Avoid Wedding woes

There is such a huge range of choices available when it comes to wedding flowers that it is easy to become overwhelmed by it all. Do you want the formal look of roses and orchids, or the more casual feel of wildflowers with a seasonal garden style bouquet? What colors do you want, what size and shape of bouquet for yourself and your attendants? The best place to start, and its free, is to visit your local library and look at books and magazines for ideas on flower styles and trends. Doing a little homework before meeting with an Daglish florist can be a great help for you and the florist.

Bulbs’ Resistance to Cold
Summer-flowering bulbs come from so many parts of the world and are available at virtually every Westport flower shop. They belong to so many genera that they have few things in common except that they bloom sometime between spring and fall. Some, like most lilies and camassias, originated in cold climates and are hardy enough to survive winters outdoors anywhere in most climate zones. Others such as the caladium, which is native to the banks of jungle rivers in South America, are tender, or susceptible to cold; even their dormant tubers cannot stand temperatures that fall lower than 55°. In most areas such bulbs must be dug up in fall before the ground freezes if they are to be saved for flowering the next year. Resistance to cold (or the lack of it) determines not only how a bulb should be handled during winter but also when it should be set out to grow in the garden.

Exotic flowers
Strange and unusual shapes, strong vibrant colours and interesting names characterize exotic flowers. Many of these are now imported from such diverse countries as New Guinea, the West Indies, Singapore, South Africa and Hawaii. In general, exotic flowers have a long vase life, a crucial factor when you consider the huge distances that some of them must cover in order to reach their destinations.
The use of air freight, efficient packaging and increasingly skilful and scientific post- harvest techniques means that these flowers and other plant materials are transported much faster than they used to be, and will therefore last even longer. The art of flower delivery Huntington Park certainly has come on leaps and bounds in the last five to ten years.

Starting a flower garden from scratch
If you are starting right at the beginning, with virtually a piece of waste ground, the layout you plan is most important. Assuming it is feasible and you have the time, it is best to start by clearing the area completely of stones and stumps, weeds and rough grass, using a rotary cultivator or, if the weeds are really vicious, by applying a powerful weed-killer which any good garden centre will recommend. If you plan on growing your own flowers so that you have no need to order from a Finchley florist anymore, be careful with your weedkiller. Time spent in preparation at this early stage will be invaluable in the future, but the first objective of this initial clearing is to show you the basic shape of the ground and any noticeable features in or near it.

Which Colour?
When choosing flowers to include in a flower delivery Horfield, customers often ask for the recipient’s favourite colour, but if they do not know this they may ask the florist for advice. If the flowers are to celebrate the birth of a boy or girl, this is easy, as it is normal to send pink for a girl and either blue or yellow for a boy. Blue flowers are sometimes difficult to acquire, and blue ribbon is used as a substitute. Yellow and orange flowers always look bright and cheerful, while red makes the room look warm. White, cream and blue flowers are restful, and a good choice for someone who is very ill. It is also helpful to find out for whom the flowers are being bought; men seem to prefer bright strong colours, such as reds, burgundy and rusts, whereas older ladies like mauves, lilacs and pastel colours. Children seem to prefer bright colours.

A Controversial Reputation
Why have lilies been surrounded with an aura of exclu­siveness? Why have they sometimes been marked with the stigma of ill temper, of being difficult to handle? Is it because they often have fallen into the hands of collectors rather than into the hands of practical gardeners? Is it because some experts rate rarity and exclusiveness as more important than general acceptance and use? Is it, perhaps, that we have not given the lily a fair trial? Or, is it rather that the cultural requirements of the lily have been misun­derstood and that they have been incorrectly handled?
Probably all of these factors have contributed to the reputation of the lily, for good and for bad. Yet, its reported difficulties en­hanced its fame, and those who succeeded with lilies could consider themselves expert gardeners and lily specialists. Its rarity has made many a florist Sparkbrook turn to it, intrigued by the challenge that these beautiful flowers offered. Its unique features, the fact that some species have only recently been discovered, and that, until recently, most of our garden lilies were still identical with the wild species (even though they may have been nursery-grown for centuries) induced many a scientist to devote his time and full attention to the lily.

Rose Tubs
For summer, roses can be grown in a tub and do very well and it is useful to have them in tubs if you have a small area with nowhere else to put them. Then again, petunias, geraniums, lobelia, tobacco plants, begonias are all excellent subjects for a patio garden. Lilies in summer followed by pots of hydrangeas all give good colour range and a different look which makes the area interesting all the year round.
Another plant not usually considered as a pot plant but very effective, is sedum and ‘Autumn Joy’ gives a mass of colour for many weeks from September until the frost. And the butterflies just love these flowers Splott, especially when they are in full bloom.

Secondary and focal flowers
The secondary and the focal flowers can be inserted into any floral arrangement. The carnation sprays are added to the design so that when it is completed they will flow across the design. The focal roses move through the centre of the design in a gently curving line. The spacing between the roses is larger at the outer edges, and much smaller at the centre, which is the focal area.
To emphasize the focal area, lilies have been recessed underneath the roses. These help the visual weight and balance of the design. The crimson carnation spray strengthens the line or grouping of the lilies and adds colour contrast. The combination of the wax flower and silvery foliage; gives an airy effect to the arrangement and is sure to please any recipient of this wonderful flower delivery Crosby.
Use short flowers and foliage types to complete the design and hide any small gaps. Mist the arrangement and keep cool.

Contrast in flower arranging
Try putting three golden-leaved hosta together with three green-leaved ones, with dark-leaved bergenia or tellima next to the gold hosta, then maybe a russet leucothöe or two, and behind them a clump of grey artichoke and grey onopordum thistle together with a greyish-leaved eucalyptus. To contrast with the grey mass, you can have a pink or yellow-flowering rhododendron, then two clumps of euphorbia as another contrast in leaf form but with a colour to blend with the hosta in front of it. Try to group plants that set each other off and look well together even when not in flower. My favourite green hellebores, for example, look so well in the early spring against an evergreen hedge or under the bare twigs of Cornus mas. This foliage can easily be bought from your local Cisco florist if you haven't any in your garden. The lime green of Aichemilla mollis can be used to set off Aistroemeria ligtu hybrids both in vase and in border.

Need more?
This information is brought to you by the Flower Baron. Another great resource for flower and florist information is The Florist Bible.