Flowers…uncut

Posted by: Will – Priority Juggler on July 1st, 2008

The last 12 months have been pretty, erm, interesting for young businesses such as our own (although not as bad as the ancient Chinese curse might suggest). We now get asked almost daily “how are sales holding up?”, “are you doing better because you’re online (or worse?)?”, “are visitors converting to customers?” and so on.  The answers are quite varied and, in most areas, everything has held up well and we even had record sales last week (thanks to all our customers!).  Having said that, the period hasn’t been without its bumps in the road and its interesting challenges.  So for those who are interested in how stormy winds in the global economy might feed through to a UK business or for those who are wondering why lots of local florists have increased prices and reduced the number of stems in bouquets (although Arena Flowers hasn’t), it all starts with this graph:

Read More About How The Global Economy Affects A Small Business

Filed under: Finance & Investment, Floristry, General, Matters Webby, Mega Days, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day on July 1st, 2008 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Posted by: Adarsh – Search engine battler on June 26th, 2008

Flowers and plants not only help us communicate our feelings, but they also fulfill important human needs such as providing a rich source of chemicals high in medicinal values. One of the foremost examples of this is the Hoodia plant, a cactus like plant grown in the Kalahari desert, which has grown in prominence recently thanks to the presence of the obesity fighting molecule P 57. Apparently this miracle molecule tricks the nerve cells in your brain into believing that you are full. The UK drug company Phytopharm, which develops Hoodia based anti-obesity drugs, says that the P 57 molecule is found to reduce appetite by 30% to 40%.

The ugly, malodorous, spiky plant blooms in the extremely high desert temperatures of the African continent and takes years to mature. For centuries, the famed San Bushmen (remember the movie The Gods Must be Crazy!) have been using Hoodia plants to suppress their appetite during their long hunting trips. The San Bushmen are the native tribe of the Kalahari desert and are said to be direct descendants of the late stone age. That gives the Hoodia plant about 100, 000 years of clinical trials with the San still lean and fit!

Considering that the number of individuals who are clinically obese has hit epidemic proportions, the Hoodia plant’s medicinal attributes may be extremely valuable in tackling the illnesses and social stigma attached with obesity. With few known side effects, popping the wonder pill would mean fewer trips to your favourite fast food joint and a reduced waistline. In fact, when BBC 2’s correspondent Tom Mangold took the Hoodia test, he lost his appetite for nearly 24 hours. Sadly, like many other medicinal plants, Hoodia is listed as endangered and faces the risk of extinction if trade is not controlled, which explains why it trade is closely regulated.

Recently, BBC reported that 50 % of prescription drugs are obtained from chemicals first obtained in plants, emphasizing the importance of flowers and plants in shaping our healthy lives. Furthermore researchers believe that a majority of the arcane abilities of flowers and plants may remain undiscovered due to the risk of extinction, which means that cures for perilous diseases like cancer and HIV may never be found.

I’m afraid that here at Flowers HQ we don’t offer the rare spiky Hoodia plants to help curb your appetite.  Some of our popular varieties of flowers & plants, such as roses, lilies, chrysanthemums, which have medicinal properties but we don’t suggest you eat them!

Filed under: Flowers, General on June 26th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

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Posted by: Stan - The Dandy FlowerWoman... on June 20th, 2008

Marry when June roses grow and over land and sea you’ll go…

Although late summer is fast becoming a popular time of the year for matrimonial activity, June is the traditonal month for weddings and anniversaries. This is because June is traditionally considered to be the luckiest month to marry in as it is named after Juno, the Roman goddess of love and marriage.

Additionally, the summer as a whole was considered a good time to marry, partly to do with the sun’s association with fertility.

The flowers at your wedding will reflect your personality and character, so choose the flowers for the table, button holes and bridal bouquets that symbolise your feelings about your relationship. Take a look at our Flower Meanings page for inspiration for your wedding.

Our own Mariusz (aka ‘Super Mario’), Head of Distribution here at Flowers HQ, celebrated ten years of marriage to his georgeous missus Madzia (pictured far right with Mariusz) at the weekend, and marked the special occasion with a stunning bouquet of 100 grand prix roses with an intricate ‘10′ detail entwined with white roses.

