Floral Inspiration For Your Week (in words)

Over the years I’ve gathered quite a collection of books, poems, quotes, and song lyrics that reference flowers. They come from people in different walks of life, from different cultures, and different periods of time, yet they all find inspiration from flowers. Their written words can be sincere, inspirational, thought provoking, or even funny. Here are five I have chosen to share with you today:

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” - Lady Bird Johnson

"Like wildflowers, you must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would." E.V. Thompson

 "Even the tiniest of flowers can have the toughest roots." Shannon Mullen

"Happiness is to hold flowers in both hands." Japanese Proverb

How do two flowers greet each other? (Hey bud, how’s it growing.)

(So silly, but it still makes me smile.)

For more quotes and proverbs, follow these links to my previous blog posts:

Wise Words

A Few Words Of Wisdom To Inspire Your Day

Flowers - An Inspiration For Writers

Three Flower Quotes

Six Fragrant, Flowering Houseplants (And Their Meanings)

There’s nothing better than a vase of fresh flowers to brighten your environment.  But a close second is a flowering plant. As we head into autumn with colder, darker days, a flowering plant or two makes a great addition to your home. And a fragrant flowering plant is even better. 

I’ve chosen six fragrant, flowering plants that will fill your home with visual and scented beauty this autumn season.

Jasmine - Elegance/Grace:

Jasmine’s pretty white star-shaped flowers have quite an exotic fragrance. You can let the vines grow long, or train them around a wire ring or trellis.

Gardenia - Joy/Love/Peace/You are lovely:

A gardenia plant has gorgeous, shiny dark green leaves. They’re the perfect backdrop for their  intensely fragrant rose-like white blooms.

Miniature rose - Love: 

Miniature roses come in a variety of colours. Their sweet-perfuming smell is sure to remind you of a warm summer's day out in the garden.

Scented Geranium - Friendship:

Some varieties of geraniums are scented, while others aren’t. To fill your home with a citrusy-floral scent, make sure you check the one you are getting is fragrant.

Lavender - Devotion:

We’re all familiar with lavender growing in the garden, but a pot of lavender will grow well indoors as well. I suggest choosing English lavender as it has a stronger fragrance.

Orchid - Refined beauty:

Orchids come in a number of different varieties and colours, but not all are fragrant. Each variety that is fragrant, has its own unique scent. Speak to your knowledgeable, local florist for guidance in choosing one with a scent that suits you.

If you have any suggestions for fragrant, flowering houseplants, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

3 Quick & Easy Ways To Use Dried Lavender At Home (In a sachet is not one of them.)

Lavender is a versatile plant with many uses both in fresh and dried form. One of the best things about lavender is it emits a sense of calm and relaxation. Today I’m sharing three quick and easy ways you can use dried lavender in your home, helping to create a calming atmosphere.

1 - Use while vacuuming:

Sprinkle your flooring with dried lavender buds before vacuuming. As you vacuum the lavender’s gorgeous floral fragrance will be released into the air. 

2 - Lavender and rosemary fire logs:

The fragrance of these herbal bundles will create a relaxing atmosphere when added to your wood burning stove.

To make them all you need to do is take 10 stems each of dried lavender and rosemary. Layer the herbs, alternating ends, and tie tightly with raffia. Place them in the fireplace along with your wood logs.

3 - Lavender Vinegar:

This is super simple to make and a great natural cleaning product for your home. Put one part dried lavender buds to 4 parts white vinegar in a glass jar and cover with a plastic lid (or cover with a piece of plastic wrap before adding a metal lid). Let sit for a couple of weeks, then strain the lavender buds out and put the infused vinegar in a spray bottle. Use as an all purpose cleaner on sinks, countertops and mirrors. 

I hope you enjoy these uses for dried lavender. If you have any other suggestions please share them in the comments below.

Travel Destinations With A Flower Focus

Flower Tourism: Traveling to see flowers around the world.

Rarely do you hear of someone planning a trip with flowers as the focus. 

But there are many destinations around the world that boast spectacular displays of wild or cultivated flowers. Here are five places to put on your wish list:

1 - Holland

• Flower: Tulips

• Meaning: Perfect love

• Best time to visit: Mid-April to early May

2 - Provence

• Flower: Lavender

• Meaning: Devotion

• Best time to visit: Early-mid July

3 - England

• Flower: Bluebells

• Meaning: Kindness

•  Best time to visit: Mid-April to late May

4 - Azores

• Flower: Hydrangeas

• Meaning - Perseverance 

• Best time to visit: Mid-August

5 - California

• Flower: Poppies

• Meaning: Remembrance/Restful sleep

• Best time to visit: Mid March to late May

To note: ‘Best time to visit’ is based on the time of year the flowers have historically been in bloom. However, each year times may vary depending on weather and growing conditions.

