Flowers UK London

Valentine’s Day arrived as quickly as it passed by. Few of us can say that this special day was not refreshing, especially at this time of year, when the days are just short of drab. So you have eaten all the chocolates and your flowers have wilted, what to do now?

This is not the time to give up on flowers, keep bringing the blooms indoors! There is nothing more pleasant than having flowers bloom indoors. The amaryllis is a dependable flower and it produces the best flowers at this time of year, even if they do not last all that long.

Orchids do fairly well in the winter, this is another flower that does not bloom all that often. When they do spread their petals the flowers are nothing short of a piece of art. If you are looking for something that will bloom for a longer period of time then this is the flowers to choose.

Of course, not all of us have the green thumb or time to have these flowers blooming in the next couple of weeks. Buying flowers is a great mood-boosting investment. It is best to have your flowers purchased on a warm day, Flowers24hours.co.uk, can have the flowers delivered to your front step on the day you wish. So when the weather is a bit milder, you can make your decision on exactly which blooms you would like to have brightening up your dining table!

The drab and cool days of winter are just begging for a bit of colour. One great solution for brightening up your home is the lovely amaryllis.

This flowering plant comes from the tropical Americas. The bulb that it grows from is quite large, it is often the size of a mango. The stalk and the flower of the plant are quite formidable as well.

The beautiful flower of this plant comes in a variety of colours, red, pink, orange and white. There are also some varieties that come in a combination of these colours. Most importantly the shades of this bloom are warm, in contrast to the weather outside!

If you order this flower or send it to someone special. Make sure that it is placed in a warm spot where it will get an optimal amount of light. If you get the potted plant, then it is important to remember to keep the soil moist. The rule of thumb is to feel the soil daily, and as soon as it is not moist to the touch, water it.

As soon as the amaryllis plant stops growing, you can cut back the stalks, and it will be just as beautiful as a houseplant.

If you are thinking of getting this plant as a gift for someone special there are many options out there. It is hard to decide, which option is more heart warming, potted amaryllis for delivery, or a beautiful arrangement. Regardless of what you choose you can be sure that this will, take the recipients mind off the monotonous days of winter!

As we all know fuel prices are up, along with concern for the environment. Just about any company doing deliveries with motor-vehicles, is having to look for solutions in terms of efficiency and reduced fuel emissions, in kind of bid to kill two birds with one stone.

Postcode Anywhere, recently revealed a new product, the Route Optimiser. This is a service that can be found on the internet, which through algorithms allows businesses to plan the best possible route for their vehicles. This program provides digital maps, dynamic navigation content and solutions for specific locations. The information is delivered from Postcode Anywhere to customers.

You might ask, what exactly does this have to do with flowers, plants and gifts? Well, it has taken a fair amount of innovation on behalf of this company to allow for the efficient delivery provided.

The process started about four years ago, when the mastermind behind Flower24Hours, Todd Todic, made a call, with his idea to Postcode Anywhere. He was looking for someone to help him develop a solution for optimizing delivery routes.

Postcode Anywhere did not show any interest at the time and sent him on his way. As a result, Todd had to work out something on his own. In only three months he was successful in putting together his own routemaking technology, which is still used by the company today!

Not long after Todd had put together his software, he was on the receiving end of a phone call from Postcode Anywhere. They let him know that after his bid for developing a partnership with them, five other companies called with the same idea.

It took them a little while to catch up with us, but three years after our début, they have finally launched their in collaboration with AA. All in all, things have turned out well, our company has been able to provide the most efficient flower delivery possible for a few years now, and it is becoming apparent that businesses all over the country are becoming more environmentally conscious.

According to the Flowers and Plants Association, the phalaenopsis orchid has found its way into the hearts of the British as it has been the favourite plant in the nation for the second year in a row.

Thirty years ago, the spider plant was a hit, twenty years ago the parlour palm was a favourite and the chrysanthemum held first place in the previous decade. Now, a majority of homes in the UK decorate their window sills with this popular plant.

This flower is more commonly known as the moth orchid, supermarkets and high street stores are reflecting this trend showing a considerable increase in sales.

