Archive for September, 2008
Posted on September 30, 2008 with No Comments
In offices all over London secretaries and personnel departments are trying to organise parties for the forthcoming festive season. Whether you are just trying to put a vase of christmas roses in reception for mid December or ask for 30 themed table arrangements for a sit down dinner our sister site Todich Floral Design can provide exactly what you need.
Call us on 020 7737 1166 to discuss your needs with our trained floral designers. We can make your floral dreams come true, whether they be a modern sculptural design in muted creams and green or a multicoloured extravaganza that boldly highlights your presentation stage.
Posted on September 30, 2008 with No Comments
… chorizo sausage, birthday cake, kinder eggs …. These are a few of the additional items we have been asked to deliver. If we can source the item that you want to send we will do our best to make it part of your gift package for you.
In the case of the chorizo sausage our boss had bought one in and put it in the fridge intending to eat it later in the week. By coincidence a caller asked if we could by any chance find such a thing to deliver at short notice. The boss had to be persuaded that the customer’s need was greater than his and watch his beautiful Spanish sausage gift-wrapped for someone else.
The kinder eggs were a gift from a customer to his girlfriend as he knew she liked them. I like kinder eggs too, but I don’t know that I could eat 25!
A birthday cake is a bit more obvious as a gift and it is possible to find small individual birthday cakes … perhaps some of these requests will end up being added to our regular portfolio of products.
Posted on September 27, 2008 with No Comments
This is the time of year when many gardeners start to move their houseplants and tropical plants indoors. It is important to follow a few steps before the big move. Plants should be kept in quarantine for a few weeks. This is when you can check the stems, upper and lower leaves of your plants to see if they have any insects. Blasting your plants with water and insecticidal soap will take care of nasty little pests like aphids and mites.
After the quarantine process is over and done with, you should move your plants near sunny windows indoors. The flowers and plants that require less light should be moved into darker areas gradually. They should be given a few weeks in a bright window, then a few in a moderately bright window, and then they can be moved to their final position. Some leaves will yellow and drop. This should not be a cause for worry as this is natural for plants that are being moved.
One way to solve the problem of yellowing is by adding artificial lights to your garden indoors. This extra bit of light will keep plants in tip-top shape during winter.
[Via: Melinda Myers, image from Flickr]
Posted on September 26, 2008 with No Comments
Fall is the time to get down to planting flowers like pansies. There are many types of pansies which can tough out the cold like Icicle, Sub Zero and Second Season. They provide a wonderful show of colour in the fall and they are hard enough to bear it through winter and then they repeat their performance in the spring. Mixing them with bulbs can create beautiful effect in the spring when your tulips or daffodils start to bloom.
You can also consider starting a new garden in the fall. This is the season where you can start to prepare your soil for the future.
For instance, perennials can even be planted now. If the soil of your future garden is sand or rocky, you can add a layer organic matter 8 to 12 inches thick. Once you have prepared the soil you can start purchasing, digging and dividing your perennials for fall.
If you are not entirely sure of how you would like your new garden to be, you can simply start with the rough preparations. With the arrival of spring you do a few final preparations like tilling and raking. By preparing the soil early you have a greater chance of getting a new garden installed during the wet months of spring.
[Via: Melinda Myers]
Posted on September 25, 2008 with No Comments
Melinda Myers is a renowned garden expert who has now brought her expertise to television. Myers share her best advice in short television segments. She has about 25 years of experience in horticulture and her advice is always easy to approach.
In the span of one minute Myers shares her “must have” tips.
Recently, she had a segment about caring for fresh-cut flowers. She had some of the following tips to share:
- Taking a bucket of water with you is good idea when picking flowers for your home. This will help the flowers that have been cut stay hydrated.
- To increase the vase life of flower it is important to remove the lower leaves, as they can cause fungal growth, which kills the blooms.
- Cutting the stems of your flowers at an angle prevents the end from sitting square on the bottom of the vase, allowing the flower to absorb more water.
[Via: Fox12 News]
Posted on September 24, 2008 with No Comments
New Zealands flower trade with America is worth millions of dollars and this has all been put in jeopardy after an apple moth was discovered in a shipment of flowers from South Island.
After the discover the United States banned imports of New Zealand flowers and foliage.
This decision is going to cost New Zealand’s flower industry millions of dollars.
Ed Scott, of the New Zealand Flower Exporters Association says, “Just one shipment, on one crop. It was the eggs that were found.”
