Many of us here in the Northeast long for spring, but the weather has not been very cooperative.  We’ve had some serious snow lately, and more is predicted during the week. I guess this makes us all appreciate the warmer weather when it eventually arrives.

It seems like every March I start trying to make my own spring.  Luckily, spring flowers are available SOMEWHERE, and can be brought to you with a little help from the Wholesale Flower Market.  I just bought daffodils.  In fact, I do this every year, and they look great with my green St. Patrick’s Day decorations.  Did you know that daffodils are best in a vase by themselves?  They secrete a sticky substance, which clogs the stems of other flowers and prevents them from absorbing water.

After my daffodils, I move on to Tulips and Hyacinths.  Tulips are a great value and are wonderful not only in your home, but also as an easy centerpiece for a party or special occasion.  They are always fun to watch, because they are the only flower that I know of that grows AFTER it has been cut!  If you’re planning an arrangement with Tulips make sure you take that into consideration when you cut their stems.

Don’t be afraid of Hyacinths!  They don’t just belong outside.  These long-lasting flowers bring not only the beauty, but also the fragrance of spring indoors.  And speaking of fragrance, practically nothing smells better than Freesia!  If you have never ordered this lovely, cascading flower, wait no longer! 

 You may be surprised to know that the short-seasoned Lilac is also available right now.

 You don’t have to wait until Mother’s Day. Get some now and then again for Mother’s Day!

Don’t suffer any longer from the winter blahs.  Lovely spring flowers from the Wholesale Flower Market will give you that much-needed boost to get you through to the real Spring!

When our two daughters were little, as soon as the Holidays were over, I began planning birthday parties. With their birthdays in January and February, only three weeks apart, the task was sometimes overwhelming. How many things can you do with little girls in the winter? They had pretty much had it with Valentine’s Day themed parties!

We came up with the idea of a flower arranging party. We ended up with a “Springtime in January” tea and flower arranging party. Our oldest daughter loved the idea, but I wasn’t ready for the reaction from her friends. I can still remember the absolutely shocked and thrilled looks on their faces when they saw the flowers. “ Are we going to get to do something with THOSE?” they asked.

As “at home” birthday parties go, it wasn’t too difficult or messy. The flowers needed to be pre-cut and hydrated (this means letting them soak up water and can be done the day before). We worked at a table in our basement that was covered with a plastic sheet. When we finished, the plastic sheet and everything on it was picked up and thrown away.

The party also wasn’t very expensive. Wholesale flowers are a great value. For $100.00 you can buy A LOT of wholesale flowers that little girls love. We used plastic containers (the kind you buy at the grocery store for leftovers) filled with floral foam for the arrangements. They can be easily decorated with markers or stickers as an additional activity if you think you need one.

For a party of 10 girls, plan on buying the following:

10 plastic containers
Floral Foam (the green foam that florists use for arrangements, saturated with water) cut to the size of the containers. Flowers and Greens

The variety of flowers is almost endless, but consider inexpensive, seasonal flowers that are easy to work with. Roses with thorns may not be the best option, but Carnations, Chrysanthemums, Alstromeria, and Sunflowers are great. Filler flowers like Monte Casino Asters and Statice are also colorful and fun to arrange. Greens like leatherleaf fern are very inexpensive and are needed to compliment the flowers.

A sample of flowers and greens for 10 children would be as follows:

25 Pink Carnations
10 Red Alstromeria
2 bunches Yellow Pompon button mums (14 stems)
2 bunches Pompon Daisies (14 stems)
10 Sunflowers
2 bunches Purple Monte Casino Asters (20 stems)
2 bunches Leather Leaf fern

One of the best parts of the party was watching the girls show their Moms what they had made. Believe me, a lot of them looked, shall we say, “less than professional”, but the girls thought they were absolutely beautiful, and their Moms did too!

Our oldest daughter ended up with the reputation of having the best birthday parties in her school. All together, she had three flower arranging parties, in second, fourth, and fifth grades. ! Our youngest daughter had one too, with equally successful results.
In fact, I had several Moms suggest that I go into the birthday party business!

