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.)

Four Facts About Marigolds - October's Birth Month Flower

Every month has a specific flower assigned to it – it’s ‘birth month flower’. The flower for the month of October is the Marigold.

I’ve always thought of marigolds as those little flowering plants you put in your garden to keep the insects away – at least when I was growing up that’s what we used them for. I never once thought of them as a decorative flower. But I’ve learned a lot recently including the symbolism and meaning marigolds have and how they’re used in different cultural celebrations. Here are four interesting facts about marigolds - and one important lesson.

1 - If we look at marigolds in the language of flowers, traditionally they’ve had the rather negative meaning of despair and grief. Thankfully, over time that has changed. These brightly coloured little flower balls that look like rays of sunshine now symbolize optimism and success.

 2 - In Mexico, marigolds are one of the main flowers used during their ‘Day of the Dead’ celebration. This is when it’s believed the spirits of the dead visit the living. Marigolds adorn special alters and it’s believed their scent and bright colours attract and guide the souls to them. This is a happy occasion and the cheerful looking marigolds certainly help to create the right celebratory atmosphere. 

3 - In India, marigolds play a role in festivals and rituals. One of the special occasions they're used in is weddings. Couples getting married use garlands of vibrant marigolds to brighten up their wedding venue. And while great as a festive decoration, marigolds also have religious and devotional significance making them extra special and important. 

4 - Marigolds are edible. The petals can be used in sweet or savoury dishes and make a colourful garnish on a salad.

While researching ‘October’s birth month flower’, I learned a lot of new things, but there’s one thing I’m still not really sure about. Since marigolds are mostly a summer flower flourishing best in full sun, why are they the flower for the month of October? Whatever the reason is, I hope that if you have an October birthday you’ll take some joy from the fact that you have a bright, cheerful, and meaningful flower to represent you!

PS And if you know the answer to why marigolds are the flower for the month of October, please let us know in the comment section below.

3 Ways You Can Use Flowers to Create Strong Memories

Use flowers to improve your memory

Scientific research has proven flowers can strengthen our memory. The vibrant colours and enticing fragrance they have affect our senses so strongly they create memories that can be recalled decades later. 

My first flower memory is of sweet peas growing in our garden. That may have happened as a child, but as an adult, every time I smell sweet peas I am transported back to that moment.

Floral memories can start as young as three or four years of age and those connections between the past and the present are an important part of our well-being. But if you’ve reached adulthood and don’t seem to have any strong floral memories, it’s not too late to start creating them for yourself. 

Here are my three suggestions for creating your own flower memories:

1. On your birthday every year buy yourself a bunch of flowers. Choose the same type of flower each year making sure it is seasonal so you’ll know it’s available. In fact, buy two bunches! One for you and one to give to someone else. You’ll always remember your ‘birthday flower’, and how it made not only your day special, but someone else’s too.

2. Some flowers have a scent that will stay with you even if it’s years until you smell it again. Start exploring different flower fragrances, and when you find one that you connect with, take note of it. Every chance you get, try and smell that flower, buy bath and beauty products with that fragrance and treat yourself to a fresh bunch of that bloom when they’re in season. One of my favourite fragrant flowers is plumeria, but other great floral scents are jasmine, gardenia, sweet peas, garden roses, honeysuckle, lilac, lily of the valley, freesia, and lavender.

3. If you’re planning a vacation, choose a destination known for a specific flower and try and organize your trip for while they’re in bloom. Some suggestions are Provence – lavender; California – poppies; England – bluebells; Japan - cherry blossoms; and Holland – tulips. A trip like this will certainly create lasting memories. 

It’s true that flowers fade away, but the emotions we connect with them, and the memories attached with them, will be relived over and over.

INTERESTING FACT: A study was conducted where 15 of Britain's most popular flowers were rated and ranked by the public. Here are the results  of the most memory-evoking flowers:

Gold: 1. Roses; 2. Bluebells; 3. Daffodils; 4. Sweet peas; 5. Sunflowers    

Silver: 1. Snow drops; 2. Honeysuckle; 3. Meadow buttercups; 4. Pansies; 5. Primrose        

Bronze: 1. Snapdragons; 2. Heather; 3. Forget-me-nots; 4. Geraniums; 5. Marigolds

What would be your number one pick?

