2010 May | 416-florist.com Flower Blog

Archive for May, 2010

Toronto Wedding Flowers: 3 Tips That Help

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Preparing for your wedding? With years of experience and professional expertise, we’re here to help you make your dream wedding a reality. It’s the biggest and most important day in your life, and you want the wedding flowers to reflect that!

But with so many varieties of flowers and endless selection of arrangements your Toronto florist can offer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Just remember these 3 things that can help you determine which flowers and flower arrangements are best for your wedding day.

1. The venue. Most people decide on where they’ll be having their wedding service and reception before they decide on the flowers. As a result, the venue(s) should help you determine which flowers are appropriate. While personal taste will always be the most important factor, the perfect flowers can also depend on location. For example, if you’re having it at the beach, flowers and arrangements that can resist the heat and wind may fare better. Think summery flowers and simpler arrangements. Scheduled your wedding at Casa Loma? More extravagant arrangements boasting elegant flowers like roses and calla lilies may be better suited.

2. The season. If money is a concern, you’ll want to buy flowers that are in season. Choose tulips in the Spring, cyclamens in winter – if you don’t know which flowers are in season, just ask us. There’s no doubt you’ll be able to save money doing this. Fortunately, popular flowers like chrysanthemums and roses are in season pretty much all the time.

3. Prepare to prepare. Do a little research before you talk to your florist. Knowing what you like and don’t like can make the planning process easier, and will certainly help your florist understand your preferences!

The Wedding flowers we have available to view online are just a tiny (tiny) glimpse of what we can create for you. We know that each wedding is unique, which is why we recommend you talk to us directly regarding your preferences. Call us at 416-FLORIST to speak with our Wedding Flower experts today!

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Preserving Funeral Flowers: From Your Toronto Florist

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Funeral flowers express the beauty of an individual who has passed away, and provide comfort to those who remain and are grieving. As a result, it is common for family and friends who attend a funeral service to take some of the funeral flower arrangements home with them. These arrangements, most often in a vase, are displayed at their home as a tribute to a lost one.

When funeral flowers are taken home following the service, they will most likely require a change of water to preserve their freshness. While changing the water and cleaning the vase to remove harmful bacteria is simple enough, you’ll also have to trim the stems.

Trimming may be done by cutting the bottoms of the stems while they are submerged in water with a sharp pair of scissors or knife. If the stems are thick, like those of chrysanthemums or carnations, bending the stems near the bottom until a small portion snaps and breaks off is an alternative to using a tool.

Reviving Funeral Flowers
The journey from florist to where the funeral service takes place, then on to family home may be a long one. By the time the flowers arrive at their final destination, they may have begun to droop or wilt. There are 3 ways to revive them:

1. Wrap the flowers in newspaper and trim the stems while they’re under water. Then, place the flowers in a deep vase or container full of water. Leave for about 2 hours then unwrap and place them into their original container. This should straighten up flowers such as calla lilies, gerberas and daffodils.

2. Roses and a few types of wildflowers may be revived by wrapping them up in newspaper and charring the trimmed ends of their stems for about half a minute. Use a candle or other open flame. Once the surface has blackened, plunge into cold water then unwrap the arrangement and return them to their original container. Surprisingly, the charred ends enables the flowers to absorb the water more easily.

3. Hydrangeas may be revived by wrapping everything but the bottoms of the stems up in newspaper. Place the exposed bottoms into boiling water and hold there for about 3 minutes, then remove them and plunge into ice-cold water. When you unwrap the flowers, they should not be drooping anymore.

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Toronto Tulips: They Could be From the Netherlands!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

There’s a good chance the tulips you see at your local Toronto florist this Spring are from the Netherlands. If they aren’t, then the bulbs in your garden probably are. The Netherlands exports approximately 2 million cut tulips every year and even more bulbs, many destined to far away countries like Japan and Australia. However, Germany and the States claim most of the harvests. It is believed Canada imports close to 50 million tulip bulbs. The Dutch are the largest tulip producers, with 15 other countries around the world in a distant second (these countries include Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Poland and France).

(photo courtesy of the Daily Mail)
The country devotes over 10,000 hectares to tulip cultivation. Concentrated in the northern part of the Netherlands, the majority of tulips are grown seasonally outdoors, so that production peaks in Spring. Other times of the year, countries in warmer climates provide us with tulips, such as Chile, or we turn to greenhouses located in cooler climates.

But as for right now, it’s tulip season in the Netherlands and this is when you’ll see fields and fields of tulips, neatly arranged according to colour. A beautiful rainbow, the landscape is a stunning sight.

Isn’t it breathtaking?

(photo courtesy of the Daily Mail)

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