Tropical Flower Arrangements

The tropics are an earthly paradise of blue skies and fine, sandy beaches. The tropics are also known for having the most colorful and exotic flowers in the world. These tropical flowers make for beautiful and unusual flower arrangements.

If you want to make a flower arrangement that features tropical flowers, make sure that you order these from your florist:

- Bougainvillea. Originating from Brazil, the bougainvillea decorates and beautifies the finest residences and modest huts and cottages. At times, its corollas blend pink and fuchsia, violet and indigo, and orange and red accordingly, or adopts a yellowish color with spotless white strokes. They make for great additions in a tropical flower arrangement.

- Anthurium. Considered as the "Queen of Flowers," the anthurium is a perfect carmine beauty in either pink or white. It has a glossy and silky gown and a single, finely pleated petal.

- Pink Torch Ginger (Etlingeria elatior). One cannot help but appreciate and admire the dance of colors that daylight brings on its attractive pink petals.

- Heliconia. These are delicate flowers that are believed to be from the heavens. They come in a reds, pinks, golds, and splashes of other colors. Actually, they do not look like flowers at all. They tend to look more like modified leaves and bracts. The bracts come in shapes of lobster claws and bird beaks.

- Red Purpurea (Heliconia caribaea), also belonging to the Heliconia family, is a blazing flower that always faces towards the light and the sky. Its petals are arranged in spikes as if catching and preserving all the sun's brightness. This flower is an eye-catching addition to your tropical flower arrangement.

- Pink or Red Ginger (Alpinia purpurata). The pink or red ginger is a special and charming flower with a unique appearance. Its bouquet of fluffy petals in shades of pink and red is similar to an arrangement of delicate feathers.

Lotus Flower

WHAT IS A LOTUS FLOWER?


The lotus flower symbolises the purity that can emerge from cloudy waters and the hope which rises out of the most difficult conditions. It is through the inspiration of the lotus flower that we place our hope for justice.

Represented in ancient Egyptian art. The blue lotus was found scattered over Tutankhamen's body when the Pharaoh's tomb was opened in 1922. Many historians thought it was a purely symbolic flower, but there may be some reason to believe that ancient Egyptians used it to induce an ecstatic state, stimulation, and/or hallucinations, as well as being widely used as a general remedy against illness, and to this day is used as a tonic for good health, consumed as an extract,

How to Start Flower Gardening

Flower gardening has been gaining popularity every day. This is not surprising as flowers have the ability to brighten your day with their looks and their smell. Flower gardening is a great hobby enjoyed by many as it is a simple and inexpensive activity that rewards you with loads of fun. You can use flower gardening for decorating your yard, or simply for fun as a hobby, or even professionally.

Before you start flower gardening, you need to make some decisions. Firstly, you need to decide if you want those annuals that only live for a season and then you’ll need to replant them each year, or the perennials that will survive all through winter and then will return again during the summer. When deciding on what to plant, always find something that is suitable for the kind of climatic conditions you’re living in.

Before you start to plant, it is wise to decide on the type of look you want. For example, you may want to mix together different colors, heights, and varieties of flowers in a “wild-plant style”. This will give a meadow look to your garden and make it very charming. Another style would be the “stepping stone style” where shorter flowers are planted towards the front of your garden while taller ones are planted towards the back ending with the tallest flowers at the very back of your garden.

Seeds for flower gardening can be ordered from catalogues or you can get them from your local nursery. You may also want to do what most people do and buy the actual flowers from the nursery and then transplant them in your garden. After getting your flowers and preparing your garden area, you should lay the flowers out on the flower bed to determine the best arrangement and proper spacing before you actually plant them.

Planting is really one of the easiest activities in flower gardening. If you’re planting seeds, all you need to do is to sprinkle them around in the flower bed. To plant transplants, first dig a hole just bigger than the flower. Then, set the flower in the hole with the right side up after pulling off the container. When the flower is in place, cover the hole with loose soil and press firmly down. When you’re done, the last step is to water the plants.