How to Easily Create a Beautiful Autumn Flower Arrangement

Create a beautiful autumn flower arrangement with ease.

After all the floral beauty in spring and summer, you may think autumn is not a very exciting time of the year for flower arranging; but that’s not the case! Autumn’s bounty provides plenty for you to work with to create a beautiful floral arrangement with ease.  And the bonus of creating an arrangement at this time of year is it tends to last longer than in the warmer months of summer.

There are three main components when making a beautiful autumn flower arrangement: the flowers, the vessel, and the add-ins. With each component, focus on colour and texture.

Flowers:  Choose the natural colours that appear at this time of year - deep reds, burnt orange, and golden yellows. Add your own personal touch with saturated purples and pinks in shades of rose gold. While there are some flowers that are appropriate to use throughout the year - roses, carnations, alstroemeria - also use the flowers more specific to this time of year. Asters, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and zinnias will all give your arrangement that autumnal feeling. Combine your flowers with dark-hued foliage.

Vessel:  This is not the time for white, silver, or clear glass. Choose baskets, pottery, vases in bronze or copper, and anything a bit rustic looking. If you do use a glass vase, consider wrapping it in burlap.

Add-ins: This part is lots of fun! Go on a treasure hunt in your neighbourhood to collect seasonal add-ins for your arrangement. Focus on the textures of autumn. Some of my favourite things to use are wheat (great for adding height to an arrangement), dried flowers, berry branches, nuts, gourds and colourful leaves.

Three top tips:

• If you’re making a centerpiece for the table, keep the height of your arrangement below eye level. You want your guests to be able to look at each other over the flowers, not have to look through them..

• For a natural look group together flowers of the same variety, and vary the heights;

• Flowers perish at different rates. When you see one has wilted or turned brown, remove it. The arrangement as a whole will stay looking fresher this way.
  

Have fun with collecting your materials and creating a beautiful autumn floral display. If you have any questions or have any tips to share, please do so in the comment section below.

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.

9 Fun Facts about September's Flower - the Aster

Every month has a specific flower assigned to it – it’s ‘birth month flower’. The flower for the month of September is the aster.

Asters have never been a flower I’ve swooned over, but lately, I’ve been won over by their autumnal charm. More and more I’m drawn to flowers when they’re blooming locally in season, and asters are a bright spot in gardens and arrangements in early fall that you just can’t miss. I’m not a gardener, but if I was, I imagine this flower would be on display in a prominent location. 

All about asters:

• The name aster comes from the Greek word ‘star’, which is very fitting as and it certainly shines brightly as an autumn flower. 

•  Asters are also known as Michaelmas daisy, starworts, and frost flowers.

• While available all year long at the florist, this flower tends to bloom locally in late summer and early autumn. 

• Asters are often mistaken as part of the daisy family as they do have a ‘daisy-like’ look, but they are in fact a member of the sunflower family. 

• Asters come in an array of colours, but the most common are purple, lilac, pink, and white. 

• Asters are one of the last flowers of the season for pollinators like bees.

• In the language of flowers, the main meanings for asters are love, daintiness, and patience. 

• Asters make great cut flowers. Their vase life is 7-14 days. They look great on their own, but they also pair well with chrysanthemums or roses. 

• As well as being the birth month flower for September, asters are the flower associated with the 20th wedding anniversary. 

If you know someone with a September birthday or celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, why not pick up a bunch or two of asters to give as a gift. They look great displayed in a pitcher-style vase on their own, or if they’re mixed in with a variety of other flowers they’ll add a dainty wispiness to the arrangement. 

