Be creative for May 13, Mothers day. Instead of giving her the boring and over-priced bouquet of flowers that will wilt by the end of Sunday’s brunch, give her the resources to start her own garden that will keep the flowers coming long after Mother’s Day is over. She will rejoice whenever there is a bloom in her garden.

Keeping in mind her favourite flowers, plan a garden with the help of your local garden center.

You can buy her plants which she enjoys.

Many hanging plants are very low maintenance. Ex., Ivy plants need minimal upkeep as their lush green leaves tumble down the pot all year round. They can even be kept indoors! With fuchsia’s and shady area impatiens, Mom doesn’t even need to worry about keeping them in the sun. These flowers have a liking to the shade.

Another option is a prepackaged herb garden. Perhaps Mom loves to put herbs in her cocktails at home. Pick her favorite scents and tastes and assemble that into her own personalized herb garden.

The gardening possibilities for unique Mother’s Day flowers are endless. Think about your mothers taste and make her happy this Mothers Day.

Mother's day is probably the only occassion wherein the mother accepts any kind of gift from her loved siblings. By presenting clovers, you mean to wish good luck and roses symbolize love, but did you know that a cactus means endurance and a sunflower signifies loyalty?

Any gift may probably be drop in the ocean of Mothers love towards her children and vice versa. But to show the gratitude the trend of gifting giving came into existence.

It became a trend during the Victorian era. The Language of Flowers was utilized to create a language for friends, family, and lovers to replace words. On this Mother's Day you can help express how much mom means to you, with more than just words.

Send her wishes of love (roses), prosperity (lilies) and strength (alstroemeria) with the Happy Mother's Day Bouquet. The bouquet may consists of Asiatic Lilies, roses and alstroemeria.

Express her understanding (hydrangea), saintliness (delphinium), love (rose) and protection (Queen Ann's Lace) with the All About Mom Bouquet.

Present your mom bouquet of Iris' which will thank Mom for the faith, hope, wisdom and valor (an Iris means all of these) she has provided through out her life.

Your Choices may vary from place to place. The new and improved Year of Flowers with bigger bouquets than ever offered before or specific floral collections, including the Year of Gerbera Daisies, Orchids, Tropicals, or Roses.

Can you identify this flower?

Mother's Day spending will hit $15.73 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation's “2007 Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions” survey, conducted by BIGResearch.

About four in ten consumers will shop at a specialty store, such as a florist or jeweler. Almost a quarter of will shop at a discount store, 29% will head to department stores and about 3% percent will buy from a catalog (multiple responses were permitted).

One fifth of consumers surveyed will shop online for Mother's Day gifts this year, up from 17% last year.

The average shopper will spend $139.14 on the holiday, compared to last year's $122.16.

Men tend to spend more on their moms, with an average of $172.91, compared to women's estimated $107.18...

Wonderful orchids photographs, Expo in Costa Rica Central America http://www.floresdecostarica.com/Expo/Site/Welcome.html Enjoy !

I just bought perennial gerber daisies at Costco. Now I'm having trouble finding information on how to plant & care for them outdoors in Idaho (zone 4-6). Has anyone had any experience with them in the outdoors?

Jim F McCann, founder and CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS, remembers when he had no money. He was from a lower-middle-class family. He says “One of the joys of financial achievement is not having to worry about the little clings.”

Mr. McCann has been in the floral industry since 1976 when he began building a chain of retail flower shops in the New York metropolitan area.

He is a quiet cozy person and very uncomfortable talking about his own wealth. He addresses hinself as 'we'. McCann has always been careful to live below his means.

He says that he was started off as small entrepreneurs and were self-financed, as opposed to the silver-spoon entrepreneurs.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM also partners with such companies as Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google to sell its products, which include gift baskets, gourmet foods, popcorn, greeting cards, home and garden items, and toys.

Tips for arranging Mothers day flowers:-

• Decide upon the size of the vase before arranging the flowers.
• Arrange the flowers at different angles to show different shape.
• Case should be leak proof, and the vase is at least half as tall as the flowers.
• If the vase isvery short, you can also simply cut the head off of the flower and float it in a decorative dish, along with candles.
• The arrangement can be made beautiful with the fillers like, feverfew, ferns, Queen Anne's lace, baby's breath, heather, statice, and aster.
• If dimension is needed for the arrangement cut the flowers at various lengths. Place the longest stems in the center of your bouquet.