“The reason for the increase is because of changes in growing techniques and breeding, which mean commercially grown phalaenopsis have not been difficult to grow in the UK, and so in turn are now less expensive to buy and more readily available in retailers. Previously orchids were only available through more specialist suppliers or retailers, but they are now far more available,“ said the spokeswoman for FPA, Sarah Holland.

This flower first made its way to the British Isles about 300 years ago, among the cargo of church missionaries and explorers. Collectors and the rich were the first to own and care for this plant. South America, the West Indies and Japan are the natural habitat of this flower, where they grow in trees.

Whether or not you are keen to follow trends, this is a beautiful flower but it is meant for the patient caretaker only as it does require special attention.

The BBC News website recently wrote an article on flower gangs in Cornwall. Workers were being paid £50 a week to pick flowers such as daffodils from fields and roadsides. These workers, mainly from Poland and Lithuania, would spend half the year in Cornwall and the other half in Scotland. (Read it here)

Expolitation is not rare in the flower industry. While this was a tragic occurance, we also know that in Britain, ploys such as this one are often quickly discovered by the authorities and a ban put on the offenders. We know that on the whole, 99.5% of the flowers sourced in Britain are indeed ethically sourced, with fair wages being paid for all workers along the supply chain.

These aren’t the only ethically sourced flowers we can get here in Britain though. Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) provide ethically sourced flowers from around the world. These flowers are taken to Holland and distributed at auction to buyers from the UK, Europe and even parts of North America.

FFP accredited flowers are grown under strict regulations. Each stem comes with an individual tag with a unique serial number that can be traced straight back through the supply chain to the grower.

We love FFP flowers; these provide solid documentational proof that the flowers we are holding are not the result of hard working, exploited farmers. The only problem we have is the carbon footprint that is involved with importing these flowers. These flowers are taken from places such as Kenya and Costa Rica, flown to Holland and then driven/flown to their final destination. This puts a huge toll on our environment.

When weighing the two against each other, we find that British flowers are the clear winner- due to the reduced carbon emissions involved in transportation. British law is strict and clearly states and enforces many of the same requirements FFP growers must adhere to. British law also is strict on the use of pesticides and only certain, tested pesticides are allowed to be used on cut flowers. While as we can see, exploitation does still exist in Britain, it is clear the amount of exploitation is minimal when compared to many other countries.

Someone somewhere is always trying to cut their costs to gain more- and exploitation is rife where it is allowed to appear invisible- but what is important is that Britain has the strength of the media and government funded, effective policing (such as the Gangmasters Licencing Authority) to readily combat and make visible any horticultural and agricultural injustice that may occur within Britain.

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Feng Shui

Feng Shui is directly translated from Chinese to “Wind Water”. It represents the elements that surround us in our daily lives that contributes to our ‘Qi’ or ‘Chi’.

Qi is an ancient Chinese concept that positive energy is flowing all around us. What Feng Shui does is manage the (mostly) inanimate objects of our daily lives and position them to allow Qi to flow freely around your environment. Once you’ve ‘Feng Shui’d’ your house, the theory is that it can fully allow this positive energy to surround you, filling your life with positive activities.

While it’s often fine to Feng Shui your house yourself, in Chinese speaking countries, many people opt for a Feng Shui expert to evaluate their house, their Chinese astrological sign and their status in life to decide where things are best positioned. Traditionally, a Chinese compass is used to decide the positioning of many objects in the house. There are however, some easy to implement rules that apply to most houses.

1) Your feet should never face the door of your bedroom as you sleep. Feng Shui experts suggest that this mimics a coffin, which is lifted feet first. Literally meaning all of your energy goes straight out the door. This may result in you waking up feeling exhausted and energy drained.

2) Toilet lids should always be shut when it’s not in use. This is because wealth can be literally ‘flushed straight down the toilet’. This is probably one of the most easy things to do with Feng Shui as it doesn’t require moving or painting objects of your house.

3) To salvage all the Qi that may go out of the toilet, you can place fresh flowers or pebbles above the toilet to capture all the escaping positive energy

4) A glass of water in the North of your house promotes a good career. If you don’t have a compass, google maps is an easy way to find out which side is North if you don’t already know.

5) Well placed plants. Most plants bring luck to your environment. Placed in the East, South East and South corners of your office, a plant can bring a positive change to your career (as well as your mood!). Plants with thorns should be avoided at all costs. While the thorns are supposed to have a protective shield, these are best placed just outside your home.

