Fresh-Cut Flowers
 

I truly enjoy my home. It's nothing fancy by any means, it's just a little cottage, one of those 1957 starter homes all the newly branded white collars were buying back then, but I love it. It was the first home I ever knew. When I was 13 my father (going thru a mid-life, no doubt) bought a bigger, better home. He didn't sell this one, but rented it out. It was a rental for 20 years until I took possession of it five years ago. It was a mess, but the structure was sound. I've s-l-o-w-l-y been working on things and have managed to make it somewhat cozy. I love cozy. I work hard on making my home feel loved and safe and lived-in.

Today, while shopping, I spotted the freshest, sunniest bouquet of roses, carnations, bells of Ireland, daisies, eucalyptus and snapdragons. I bought it and stuck it on my coffee table. Nothing has ever brightened my room like these flowers. If you haven't done this, I would encourage everyone to buy themselves a pretty bouquet TODAY and see how it changes your space!

Men: if you buy your wife flowers today, I'll just betcha you get some real sweet love in return. Women love flowers, esp. for NO reason.

OK--some of you schmucks are gonna say, If I buy her flowers, she'll think I've been cheating. IF that is the case, I'm sorry.

PS-I do NOT work for the Flower Board.

That's a great reminder Brianna. Thanks. There's a halfway decent flower peddler by the Metro stop near my house. I'll check out the offerings today.


Question for anyone: Do flowers have a weekly cycle of freshness like seafood at a restaurant? Is Monday typically a good day to buy? (One thing I do know is that I will never buy flowers around Valentine's Day.)

There must be a florist lurking out there that can give us the skinny on buying fresh flowers. C'mon, spill it.
Pretty please with sugar on it.:notworthy

Tuesday/ Friday are delivery days to my market- but yours may vary. What's great right now: a bunch of 6-8 tulips, simple straight glass vase or water glass, terrific. Also dafodils are coming in bunches, cheap and cheerful, as they say. Trim tips before putting in water, change water after a couple of days and you'll probably get a week out of them.

Almost all cut flowers sold in the US are now grown in Columbian greenhouses and shipped in by air. Different florists and stores will have different delivery dates. ASK when new shipments are due. Here in Colorado, Safeway foodstore offers the very best deal on cut flowers -14 roses for $9.99 - and they generally have a weekly special, in addition. Because of the Columbian thing, seasons don't mean too much anymore, but now is indeed a good time for daffodills, tulips, and iris which are more likely to be domestically grown. These flowers should NOT be put in any preservative mix - just cut the stems on a slant and put in a vase of water that is room temperature. Cut stems and change water daily for longest lasting blooms.

All other types of flowers should have stems cut on a diagonal and put in a vase of fresh water with a pack of the floral preservative that most shops offer for free. Again change water and re-cut stems daily. When I worked at the botanic gardens in Denver, their head horticulturist always used to say, "Never put flowers in a container that isn't clean enough that you wouldn't drink out of it." Its a good rule of thumb. If you can't for some reason get a hold of those little floral preservative packs, add a half teaspoon of sugar and a drop of bleach per quart of water. Beleive it or not, a penny placed in the bottom of the vase will also help your flowers remain perky.

Longest lasting blooms - carnations and algostamias and baby breath.

A few years back I had the chance to visit the huge Aalsmeer Flower Auction.

Flowers are flown in here from all over the world, sold via a falling clock auction and then flown to all parts of the world again. The scent on entering is amazing and will stay with you forever. Unfortunately, the same day involved a visit to the Ork fish auction..... no more needs to be said