Scott says, “It affects their horticulture crops and they have to spend a lot of money in their industry to eradicate it because it damages fruit.”
It is orchid growers and peony growers, who are really going to feel the weight of this decision. The orchid season midway through and peony growers ought to be exporting their flowers in a few weeks.
[Via: tvnz.co.nz]
Posted on September 24, 2008 with 1 Comment
Flowers have always been a joy to the eye and soul but German scientists now say they are also a blessing for our sleep, as their scent can lead to sweeter dreams. And it is no longer a secret that sweet dreams have a huge impact on the quality of our sleep, feeling way much rested whenever dreaming something that pleases us.
The study was presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting inChicago. For a period of thirty days, 15 sleeping women were exposed in turn to smell of roses, rotten eggs or no scent at all. The researchers led by Professor Boris Stuck from the University Hospital Mannheim waited until the women had entered the REM phase of sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) and then pumped the scents under their noses for nearly ten seconds. Rapid Eye Movement phase is the period of sleep when the dreaming occurs.
Then the women were woken up and asked to record their dreams. The researchers surprisingly found that the women had “sweet” dreams whenever they smelled rose scent. On the other hand, the dreams were negative whenever the women smelled rotten eggs.
Based on these findings, the researchers said it would be interesting to study this method in people who usually have nightmares and see if positive smells can actually influence the mood of their dreams too.
“This initial research is a step in the direction towards clarifying these questions and may well lead to therapeutic benefits,” Dr. Irshaad Ebrahim of The London Sleep Centre said.
Posted on September 23, 2008 with No Comments
Ellen Tommasi built her garden on a little more than a shoestring budget. She started with a plot of grass, which she has been working with since 1981. Before that she travelled a lot with her husband and this was her way of getting grounded.
She has a fairly large plot of land, but the beginnings of her garden were very meager as they did not have a lot of money to spare at that time.
Tommasi got her hands on the plants she wanted by trading her plants or through the generous gifts of other gardeners. She got really lucky when her daughter started to work at L.A. Reynolds, where Tommasi received many of the plants that would have otherwise been thrown out.
She spent very little money on buying fertilizer as she had a compost tumbler in the back of her garden which worked just as well as any store-bought fertilizer. This is how she ended up only spending money on mulch and some seeds…
[Via: JournalNow.com]
Posted on September 22, 2008 with No Comments
On a cool fall day there is nothing that compares to coming home to the fresh scent of potpourri. A sack of these dried flowers in your closet can bring outdoor freshness to your clothing. You are especially luck if you have a garden full of flowers. All you need to do is pick the petals off your wilting summer flowers and in no time you will have homemade potpourri.
Potpourri is simply dried flowers, the petals, buds and foliage. You can use a variety of plants from your garden annuals, perennials, wildflowers, herbs, shrubs or vines. There aren’t a lot of limits when it comes to what you can use to make your potpourri.
It is best to pick the flowers you want to use when they are dry. The place where you dry your plants needs to have good air circulation and very little humidity. It is also important that this place is dark so that the petals do not lose their colour. Attics, sheds, barn lofts or garages are usually the best choice. It takes the flowers about 10 to 14 days to dry, so do not rush it — wait until they are fully dry. The more patient you are, the better the results.
[Via: DallasNews.com]
Posted on September 18, 2008 with No Comments
A flower which blooms only every eight to 10 years is attracting nature lovers to the outskirts of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay).
The bright purple Karvy will cover many forest areas with a colourful veil once it is in full blossom.
The plant grows to a height of up to eight feet. It is mainly found in the low hills along the west coast.
Juice from the flower is used for medicinal purposes and the stems are used for thatched buildings.
The Karvy (Strobilanthes callosus or Carvia Callosa) blooms between July and September. But it takes nearly a decade for the bloom cycle to happen.
Dr V Shubhalaxmi from the Bombay Natural History Society says different varieties have different blooming periods – some even ranging up to 14 years.
Local businessman Julius Rego travelled for nearly two hours to see the Karvy. “It is not just the flowers but the entire landscape,” he says.
“Several insects, butterflies, bees, are attracted to this flower and one gets to see so many more varieties at this time. To sit amid these flowers for some time gives such joy.”
The flowers are an experience for the ears as well as the eyes.
“If you visit the region after flowering, which will continue for over a month, you will witness… popping sounds,” Dr Shubhalaxmi says.
After flowering, the shrub is covered with fruits which absorb moisture and burst open with a pop.
The leaves are home to caterpillars, snails and several other insects.
source: BBC
