Spring is coming

I am sure everyone who has spent the last 6months or longer in the UK can't wait for spring to properly get going. For it to get warmer and dare I say it, for the sun to shine!

It's such a beautiful time of year, out on the roads seeing the daffodils showing through bright colours and in the flower markets all the colours change from the deep reds, greens and browns of winter to the pastel yellow and pinks of ranunculus and hot pink,blue and magenta anenomies. Effortlessly beautiful flowers that make the job of a florist really very easy!

The only thing with spring flowers is that the don't have a massively long life span which is such a shame. It means that we don't really get to use them in our contract work, for restaurants and office spaces.

Also tulips can be a bit of a funny flower in a mixed bouquet because they generally grow even after being cut! It's really quite amazing to see the amount they can grow over night even! If you are making a bouquet to give to someone the next day and you want to use tulips I would always recommend using all tulips or make it roughly, tied with string that you can easily snip it off and pull the tulips back into place, then wrap ready to take straight away. If you are making a 'wild' bouquet with flowers all at different levels etc then you wont have to worry about them growing it will just work with the rest of the flowers and foliages.

Another little tip for tulips and in fact quite a few of the spring time flowers, like hyacinths, is...

If you notice the stems getting a bit droopy (technical term!) and want them to stand up a bit more straight and to attention then get a few sheets of newspaper, take the flowers out of the vase and lie them on the paper. Tightly wrap them up in the paper, leaving the ends open so you can out them back in water. Cut the ends to create a fresh cut for the flowers to drink through. Change the water in the vase and pop the flowers back into the vase and leave them somewhere cool and dark if possible. They may need to be left over night to get the full effect. I can't grantee that they wont flop again after a couple of days but it will help keep them under control for a bit longer! (I think tulips do look stunning falling out of a vase though! Just depends if the mother in law is coming over to scrutinise!)

So lets all will the sun to come out and walm up the bulbs and get spring in the air. Get down to you local florist and buyu yourself a buunch of their best spring time stems and start planning you summer hols it wont be long now!!

Valentines Day!

With the most romantic day of the year looming, we are trying our best to get prepared for it. Making up bouquet boxes, cutting aqua pack cellophane, reams of ribbon and folding tissue to allow us to concentrate on the intricacies of making the beautiful bouquets that will wow the lucky loved ones this year.

We always beg people to get organised for it early as there is nothing worse that someone coming into the shop with a desperate look in there eyes, sweat on their brow and bribe loads of money in their hands scanning an empty shop for the sight of anything red let a lone a rose!

We try to make sure that we have plenty of roses in stock but can never know exactly how many we will need. Of course we don't want to end up with lots of stock left over the next day.

This year we are linking with a close friend Harvey Nichols, which means that we can sell through their store and attached some of their gorgeous products to our bouquets! Beautiful perfumes, champagnes and amazing chocolates will just top off a big In Bloom bouquet of roses!

We have also made up lots of message card and envelopes to be ready for all those romantic words, perfect poems, coded couplets and quizzical question marks!

Most people, male or female find it hard to think about what to write on a message card no matter what the occasion. Some ask us to come up with something which can be awkward but generally with a few starting words or sentences we come up with something together!

I always say to people that being a florist is a little bit like being a hairdresser, quite often hearing a little bit too much information!

So, before you call up your local florist have a think about what it is you want to order, the full address of the recipient(you would be surprised how many people don't have the full address but just want to explain how you get there, past this or that shop, round the corner from Aunt Anne!) how much you want to spend and a message so you don't feel put on the spot or have to call back!! Thank you! X