.com

Flowers sizzle with color. Many of the fiery hot reds, yellows and oranges are long lasting blooms that capture the beauty of the season. Need help choosing long lasting blooms? Here are a few helpful hints to get you started.

1) Look for sturdy, strong and straight stems

2) Touch the foliage, it should be firm and hydrated.

3) Some flowers have multiple blooms (like lilies). Choose a stem with some buds still tightly closed.

4) As a general rule of thumb, flowers with firm petals (like an orchid) last longer than flowers with soft petals.

Gather your favorites and drop them in a vase with lots of water. Many blooms are heavy water drinkers. Now you’re ready to light the barbeque and have the friends over for an impromptu party. Flowers, friends and food!

Need a quick and easy idea for a centerpiece? Look no further than your closet – or the re-sale store – or the dollar store. A bouquet of fresh flowers looks just grand in a handbag. What better way to re-purpose and recycle? And, best of all, when the party is over, just grab the bouquet by the handles and off you go.

Hmmm…. Now where to use this grand idea?

Baby Showers

Summertime Teas

Birthday Parties

Bon Voyage

Weddings

Just Because

It’s in the bag – fun, easy and festive – the perfect centerpiece.

Dress up your deserts and salads with fresh flowers. Edible varieties come in a rainbow of colors and flavors.

Yellow and Orange Nasturtiums add a peppery zest.

Sweet violets and pansies suggest old fashioned romance.

Marigolds add a tangy touch of sunshine.

And, who could resist the petals of a rose, the flower of love?

Add a single bloom to your chocolate desert for sophisticated glamor. Sprinkle a few blossoms on a salad for a bright and festive touch. A sprig of mint or lavender is wonderful with a bowl of ice cream.

Once you get started, you won’t want to stop. Edible flowers are fun! Careful though – You need to know what is edible and what is not. Bon Appétit!

If you love Roses, this is a wonderful time to be alive. The best known and best loved of all flowers; the record of the human passion for roses is lost in pre-history, yet there is evidence of roses being sold for oil in Turkey as early as 3000BC. Throughout the ages humans have revered the rose, risked their lives, sacrificed fortunes and even worshiped roses.

For centuries roses derived from their wild ancestors were bred and cultivated locally near their sites of origin. The first roses in Europe were introduced by the crusaders returning from the Middle East. In the 17^th century plant collectors introduced hundreds of new varieties to rose breeders around the world. In the late 19^th century commercial rose breeders began to develop new hybrids resulting in the thousands and thousands of cultivars available in the market. Today roses are grown commercially in nearly every country of the world. Truly the rose is “the flower of the world”.

I love long summer days. The longest day falls on June 21^st this year – an exactly equal amount of time in day and night. This calls for a celebration. Think about it; twelve full hours of sunlight to fill with fun. Oh, where to begin… First things first!  Fill the house with sunflowers. What better bloom to use as a tribute to the longest day of the year than sunflowers. I remember one summer road trip. We were driving across the plains of Nebraska. There were fields of sunflowers as far as the eye could see. As the sun moved across the sky, their heads followed faithfully. What a sight! It is no wonder the Aztecs referred to the sunflower as the Flower of the Gods.

Father’s Day is just around the corner. It’s time to plan for a wonderful gift for the first man in your life. It is a tough decision since he has everything he needs. What would be the perfect Father’s Day gift?

It’s time for a fresh perspective. Flowers, yes flowers are the perfect token of appreciation and love for the man of today. Show him you love him with an exquisite bouquet or better yet, show the world you love him by sending a magnificent floral arrangement to him at work.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I hope you like your flowers!

Weddings, regardless of culture, are built on valuable traditions which convey important meanings and messages to the married couple, their families and their community. The most enduring wedding tradition is the use of fresh flowers in the wedding ceremony. The use of flowers in weddings predates recorded history and is found in nearly all cultures of the world. Flowers are a powerful symbol of fertility and were used to assure that a newly wedded couple would produce children.

Do you know why a majority of weddings have traditionally been held in June?

It turns out that there is a more practical reason for this ancient tradition. Historically, the labor of women was critical for the autumn harvest and a June wedding would result in a conception early enough that the new bride would not be too full with a child to help with the following year’s harvest.

A standing ovation, showing love and appreciation to Father’s all over the world is what we want for Father’s Day.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all and CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of our Blog Contest.

All the entries were heart warming but, through careful deliberation, we have selected 2 winners which poured their hearts out to us and let us know what they would say in less than 15 words to their Dad’s on Father’s Day.

1) Kim Pittman

2) Jennifer Baldwin

Each of you have WON an exquisite Father’s Day arrangement absolutely FREE from us.

Thank You and Congratulations once again. Do keep coming back for more contests, decorating tips and interesting topics covering everything from floral trends to holiday and wedding traditions.

Father’s Day is closing in fast and it’s exactly what we all need to celebrate our Father’s. For all the good times and effort Dad has put in, this day would be a great way to show him how much you care and appreciate his unconditional love.

Designs and arrangements of the finest bouquets tailored to make Dad smile is what will get Father’s Day rolling.

Two winners get a stylishly designed Father’s Day arrangement each, from us, absolutely FREE.

Just write one line, in less than 15 words, ‘What would you say to your Dad for Father’s Day.’

The 2 most creative and ‘straight from the heart’ entries would be selected as the winners.

Leave your answer in our comments.

Best of Luck to you all.

Entries will be accepted till the 15^th of June.

I am very fortunate to have had the chance to have known florists and flower growers who were born in the late 1800’s and who shared stories of growing, selling and designing flowers in the early 1900’s. This was a time when many florists grew their own flowers and in addition to selling flowers through their flower shops, they sold their flowers to consumers and to each other through farmer’s markets.

One might think that flower varieties and design styles were greatly limited a hundred years ago. In fact, there was greater diversity in design and varieties in 1930 than in 1960. Check out the 1934 book “Flower Decoration” by Constance Spry sometime. It was the post-world-war-II “industrialization” of the floral industry that resulted in the inventory of many flower shops being limited to carnations, roses and chrysanthemums.

The farmer’s market is in resurgence throughout the world and a big part of the markets are locally grown flowers. I am discovering small flower growers, local commercial growers and retail florists at the markets. It is thrilling to see the new varieties of flowers, foliage and the design experimentation found in farmer’s markets. It’s just like the “old-days”.

It’s fascinating how history repeats it’s self.