Read more about travelling with a flower focus on my previous blog post ‘Time For A Flower-Filled Vacation’.

Wise Words

The simple beauty, memorable fragrance, and vibrant colours of flowers make them a rich source of inspiration for creative minds.

Over the years I’ve gathered quite a collection of books, poems, quotes, and song lyrics that reference flowers. Today I’m sharing five of the quotes I’ve collected with you.

You’ll see they come from people in different walks of life, from different countries, and different periods of time, yet their words still hold true today.

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“Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you.” (Maharishi Mahesh - Yogi, Indian Guru 1918-2008)

“Even if the flower is no more, still, the fragrance can be.” (Jaggi Vasuder - Indian Yogi and Author 1957- )

“The Amen of Nature is always a flower.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr - American Physician and Poet 1809-1894)

“The first wild-flower of the year is like land after sea.” (Thomas Wentworth Higginson - American Abolitionist 1823-1911)

“Are not the flowers the stars of the earth?” (Clara Lucas Balfour - English Lecturer and Authoress 1808-1878)

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You can find more flower quotes in my previous blog posts:

A Few Words of Wisdom to Inspire Your Day

Three Flower Quotes

Flowers - an Inspiration for Writers

The Floral Prescription - What It Is, What It Isn't, and What’s Coming Next

I began The Floral Prescription blog in November 2019.  I wanted to create a place where flower-lovers could go to find information and inspiration about all things floral. Things like, how flowers have a positive effect on our well-being, exploring the language of flowers, learning about edible flowers, introducing flower-filled travel destinations, and delving into flowers in art, music, and literature. 

One topic I’ve always stayed away from is gardening. I purposely did this for two reasons: 1 - there is already so much information out there about growing flowers, and 2 - not everyone who loves flowers is also interested in gardening (myself included). 

Now sixteen months have gone by since I started The Floral Prescription, and along the way, something changed for me. While I still want my blog to be the ‘go-to spot’ for all things floral that’s not related to gardening, I DO want to learn to grow my own flowers. 

More and more lately, I’ve been wishing I had my own readily available source of local, seasonal flowers, and organically grown edible flowers, and I knew the best way to have them would be to grow them myself. And as fate would have it, as soon as I made that decision a community garden plot became available in my neighbourhood and I was lucky enough to have it allocated to me. My plan is to plant half of it as a cut-flower patch and use the other half to grow edible flowers.

This new venture I’m starting will not have much impact on my blog. I still believe there should be a place for flower lovers to go to get floral information that is not garden-related, so the majority of my blog will still have nothing to do with gardening. 

However, I do plan to document my ‘learn to flower garden experience’ on my Instagram stories. I hope you’ll enjoy following along with me as I try to grow cosmos and sweet peas, nasturtiums, and calendulas. I’m expecting to learn a lot along the way, hoping for not too many mistakes, and will be delighted if at some point this summer I have some flowers to cut and put in a vase, and others to sprinkle over a salad. 

This project is meant to help me learn and grow in new ways. I’m not switching from sharing about ‘all things floral, all year long’ to ‘how to start a flower garden’, but I am ‘practicing what I preach’ by finding ways to incorporate flowers into my life on a daily basis.

In other news, I want to let you know that I’m busy working away on my next issue of The Floral Prescription Magazine (April/May/June issue). I’ll be emailing it to all my blog subscribers during the first week of April. This is my way of thanking you for being part of The Floral Prescription. If you’re reading this and haven’t subscribed to my blog yet, all you need to do is fill in your email address in the ‘subscribe’ box on my website.

I appreciate each and every one of you who has supported me over the past 16 months. I love what I’m doing, I love what I’m sharing, I love what I’m learning along the way, and I love the plans I’m making for The Floral Prescription in the future.

Flower Delivery - the Easy Way

If you’d like to have a year filled with flowers, there are simple things you can do to find success. One way to make it easier to have flowers in your life is to arrange for a regular delivery of flowers. 

