It’s winter, but we are definitely not hibernating! We’ve been scurrying to decorate for the holidays. And we’ve gotten our new studio space all spruced up. A hoop house has arrived at the farm…”some assembly required” is an understatement for this giant Lego set so that will take more than a few sunny winter days to get up. Of course there are seed catalogs to be scoured. It’s impossible to choose!! And then there are lots and lots of consultations with 2012 brides to discuss wedding flowers and decor. We’re already over half-way booked for the season!! And the Flower CSA made a media splash by being featured as one of the 50 Best Gifts to give for the holidays in the December issue of Philadelphia Magazine. It was actually listed at number 10! And the CSA and Love ‘n Fresh were featured on Channel 6 (ABC) for their holiday gift segment on December 10th. The local flower love is spreading!
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Images of our flowers have made the rounds on all the major wedding blogs, and our designs were also featured in Brides Philadelphia print magazine and on the Brides national website.
Love ‘n Fresh Flowers was featured throughout GRID magazine’s Wedding Issue (August 2011), including on the front cover! Check it out here.
Love ‘n Fresh Flowers was featured in two great articles in January. Click here for an article in the Philadelphia Inquirier. And click here and flip to page 32 for an article in Grid Magazine.
TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR FLOWERS FRESH
Fresh flowers are still living entities and can be encouraged to last much longer if you provide the right conditions for them. Here are a few things you can do to get the longest vase life out of your cut flowers, whether you get them from Love ‘n Fresh, you own garden, the farmers market or even the grocery store.
Tip #1 : Change the water in the vase every other day. Tip over large formal arrangements to let the water drain without disturbing the design.
Tip #2 : Trim about a half inch of stem off your flowers before you put them in a vase and each time you change the water. This exposes fresh tissue that can suck up the water efficiently.
Tip #3 : Keep your flowers away from heat and bright light. Also avoid sitting them beside ripening fruit, which causes the flowers to mature faster.
Tip #4 : After you throw out your last arrangement, be sure to wash the vase/container very thoroughly in hot soapy water or in your dishwasher. This way the next time you use it, the new flowers will have a fresh clean environment free of bacteria.
Tip #5 : Use “flower food” for most flowers. While changing the water every other day or so is often just as effective at making flowers last longer as adding those flower food packets that come with packaged flowers, most flowers do benefit from having a little food in the water. This is especially true if you’re forgetful and won’t be changing your flowers’ water regularly. You can make your own flower food by adding about 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoon of lemon juice and a 1 teaspoon of bleach to your vase before adding about a quart of warm tap water. It is worth noting that there are a few flowers that don’t like flower food in the vase. Some of these are: zinnias, sunflowers and glads.
Here’s a great link to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s page on caring for cut flowers: http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2003sp_cutflower.html
