Flower Care Tips

Most floral arrangements last 4-7 days or longer, depending on the flowers used and the care they receive. The society of american florists provides these tips for longer-lasting, more vibrant flowers:

For floral arrangements

• Keep the vase filled (or floral foam soaked) with water containing a flower food provided by your florists. Flower foods make flowers last longer but it is important to follow the mixing directions on the flower food packet. Most packets are to be mixed with either a pint or a quart of water. Flower foods should not be diluted with more water than is specified on the packet.
• If the flower food solution becomes cloudy, replace it entirely with properly mixed flower food solution with florists online. If possible, re-cut stems by removing one to two inches with a sharp knife. Be sure to use a sharp knife or clippers that will not crush the stems. Immediately place the stems into solution.
• Keep flowers in a cool spot (65 to 72 degrees fahrenheit), away from direct sunlight, heating or cooling vents, directly under ceiling fans, or on top of televisions or radiators. (appliances like televisions give off heat, which causes flowers to dehydrate.) Most flowers will last longer under cool conditions.

For loose bunches or boxed flowers

• Keep your flowers in a cool place until you can get them in a flower food solution. Don't forget how important it is to follow the mixing directions on the flower food packet.
• Fill a clean (washed with a detergent or antibacterial cleaning solution), deep vase with water and add a flower food from your florists.
• Remove leaves that will be below the waterline. Leaves in water will promote bacterial microbial growth that may limit water uptake by the flower.
• Re-cut stems by removing one to two inches with a sharp knife. Place the flowers in the vase solution you've prepared.

Selecting flowers

• When selecting flowers, look for flowers with upright, firm petals and buds beginning to open. Yellow, spotted or drooping leaves are signs of age.
• When using woody stems and branches (such as quince, forsythia or lilac), cut the stem with sharp pruning shears. Place them in warm water containing fresh flower food to promote flower opening of florists online.

Http://www.aboutflowers.com

Tips For Planning Wedding Flowers

When planning your wedding flowers you must consider them to be the bride's arrangements (send your wedding flowers with flowers shop), reflecting the spirit of her life's happiest day. From bouquets to decorations and wedding reception flowers, many brides are clueless about which one of them to select.

Flowers should be chosen according to the bride and groom preferences, color of the bride and bridesmaids' dresses, church and reception places, and sticking to the decoration theme, if any.

Another point to consider is the season because most floral varieties are easily found year-round, but seasonal flowers are cheaper and easier to find in shop flowers. Fresh flowers are the most viable option when it comes to planning the wedding day, but a few brides prefer dried flowers or artificial ones made of silk.

Having an overall perspective of the flowers available throughout the different seasons of the year may help to save money on flowers and yet allow you to select the most appropriate flowers for the big day with shop flowers. Wedding flowers can be classified into spring, summer, autumn, winter and anytime categories.

Spring wedding flowers to choose from are tulips, violets, greenery, fern, pansies, peonies, ivy, daffodils, lilacs, lilies and lily of the valley, dogwoods, irises, forsythia branches, hyacinth, larkspur, sweet peas, apple or cherry blossoms.

For summer, the seasonal wedding flowers are daisies, roses, dahlias, zinnias, asters, iris, larkspur, shasta, stock, calla lilies, delphinium, geraniums, hydrangeas, sunflower, sweet william, greenery, beech leaves, ferns, meadowsweet, stock, goldenrod, jacobs ladder and queen anne's lace.

During the fall, most wedding arrangements include both flowers and foliage but not necessary. The mix of these elements is always a decision of the bride who can choose from a single flower theme to combined floral arrangements with or without specific foliage any time of the year.

In autumn, wedding flowers include asters, dried hydrangeas, roses, zinnias, statice, marigolds, chrysanthemums and gerbera daisies while the most commonly used foliage are autumn leaves, yarrow, rosemary and rosehip.

Http://www.myflowershop.com.au

Valentine flowers

The petals of these romantic valentines flowers are overlapping paper hearts, inscribed with words or single letters that spell out a message. If you make them with wire stems, the valentines can be displayed in a vase; with ribbon stems, they can be tucked into envelopes.

Tools and materials
colored paper
24-gauge wire
small beads
ribbon
floral tape or glue
scissors

Valentine flowers how-to

1. Cut out five to eight hearts of the same size, and inscribe them. Use a pushpin to make a hole near the pointed end of each heart.
2. For a wire stem, thread a small bead onto a piece of 24-gauge wire cut a little longer than you want the stem to be; twist the wire so the bead stays at the end. Thread hearts on the other end until all the hearts are stacked against the bead. Twist the wire again to keep the hearts in place. Cover the stem with floral tape, or glue ribbon around the wire.
3. For a ribbon stem, thread a bead to the center of a 3-inch length of wire, and bend the wire in half. Send the ends through the hole in each heart of valentines flowers. On the back, form the two ends into a small loop around the midpoint of a length of ribbon; trim the excess wire.

Http://www.marthastewart.com