What’s easier than planting a flower garden? Maintaining one. Although the plants might make it on their own, it is a good idea to apply a bag of fertilizer in the early spring. Any blooms that start to fade should be pinched back. Keep your garden looking good and watered. To save yourself some work during the next season of flower gardening, you should get rid of all debris from your garden and fertilize it with some organic nutrients like compost or peat moss. In order to properly mix in the fertilizer, you should turn over the soil. When you’re done, rake smooth. If you have planted perennials, you must be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

Flower gardening is not difficult. Just decide on what to plant, simply plant it, and then keep watering. Flower gardening is undoubtedly getting more popular and gives anyone good reasons to spend some time outdoors and to test out their green thumb.

Flowers in the Workplace: How Motivation can Affect Productivity

With the hectic and aggressive nature of today's economy, it has become extremely important for your business to gain every advantage over the competition. Any combination of things can affect the productivity and motivation in your workplace, including global economic factors and local unemployment rates.

Although these factors are beyond most of our abilities to affect, there are a number of personal changes that you can affect to improve the productivity of your workplace and the motivation of your workers.

Take, for example, the simple idea of introducing flowers to the workplace. What was before a drab and dreary office - draining the motivation and productivity of your workers through its uninspiring environment - could be transformed into a more positive and appealing place to spend the day.

There is often an association with Spartan decoration and a professional workplace, but this is not necessarily true. When you take into consideration the health benefits a pleasant and uplifting environment can affect on your staff, you will realize that they far outweigh those of a decoration-free "no-nonsense" workplace.

Study Links Flowers to Increased Productivity

Texas A&M University has conducted an eight-month study to explore how the addition of flowers to the workplace affects employees. Those participating engaged in creative problem solving tasks in an assortment of standard office environments and conditions in order to determine the affect of flowers on their motivation and productivity.

During the study, participants of both genders were shown to demonstrate greater levels of innovative thinking, resulting in the generation of more ideas and original solutions. More ideas and solutions led to greater productivity, and thus a greater motivation to achieve.

By introducing plants and flowers to the workplace, you will increase motivation and productivity through a pleasant environment. You will affect positive changes and free many from the monotony of beige and sterility.

Think about hospitals and other institutions. You've likely read studies about how flowers are introduced to speed along the healing process. We have a human desire to be surrounded by nature, and as a result, four blank walls and a roof over our head are going to understandably affect our motivation and productivity in a negative way.

Again, since motivation towards greater productivity is an important way to improve your workplace, you'll want to affect as many changes as you can towards that end. An individual in a workplace decorated with flowers will show positive behaviour, and will have a greater relationship with you as a manager and leader. It is, overall, not a bad goal for you to make and pursue.

In addition to flowers in the workplace being a great way to improve motivation and productivity of your employees, think of how it will affect you personally. Striding into work every morning to be greeted by a pleasant environment will just as likely motivate you to greater productivity levels as well. Affect these positive changes and you'll increase your power and approach the top with greater ease.

Remember, motivation is the key to success. The simple act of putting flowers in your office is a great way to achieve it.

Roses - Meaning of Color

Read on for explanations of the meaning of color in roses…

Red: love and respect.
Yellow: joy.
White roses: innocence, purity, secrecy. joy. innocence, purity, secrecy.
Red and white roses together, or white roses with red edges: unity.Pink: grace.
Deep pink: gratitude and appreciation.
Light pink: sympathy.
Coral or orange roses: desire.

Deep burgundy: “unconscious beauty.”
Pale colors: friendship.
Rosebuds symbolize beauty, youth and innocence.
Red rosebuds: purity.

White rosebuds: girlhood or chaste innocence.
Moss rosebud: confessions of love.
A single rose: simplicity.
Withered white roses: fleeting beauty.

Two roses taped or wired together to form a single stem symbolize an engagement or coming marriage.
A full blown rose placed over two buds: secrecy.
Leaves: symbol of hope.

