Find Your Local Florist:Everything you want to know about flowers!
Hanging baskets are a great way to quickly beautify outdoor spaces. Petunias, begonias, moss rose, fuschia, sweet potato vines, pansy, the list of annuals, perennials, and green plants for hanging baskets is a long one! The care for your baskets will vary depending on what types of plants you have, but there are some general guidelines you can follow to help you keep your outdoor hanging baskets beautiful all summer long. [Read more…]
It is so sad when a beautiful flower arrangement starts to wilt. Slow down this process and keep your flowers looking fresh longer with these expert flower care tips. There are many simple things you can do to enjoy your flowers for as long as possible. Try out these handy tips from our florists and see if your flowers last longer!
Mist your flowers
Keep your flowers hydrated and happy by giving them a mist every few hours.
Avoid the light
After flowers have been cut, sunlight speeds up the process of their decay. Keep your arrangement away from windowsills or direct sunlight so they will stay looking fresh.
Flowers are a wonderful gift, especially on Valentine’s Day! Here are some tips that will make your flowers last longer.
Receiving Your Blooms
When first receiving your bouquet, make sure to remove any plastic as soon as possible. Put your flowers in a vase full of water if they aren’t already in one!
Location, Location, Location
You want to place your fresh flowers in an area that is away from drafts and extreme temperatures. Don’t place them in direct sunlight, like on a windowsill, where the sun hits them full blast. Also, avoid places where flowers can contact ethylene gas (emitted from cigarettes and fruit).
Bloom Care
Be sure to remove dead or wilting leaves and stems. Also, change water regularly, especially when it starts getting cloudy.
Florist’s Orders
If your florist added food or preservative packets for your arrangement, make sure to read the directions and use accordingly.
Home Remedies
There are many tips and tricks you can do to keep your flowers fresh longer. Adding sugar or using hairspray can be used to preserve your arrangement for longer enjoyment. Also, adding vodka, apple cider vinegar, or even a copper penny can help against bacteria. Call your local florist to determine which trick works best for your bouquet.
Valentine’s Day flowers are one of the best gifts to receive. Follow these simple tips and enjoy them even after Valentine’s Day! Check back with the Bloomin’ Blog for more great tips and tricks.
So your sweetie just sent you the most magnificent Valentine’s Day flower arrangement; you obviously want to keep it around as long as possible, right? You’re in luck! These fresh flower care tips will help you extend the life of your Valentine’s Day flowers!
Keeping Valentine’s Day Flowers FreshFirst things first, if your flowers came in plastic, remove this as soon as possible.
Deciding on a location
Make The Last Longer
Perhaps you’re needing tips for houseplant care?
The most important part of caring for Valentine’s Day flowers is loving them and remembering the reason you received them: out of love.
So, you’ve got your beautiful holiday centerpiece, maybe a gorgeous Christmas flower arrangement or a lovely red poinsettia, but now what? With a little extra care, you can keep your holiday flowers all the way to New Years!
Keep flowers watered. The water level of your arrangement needs to be high enough to cover all stems. If your flowers came in a tray with foam, keep the water topped off.Keeping the soil moist, but not soggy, is essential when caring for poinsettias. This can be accomplished by watering it thoroughly when the soil is dry to the touch. Make sure the container has drain holes. It is imperative to remove any excess water from the saucer.
Poinsettias do best in high humidity with a temperature range of 60 degrees at night and 72 degrees during the day. Avoid exposing poinsettias to temperature swings from cold drafts, heating vents or doorways. Poinsettias need approximately six hours of indirect light. Do not fertilize when the plant is blooming. – From 2007’s Legend of the Poinsettia
What Causes Poinsettia Problems
Poinsettia care if done properly will keep your plant healthy for a long time.
By following these tips, you can keep your holiday flowers lasting well into the New Year!
Ask The Plant Expert: My stephanotis always fails in the heat. Help? – Bobbi
Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply: If you are growing your Stephanotis outside there are a few factors that can make a difference:
Although Stephanotis like to grow in full-sun conditions, it really needs a little relief from the hot, mid-day sun. Place your plant in an area where they get some mid-day shade. Hot winds can also compromise Stephanotis; keep them protected from hot winds. During the growing season these plants also need to be kept moist. Misting the plants every so often will help as well.
If you are using Stephanotis in flower arrangements, proper care and handling will help the flowers last. When you receive Stephanotis from your wholesaler, prep your flowers carefully to avoid bruising. Begin by lightly misting the flowers with clean water, and store them in their original packaging in a cooler set at 39° F or 4° C.
In the cooler, place the flowers where they will receive the least amount of light, and are out of any draft patterns. Remember these flowers only have a 7 day shelf-life.
Stephanotis require constant moisture so another handling tip comes when actually working with the flower. Keep your hands wet while working with the flower. This will ensure that your hands do not wick the moisture away from the flower.
I hope this information was helpful. Please let me know if I can help with anything else.
Winter is the time of year where we spend much of our time indoors. Luckily there are tons of holidays and celebrations during this season to encourage family togetherness and spending time with friends. Decorating with fresh flowers in the winter brings added warmth and happiness to everyone. It is simply not possible to feel the blues around an incredible bouquet of winter flowers. In this post you will find lots of great ideas and the perfect wintspiration to get you started!
Here at Flower Shop Network, we hope you had a GREAT New Year’s Day! Now’s the time to start the new year off right with a beautiful flower arrangement! Flowers are a great way to keep ourselves bright and cheery through the winter. The beautiful delphiniums might be blue, but they are also the perfect cure for the winter blues.
Send this unique winter flower arrangement to your someone special and cure someone of their winter grumps too!
