A pretty flower - Zinnia
Characteristics: Zinnias, which come in many radiant colors, are the glory of the summer garden. The flowers range in size from 2 inches to 6 inches. Some have ruffled petals and others are open like daisies. They bloom in a few weeks from seed and withstand hot dry weather. Zinnias make wonderful cut flowers and also dry nicely when placed in silica gel.
Cultural Information: Zinnias like well-drained garden soil enriched with rotted compost. They are prone to mildew, so it is best to water at the base rather than overhead. You can also buy one of the new mildew-resistant varieties such as Burpee's 'Pinwheel' Series from Balaclava florists, which comes in wonderful colors. To encourage bushy plants, remember to pinch the blossoms back. The more you cut, the more zinnias will produce. My favorites are the dahlia-like double-flowered zinnias such as 'Burpee's Big Tetra Mixed' and 'Giant Flowered Mix', which dry beautifully.
Harvesting/Drying: Collect flowers to be dried at their peak of bloom, and before they have started to fade in color. Check to make sure the flowers you pick are not discolored by mildew.
My dearest flower series - Fritillaria
Leaping from the earth in spring, unmarred by frosty weather, the 2½- to 4-foot stems of the crown imperial are topped by a crest of leaves beneath which hang great clusters of 2-inch reddish orange, bronze, red or yellow flowers. Because the flowers' odor is musky and the lily like leaves die down in early summer, crown imperial is best planted in perennial or shrub borders where neither its scent nor its fading foliage will be objectionable. The only other species that is widely available from a florist Mt Eden is the spring-blooming F. meleagris. It grows about 12 inches tall with drooping bell-shaped 1½-inch flowers checkered purple and white; F. meleagris alba is pure white. Both make good borders or random plantings in rough grass.
There are many species of fritillaria native to western North America, but these usually do not succeed elsewhere. Among them are F. lanceolata, which grows 1 to 2 feet tall and has yellow-mottled dark purple 1-inch flowers; F. pluriflora, which grows 6 to 12 inches tall and has pinkish purple 1-inch flowers; F. pudica, which grows 6 to 9 inches tall and has purple-tinged yellow 1-inch flowers; and F. recurva, which grows 24 to 30 inches tall and has yellow-checkered scarlet 1-inch flowers. All bloom in spring.
Preparing a mossed frame
Most florists use plastic foam bases as foundations for funeral tributes, as preparing a moss frame — mossing the frame, backing and then edging it — is a tedious task. However, the techniques involved in using a mossed frame are part of the florist’s basic skills.
Mossing, backing and edging
Collect the materials together and start by cleaning the damp moss, removing any twigs or stones. Attach reel wire or string to the frame and, with the frame directly in front of you, place several handfuls of moss, about 5cm (2in) high, on the frame. Bind the moss on firmly, and continue, adding moss evenly and binding diagonally across the fame until it is completely covered with moss. Take the reel wire around for a second time between the previous twists of wire. Cut the wire; return it into the moss, and trim the moss to an even shape.
Now back the wreath: turn the frame over; secure the wreath wrap with hairpins on the inside; stretch the wrap over the frame and hairpin it in place at regular intervals. Continue the process until the frame is complete.
Before getting the flowers delivered Wednesbury, the wreath must be edged. Double-leg mount well-balanced fans of cupressus and, starting on the outer edge, insert the wired fans into the lower part of the frame, just on the wreath wrap. The anchored foliage should slope downwards, towards the workbench. Complete first the outer and then the inner edges, ensuring that the foliage overlaps and maintaining an even circular shape.
Caring for Roses
No matter how carefully you plant your roses, the plants cannot produce blooms unless they have an adequate supply of moisture and fertilizer to keep them actively growing, for only then do they send out flowers Northenden. This need will continue even after the plants are well established. With very few exceptions, the amount of food and water that must be given roses to stimulate a maximum amount of bloom is the same whether the bushes are old or new.
Water is usually the element in short supply, rather than fertilizer. Frequently there is still a considerable amount of plant food in the soil in midsummer, nutrients left over from spring feeding; however, unless moisture is present, the food cannot be assimilated by the plants. It is easy to see that the flush of bloom in both spring and fall coincides with the spring and the fall rains, when there is adequate moisture in the soil.
Go for something different
Flowers such as zinnia, tall phlox, peony, foxglove, sunflowers and others will be fresher than those that have been shipped long distances to a retail florist. You may find flowers that you love, but never realized were available as a cut flower. Always do your homework first, that is the golden rule here. If the flowers arrive on your wedding day and are not what was expected, then its too late to do anything about it.