Prepared by one of our team of ultra talented florists, the lovely Judith (pictured right with her work), this amazing bouquet had to be kept underwraps as Madzia herself popped into the office visit her other half on Friday - causing much panic and raised heart pressure!

The flower arrangement was finally handed over to its more than grateful - and pleasantly surprised! - recipient at the weekend, and is still looking as fresh as it heads into its second week.

As expectations of Arena Flowers increase and the talents of our team are stretched, confidence is growing in specialist and bespoke designs for special occasions. Whether you are planning a wedding or anniversary celebration, contact our team at customer@arenaflowers.com who will be more than happy to assist and offer friendly advice.

If you are looking for a quick yet effective fix for an upcoming anniversary, we supply a comprehensive range of appropriate gift ideas direct from ArenaFlowers.com for sameday delivery within the M25 and next day for the rest of mainland UK…

1st Anniversary | Carnation
Dianthus, the carnation’s botanical name, means “divine flower”. Available all year round, carnations can last up to three weeks but should be kept away from ripening fruit and vegetables because of ethylene gas.
The UK’s best-selling cut flower, red carnations denote “alas for my poor heart”, striped for refusal, yellow for disdain, pink for woman’s love.

2nd Anniversary | Lily of the Valley
Currently out of season at time of writing, lily of the valley differs from generic lilies by the little white bells arranged up a short delicate stem.
Signifying “return to happiness”, lily of the valley is much used in bridal arrangements for their sweet perfume. Traditionally associated with May 1st, especially in France where the “muguet” is handed out at special events.
As an alternative summer gift, we suggest our Precious in Pink arrangement of pink lilies, a bottle of Contarini brut prosecco and delicious Prestat organic Earl Grey milk chocolate wafers.

3rd Anniversary | Sunflower
A traditionally summer flower, the botanical name for sunflower is Helianthus, the Greek word “helios” meaning sun and “anthos” meaning flower.
Sunflowers are commonly associated with pride and adoration, and thought to signify boldness and exuberance, with an additional association with the summer star sign of Leo.

4th Anniversary | Hydrangea
Originating from Japan in the 18th century, Hydrangea means “water barrel” and refers to the shape of the fruit after it has sprung open. Their small, star-shaped flowers are packed closely together to form a rounded or pyramidal head. A popular addition to wedding bouquets, hydrangeas are available right through from spring until autumn and make beautiful dried flowers. Please email us direct at customer@arenaflowers.com for availability.

5th Anniversary | Daisy
Daisies come in all shapes and forms, including gerberas and asters. Available all year round, gerberas were little known just a few decades ago but now there are over 200 varieties, with many variants. Our favourite gerbera flower arrangement is our ethically sourced Pink & White Gerbera Bouquet - packed with smily happy fairly-grown flower stems!

6th Anniversary | Calla
Also known as the arum lily, calla lilies are another popular favourite with wedding planners. Often depicted in many paintings, the calla lily is visible in many of Diego Rivera’s works of art (see The Flower Vendor, amongst others) and signifies “magnificent beauty”. Our magnificent Luxury Romance hand-tied bouquet contains pink calla lilies as well as asiatic lilies to make a memorable sixth wedding anniversary gift.

7th Anniversary | Freesia
Symbolising innocence and thoughtfulness, freesias have established themselves as one of the UK’s favourite cut flower - despite being relatively unknown until the 1950s. Their appeal doesn’t merely lie in their delicate blossoms and wide spectrum of hues alone - the flowers have a strangely attractive asymmetry, growing off just one side of a thin, elegant stem.

8th Anniversary | Lilac
First cultivated in the middle of the last century in Europe, the cut flower of the lilac is considered to be far more glamorous than its shrub counterpart, with long branches laden with flowers. The flowers are very labour intensive to grow but the final result is well worth it. Available in white, mauve, violet or pink, with the purple-flowered varieties containing the stronger scent. Lilacs have come to signify youthfulness, humility and confidence.

9th Anniversary | Bird of Paradise
Named after King Charles III’s wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Streliz, the strelitzia, also known as “the bird of paradise” due to its resemblance to the exotic bird species, is a versatile plant that makes the ideal gift for both male and female recipients. Available all year round, the bird of paradise signifies ‘magnificence’ and it’s easy to see why with our exotic Strelitzia Tropical Arrangement.

