Feelings and Flowers

It’s not often that someone takes a finer edge when writing about flowers, but John DeVore did with this piece. Here’s an excerpt and the link to the original and complete post.

~ Enjoy!

Why real men DO buy women flowers
By John DeVore

Men should buy women flowers. They are colorful. They smell nice. And without them, flora would never get laid. To many, purchasing flowers is cliché or corny or tacky. And to others, it’s an outdated ritual in our modern era of gender equality.

Flowers should not apologize; they should symbolize some wonderful thoughts about the woman.

I’d like to address the men reading this (all five of you): buy the broads flowers. Trust me. And now to all the women reading, who outnumber us dudes 100 to 1: allow the dorks in your life to buy you flowers. Trust me.

Flowers are not a romantic punchline, nor are they a symbol of patriarchal dominance. Buying daisies or lilies or chrysanthemums for the woman you love is one of those things a man just …

Read the rest of this article here on CNN…

Silk flowers are made from different types of material, which make them look very real. Many people in the past have opted for artificial plants and flowers for a number of different reasons. Some were to avoid the hassle of taking care of the real things, some because of the allergy sufferers, while some because they want the arrangement of flowers to last.

Years ago, florist would promote the silk flower arrangements for the bridal bouquet as a keepsake. The silk flower arrangement was also more expensive than real flowers. To have your wedding done in all silk arrangements would have cost you a lot more than having it done in real flowers, but times have changed since then.

Today, silk flowers look more like real flowers than they did back then, and the price of the silk flowers for your wedding will typically be cheaper than with real flowers. More and more weddings are selecting silk flowers today, but this may be because of the allergy sufferers or maybe it’s a budget issue.

Silk flowers do have their advantages. They have a life-like appearance, and they will never wilt or die – regardless of how much you neglect them. Silk flowers are beautiful for ever and they can be kept as keepsakes and passed on to others in the family for their weddings. If you wish, you can even re-use some of the flowers in your home décor, with a few minor design adjustments.

Because time is not an issue with the silk flowers they can be made well in advance of the wedding for pre-wedding photos, or to check the whole order before the big day. There will be no surprises on the special day, which is probably every bride-to-be’s fear. There is a wide variety of flowers, so you don’t have to worry they one have the type of flower you want for your wedding.

Silk flower and plant arrangements can also be made for the home. For those who are not sporting a green thumb or have allergies, but still want the beauty of plants and flowers around their home, silk arrangements are perfect for these people.

No matter what the type of plant or flower you are looking for, you will be able to find it in a silk variety. They won’t need any maintenance or care and they will last you a lifetime.

Tags: Silk flowers, wedding flowers

When we think of ordering flowers online, it is usually for Mother’s Day, or as another gift for someone who lives across the country from us. It’s unusual to consider ordering flowers for our wedding online. Why is that? Maybe it is because we don’t quite grasp the concept of ordering flowers for delivery as a gift and ordering flowers for delivery to the church for our big day as being the same. Do we know that it will be someone from a florist in our area filling the order and delivering the flowers? Are we afraid of some sort of miscommunication will take place and we will receive the wrong flower arrangement? That can happen anywhere.

Ordering flowers online is not much different than ordering flowers directly from the local florist. Florists made arrangements with each other years ago. If you ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to your grandmother on her birthday from your local florist, that local florist would call the florist in the area closest to your grandmother’s house to make the floral arrangement and the delivery. The same thing happens when you order flowers online. The online florist will make the floral arrangements through the florist in your area who will also deliver them to the location you have specified.

You don’t have to worry about them going through the postal system or UPS. FedEx doesn’t even deliver the floral arrangements for you. You will have the flowers you ordered brought fresh and to the door by the local florist who has been contacted by the online florist. When florist first started working with each other around the country and possibly even around the world, they started with the FTD florists. Times have changed, but the way florist work together to make fresh flower deliveries has not. They have had this practice in place for over 100 years and they do it well.

So now you don’t have to worry about where the florist is located when ordering flowers to be delivered. The florist can be in Burlington, Ontario, but you will still receive a fresh bouquet of the flowers you ordered at your door.

Tags: ordering flowers online, wedding flowers

Wedding Flowers: When it comes to flowers, Weddings are one of the largest events. More flowers are used on a single wedding day than any other day of the year. Weddings are big occasions for everyone involved; from the bride all the way down to the caterer – and the flowers are no exception. The flowers are an important part of the wedding. Without the flowers a wedding would be a very drab affair. The flowers add decoration to the wedding location, but they also give the wedding energy and life.