Care for Your Mothers day Recieved Flowers:-

• If you put the flowers in water as soon you receive them, they will last longer.
• Cut the flowers keeping stems while submerged in water.
• Cut the flowers on an angle, which will create a wider exposed area and allow the flowers to take the maximum amount of water.
• Adding the flower food, makes the plant last longer. Ex:- Sugar.

Japan's Imperial family trace their descent from Omikami Amaterasu, the Mother of the World.

Carnations are given to Mothers on this day. It was first celebrated by Christians in Japan around 1913, grew considerably in the 1930's, was halted during World War II and was revived after the war.

Children will also buy their mothers gifts and help out with chores on this day...

I have just created a website with some of my favourite flower photographs. Nothing exceptional in that but I also make short videos using these images. If you are as amazed by the beauty of flowers as I am, you might like to take a look. Flower pictures and video Colin

The versatility of vines is impressive, if underrated. If you're serious about landscape design, though, you appreciate how many different functions vines can serve. Especially popular are flowering vines, examples of which you'll find included in my pictures of vines.

Today i saw a interesting video. This video is on flower decoration given by Jill Slater. View this video "Decorating with Flowers and Jill Slater!!!".

These flowers are Brugmansia flowers or otherwise called as Angel's Trumpets, sharing that name with the closely related genus Datura.

Brugmansia is a genus of evergreen shrubs and trees found in scrub and along streamsides from the Southern United States to South America. They are cultivated for their large, usually scented, pendant, tubular or trumpet shaped flowers borne from late spring to autumn. The flowers droop downwards. The leaves are alternate, simple, often toothed, and sometimes lobed.

Brugmansias should be grown in fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun.

Identify this flower

I live in zone 8b if I naturalize my yard with crocus bulbs in the fall can I still fertilize the grass?

I live in south California. Every year I celebrate mothers day, by giving gifts to my mother, who lives in New Jersey. Always I make a point to be with my mother on mothers day. But last year, due to some important assignments, i had been to california, thinking that, I would return by that day. But unfortunately, I could not return, as planned.

Anyhow, Now that it was not possible to be with my mother on that day, I thought of another way, by sending her, her favourite Red Rose flowers. I contacted a nearby florist and ordered the Rose flower bouquet.

After ordering, I had a good sleep. But when I contacted my mother, she said, she did not receive them. I enquired with the florist. He said their van carrying flowers, met with an accident. But thanks, to the good florist, he took an immediate action, by contacting another florist, and made all arrangements to reach the flowers to their destination.

My mother called and said that she received her favourite flowers and was very happy. This gave me a sigh of relief. Though, almost a year has passed, this is very fresh in my mind. I can never forget last year's Mother's day.

The long blooming period of May Night salvia flowers make them a workhorse in the perennial bed. Just deadhead them to enjoy their flower spikes all summer long. Plant them in a sunny spot and watch the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds pay homage to the purplish-blue flowers of this popular perennial.

Designers create landscape focal points to direct the eye to an area. Scale and line are other landscape-design concepts that deal with eye movement, and using symmetry is a great way to focus attention on a particular area. I provide examples in this photo gallery, including the use of brightly colored flowers as attention grabbers. Browse my pictures to learn how to control eye movement with your plantings, then implement what you've learned in your own yard.

The most common flowers for sending mother on the Mothers Day are thus white carnations. A bouquet of mature blooming roses also serve the great cause of thanking the mother for all her love and care. Spring flowers like tulips, scented narcissi and daffodils are also the favorite flowers for sending on Mother's Day.

Red Carnations are gifted to a living mother, and white carnations for the dead.

Can you give the meaning of the word MOTHER. Here is the answer:-

Mothers day is celebrated all over the world. The meaning of the mother is Universal.

• M is for the million things she gives,
• O means only that she is growing old,
• T is for the tears she shed to save her child,
• H is for her heart of purest gold;
• E is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
• R means right, and right she will always be,

Putting all together becomes the word..

MOTHER

Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced right back to ancient spring festivals dedicated to mother goddesses.

I knew White Carnations were Mothers day flowers, but came to know that red or pink are the flowers for the living mothers while white were for the dead. This I wanted to share with the flower community.

