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Flowers have long been used as a token of one’s appreciation or love. People find it an ideal way to express their emotions and it is useful if you do not have a way with words. But did you know that other than gifting flowers many people use it to help them sleep! It has been seen that sweet smelling flowers help provide people pleasant dreams and they wake up fresher. This would be useful especially with the winter approaching and many people suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which usually affects people in the winter months.

Many people wake up to a dark gray and cold morning, but with the help of sweet smelling bunch of roses this should cheer you or loved one up and provide the perfect start to the day.

Posted under Information, News

Summer is the time when most weddings are preferred to be held. This is not surprising because most people like to marry on a nice hot summer day. Historically as well the sun is associated with fertility and people have always preferred to pick the month of June to get married. This is because June is named after Juno the Roman goddess of love and marriage and people always think of the month as a lucky month.

Flowers need to be picked for the wedding and you need to ensure it reflects yourself and your better half’s personality and feelings for each other. If you would like the flowers to reflect your love and contentment for each other try to pick Asters flowers, or if you are looking for love try Apple blossoms. There are many other meanings attributed to different flowers and I shall cover that in another post.

Posted under Hints & Tips, Information

 My first wedding anniversary is coming up in 10 days time. To celebrate our 1 year anniversary me and my husband are visiting the Far East and will be celebrating our anniversary in Phuket. This is of course is going to be a special trip for both if us and we are eagerly waiting to leave next week on our holiday.  Writing a flower blog of course I wondered what flowers would I gift my husband, I did find out that typically on a 1 year anniversary you are gifted or you gift a bouquet of lovely carnations. This is one of UK’s best selling flowers and they denote admiration.

I shall on my return write about my trip in the Far East, unfortunately we have not even left on this holiday my husband is already planning another holiday to Amsterdam for Christmas. Don’t we all love holidays!

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Roses can actually help people fall in love, their fragrances hide a mood altering chemical called PEA phenylthylamine which gives people the feeling of them being in love. This actually helps provide feeling of sensuality and gives roses their distinctive smell. Remember this chemical is generally found only in fresh roses. It is no wonder roses are the preferred choice of flowers to gift on Valentines Day.

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Did you know that roses are actually 35 million years old and their cultivation in gardens began 5000 years ago. Surprisingly they were grown extensively in the Middle East during the Roman era and were used mainly for being a source of perfume and confetti. Interestingly they were also used for medicinal purposes.  Roses much like precious metal even began to be used as legal tender during the 17^th century and they were in high demand.

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We always associate gifting flowers to the woman you wish to please, be it your wife or girlfriend. Many men forget their mum in this process and it is always nice to gift your mum a bouquet of flowers or even a hand tied bunch of flowers for the personal touch.

If your mum would rather have a foliage plant rather than cut flowers there are quite a few choices.

Peace lilies are found easy to be grown and have a lovely scent. Another slightly expensive but excellent value for money flower is Orchids. I say this because several people can leave orchids with little or no care and attention and they will still thrive.

Remember you do not need to wait for Mothers day or a birthday to tell your mum how special she is.

Posted under Hints & Tips

The UK spends nearly £50 million each valentine on flower purchases for their loved ones. But the trend seems to be changing slightly with buyers becoming more conscious where the flowers have been flown from, air miles, the worker’s rights and chemical usage.

It is important to take these points into consideration, and more and more supermarkets are stocking fair trade flowers and the trend is catching on with online retailers who do not want to be left behind.

There has been a 40% rise in fair trade flowers over the past year and increase in stocking British grown flowers. This interest in locally grown produce is benefitting British growers and the local economy.

However British grown flowers are still not the high sellers with most roses coming from Kenya. This is encouraging as well as making purchases from developing countries makes it easier for their locals to earn a wage as well as reduce carbon emissions as they do not require artificial heating to grow flowers in artificial greenhouses unlike the UK. It would be worth checking if the Kenyan roses are fair-trade roses. A strong consumer demand might help improve the Kenyan workers right and make a difference to their working conditions.

Posted under Fairtrade flowers, Information, News

Well not the colour exactly, but to be brides are looking out for ethically sourced wedding flowers. This is an encouraging trend to reduce our footprint. Here are a few steps to just help you do that:

1.    Go local

Support local growers and their produce. This reduces air miles and fuel costs spent transporting the blooms onto your guest tables. Some of the delightful flowers grown here in the UK are roses, foliage, freesia, sweet peas, chrysanthemum, narcissi, pinks, lisianthus, delphinium and alstromeria. However British growers are trying to avoid artificial heating and you can source the flowers seasonally. This is another step to reduce carbon emissions and all the more reason to encourage this progress.

2.    Confetti

Try using rose petals for confetti, this makes it biodegradable and nicer smelling alternative.

3.    Organic Flowers

Organic flowers are grown chemically free and are grown worldwide according to the countries standards.

4.    Fair trade

So what is the difference between Fair trade and Organic. Well for starts organically grown flowers use as little chemicals, pesticides as possible if any. Fair trade means along the production line the workers have been treated fairly and given a fair wage for the work done. It does not guarantee the produce is organic but it works well for developing economies by helping their economy and improving the workers living standards.

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Everyone likes to take inspiration from royal and celebrity weddings for their own weddings. Why not have a look at what these famous personalities wore on their special day.

Princess Diana

The Queen of Hearts held a teardrop shaped bouquet of orchids, lily-of-the-valley, freesia, roses, gardenia and stephanotis.

Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani’s had her wedding hall decorated with red and white roses and she carried a prayer book covered in white orchids and pink rosebuds.

Camilla Parker Bowles

Camilla carried a posy of yellow, white and purple primroses and lily-of-the-valley when she married Prince Charles.

Barbara Streisand

The famous singer and actress chose gardenias and lily-of-the-valley on her special day. Incidentally lily-of-the-valley symbolises making one’s life complete from the Victorian times, making it such a popular choice for many.

Audrey Hepburn

Ms Hepburn went for a simple headdress of large white roses for her first wedding and for her second wedding she opted for hand posy of freesia and lily-of-the-valley. A very simple yet elegant choice.

Marilyn Monroe

This iconic star went for something slightly different. Marilyn Monroe carried a posy of only 3 white orchids.

Posted under Hints & Tips, Information, News

For Orchids

Remember Orchids enjoy being placed in a light spot with not too much direct sunlight. Water them regularly with boiled water which has been cooled before watering. Fertilize the plants every two weeks and given the right conditions of high humidity the flower can bloom for months.

For Peace Lilies

Water the plants regularly and place them somewhere with no too much sunlight. This is unlike other flowers who would bloom better when there is more sunlight. They are the second most popular flowers in UK households and their country of origin is South and Central America.

Posted under Caring for your flowers, Hints & Tips