Species Roses

These are roses as nature gave them to us. They are the species of the genus Rosa found growing naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere. These roses are an enormously varied group of plants. They are vigorous, thriving on minimal maintenance, and tend to be extremely hardy and disease-resistant. It should be noted however, that there is variability within species. Some may be more tolerant than others. They range in size from ground cover types to very large upright growers and climbers. Their flowers can be very large and single or small and in clusters. Colors range from white to pink to crimson.

Species roses often have relatively simple, 5-petaled flowers followed by very colorful hips that last well into the winter, providing food for birds and winter color. Almost all are once-blooming in early summer. Perhaps the most familiar species for sale today is Rosa rugosa because of its superior hardiness, disease resistance, and extremely easy maintenance. The species has been widely hybridized. Species roses may not be for everyone. Rose enthusiasts like to include them into their collection for historical purposes as well as ease of maintenance.

Autumn and Winter Wedding Flowers

Marrying in the Autumn or Winter does not mean that you need to be restricted when it comes to choosing floral arrangements. Some couples want their wedding to have a particular look associated with a wintry time of year. A wedding with a particular theme needs to be meticulously planned so that it doesn’t look too contrived. There are certain times of the year that lend themselves to certain themes such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day that have strong visual images to work with. Choosing plants and flowers symbolic of the time of year can give guests a sense of time and place. These can then be easily developed within the wedding flowers.

There is quite a chasm between Autumnal flowers and Winter flowers in terms of colour, style and fragrance. However, some blooms are clearly suitable for either season and – depending on the colour – can be incorporated into a winter or autumn themed wedding.

Obvious choices for Autumn may be berries with plenty of dark green, brown, orange and gold foliage. Equally though, purples, dark pinks, burgundies and anything in chocolate browns look quite at home during the Autumn season. In fact, if there is an introduction of a different colour it can prevent arrangements looking contrived or clichéd. If you focus your flowers around a ‘Harvest’ style theme, and work outwards from this centre point, then you can’t really go wrong. Autumn is such a great time as there is such an abundance of seeds, fruits, berries and grasses that contrast beautifully together. When choosing flowers to accompany berries, seeds, twigs and foliage choose from or combine vibrant orange Tiger Lillies, Chocolate or peach roses, honeysuckle, cream freesia, orange gerbera and ivory carnations. Your florist will help you with which flowers are seasonal if you are still unsure as to what to go for.

When it comes to winter wedding flowers and Christmas wedding flowers there is still plenty of classy choices without your reception tables and bouquets feeling tacky. Chinese lanterns, poinsettias, holly berries, Christmas Roses, Grand Prix roses, leatherleaf fern, beargrass in gold, crisp white flowers of any kind, ivory roses, Mistletoe, gold foliage, twisted branches and pine cones are to name but a few ideal choices. The most popular of all choices really is the red rose; these are the epitome of beauty, romance and seduction. Many a bride bases her entire theme on the red rose and why not? You need not be restricted to roses solely in the bouquets, they may also be used as button holes, as napkin decorations, attached to placecards, placed in bowls of water along with floating candles, on the wedding cake and petals scattered on the tables. Team the red roses with cream roses and insert diamante or pearls into their centres to give the occasion a sense of festive opulence. There is no way that when done properly, these beautiful flowers could ever look inappropriate or tacky.

So, whether you are a Autumn or a Winter bride, there are so many unique and unusual floral ideas that can be incorporated with ease into your big day. You won’t go far wrong if the flowers are in season and in keeping with the overall theme of your wedding. This includes the style of your dress, reception venue décor as well as the general ‘feel’ of your event – i.e. modern, simple, fairytale, lavish, funky, minimalist etc. Ensure that any floral arrangements are tied with co-ordinating ribbon to complete the look. This ribbon can also be used on napkin settings, favours and wedding cake to keep everything ‘uniform’ rather than something just thrown together.