What I’ll share in this post:

• Pros and cons of the traditional flower delivery system

• Introduction to flower subscription box services

• Details of how the flower subscription box service works

• My experience with a flower subscription box service

• Two flower subscription box services I recommend

Pros and cons of the traditional flower delivery system:

The ‘traditional’ flower delivery system is a method we’re all familiar with. We call the florist, order some flowers, give them the name and address for delivery, and they take care of the rest.

Pros:

• Each time you place an order, you pick the flowers you want, you set your budget, and you choose the date you want the flowers delivered. 

• This is a great service when sending flowers to people who live far away, or if it’s for a ‘one-time’ delivery.

Cons:

• The cost of delivery is an additional cost on top of what you spend on your flowers.

• Every time you want a flower delivery, you need to spend the time placing the order.

Definition of a flower subscription box service:

A flower subscription box service offers you the opportunity to sign up for a recurring delivery of fresh flowers. While there are difference in the specific details of how each flower subscription box service runs their business, there are general concepts they all follow. 

Details of how the flower subscription box service works:

1 - One time sign up. You sign up one time to receive recurring deliveries, saving you time and effort.

2 - Prearranged delivery date. There’s a certain day of the week when flower boxes are delivered to your area. You can’t choose the day but you can choose weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly deliveries.  With a regular schedule like this you always know exactly when your flowers will arrive.

3 - No middle man. The subscription service buys the flowers straight from the grower, boxes them up and delivers to you. Having no middle man keeps the costs down.

4 - Seasonal product. The business picks what flowers will be delivered each week depending on the season and what is available. While this means you have no say in what flowers you receive, you do get to enjoy the element of surprise when you open your box.

5 - Local product. Using local product ensures when the flowers arrive they are as fresh as can be.

6 - Flowers arrive in a box. As the flowers are not already in a vase when they arrive, you get the chance to be creative arranging the flowers.

7 - Adjust your schedule. If you need to, most flower subscription services will allow you to skip a week or put your plan on hold for a specific amount of time.

My experience with a flower box subscription business:

In April 2020, I tried the flower subscription box service in my area. It was easy to sign up for, the cost was reasonable, delivery was on time, and the flowers were fresh just like they promised. 

After a few deliveries, I did decide to cancel the service.  While I was really pleased with everything and never had any problems (not even with cancelling the service), I really missed the hands-on experience of going to my local flower shop, seeing what they had available, and choosing the exact flowers I wanted. 

While I prefer shopping for flowers in person, for those of you who want (or need) something more convenient, I would definitely recommend giving a flower subscription box business a try. 

Two flower subscription box services I recommend:

These are the two subscription services I’m familiar with. Both have excellent websites that will answer any questions you have.

Bear’s Blooms - Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria area

Freddie's flowers  - UK

While I only have experience with the two subscription services listed above, if you know of any others, please comment below. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Get To Know Your Florist

The new year is a great time to start a healthy habit. This year I’m encouraging you to improve your well-being by having a flower-filled year. Scientific research has proven that having flowers around you will boost your mood, brighten your environment, decrease your anxiety, improve your sleep, increase your productivity and strengthen your memory. 

My goal is to provide you with a year’s worth of information and inspiration on all things floral, to help you be successful with your resolution.

To be able to keep your resolution for  a whole year, you need to be interested in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. For the month of January, I’m going to share with you things I’ve learned over the years that will make buying flowers as easy and engaging for you as possible.

Why you should get to know your florist:

One of the best things you can do is get to know your local florist. A good florist can offer their customers so much, but a strong relationship with their customers is also really important for the florist. 

Benefits for florist:

 1 -  Loyal customers: Florists want to create loyal customer relationships. Their biggest means of marketing is often word-of-mouth, so if you’re happy with their service, you’ll tell your family and friends, creating new customers for them.

2 - Less waste: Florists have to stock their shop with fresh flowers - a perishable product. There’s nothing worse for them than to have unsold inventory that has to be thrown out - they’re basically just throwing money away. If a florist has strong relationships with her customers, she gets to know what and when they’ll buy flowers, helping her make the best choices possible when purchasing from her buyers. 

Benefits for customers: 

1 - Gain knowledge: Florists are a great resource for  your flower-related questions. If they don’t already know the answer to your question, they should be able to find it for you. They’re also able to share with you  tips and tricks on how to keep your flowers looking as fresh as possible for as long as possible. 

2 - Help with decision making: If you’re not sure what flowers you want to buy, your florist will be able to give you recommendations. They know what’s in season, how to style them and can work within your budget.

