Flowers Blog

Sometimes vases for cut flowers can get quite scummy, which is bad for both the flower and the vase.

The best solution is to keep scum from forming in the first place. The water needs to be changed every day in order to prevent this. Your flowers need to be grabbed at the neck of the vase and taken out, they need to be cut again, allowing them to continue drinking up water. In the meantime, you can change the water and return them in the vase.

The water in the vase also needs to be kept clean and all the leaves need to be stripped off the stems that are below the water. Any stem, flowers or greenery, need to be thrown out if they are wilted.

A clean vase will keep your flowers blooming longer and looking healthier.

[Via: chron.com]

It is time to start thinking about spring 2009. Especially, if you were looking at your neighbors beautiful tulips and daffodils enviously last year, having forgotten to plant your own.

Bulbs can usually be found in garden centers by early autumn, and can be planted up until the holidays in milder climates. It is important to get your bulbs as soon as possible as garden centers still sell bulbs, but the selection is getting sparse. The bulbs need to be put into the ground or pots because they need the cool moist months of winter to develop strong roots, which will help them support their foliage and flowers.

Some bulbs need extreme cold to bring out their best, which milder climates do not supply. Tulips, hyacinths and other such flowers need to have a period during which the bulbs are chilled. They need to be put in the refrigerator for about 12 weeks, to give them something similar to a dormant winter.

It is important not to put bulbs beside ripening fruit, because fruit gives off ethylene gas that damages or kills flower buds inside the bulbs.

Chilling your flowers is an especially good idea if you want them to bloom a bit earlier, but it is best to consult a gardening book on this topic.

[Via: San Jose Mercury News]

The holidays are coming up and you are probably going to have a lot of guests around. There are a couple of things you can do to add colour to your home to make it more inviting.

Pansies are the first on the list. They are small plants but unstoppable bloomers. There are two kinds of blooms: clear-faced and monkey-faced. Clear-faced pansies have petals that are only one colour, while monkey-faced pansies have a black interior surrounded by colored petals. Both types come in a huge selection of colour. Pansies are excellent as container plants — they just need to be kept in a place that gets lots of sun.

Johnny jump-ups and violas are another great option, and they are closely related to the pansy. They can be grown just like pansies, they just have smaller flowers.

If you want to add deeper shades to your home, then primulas and cyclamen are the best option for you. They have intensely coloured flowers in red, blue, white, pink, yellow, and bi-coloured bloom. Plus, they do not need as much sunlight as pansies.

[Via: my SA life]

Bulbs are one of the most useful things that any gardener can get their hands on. This year the range is greater than ever.

This is the perfect time to get them, as planting and gardening centers are offering a huge array of bulbs and tubers. If you have a small garden there are many great choices to go for.

Glory of the snow, comes in pink, white or blue, with star shaped flowers that cluster along the stem. As the flowers fade and the foliage also dies back, which is wonderful news for a tiny garden. Partial shade and well-drained soil is all they need to flourish.

The crocus is also a great option with goblet-shaped flowers and upright leaves with white stripes. It is best to plant these flowers along the edges of flowerbeds or beneath small trees or shrubs.

The snowdrop is also something you should consider. The teardrop white flowers with bright green markings catch the eye in a spring garden. They can grow in the grass or in a flowerbed, with heavy and moist soil.

The "Red Riding Hood" version of the tulip grows very low to the ground, has unique purple-brown striped leaves and bright red flowers. The leaves make a stunning sight even after the flowers have faded.

[Via: Mirror.co.uk]

When we picture spring we usually think of fields of daffodils and tulips. However, this is not a realistic picture — in the garden, cluster, not fields make the vision that we call spring.

A gardener should think of planting a variety of flowers in clusters, which may not be the common way of doing things, but it can be just as lovely as planting masses of one type of flower.

It is never a good idea to plant your bulbs in a row like toy soldiers, as clumps of flowers give a more cheery note to any garden. There are several flowers you can consider.

• Ixia is a bulb from South Africa which blooms from spring to early summer. It is a great complement of bigger flowers as it gives them some accent.
• The allium caeruleum is a blue-flowered ornamental onion, which is quite stunning if it planted with roses.
• Allium moly or "Jeannine" blooms in late may, grows to about a four feet and has sunny yellow balls of flower heads. This flower mixes in very well with hardy geraniums or rambling roses.

Basically it is just important to remember that having variety adds more interest to your garden.

[Via: seattlepi.com]