10th Anniversary | Daffodil
Otherwise known by their genus name, narcissus, the flower is named after Narcissus in Greek legend, “Narcissus” deriving from the Greek for “numbness” referring to the narcotic properties of the plant.
Daffodils and narcissi have sap which is toxic to other flowers, so are generally displayed separately. The emblem of Wales, the daffodil is traditionally worn on St David’s Day and is also used by Marie Curie Cancer Care to raise money on National Daffodil Day. Symbolising regard, rebirth, new beginnings, unrequited love, chivalry, the daffodil is the birthflower for March.

Read More Wedding Anniversary Flower Tips

Filed under: Distribution, Floristry, Flowers, General, Operations, Weddings on June 20th, 2008 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Posted by: Will – Priority Juggler on June 16th, 2008

We often get asked by friends and former colleagues who are thinking about setting up their own business for our top tips on fund-raising for start ups. We’re no experts so, rather than give exhaustive detail of what we’ve learnt here, we thought we’d share three avenues of government funding that we’ve found interesting and which potential/existing entrepreneurs might not be aware of. If you apply for any of them, good luck. We hope you’re successful and get to pose for one of those classic big cheque pics like we did. Here’s me and superstar Howard Beaumont of the Park Royal Partnership with our giganto-cheque:

Let’s start our list with the source of funding that yielded that happy mugshot:
Read more »

Filed under: Finance & Investment, Setting up, Start up on June 16th, 2008 | 4 Comments »

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Posted by: Jackie – Voice at the end of the phone on June 12th, 2008

Here at Arena Flowers we get a lot of special orders both large and small – sometimes for a particular birthday where the number of flowers is important or sometimes for the re-creation of a wedding bouquet for an anniversary.

We also receive requests for flower stems to be distributed at special events, such as yellow daffodils for Marie Curie Cancer Care, or pink roses for an end-of-year school ball.

In April we provided five hundred of our FFP red roses to Amnesty International for their national conference in Nottingham, which meant a lot of de-thorning work for Jozsef, our wonderful ‘jack-of-all-trades’.
At the time, this seemed quite a large order…

Then, last month, Karen also from Amnesty, contacted us, requesting a delivery of two thousand red roses to their London office on 4 June.

What could be simpler? Nothing as complicated as sending flowers to Nottingham – or so we thought!

And then Karen called again – this time asking for a further three thousand roses!

Well, having organised 2,000 roses, another 3,000 didn’t seem to present a problem so we were naturally particularly happy to be able to help.

It was only when our distribution manager pointed out quite how many buckets of flowers 5,000 red roses represented, that we were brought down to earth!

So, it was not one but two very full vans that eventually set off for the Amnesty International offices. The effect was amazing, though. Click the image to enlarge.

But we’ve learned our lesson: in future, we’ll warn the distribution manager well in advance when we take such large orders!

We had a snoop online to see just what Amnesty had used our flowers for, and came across their blog post about remembering Tiananmen Square nineteen years on.

It was strangely moving to see images of our beautiful roses commemorating such a tragic event…

PS. To give you a better idea of the scale of this whole operation last week, here is a shot of Judith with one of our rather splendid 100 Red Roses bouquet, freshly arranged today!

Filed under: Customers, Distribution, Ethics & Environment, Floristry, Flowers, Mega Days, Operations, Setting up on June 12th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

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Posted by: Will – Priority Juggler on June 4th, 2008

Sam mentioned a new arrival for his family last week, and this week it’s the turn of the Arena family to welcome its own new member: our Dutch language site, ArenaBloemen.nl!

Our team spends a huge amount of time and effort securing deals direct with the best growers so that we can ensure great prices, superb quality, ethical sourcing and freshness second to none. Excellence in flowers is the core of what we offer our customers. As part of that mission, we have a facility in Noordwijkerhout (NWH), west of Amsterdam, to receive flowers and to make some of them up into bouquets before they come over to the UK. Our Dutch team is led by Ronald, with Marion, Merel, Ellie and Mariska performing floristry magic crafting the bouquets and with Lyn assisting Ronald with everything else. Clearly, Ronald and Lyn weren’t pretty enough to make the group photo!