Many times the wedding flowers are made up from the favorite blooms of the bride-to-be along with other flowers for the color of the bloom, which will fit in with the dress colors chosen by the bride-to-be. The flowers and the colors of the wedding theme will go hand in hand. It has been said that many look at the wedding flower arrangements online, but most never buy their wedding flower arrangement from the web.

Many brides-to-be don’t really have a clue as to the type of arrangement or how they want their bouquet arranged, so they must look at pictures. Because weddings take so much time to plan, and in almost all parts of the planning the bride-to-be must be present, so it stands to reason the bride-to-be does not have a lot of free time when the wedding is in the planning stages.

In order for them to have some ideas regarding the wedding arrangements, the bride needs to look at pictures. Her options there would be to visit the florist and look at the pictures they have in books, or they can look on the web. The web can be accessed at all hours of the day or night. Many smaller florists close by 5 or 6pm and don’t open again until 9 or 10am the following day. The bride-to-be will find it easier to find time to look on the web. She will be able to look at the pictures several times before making her final decision. She can then print out the pictures to take to the local florist or to give to her wedding planner.

It is unclear why more brides-to-be don’t order their wedding flowers online. Maybe they are not aware of how an FTD florist works. Maybe she believes the UPS or the FedEx driver will be the ones who will deliver her wedding arrangements to the chapel. However, if she lives in the Burlington, Ontario area of Canada, the florist on the web she is looking at could also be the local florist she chooses for her wedding arrangements. Brant Florist in Ontario has an extensive web site, which includes wedding arrangement as well as a location close by in Burlington.

Tags: Send flowers online, wedding flowers

When thinking about flowers as an idea for a gift, it will usually be Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day or sometime when we are in a hurry, and didn’t shop for a gift in advance. However if you have had the opportunity to look at the florist online web sites you will know they have some great ideas and some of them don’t even have to include flowers!

When it comes to special occasions, online florists have a floral arrangement for just about every occasion you can think of. If Father’s Day came to mind, yes, they have floral arrangements for Father’s Day and ‘For Him’ on Valentine’s Day too.

Not everyone wants flowers. There are people who would prefer a plant. Florists have plant arrangements also. In fact if you will check out their web sites you will see they have all sorts of gift baskets. There is the spa gift basket, the chocolate lover’s gift basket, the fruit baskets and of course the new baby baskets. Some of these baskets will include flowers and some will not. It is your choice as far as what you will be sending to that someone in need of a gift.

Some where over time the flower shop has transformed into a great gift shop, and if you haven’t checked it out lately you are missing out on a great place to get gifts when you are in a crunch and need something fast. Many florist offer same day delivery and that includes the florists who are online.

The next time you go to work and find out today is a co-worker’s last day, and you need to get something to be delivered (as if you had planned it for months,) check out the florists online and have them deliver something that day. You are sure to find the perfect parting gift at a moment’s notice.

Tags: corporate gifts, Flowers, Gifts, shopping for gifts

Sending flowers, if you think about it, how often do you go to the florist to pick up flowers? Could you say hardly ever? More likely than not that is a true statement. Unless it is a corsage for a special date or the boutonnière for the prom; we rarely pick up the flowers we order, we send them. Most of the time we need to send them rather than pick them up ourselves. When you order flowers for a funeral, you really don’t want to pick them up, and deliver them to the funeral home. If you did, somebody somewhere would most likely think you had lost your mind – it’s just not done.

On Valentine’s Day, there are many wives whose husbands would be in BIG TROUBLE, if their wives do not see a bouquet of a dozen red roses coming through the door of their office with their name on them. If you work in an office with a lot of women, the door to that office needs to be a revolving door for all the flower deliveries on Valentines Day!

Sending flowers has become a good habit for us. Mother’s Day is a popular time to send flowers. By sending flowers, you have just bridged the gap of numerous miles. It doesn’t matter how far away you are; those flowers made those miles seem so shorter when you sent Mom those flowers. Remember when you send flowers you are really sending more than flowers – you are sending a little piece of you: a smile, a hug, an “I’m thinking of you.”

Sending flowers is usually one of the best ways to brighten someone’s day, and for some unknown reason having the flowers sent is so much better than delivering them to the door yourself. So the next time you need to send something that says you care. Send flowers. Maybe Grandma’s next birthday, or your wife who is having a rough day. Flowers remind them of how much you really do care.

