Jewellery News and Reviews

Summers fade quickly, probably because each weekend is filled with a birthday party, a housewarming party, a barbecue, a holiday celebration or a wedding. Your flower garden looks great this year but the weather is starting to get colder. Sometimes the best way to prolong the joy of summer is to grab a handful of daisies, tulips, peonies and lilies to create beautiful summer bouquets. The good news is you don’t have to be a master florist to create something stylish and inspiring!

Step one toward creating vivid summer floral bouquets is, of course, the planting. The best time to begin is late March in the West or May in the East, after the threat of frost has diminished. According to Beth Benjamin, floral expert at Renee’s Garden Seed Company, the best flower garden picks are cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. In the front row of her garden, she’s planted purplish blue cerinthe, deep violet love-in-a-mist and phlox. Her second row is comprised of white cosmos flanked by chartreuse bells-of-Ireland and backed by white ammi majus as filler. In the third row, round colorful zinnias grow next to blue and red salvia. The fourth row hangs ardent love-lies-bleeding to the left and cherry pink cleome to the right, flanked by pink and rose cosmos. In the rear, tall sunflowers grow with strawflowers at each end.

For perfect summer bouquets use sharp clippers to make a clean break that won’t crush the stem. Given the right cut, water will be able to travel up the stem into the flower head to make your bouquet last longer. Another trick is to give the flowers a second snipping underwater, by filling your sink with several inches of water, which will send water up the stem, rather than air. Before arranging, keep the blooms in a cool, dark spot for a few hours. “There are many old wives’ tale recipes for flower food,” says floral consultant Libbey Oliver. “Flowers fresh from the garden really don’t need extra nutrients. Instead, every few days re-cut the stems and change the water in the vase. This will prolong their life more than anything added to the water.” Florists do offer small packets of nutrients as well.

Summer bouquets can be colorful or fragrant, relaxing or invigorating, country or contemporary, depending on your selection. Nothing sets the mood like a bit of fresh nature in your living space. A recent Harvard Study found that people who had floral bouquets in their homes were generally happier, with greater productivity at work. They felt more compassionate and more energetic, the study found. “Other research has proven that flowers make people happy when they receive them,” said head researcher Nancy Etcoff. “What we didn’t know is that spending a few days with flowers in the home can influence a wide variety of feelings.”

The difference between heading to your local flower shop and purchasing flowers online is primarily just convenience. While you may be able to find a cheaper iPod online, such is not really the case with a flower delivery. Generally, a big national name will be serviced by local florists anyway, so the prices are usually comparable. There are other points to consider when ordering blooms online though.

First of all, when buying flowers via the internet, you’ll need to be aware who you’re ordering from. Since anyone can open a website, you’re not necessarily ordering from an established florist. Some mom-and-pop flower shops service just a small area and have a website taking online orders for local deliveries only. Other times, a national website will be equipped to handle online orders, yet will expect local affiliates to fulfill the arranging and delivering for them. A third possibility is that you’re ordering from floral growers, brokers, shippers or marketers that ship unarranged flowers in a box by overnight air. It’s easy to assume that all flowers are delivered by hand in a beautiful vase, yet when you’re ordering from these guys, they will send flowers in boxes and you’ll need to do the arranging when they arrive. If the price seems “too good to be true,” then you may be ordering directly from a grower.

There are a number of “order gatherers” online who pocket a nice commission before having local flower shops pick up the slack. “Consumers receive less than what they pay for and have little recourse for resolving problems,” explains Amy Stewart, author of “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.” She adds that order gatherers often appear local but are usually based elsewhere. If you’d like to avoid the middle man while ordering flowers online, then she advises checking out local business directories like www.bbrooks.com or www.flowershopnetwork.com.

When choosing flowers online, find a florist with years of experience, has industry credentials and provides consumer testimonials. Look for secure ordering, a satisfaction guarantee and a seller that has won awards. Many people prefer looking up local flower shops, but some national sites have a good reputation, such as www.ftd.com, www.proflowers.com and www.teleflora.com, to name a few. Be aware that the middle man sites may be scooping a nice commission before passing on the order to a local florist, who fills up to dollar value, resulting in less flowers than you anticipated.

Mothers are amazing individuals. They unselfishly look after their kids making sure there are at all times clean clothes to be dressed in, a delicious lunch on the table, and plenty of love to go around. They repeatedly put their families ahead of themselves mostly expecting nothing in return. That’s why holidays honoring mums have been held since the times of the ancient Greeks, and almost certainly even before. The first formal Mother’s Day in the United States was in May 1914 when President Wilson announced the second Sunday in May to be National Mothers Day, a day when moms across the USA should be appreciated for their work.

Flower arrangements have always been a traditional gift to give to mums on Mothers Day. Because any mom loves to get a floral bouquet or floral arrangement of her favorite blossoms, there are a lot of alternative ways you may incorporate Mother’s day flowers into an extra special declaration of your devotion. And, it is not important how old you are or if you’re helping your own young children celebrate mom, you may use flower arrangements to make this Mothers Day one she’ll remember forever. Here are some interesting ideas for both adult children and for kids:

Grown up Children

If you’re planning to celebrate Mother’s Day with dinner out, take a soup bowl and some silverware to your florist. Have the florist create a floral design in the bowl using the silverware as elements to the arrangement. Put an invitation to eat out along with the flowers. For a public affirmation of your respect, take your mum out to a restaurant and arrange to have flowers delivered to the table.

Let your mother know she need to have fun today. Gift wrap novel and tell your local florist to include it with flowers and a hint telling her to spend her day relaxing.

Send your mother a Mother’s Day tree or plant. Take photographs mounted on decorative paper or in small frames to your favorite florist and ask her to tie them to a small tree or plant using matching ribbons. To purchase a great variety of flowers visit online florist. At this store, you can the type of flowers and gifts you want, the form of arrangement you would like, and the date and time you want it delivered.

Buy your mum a corsage to wear on this special. She’ll enjoy this if she is planning to attend a worship service where anyone can see the present you’ve given her.

Kids

Invite Mother to a movie. Take the movie section from a recent newspaper to your florist and ask him or her to place it in a box of beautiful flowers. Decorate the outside of the box with popcorn wrappers. Include a card letting Mother know she will pick the movie and you’ll buy the treats and tickets.

Send Mother on a floral treasure hunt. Purchase several single stems of beautiful flowers. Have your florist place a flower tube on every one. Hide the flowers all around the house and give Mom clues to lead her to each one. Make the very last find a vase to place all the flowers in and a note letting her know what a treasure she is.

Breakfast in bed is a well known Mother’s Day tradition. Place a lovely vase of her favorite blossoms on the tray.

Whether her children are grown or still young, every mom has a right to a joyful Mothers Day. Your florist will be glad to help you declare your respect and love in almost any unique way you can think of. They might even be willing to offer some ideas of their own!