6) Fresh flowers. Fresh flowers provide luck and fortune to your house and most often advised to be kept in the living room. Make sure you throw them out as soon as they die however, as they can bring misfortune, much like dried flowers. If you don’t want to get fresh flowers weekly, a more cost effective and less time consuming alternative is silk flowers. (We can also deliver fresh flowers weekly to your home to make the process easier!)

7) Trim the plants and trees around your house regularly. Overgrown plants provide an ideal place for negative energy to gather, but once the plants are trimmed and tidy, the positive energy is free to flow through the house again.

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On our website, we have a variety of categories our potential customers can sort through. These include Occasions, Price, Colour and Variety.

We also seperate our Plants, Gifts, Flowers and Gourmet section.

While we have a pretty decent analysis of which categories are most popular – which ones are most important for you? Or would you come to our site and immedietly think, “Heck, why can’t I sort them by XXXXX?!”

We want to know what you think – and not just about categories! If you’ve got any feedback we’d love to hear from you!!

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Fruit baskets have recently become one of our most popular items. We believe it could be because they’re both affordable and practical. With the rise of interest in healthy living and focus from the media in the last few years, why not send your friend a gift basket of fruit? They also make fantastic gifts for men, who stereotypically would scoff at the mere thought of receiving flowers (Send him exotic flowers, we promise he’ll like them more!)

Traditionally, florists sent out fruit baskets as a gift, but in recent years this tradition has died down. The reason for this is many high-street florists find that fresh fruit is hard to source and often don’t have enough gift baskets in stock to be able to create one of these on demand.

We, on the other hand, have an daily supplier for fresh fruit (they also supply our flowers!). This allows us to provide astoundingly fresh fruit at an incredible value for money. We source a combination of fruit that provides well over your five a day and make it look nice and pretty as well!

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How to instantly get 30% more value on your flowers!

We’ve all been there. You order a dozen roses to find that on delivery your beloved only has 9. Why?

Ordering from a middleman instantly reduces your value for money. Most middlemen charge between 20-25%. And then the florist he calls takes between 5-10%. That’s an average of a whopping 30% just for taking your order and calling a florist himself.

You’re paying for the brand name. You’re talking to people that hardly see flowers in their day to day life. You’re talking to people who may have never even seen a bouquet being made.  Calling a middleman is like buying a raffle ticket – sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And unfortunately these days, it’s most often lose.

We try to be as transparent as possible. We charge you a delivery fee on top of your order. This is calculated by the distance it takes to travel to your destination: it’s not a set fee where sometimes you’re paying too much and other times you’re paying too little (and therefore the fee gets taken out your flowers!). The prices you pay for delivery to London is for hand delivery, by our own drivers. The price you pay for UK deliveries is what we pay to our courier. All of the flowers we deliver come straight from our studio to your recipients home.

So when you order a £100 bouquet from a middle man, he’ll take 25% of that immediately. Then the florist takes a 5% cut. Suddenly you’re £100 bouquet is only worth £70. Oh, and then there’s the hidden delivery cost, which is probably between £5-£10.

Many florists working with the middlemen end up feeling ripped off. They’ve only gotten 5% from your order, while the big boys have gotten 25% just for calling them. That 5% in their total orders often doesn’t add up to enough to pay the bills. And that’s why you’ll get 9 roses instead of 12.

Whilst thinking about what I would write about today, I decided I would highlight what I believe to be one of our most overlooked items. It’s my personal favourite – a combination of the East with hints of East Asia sneaking out, running parallel to our beautiful European pink roses.

The juxtaposition of the two together is extraordinary. To me, it represents globalisation: the changes in the world we have and will be seeing in the future. The synergy between the two is explosive. Each stem, a representative of a different continent who work side by side every day. It gives me endless amazement to see just how much beauty and belonging can be conveyed in a flower display, which is why I love working in a florist!

East Meets West is only available for London delivery, but if you would like a similar item in a bouquet form, we can create one to be sent nation wide – call us for more information on +44 (0)20 7738 4049.  It’s the perfect present for a graduating student who may be from East Asia or someone who has originally come from there.