3 - Be informed: If you cultivate a relationship with your florist they’ll be able to contact you when your favourite flowers come to the store, or remind you when there’s important events in your life when you’ll want to make a floral purchase.

4 - Source for specialty items: If you have a special flower you’d like but it’s not local, a florist should be able to source it for you.

5 - Delivery taken care of: Florists are able to arrange for local delivery. If you want to send something to a location further from home, they’ll be able to assist you with a local florist in that area.

Top tip:

Make sure you ask your florist which day they have flowers delivered to their shop. Then you’ll be able to have the widest selection to choose from and the freshest flowers possible.

A Few Words of Wisdom to Inspire Your Day

I love a good proverb. Those catchy, little phrases you first hear as a child, never really understanding what they mean, because while the words were said to you, they were never explained. Then later in life you figure out what they mean, realize the saying rings true, and you start repeating them yourself.

I grew up with proverbs such as: ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.’; ‘A fool and his money are soon parted.’; ‘A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.’. And of course, the always popular, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’

I have an English background so to me those are traditional sayings that are etched in my mind, but I also love exploring proverbs from all over the world, showcasing generations of wisdom from different cultures. And since this a blog about everything to do with flowers, I wanted to share with you three proverbs from three different countries all related to flowers:

‘All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.’ - Indian Proverb

‘A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses.’ - Chinese Proverb

‘To an optimist, every weed is a flower; to a pessimist, every flower is a weed.’ ~ Finnish Proverb

I love all three of these and find all of them thought-provoking, but I think my favourite is the Indian Proverb. Which is yours?

(And if you would like to read some flower quotes you can click here or click here to read how flowers are an inspiration for authors.)

Coming to you - The Floral Prescription Digital Magazine

Over the past 6 months, with spending more time at home, I’ve done several things. Read a dozen books, binged watched several series on Netflix, participated in multiple zoom calls and video chats, taken online courses, and learned how to hand stitch a mini quilt. And then this -   I created the first issue of The Floral Prescription digital magazine.

I’m not at all knowledgeable about ‘computer stuff’, but for some reason, I decided that making a digital magazine would be a good idea. From beginning to end this has been a ‘learn as I go’ experience - and I’ve learned a lot!

This issue of The Floral Prescription magazine is full of seasonal information and inspiration on everything about flowers for autumn. Among other things, you’ll find tips on flower arranging for autumn, recipes for three warming teas, a book suggestion, some TFP followers floral memories, and a step-by-step method for drying flowers.

My plan is to produce this magazine four times a year, one for each season. While they’ll all follow a similar format, the content will be focused on the time of year it’s released. While I’m quite pleased with the final product this time, I know - with all I’ve learned - future issues will only get better. 

As a thank you to all who have subscribed to my blog you will be receiving this for free. Watch your email inbox in the upcoming weeks. I just need to learn one more thing - how I actually send this digital creation to you. When you do get it, I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. As always I value your comments and feedback and look forward to hearing from you.

PS If you’d like to contribute to an upcoming issue of The Floral Prescription digital magazine, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Flowers From the Farmers Market

When it’s time for some flowers there are many places you can go to get them. Your local florist, flower farms, farmer’s markets, grocery stores, corner shops, and of course your own garden. All of them (yes, even the corner shop) have their benefits. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll look at each one of them. Today’s focus is on the farmer’s market.

It’s farmers’ market time! Farmers markets have been around for decades, in fact even centuries. The oldest continuously operating farmers market in Canada - Saint John City Market in New Brunswick – has been around since 1785! Today, the number of farmers markets continues to grow as they gain in popularity.

A lot of people go to the farmers market for produce, but it’s also a fantastic place to get flowers. Today we’re going to focus on why you should get flowers from a farmers market and what you should look for when shopping.  

When you shop for flowers at a farmers market you’ll be buying fresh, seasonal, and local product. The flowers will have had less handling, less refrigeration, and less time in storage, than flowers from further away. The farmers pick their flowers as close to market day as possible so they’re basically coming straight from the field to you.  And not only will you be getting high quality product, the money you’ve just spent is for local businesses so that keeps money in circulation in your community, creating a strong economy.  

These are the things you should think about when shopping for flowers at the farmers market:

• The best time to shop is early in the morning as that’s when the best selection will be available. 