Given we already have the NWH facility, it was a natural next step for us to launch a Dutch language site, fulfilling from NWH and sending to the whole of the Netherlands and the Flemish speaking part of Belgium. We’re fairly certain that the quality of the product and the ease of use of the site that we built in the UK will also appeal to customers beyond our little island. Through the Send Flowers To Holland page on our UK site, we’re already sending a number of orders to the Netherlands every day. Now that we have our Dutch business out there, we can obviously guarantee the full “Arena experience” for our Dutch orders placed from the UK. For translation fans, our UK strap line “An experience delivered” becomes “Wij bezorgen emotie” in Dutch!

The project hasn’t been without challenges! Zach, our amazing developer (who built the whole Arena site and all the back end systems that our customers never see), and Sam, our head of design (who makes everything look pretty and shiny (amongst other things)), had to rebuild the whole way the website works so that it could be translated easily and do clever things like handle different VAT rates and different depots and different currencies. PayPal already allows us to accept Euros, but the Dutch also use a payment system called “Ideal” for a lot of their online payments, so we’ve had to integrate that too (it’s not live on the site just yet - we’re still testing it). Squirting orders placed on the Netherlands flowers page on the UK site into the fulfilment order table for the NWH depot is not easy either (that’s still in the testing phase on our development site) .

We’ve also had to spend a lot of time researching the language, with Ronald and his team, and with Elsa, another native Dutch speaker, to ensure that we are set up well for the search engines and online marketing. Adarsh and Stan, who run Arena’s marketing, have, for example, been spending a lot of time working out which keyword combinations we want to be top for in Google NL’s search. Bloemen bestellen in Amsterdam, Nederlandse Bloemist and Bloemen bezorgen anyone?! And of course, we’ve been giving a lot of thought to the right type of products for this market as, naturally, there are some differences in national tastes.

Zach actually lives in New York, 6 hours behind Holland, but this presents far fewer problems than one might imagine. The pictures below shows the moment last week when, with Steve and I sitting outside our hotel connected to the web via wireless broadband and with Zach in his apartment in Brooklyn talking to us via Skype, we put the site, hosted in Wembley, London, live. It’s amazing how small the world is, when you’ve got a latpop and broadband at your fingertips!

And finally, the point of it all. Our first orders. Here’s Ronald with our first five orders for delivery in the Netherlands. Not a huge number to begin with but then this was a soft launch. We’re shooting for 50 a day within three months. Time will tell!

PS It wasn’t all work and no play. While over in the orange country, we also got to sample a quite extraordinary Dutch musical phenomenon called “The Toppers” (in Amsterdam’s Arena Stadium no less!) plus we went on a 200km moped ride around the canals and roads of the famous green country outside Amsterdam. Beautiful and lush…and very very flat!

Filed under: Distribution, Floristry, International Flowers, Marketing, Matters Webby, Operations, Setting up, Start up on June 4th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

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Posted by: Stan - The Dandy FlowerWoman... on May 30th, 2008

As I enter into my third week at ArenaFlowers.com, this is my first (of hopefully many) blog posts as new online marketing bod, so what a better way to become acquainted with each other than to take a timely look at some of the top flowering picks this summer at Flowers HQ – along with some tips on how to make the most of your cut flowers throughout the warmer months…

 

#10 White Orchid Delight
The Lady in White
Our summer journey begins with a FFP accredited product, meaning it’s fair to plants and fair to the people who grow them. Our beautiful white orchid makes a perfect long-lasting present for any occasion and, unlike a traditional bouquet, has an indefinite life expectancy in the right circumstances and with the right care. See Jackie’s blog below for more about our hardy orchids!
Flower Care Tips: In order to bloom, orchids need some bright indirect light, but not too much. Natural light in a sunny east or south facing window is perfect for your plant. Watering is the key component in the longevity of your orchid. Most orchids grow on trees in the wild and thrive on moisture from humid air, so never water your orchid more than once a week, or allow it to stand alone in water. The best watering method for your orchid is to spray mist over the roots and surrounding moss provided with your plant.

#9 Freesias Cube
A Naturally Fragrant Friend
Who needs obnoxious sprays and those awfully wasteful plug-ins when you have the naturally gorgeous fragrance of these beautifully coloured freesias filling your home or office? Even with our inconsistent summer months, these pink, red, purple and yellow freesias will be as reliable as a wet Wimbledon weekend to enliven your senses.
Flower Care Tips: Freesias flower in full sun or light shade, with the latter helping the blooms to retain their colour. Make sure your freesias are topped up with plenty of water, never letting the stem ends dry out. To encourage new flowers, pinch out the topmost buds and deadhead as appropriate. Try to keep your freesias away from fruit, vegetables, and excess heat, as they are very sensitive to the ethylene gas produced and will die quickly if exposed.