3 Ways Having Flowers in Your Office Improves Business

Whether you work from home, have a corner office, or share a communal space, there are multiple benefits to having flowers in your work environment. You may think that something as simple as a couple of flowers couldn’t possibly make a difference. But you’d be wrong! Here are three ways your business will improve just by starting this simple habit:

Less sick days:

Major universities, (Harvard; University of North Florida), have conducted studies that prove flowers significantly reduce stress. Just a vase with a few stems of flowers on the corner of your desk will give your eyes a place to rest throughout the day and provide a moment of calm. This brief encounter with the natural world is all it takes to help decrease stress and anxiety. Decreased stress and anxiety, means less time taken off work. Less time taken off work saves you time and money.

A happy workforce:

Business experts say the key to having a successful business is to have a happy workforce. Research shows having flowers in your work environment will automatically enhance the mood of whoever sees them. It’s almost a subconscious reaction. You see the flowers, your mood brightens, and that positive feeling stays with you throughout the day. Happy workers = successful business.

Increased productivity:

This is a big one. If you have a business, productivity is everything. Studies show both men and women who are exposed to flowers at work have more innovative thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills, and a stronger memory recall. All these benefits increase the overall productivity accomplished at work.

If you’re ready to improve your business by adding flowers to your office but don’t know where to begin , take a look at my previous blog post, Happy and Healthy at Work with Flowers . You’ll find many suggestions on how to easily get started. One thing I can guarantee - you’ll never regret you did!

How to Make your Favourite Flowers Last Forever

Sometimes flowers are so special you want them to last forever. Here are two easy methods you can use to make that happen.

DRYING FLOWERS: This is a classic method of flower preservation. There are no special materials you need, just start when your flowers are partially open.

Here’s what you need to do:

1 – If your flowers have been in water, take a soft cloth and dry the stems. Moisture is the enemy of flower preservation so it’s best to get rid of what you can before you begin. I also give the ends of the stems a fresh trim.

2 – Take your flowers, choose a few stems and tie them together. Ventilation is key here so it’s better to tie just a few stems together and have several smaller bunches than one big bunch. I also like to vary the length the stems to give as much room for air to circulate as possible.

3 – Now it’s time to hang your flowers upside down to dry. The important thing in this step is to find a dark, dry area. The colour of the flowers will fade, but darkness will help minimize the amount that happens.

4 – Leave the bunches hanging for 2 – 3 weeks and then check on them. If you detect no moisture, untie them and your beautifully preserved flowers are ready to use.

What you can do with dried flowers:

Find a vase or container that matches the look of the flowers and pop them in for a striking arrangement of vintage hued blooms.

Pull the petals off the stems, mix them in a clear glass bowl with dried herbs and spices, add a couple of drops of essential oil and you’ll have a fragrant potpourri.

Form them into a wreath and hang on your door for a year-round decoration.

Here are the pros and cons of using the drying method:

Pros: This method is easy to do with no special supplies needed; you’re able to preserve the stems as well as the flower blossoms so you can use the dried flowers in a vase arrangement; this technique has a high rate of success.

Cons: If you don’t dry the flowers completely they’ll grow mould; some petals will shed; the colour will fade so if you’re looking for the same vibrant colours as when your flowers were fresh, this isn’t the method to use.

PRESSING FLOWERS: The most traditional way to press flowers is between the pages of a book.

Here’s what you need to do:

1 - Collect your materials: Flowers, absorbent paper, and a heavy book. (Choose any thin, porous paper – paper towels and tissue paper both work well.)

2 - Lay one sheet of paper inside the pages of a heavy book. Place your flowers face down on the paper leaving lots of space around each one and then cover with the second piece of paper. (When covering the flowers with the second piece of paper be very careful. You want to make sure all the petals of the flowers stay flat and if you move too quickly you may disturb your layout.)

3 - Carefully close your book and place it between other heavy books, leaving it undisturbed for at least two weeks. When you check your flowers if they aren’t completely dry, close the book again and leave for another week. If they are dry, carefully remove them. Your pressed flowers are now ready for you to use. (If the flowers are completely dry they will have a papery feeling to them.)

What you can do with pressed flowers:

Pressed flowers are perfect for a whole host of DIY projects. You can use them to make greeting cards, bookmarks, wrapping paper, jewellery, wall hangings, coasters - there’s really no limit to what you can do to personalize your home décor or create unique gifts for family and friends.