If you have a daughter that loves flowers, (and I know there are lots of them out there!) and you are a “Do It Yourselfer”, consider a party that will be new, different, loads of fun, and beautiful too!

Surely there is a good reason why Valentine’s Day is in February, but whoever decided the date clearly did not consider the shipping logistics involved with the month.   As we head into the high holy (for the flower market anyway) V-Day weekend, once again a major snow storm is roaring across the country.  This is going to wreak havoc on the millions of stems of fresh cut flowers that need to get where they are going this week!   The timing of gifts, parties, and especially fundraising events for the holiday do not allow for airport and trucking delays, but this is once again going to be a factor.   Flowers coming in from all over the world and especially from South America depend on airline freight carriers to the US.   Once in the US, (often landing in Miami), they then need to be distributed to the thousands of wholesalers across the country via trucking and airline freight haulers and common carriers such as UPS and FedEx.   Those wholesalers then must deliver the flowers via local or private trucking companies to the retail shops…. and there is simply no time for SNOW to slow things down. So everybody talks about the weather but no one does anything about it. We say move V-Day to a snow-free month!

All roses are not created equal, but just exactly how does one measure the difference? The flower industry uses a measurement to gauge the size and value of a rose that at first glance may not appear to matter to you.  All roses in the wholesale flower market are rated by the length of the stem after being cut from the rose plant. This length is expressed in centimeters and common lengths are 40, 50 and 60 cm.  But the important fact to remember is that the longer the stem, the larger the flower head!  For example a 60cm rose might have a flower head two times the size of a 40cm rose.   So the length of the stem might be really important if you are creating large arrangements, or you might think you don’t need any stem at all for a corsage, but remember it’s the size of the flower head that matters most.

An obviously well organized Bride-to-be takes matters into her own hands to prepare for creating her own wedding flowers. Read the whole story at: www.imgonnamarryyousomeday.blogspot.com

Red and green are long-recognized symbols of the Christmas season, and white, of course, for its winter feel. There is no shortage of these colors in the flower world. Red and white carnations, fragrant red and white roses, and a wide variety of greens are all popular for traditional Christmas flower arrangements.

But there are so many more options! Try bringing in a little “white Christmas” with the gracefully arching, spiky plume of Lysimachia’s small, star-shaped flowers. Or create a lush bed of Myrtle, whose woody stems and rich green leaves are reminiscent of boxwood. Create depth and interest by including Winter Berry or Hypericum, or introducing the unique texture of White Kale. Add drama with the distinctive Star of Bethlehem or the elegant Amaryllis.

Top, L-R: White Amaryllis, Winter Berry, White Kale, Star of Bethlehem, Red Amaryllis. Bottom, L-R: Red Gerbera Daisy, Lysimachia, Red Hypericum, Myrtle

There are lots of options for containers for your Christmas flower arrangements. Inexpensive plastic metallics lend a festive shine in gold or silver, but you can also look to baskets, or get creative with faux “gift boxes”.

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is an eight-night celebration marked by gatherings of family and friends to join in the lighting of the Menorah. The traditional color scheme for Hanukkah is blue, silver, and white. Even though there are not an abundance of blues and silvers in the flower spectrum, you still have many alternatives to bring the spirit of Hanukkah to your fresh flower arrangements!

For true blues, Delphiniums are bold in color and delicate in form, and come in lighter and deeper shades. The Iris is also a brilliant blue and offers a unique shape. Blue Limonium, a lovely filler flower, is also well in the blue family. Also think about reaching just outside to the lavenders – there are some stunning, fragrant lavender roses and other fresh flower varieties that you can combine with your base arrangement to enhance your Hanukkah theme.

Top, L-R: Variegated Pitt, Blue Delphinium, White Calla Lilly (closed), Coffee Foliage, Blue Iris
Bottom, L-R: Rose Cool Water, Italian Queen Anne Lace, Blue Limonium, White Garden Roses

Choosing a container for your Hanukkah flower arrangement is another opportunity to expand on your design. Containers in white or silver metallic are a great option. You can also consider using clear containers, incorporating decorative stones in blues and whites to introduce more color into your arrangement.