Finding a reputable local florist to fulfill your flower delivery Montebello can be easier than you think. Check the local telephone directory and do some internet searches. They can give you names of florists in your area. Local farmers markets are also a great place to locate a local flower grower.
Problems in using wild flowers
Growing, as they generally do, in poor soil wild flowers often have long tap roots to enable them to survive. If these roots are severed the flowers will wilt very quickly. So if you are intending to gather wayside flowers I suggest you should keep a strong plastic bag handy in the car. As you cut, say, cow parsley or bluebells place them head-first in the bag. Everyone puts them stalks-first into bags and this is how problems start. If you keep the heads out of the air the flowers suffer much less from lack of moisture. As quickly as you can after picking them, place the stems in a bucket of really warm water. This will give them the best chance of lasting reasonably well. I find that of the many wild flowers I like to use, bluebells and cow parsley, or cow parsnip, are the favourites. They last better (unlike those from a Carnwadric florist) if not on very long stems. Bluebells, like wallflowers, should be cut on stems no longer than four or five inches (12—15 cm), then mass them in a box or basket. In this way they last very well and the scent is out of this world; they appear to like being packed closely together for they always seem to last better this way.
Rose Cultural Information
Roses prefer full sun, good drainage, and soil rich in organic matter. They also prefer good air circulation, which helps prevent mildew and disease on the foliage. Roses need large amounts of water (3 inches weekly) but must have fast-draining soil. Feed roses with a slow-release fertilizer in early spring and after the first flush of bloom. A top dressing of well-rotted manure in late autumn will add nutrients to the soil. Organic matter is always beneficial to roses, but remember to check the pH, which should be at or close to 7. Add lime after application of manure to ensure a proper pH. Old roses are very disease resistant so there is no need to spray these roses with chemicals. However, it is important to keep the garden clean and free of faded petals and fallen leaves. Garden litter is a tempting place for insects and pests to breed. If insects are a problem, try sprinkling onion water (cool water in which onion has been boiled) or onion mulch (chopped onion greens) around the base of the plants. Shrub roses need little pruning and look best left to their natural shape. Prune once a year before the buds appear, in early spring or later winter. Simply cut out dead or old canes and cut existing stems back by one-third. Roses can be propagated from cuttings, but it is wiser to purchase your plants from a florist Bootle or garden center.
Dried Flowers
Dried flower arrangements have become increasingly popular as the price of fresh flowers in winter continues to go up and the ever-rising cost of oil makes heated greenhouses more and more expensive to run. For myself, dried or any kind of preserved flowers can never replace the value or delight one gets from fresh flowers, especially in winter. I think I still prefer to preserve background material in glycerine and use this with fresh flowers or foliage until one can pick a bunch of spring flowers or get them from a local Riverside florist. But the occasional pot plant can sometimes take their place and last Christmas was made easy for me because of a superb white azalea which has been sheer delight.
There are many aspects of dried flowers and foliage and different ways of using them. You can make colourful posies which will last all winter, remaining pretty and cheerful, or for background material you can use the more sombre and neutral colourings which are ideal when mixed with a few salmon or apricot chrysanthemums, or some variegated leaves. In this way you can make a large arrangement when flowers are scarce and expensive. Many flowers of attractive colouring can be grown from seed for drying and more lovely grasses become available every year.
My Favourite Flowers - Aconitum lycoctonum ( Monkshood )
The more common varieties of monkshood have blue-mauve flower spikes resembling those of a delphinium, but the one I would like to recommend here is A. lycoctonum, very delicate in form with yellowish to lime-green flowers. To be fair, I feel that this is a plant for the larger garden, as it really takes up quite a lot of space and flowers for a comparatively short time — and also really needs staking. However, as this is a book about flowers that I would like to have in the garden and for arranging, I am anxious to include it here.
Cultivation
This is a hardy perennial, easily raised from seed. It will grow in any good garden soil in sun or partial shade. Cut the old stems down to ground level in the autumn.
Conditioning and preserving
Give a long drink in deep warm water. The seed heads dry well if hung upside down in a warm place. Get some advice from your florist the next time you get a flower delivery Briarwood if at all unsure.
Arranging
It is lovely to mix with a group of yellow and white flowers, and I find that one or two stems really add so much to a small mixed summer flower arrangement. The seed heads are pretty whether used when green or allowed to dry completely, turning brown.
Additional information
If you love flowers as much as we do you may also enjoy Florist News. Another blog dedicated to bringing you the very best florist information on the internet.
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