Here are the pros and cons of using the pressing method:

Pros: This method produces results quickly; with pressed flowers the colour stays more true than with dried flowers; this is a very simple method and is a great activity for children.

Cons: While this method is great for smaller flowers and petals, it doesn’t work well for larger flowers; pressed flowers cannot be displayed in a vase.

If you have some favourite flowers you want to last forever, give these methods a try. I’d love to hear how they work for you and if you have any tips you can add.

4 Tips on how to Arrange Short-stemmed Flowers in a Tall Vase

Summer is filled with an abundance of fresh flowers. They’re fragrant and colourful and there’s nothing better than bringing some of those stems from the outside, in. But sometimes these flowers have short stems. So what do you do when you have a vase that is too tall for your short-stemmed flowers? Here are four suggestions:

• Tape a grid: Take some scotch tape and tape a criss-cross grid along the top of your vase. Make sure the holes you create are quite small. You want the stem of a flower to fit through the opening, but not slip all the way down. If the stems are very thin, you could put a few together into the same space. Make sure you keep the water level topped up using this technique as the stems won’t be reaching very far down into the vase.

• Rule of thirds with a flower arrangement: In floral arranging, there’s the ‘rule of thirds’; the vase or container should be ⅓ of the total height of the arrangement and the flowers should be ⅔’s. This will create a balanced look. But, you can also do a ‘reversed rule of thirds’, so the flowers are ⅓ of the total height of the arrangement and the vase is ⅔’s. This is definitely a different look and may take you a bit of getting used to, but it will create a balanced looking arrangement.

• Attach to a long-stemmed flower or piece of foliage: A little trick you can do is take some floral tape, or a piece of twine, and attach your short-stemmed flower, to the longer stem of a flower or piece of foliage. The longer stem will go to the bottom of the vase while giving the flower some height. With this technique, once again you need to keep your vase filled almost to the brim with water, to make sure the tip of the short-stemmed flower is always in water.

• The upside-down container: Find a container in your kitchen that’s a bit narrower than your vase and about ½ to ⅔ the height. Turn it upside down in the vase and then fill the vase with water. The bottom of the container makes a false bottom in the vase. Your short stems will be able to rest on it giving them the needed height.

I hope these tips help. Let me know if you try any and how they work for you. And if you have any other tips, please share with us in the comments below.

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. 

Gladiolus - The Flower for August

Every month has a specific flower assigned to - it’s ‘birth month flower’. The flower for the month of August is the gladiolus.

Gladiolus is a dramatic, striking-looking flower. Its tall, elegant stems are topped with multiple flower blossoms with frilly, ruffled edges. ‘Glads’, as they’re fondly referred to, come in a multitude of colours – white, pinks, purples, oranges, yellows, and reds. They make superb cut flowers and are often used in memorial arrangements, as a tribute to loved ones.

The fun thing about gladiolus is its name. It means ‘little sword’ in Latin, and in fact, is sometimes called ‘the sword lily’. It’s also associated with the Roman word for gladiators. Legend has it when someone gives a gladiolus as a gift, the giver is ‘piercing the recipient's heart with love’. In the language of flowers, the meaning for gladiolus is ‘strength of character’ – another reference to their connection with gladiators. 

Gladioli’s vase life is one to two weeks depending on how you care for them. To get the best results, the first thing you need to do is make sure you select straight, strong, fresh stems with flower buds just starting to open up and show their colour. Once you get them home choose a heavy vase that is one-third the height of the flowers. This flower arrangement will be top-heavy. If you feel the base of your vase isn’t heavy enough to be stable and could tip over once the flowers are added, put some pebbles or decorative glass beads into the bottom of it. I also choose a wide-mouthed vase so the gladioli have room to fan out, letting the bottom florets be seen, as well the top. Then all you need to do is keep your vase topped up with fresh water to keep these flowers looking bright and fresh for as long as possible. 

Note: As well as being the flower for the month of August, Gladiolus is the flower associated with a fortieth wedding anniversary.