It’s January and hustle and bustle of Christmas is finally ending. Now is the perfect time for you to surprise your lady with a little winter romance. Show her just how much you care by surprising her with romantic flowers either at home or the office. [Read more…]
Flower Arrangement with Bird Of Paradise
Ask the Expert: How do I successfully “open” Birds of Paradise?
Twice a year I install flowers on the high altar and in the Lady Chapel in memory of my mother. Once on or about September 13 and again on or about April 7, or Resurrection Day depending on Lent.
My mother adored yellow roses and Birds of Paradise. When she died the only floral work was a huge (double) cascade casket piece made up of the aforementioned roses, birds and greens.
I have tried ever since to use the two when I install the flowers. I find the combination perfect in April for the Resurrection and in September as Fall approaches.
I tend to tear the pod. The “petals” seem very delicate and I lose a lot of them. At least 2-3 out of ten never thrive. They look dead. I normally pick up the flowers on Friday afternoon and install them before 02:00 PM on Saturday.
Like funeral work, the flowers do not have to look good for very long. The goal is they last through noon day prayer on Wednesday. Nit a huge problem if they do not.
I am purchasing the flowers through a wholesale florist. We have done business with them as long as I can remember with no problems whatsoever. It’s me, not the flowers. Edward
Flower Shop Network‘s Plant Expert Reply:
Correctly prepping the flowers is the key. When you pick the flowers up run lukewarm water over the flower heads. Then manually open the bracts and gently pull florets up. In our Elements of Design: Preparing Birds of Paradise, we demonstrate how to do this.
I also recut the stems of the Birds of Paradise. Another big factor is to make sure the Birds are stored at a temperature above 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ask the Expert: I have problem with the Spores on Leather Leaf .
The spores are popping and leaving a mess in fresh flower arrangement’s, What can I do to stop this, The wholesaler says its normal for this time of year but I cant send out flowers with fern spores leaving a mess everywhere. Vonda
Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:
The wholesaler is correct about this being the time of year (June-July) that ferns release their spores. However, that knowledge doesn’t solve your problem. You may need to remove the spores just like you have to remove pollen in lilies.
I personally haven’t removed ferns spores before, but I researched spore removal. When fern growers need spores to create new plants, they take the fronds with ripe sori (the part of the leaf containing the spores) and fold a piece of paper over them. In a day or two, the spores drop on to the paper.
In the flower shop, I would recommend wiping the back side of the frond with a soft paper towel. Any ripe spores should detach from the leaf. If the spores won’t release, gently taps the frond.
Hopefully, this will be a solution to your problem. Please let us know if this solves your problem.
This afternoon I received a call from Sandy (Flower Shop Network customer service rep). With the tone of “say it isn’t so, Joe”, she asked me if daffodils would kill the other flowers in a mixed flower arrangement. As a defender of the lovely yellow flowers I replied, “I don’t think so.” It seems that she had been told that daffodils would kill other cut flowers. As I hung up the phone I wondered, why would someone speak slanderously about this delicate flower.
Now I was on a mission. I needed to find out if this was an urban legend or some daffodil secret I knew nothing of. I watch a lot of crime shows, CSI, Criminals Minds and my favorite The Mentalist. So I applied a few of their techniques to obtain my answer.
Here is what I know about daffodils. They are in the narcissus family and members of the narcissus family when cut produce a harmful stem clogging sap.
Here is what I know about making cut flowers last. Pre-treatments and pre-conditioning are a must for cut flowers. Pre-treatments are usually done by the growers. Pre-conditioning is a task performed by the receiving florist and very important for the longevity of cut flowers. Most flowers receive the same pre-conditioning as soon as they hit the door and you can go from one variety to another without any problems.
However, certain flowers need special procedures to ensure their health and the health of the flowers around them. This is true in the case of daffodils. They must be conditioned separately from all other flowers. Why? Because of the sap that drains from the stems when you cut them. If the sap is absorbed by the other flowers, it will clog their stems thus shutting off their ability to stay hydrated.
OK, here is where I see Urban Legend status emerging.
Some florist some where didn’t pre-condition their daffodils correctly. When flowers started dying in mixed flower arrangements containing daffodils, they blame the daffodils and not the conditioning practices of their shop. (This is kind of like blaming drinking water for cholera instead of the unsanitary practices that allowed waste material to flowing into the drinking water.) Of course this florist started spreading the word and all of a sudden a misunderstanding became an Urban Legend. This has probably caused some wonderful florists to believe that daffodils are flower killers. When in actuality, they can live harmonious with others as long as they are conditioned properly.
So for those of you convinced that the Urban Legend about Daffodils is true, try this experiment. Condition some daffodils the correct way and then arrange them with some flowers. Wait and watch. Do they last as long as any mixed flower arrangement would.
Follow these pre-conditioning steps for daffodils.
1. Prepare your daffodils after all other flowers have been prepped.
2. Fill a container with cool water and add a professional floral food. The water in the container should be shallow to avoid stem deterioration in the daffodils.
3. Cut at least 1/2″ off of the daffodil stem and place in the container with the floral solution.
4. Leave the daffodils in the container for at least 6 hours before you use them.
5. DO NOT recut the stems when arranging them. Cutting them will release the sap and you don’t want that to happen.
If you follow these steps, you shouldn’t have any trouble using daffodils with other flowers. Of course the best way to use daffodils with other flowers is in floral foam arrangements. You will have less of a chance of sap leakage in a foam arrangement than in a vase arrangement.
I hope my investigative skills have proven that the killer daffodil is an urban legend based on a simple misunderstanding.
***Tip for working with daffodils – For support insert a chenille stem or a section of leather leaf stem into the hollow of a daffodil stem and then insert it into the floral foam.***
