Flowers For Your Home & Sweetheart

* Vases, posies, wreaths, bouquets & button-holes,
* Floral arrangements for special occasions,
* Always fresh, fragrant and delightful.

Your garden flowers are not always available to cut when you need them - but don't worry. With a few surprise delights besides - high quality floral gifts are available here to provide your home with floral decoration when you need it. And they include greenhouse grown exotic blooms.

And you don't have to worry about packaging. Because when you buy these floral arrangements to send to a friend you can be sure of getting something extra special.

Home-grown Flowers

But this page is about how you prepare and present your home-grown floral decorations - from bouquets and posies, to vases and wreaths... ... Or indeed how you prepare a vase and make your blooms last longer - see below.

Note that some of the American flowers bought from this link actually come in small vases of water to keep them fresh. But you'll find attractive vases and bowls to display your arrangement, on the links below.

Choose Your Vase Carefully

Beautiful blooms need a handsome vase. Indeed your vase is an integral part of your floral arrangement. So first:-

• make the shape of your vase conform to the space available for your floral display - different vases suite narrow shelves, large tables or small tables.
• choose a shape that compliments the shape of your chosen blooms - tall vases for spiky inflorescences, round shapes to balance full globular headed blooms.

• Clear Crystal Vases: clear still water gives your decor a sense of purity.
• Cut Glass Patterned Vases: work well in sets and as focal points that sparkle. But with an eye on shape and color see the decorated vases below.
• Painted and Decorated Vases: in many forms are well-used to blend in with your room decor and wall color. They come in creative shapes to fit narrow spaces. And in themselves they are handsome works of art. find handsome vases here.
• Rose Bowls: round shapes balance and harmonise with the full rounded shapes of blooming roses. They are especially suited for tables.
• Short Stems: to highlight a single stem such as Gerbera or an Orchid - some are wall mounted. - find more vases here.
• Taller Vases: for long-stemmed and spiky blooms and grasses. They're also used with long-stemmed roses.
• Tall Urns: may be used for suitable dried flowers, grass and twig arrangements.

Make Your Floral Arrangements Last Longer

There are numerous 'old wives' tales on the subject of additives to vase water. You'll read advice about adding bleach, aspirin, lemon juice, vinegar and more. If I had to choose one, it would be real lemon juice, because that includes sugar, some anti-bacterial action, vitamins and organic acids like those in natural plant sap.

Professional information to help you care for cut blooms is on this link and outlined below.

• Pick stems in the morning when fresh and place immediately into a flower bucket of water - use a sharp knife,
• Recut stems underwater or under a running stream of water,
  You should remove an inch or so of stem and cut to the desired height,
  Leave room to recut the stems every day or so,
  Use a sharp knife,
  Make a slanting cut to reduce contact with the bottom of the vase,
• Use a clean vase (steam sterilized perhaps),
  Use clean tepid water - and keep it deep,
  Use a small amount of florist food if available - but the water should remain clear,
• Remove leaves that are below the water level and any other debris that collects in the vase water,
• Avoid placing vases into a draft, near a heat source or direct sunlight,
• Dead head blossoms as they fade,

Check what professional florists say you should be doing on this link.

Foils & Greenery For Your Arrangement

Greenery from conifers, holly, ferns and palms, as well as small misty looking inflorescence like Gypsophila make an ideal background for the main display of bold bright coloured blooms.

Making Wreaths

You need some wire, such as a coat hanger, bent into a circle to form the frame. Small wire ties are used for twisting around stems and with greenery to hold it into place. Ribbon and glitter may also be useful. Florist's accessories - including wreath rings, sponge, scissors, ties... can be found from these links.

Oasis

Florists use a sponge known as Oasis. The makers claim that Oasis Maxilife meets or beats the life of flowers in a vase of water. Stalks are inserted into Oasis which can be easily cut and placed into the bottom of a vase or dish.

Dried Flower Arrangements

Although dried floral arrangments lack the vivacious immediacy and romance of living blooms they do last much longer.

However, their main advantage is surely the unique shape and architecture they bring to your decor. Indeed, dried seed heads, cones and grasses, twigs, logs and bark cannot be missed by those who enjoy an earthy natural style for rooms and furnishing.

Buy Bouquets, Hand-Ties, Beautiful Arrangements,
Wreaths, Vases And Gifts In Your Country
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country selection: >>   >> 

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• You can find flowers sent in water on this link.



• Florist's accessories - scissors, foil, foam, wreath rings and ties... are here


• You can find a nice selection of vases on this link or click below.




• DirectGardening.com - Offers quality plants at great prices, click to see what I mean!

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• Try Bunches.co.uk - they support the ethical voluntary code Florverde, set up by the Colombian Flower Growers Trade Association.


• Florist's accessories - scissors, foil, foam, wreath rings and ties... are here


• You can find a nice selection of vases on this link or click below.




• Start here to grow your own blooms for cutting.

Find more information on the-organic-gardener.com:

• Learn about patio and container gardening,


• Discover the hidden delights of an organic garden and,


• Get tips on how to grow your own blooming plants from seed,


• where to buy plants and how to care for plants when they arrive.

ALSO on The Organic Gardener find:-

My Neighbour's Flower Gardens

Do you run a gardening website - with information to interest my visitors? To set up exchange links from/to suitable pages - click here.

Home Of The Organic Gardener