•  When you first approach a stall, take a few minutes to check things out. Is the water in the buckets clean? Are the flower heads relatively closed? Do the leaves look fresh? If you can answer, ‘yes’ to those questions, the flowers are being cared for properly.

• Talk to the farmer. Ask where his farm is, what size it is, what growing practices they use. Find out if he uses any pesticides. Ask for tips on caring for the flowers. Starting a conversation between you and the farmer can turn into a rewarding relationship for both of you as the season goes on.

• When you’ve made your purchase, get the flowers in water as soon as possible. If you’re not heading straight home, consider bringing a bucket and clippers with you. Cut half-inch off the end of each stem at an angle and place immediately in the clean water. Then keep them in as cool a place as possible until you get home. 

• Once home, fill up your vase with clean water. Take each flower, remove any leaves that will go below the waterline, re-cut the stem, and place in the vase.

• Change the water every two days. A little bit of time and effort will give your flowers the best chance to thrive to their longest potential vase-life.

Top tip: Fresh edible flowers aren’t always easy to find, but a good place to look is the farmer’s market. 

Flowers from the Corner Shop

When it’s time for some flowers there are many places you can go to get them; your local florist, flower farms, farmer’s markets, grocery stores, corner shops and of course your own garden. All of them (yes, even thecorner shop) have their benefits. In the upcoming weeks we’ll look at each one of them. Today’s focus is: the corner shop!

Let’s face it; flowers from a corner shop get a bad rap. In many cases, rightly so, but with a little bit of looking around, you can find decent flowers at little ‘mom and pop’ shops. You just need to know a few things to look for when you’re shopping. 

My childhood memory of flowers in a corner shop are of bunches of carnations, all in one colour (always either pink, red, or white) wrapped in cellophane and on display right near the front of the store. I can’t recall if we ever bought any, but there were always some there, so somebody must have been buying them!

I actually like that the little shops tend to have bunches of flowers all in one colour. Monochromatic flower arrangements look great, but with the lower prices at a corner shop, you may be able to buy two or three bunches in a multitude of colours if that’s to your liking.

So why are flowers cheaper at the corner shop? There are a couple of reasons why.

First of all, not all flowers are created equal, meaning they’re not all the same quality. Take roses for example. Roses come in different stem lengths – 40 cm, 50cm, 60 cm, etc. Generally, the shorter the stems, the smaller the flower head and the cheaper the rose. Most florists use the standard 50cm and won’t go below that, but your corner shop probably has the smaller version. 

Another reason is the wholesalers often have a ‘specials’ section. This is for product that hasn’t been sold in a reasonable amount of time. It’s not really ready to be discarded, but they can’t justify selling it at their original price. Quite often this is where corner shop owners will purchase their product.

So what are you looking for when shopping? 

The first thing I would do is chat with the shop owner. Ask what day of the week they get their flowers in. Right away you’ve gained a bit of an inside scoop when you can get the freshest product.

Now take a closer look at the flowers. Make sure the blooms and leaves have no sign of wilting. Check the stems and make sure they’re green and not starting to turn black and there’s no sign of slime on them.  You want the whole flower from top to bottom to be as fresh as possible. 

I would also choose flowers that traditionally have a longer vase life – carnations, roses, alstromeria, and chrysanthemums are great examples. That way, even if they aren’t ‘the freshest of the fresh’, you’ll still get many days of enjoyment from them. 

Once you’ve made your selection and brought them home, here are some suggestions for making these often under-rated flowers look great. 

Unwrap them as soon as possible. Fill a vase with clean water and have it standing by. Take each stem and remove any leaves that will go below the water line. The leaves will create bacteria in the water, shortening the life span of your flower. Cut the stems at an angle to give them the biggest surface to absorb water.

Here are some designer tricks:

•  If you’re arranging the flowers in a vase, cut the stems at different lengths to give the arrangement a more natural feel. Then place the flowers in the classiest vase you have to give them that ‘expensive’ look. 

• If you’re giving them to someone as a wrapped bouquet, still process them as above and then reorganize the flowers to give them a fresh look. Discard that old cellophane they came in and wrap them in decorative paper, tying it up with a pretty piece of ribbon.

Next time you’re popping into your local corner store to pick up a carton of milk or the Sunday paper and you see those bunches of flowers by the door, why not pick up one or two and experiment with them. See how great you can make them look and for how long you can get them to last. 

If you have tips, or any stories to share about corner shop flowers, I’d love to hear them.