Ancient Greeks worshipped Rhea, mother of gods and goddesses and wife of Cronus.

As early as 250 BC Romans worshipped Cybele, a mother goddess.

In England Mothering Sunday was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the 40 day period leading up to Easter. The servants of the rich were given a day off to return home to spend the day with their mothers. Mothering Cake was prepared on this day.

In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) first suggested Mother’s Day in 1870 as a day dedicated to peace.

In 1907 Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. She was successfull in introducing Carnations as the flowers gifted to mothers on Mother's Day.

White carnations have come to be considered symbolic of love for a mother who has died or is far away and red or pink carnations are for mothers that are close by and living.

I had seen the Orchid having the stinking smell. It smells horribly. In 2004 there was an Annual Orchid Flower show at New York. Among these Orchids there was this Orchid which is the most precious, ugly and stinky. It is none other than Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis.

The bulbophyllum phalaenopsis, with its 5-foot drooping leaves and blossoms reeking like rotten flesh, is featured at the 24th New York International Orchid Show.

The stinky orchid won the accolades representing the Certificate of Cultural Excellence for highest quality in its species, bestowed by the American Orchid Society.

Read More...

In a recent site, i saw something about the preserved flowers calling them as keepsakes. These Keepsakes are the memorable floral bouquets or arrangements given as gift or received.

In the process of Keepsakes, there is a transformation of turning bouquets and flowers into permanent keepsakes.

There are many steps in preserving flowers these valuable, sentimental flowers for oneself.

First a photograph is taken, re-hydration gradually warming flowers, Freeze-drying, etc. After all the steps are completed, it is a 11-day process. But to complete an order of the customer, a florist needs 2-3 months.

Amaryllis is indeed one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. Also known as the Knight star, Amaryllis flowers, being large and trumpet shaped, seem to really suit the name.
I found this wonderful video depicting the Life Cycle of an Amaryllis Flower and thought of sharing it with all the flower admirers. Enjoy it! and please do post any interesting media you have. Thanks!

I live at the Jersey Shore and have become entranced with the gardens containing Purple Loosestrife. My research indicates that there is a non-invasive variety and I would Love, love, love, to locate some. Can anybody help me find it?

The symbolism of Yarrow is Protection, Courage, Love, Psychic powers, Exorcism.

Yes, Yarrow plants are spread by rhizomes and have been known to naturalize. Almost all the species of Yarrow are considered invasive plants.

Yarrow plants are especially popular in border plantings and rock gardens. As a deer-resistant perennial, yarrow plants are useful in deer control. Good cut flower.

From a recent article, i came to know that sneezing and sniffling in some people are caused by the pollen of the flowers of some of the trees.

In Newzealand, perennial hay gever(Seasonal Allergic rhino conjunctivitis) is caused by the ryegrass. Allergy season normally gets going in March, but pollen season varies from place to place. Allergies are kicked into high gear right about the time the trees started to bloom.

Right now the pollen counts are high. In fact, the pollen that causes runny noses and watery eyes does not come from the pretty flowering trees. It is the birch, alder, cedar, poplar and cottonwood that do more damage.

I tried yarrow several years ago to my sorrow. It began go spread all over my garden; had a terrible time getting rid of it. Does anyone know if all yarrow is invasive as my previous experience?

Plant creeping phlox in full sun and a well-drained, humusy soil. A troublesome slope can be covered with creeping phlox as a ground cover to prevent erosion. But during the spring, creeping phlox shines like few other ground covers, forming a blanket of brightly colored flowers.

As an avid flower lover, I was wondering, what is the best time to prune roses. Then I came across a site giving some details. Here are some of its excerpts.

A little pruning, with a little patience and with good fertilizers your rose bushes can be the envy of your neighborhood.

Horticulturists with Kansas State University Research and Extension, answered a few common questions regarding roses.

Experts describe that it is best to prune before new growth appears but after the danger of a killing frost is passed.

• But do not stress or skip pruning the roses if you miss the time for pruning.
• You should get rid of dead stubs. Canker fungi can invade the stubs. Plan to kill entire canes.
• To shape your roses, plan to do any additional pruning after they have flowered.
• To prune large, showy flowers on well-established plants, prune away all but three to four healthy canes with three to six eyes each.