#8 Summer Surprise
All Things Bright & Beautiful
It’s sod’s law that when the long warm days eventually arrive, you’re holed-up in hospital, work or even worse – stuck at home entertaining the kids. This seasonal alternative to the firm perennial favourite ‘Bright & Cheery’, contains a truly scrumptious collection of roses, gerberas and lilies – bringing the fruits of outside back into your world.
Flower Care Tips: Keep your mixed flowers in a cool place and out of direct sunlight, avoiding draughts or extreme heat or cold. Gerberas are particularly sensitive to any pollution in the water from a dirty vase, which may cause their stems to collapse due to blockages caused by bacteria. Be sure to remove any leaves below the water level and freshen your container every few days to get the best from this wonderful mixed bouquet.

#7 Strawberries & Cream
Perfect Summer’s Day
Like Pimms ‘n’ Lemonade and sunburn ‘n’ heat rash, Strawberries & Cream are a key traditional summer pairing. Quintessentially English, this classic combination of delicate white roses and frothy pink peonies interspersed with the violet spikes of veronica makes a perfect romantic summer bouquet.
Flower Care Tips: Long distance travel can temporarily dehydrate peony buds so cut the stems immediately after receiving them to give the flowers a chance to take up some water. Repeat this practice and change the water every 2-3 days, keeping them out of direct sunlight and wind or draughts.

#6 White Lily Bouquet
A Whiter Shade of Pale
In Feng Shui, white lilies represent summer and abundance and from this ethically sourced product it’s easy to see why. If you’ve recently spring cleaned and de-cluttered, this cool and elegant bouquet will set your sparkling home off a treat.
Flower Care Tips: Display your lilies in a well-ventilated spot with bright, indirect sunlight, taking care to keep them away from air conditioning units and strong drafts. Lilies are thirsty flowers so make sure you keep water levels topped-up daily and replace every few days. Remove the pollen stamens as the flowers open as this will enhance the lifespan and prevent any staining from the pollen.

#5 Golden Honey
A Taste of Sunshine
Summer wouldn’t be complete without the naturally uplifting sight of shiny happy sunflowers bobbing up and down from behind sunny garden walls. Bright and cheery, bold yet comfortable, the sunflower is a warm and caring gift and regularly associated with adoration. As sunflowers can be top heavy, we provide you with a jolly decent vase that can support and display them to the max.
Flower Care Tips: With good care and attention, your freshly cut sunflowers can last up to two weeks with a change of water every three to four days. Apparently the combination of a drop of bleach, half a teaspoon of sugar and a squeeze of lemon is supposed keep sunflowers going if you run out of flower food. Once the life of your sunflowers has expired, hang them outside to encourage seed eating birds such as finches and jays to your garden.

#4 Sunset Bouquet
Summer Loving
This gorgeous mixture of gerbera, calla lilies, nutans and roses in warm shades of apricot, peach and amber complemented by beautiful foliage and arranged in a glass cube makes a perfect trouble-free gift for both home and office and will appeal equally to the sophisticated woman …or man in your life.
Flower Care Tips: This item will be delivered arranged in an oasis of floral foam, a sponge which holds water. Never let the oasis dry out, just add water daily and enjoy. If found to be dry, simply pour water down the back of the arrangement slowly so that the water is gradually absorbed by the oasis and so that air pockets aren’t created.

#3 Lemon and Lime
Fresh ‘n’ Zingy
If you’re like me, and any rise in temperature leads to mild irritability and fatigue, you’ll know how important a little light refreshment can be. This is a fabulous combination of yellow and green flowers and foliage with lovely yellow roses and bright yellow gerbera contrasted with the elegant simplicity of the anthurium and ‘shaggy’ shamrock chrysanthemums. A bright citrus arrangement that is perfect for the long hot days of summer.
Flower Care Tips: Most anthuriums originate from the tropical forests of South America so humidity is key to the prolonged life of this arrangement. Regularly spray a mist of clean, warm water daily over the flowers to keep up the humidity while being sure to check the water level frequently and top up the vase with lukewarm water to avoid chilling the flowers. It is also recommended that you submerge your anthurium flower heads in lukewarm water for thirty minutes every three days – if you’re that way inclined.