Tags: se, send flowers, Send flowers online

The meaning of a yellow rose signifies strong feelings of pure joy, gladness, happiness and platonic friendship, in Germanic countries the meaning of a a yellow rose is different – they’re used to convey jealousy.

Friendship is the main meaning of the yellow rose but it also signifies familiar love and domestic happiness. Yellow roses also symbolize fun and freedom.

Today, the yellow rose is used to embrace a new beginning, apologize or express sympathy, and to say, “remember me” , “I am sorry’, or “I care.” Yellow roses are appropriate for marking the beginning of a new life together or for starting all over again.

– The Language of Flowers

The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, was a Victorian-era method of communication. Floriograpghy, in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages, allowed individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken. The meaning of the color of flowers was most commonly communicated through Tussie-Mussies (floral arrangements), a creative art form which continues today.

Though most popular in the Victorian period, the symbolic use of flowers dates back to antiquity. In Medieval and Renaissance culture flowers were often given moral meanings. This is most apparent in art in which saints are often depicted with flowers, symbolic of their virtues. Liana DeGirolami Cheney notes that “some of the Christian symbols for Virginity or Chastity are the white rose, the myrtle, a vessel or vase, the lily, and the unicorn”

– The Color Meaning of Roses

Different color roses symbolize different things and the meaning of different color roses is show here:

1. Red: love, used to say “I love you,” but also stands for courage and respect.
2. Red & White Together or White Roses with Red Edges signify unity and togetherness.
3. Pink: symbolizes grace, sophistication and elegance. Also symbolizes gentle feelings of love and friendship.
4. Dark Pink: Gratefulness and appreciation.
5. Light Pink: Admiration, sympathy
6. White: Innocence, purity, secrecy, friendship, reverence and humility.
7. Yellow: Often akin to joy and deep friendship or platonic love. In German speaking countries, however, they can mean jealousy and infidelity.
8. Yellow with red tips: Symbolizes a gesture of falling in love.
9. Orange or Coral symbolizes enthusiasm and desire
10. Burgundy: Beauty
11. Blue: Mystery
12. Green: Calm
13. Black: used to signify death (black being the color of death) often of old habits. In a positive light it signifies rebirth after death. Also, slavish devotion (as a true black rose is impossible to produce).
14. Purple: protection (paternal/maternal love)

Tags: yellow rose

Father’s Day occurs on the third Sunday in June and it’s a great time to celebrate your Father. Fathers Day has been officially recognized since 1972 and if you were wondering “When is Father’s day?” well it’s on Sunday June 15th in 2008, June 21st 2009 and June 20th in 2010.

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Unless buying your Dad another tie is a running family joke, consider something different this Father’s Day. Ideas for great gifts are plentiful, and this Father’s Day go ahead and get Dad flowers. Flowers are a wonderful gift of nature. Everyone likes receiving them – including your Father – because flowers represent love, happiness, joy and all the other positive emotions.

And contrary to popular myth flowers are not just for women – many men enjoy the gift of flowers too. Flowers – specially well structured and strong looking varieties – appeal to mens masculine nature. Bold, bright colourful flowers are also popular with men and tropical or exotic varieties are a good choice that fits this description.

Traditional Father’s Day Flowers

Traditionalists might select a bold rose arrangement for their Father because the red rose is the official Fathers Day Flower. A white rose is worn or given to commemorate Fathers who are deceased. Other Father’s Day ideas may include humorous arrangements like the ever popular bright yellow “Be Happy Mug” flower arrangement and of course the cactus collection (draw your own conclusions from this gift!)

All joking aside, men do have a softer side – admitted or not. Gardening or getting fresh flowers for the home are common male past-times. The next time you are at the local garden centre, pay attention to what men want and you’ll see that they’re not always shopping for their wives!

If you must continue the Father’s Day gift idea of a tie (or some other item like a baseball cap, or socks) at least speak with your local florist about incorporating these Father’s Day ideas into a Father Day flower arrangement he will likely never forget.

Father’s Day History

Father’s Day is a celebration introduced in the early twentieth century to complement Mothers’ Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father’s Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities.

The history of Father’s Day dates back to the turn of the century, however President Calvin Coolidge recommended Father’s Day as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father’s Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June however the holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon

Tags: Father's Day, Father's day flowers, father's day ideas

It has been said by some that today’s younger people are the “Praised Generation.” This is argued by pointing out the significant social and psychological changes in policy employed by educators, business owners and parents as research suggests newer and more effective ways of nurturing a young person. Continue Reading »

Tags: Praise flowers