If your roses are healthy and well established, however, wait until their flower buds are formed to start feeding them. That will help maintain the kind of leaf-bloom balance that rose fans love so well.

Research confirms that flowers bring on a smile and make us feel happy even in the kitchen, where most women find place.

Spring tulips are the most colorful choice, and at their best prices. One or two bunches of tulips all-of-a-kind is the way to go. Tulips are good on their own; nothing else is needed.

Some tips on keeping cut flowers:

These flowers can be kept at tin can or a Baccarat crystal vase! Put a bunch of tulips in a water pitcher, a printed can, a flea market jug or your mother's favorite vase.

When you bring a bunch home, first give the stems a fresh cut to open up their water-uptake channels. Choose a vase. Don't limit yourself to vases scaled to the stem length the flowers come with. Cut stems to fit. Stems short or long, either way is perfect.

Quick tricks with tulip leaves. When you want lots of flowers, vases can look crowded if too many leaves are in the way. Then lose some leaves! It's easy to strip off leaves by pulling them downward with a quick gentle tug. To get more flowers in one arrangement, place some “leaf-less” flower stems throughout the arrangement, particularly in the center. Just retain the leaves on the outermost tulips, positioning some of these so the lower leaves fan gracefully outward over the container edge.

There was an article on Honeybees and flowers, which i wanted to share with you.

There is a question “ Can honeybees learn whether nectar contains toxins, and does this influence their ability as pollinators?”.

The honeybee, which accounts for the pollination of at least 1/3 of the world's crop plants, may encounter such poisoned nectar in common crop and garden plants such as Rhododendrons and almond trees.

Honeybees are very clever and can learn to associate almost any colour, shape, texture or scent with food.

The newly-sequenced honeybee genome has revealed that honeybees do not have as many genes for taste receptors as other animals of a similar size, such as flies and mosquitoes. This prompted scientists to think that perhaps honeybees had a reduced need to detect and learn about toxins, despite the fact that some floral nectar contains toxins.

Researchers at Society for Experimental Biology says that both the sugar content and the toxins in nectar affected a honeybee's memory for learned odours. Honeybees learned not to respond to odours associated with toxins within 20 min of eating toxins, and would retain this ability up to 24 hours after eating a toxin. This suggests that honeybees can react to toxins in nectar, but that this ability may mainly be after they have ingested the toxins.

Here's a story, I read somewhere in the newspaper. Since it contails some useful information for the people keeping pets, i thought of sharing.

Joan Lafayette was full of birthday cheer when she carried home the bouquet of mixed flowers she received at work in January as a gift from her daughter. She did not know the fact that the lilies she carried home were poisonous to cats.

Luckily, she was watching when her 12-year-old Siamese-Himalayan, Simba, bit into a lily leaf and then started vomiting. She called her florist, and enquired about the toxicity. Since the florist had no idea of it, he claimed that they were not poisonous.

But she was not satisfied, and took her pet to veternary hospital. Luckily, the cat was saving by her prompt action.

She learnt a valuable lesson that, the vast majority of lilies - Easter lilies, day lilies, tiger lilies among them - are harmful to cats. They can be lethal if the animal doesn't receive emergency care.

After this incident, florists in Largo are including warning cards in the envelopes attached to bouquets that include lilies.

Spring flowers from the Liliaceae family like tulips and hyacinths are toxic for animals, but many lilies in the Liliaceae family can be lethal for cats. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says if you have a cat, these spring flowers are safer: Easter orchids, Easter cactus, Easter daisies, violets and roses.

I met a florist, who shared with me his experiences as being a florist. To a layman like me he explained some of the busiest seasons for a florist.

Chris Felke is a florist, Owner of Felke Florist, 627 S. Michigan St. in Plymouth, Felke charges into his busiest season with daisies in one hand and irises in another.

Chris Felke is fifth-generation florist, who says that business was ultimately more interesting than his original law career.

He says that Spring is the busiest season, but Valentine's Day is a florist's busiest single day, with the week of Mother's Day as a florist's busiest week. The month of May is really the busiest month. Mother's Day, graduations, first communions and Memorial Day are all big for the florist's.

The answer to the question posted yesterday is : The Flower arrangement is Ikebana flower arrangement.