#2 Oranges and Lemons
Fresh ‘n’ Wild
If you’re looking for a slightly more colourful alternative to Lemon and Lime, Oranges and Lemons is a zesty combination of orange gerbera and lilies, contrasting with the deep orange of the hypericum berries and cooly beautiful talea roses and is highlighted by the bright flowers of the alstroemeria.
Flower Care Tips: If you’re a gardener, you’ll appreciate the feeling of fulfillment that growing your own plants brings. Cut mixed bouquets are perfect for mulching or composting for fabulous organic compost. Get your garden blooming for 2009 with the help of your ethical summer flowers from ArenaFlowers.com!

#1 Days of Wine & Roses
Fresh Peach Roses
Long summer days are perfect for catching up with friends and relations over a barbeque or garden party. So make the most of the next few months with this suave and elegant arrangement of fresh peach roses and the stylish Vondeling Petit Blanc white wine – an essential gift for any alfresco occasion. After all, enjoying the great outdoors with fine company is what summer’s all about!
Flower Care Tips: Roses make the perfect showy centrepiece for summer garden dining. Scald the bottom of rose stems in boiling water for approximately thirty seconds before placing them in a clean vase of fresh water mixed with flower food. Refresh the vase and water daily, re-cutting the stems if they begin to wilt. Your Vondeling Petit Blanc comes with a nice and easy screw top – so no faffing around with corkscrews required…

Enjoy your wine (and flowers!) responsibly – and here’s to a long warm summer!

Filed under: Flowers on May 30th, 2008 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Posted by: Samwise of the front end on May 26th, 2008

The arrival of a baby often leads to a gift of flowers and we are always happy to oblige as it is a particularly pleasurable part of our job. From the customer service team taking the order to the florist making up the flowers to the driver delivering the flowers, everyone enjoys a new baby flowers order as it guarantees a smile.

New Baby Flowers (Baby Not Included)

I have spent many a day photographing flowers for the new baby section and even had the pleasure of delivering a new baby order (I helped out over the busy Christmas period). I remember passing the flowers to the new dad who had come down to receive them wearing the compulsory sleep deprived yet over the moon look.

I imagine it was a similar face that greeted Mariusz (one of our drivers) when he delivered flowers for my wife an hour ago. A gift from everyone at Arena HQ to congratulate us on the birth of our son who was born late on Saturday night.

With a bright orange Arena van in the road I was handed a magnificent arrangement of white roses and pink peonies, a Baby Boy Bear and a New Baby Greetings Card. A truly unusual experience, opening the door to a work colleague bearing flowers and signing the delivery sheet that I am normally so familiar with but rarely put pen to paper on.

My wife was delighted with the flowers, saying that given the choice she would have chosen the very flowers that were in the bouquet. A quick scan of the arrangement and I could see that it was a Pink And White Rose Spring Bouquet but with the pink roses swapped for pink peonies (a favourite of mine). Click for a close up, to see the flowers in all their glory.

With such a sumptuous collection of peonies in my living room I feel compelled to include them in our next newsletter, which I need to prepare……

If you’re not subscribed to our newsletters, watch this space…

Filed under: Flowers, General on May 26th, 2008 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Posted by: Guest Editor - David Hamilton on May 23rd, 2008

Joining us as guest writer this week is David Hamilton from Wakefield, Yorkshire who has taken his passion for gardening to an informative obsession with his regularly updated Gardens blog. We invited David to tell us more about how flowers evoke an array of feelings and emotions.

Florists are passionate, informed, and love the flowers that they turn into bouquets, so I wonder what the flowers mean to both the florists and the people who buy them.

Floragraphy is a word that has been used to describe the language of flowers. This changes over time and with culture. Victorians used the language of flowers to signify their feelings and intentions, which although good in the era of Queen Victoria and the Empire, emotions were always hidden, reserved. Flowers gave people a chance to break through their starched collars and stiff upper lips.

Looking up some Victorian meanings of flowers, daffodils were sent to tell someone they were their “sunshine”, Baby’s Breath signified innocence and pure of heart, while - as now - roses symbolise love. Time has moved on. We have an enormous selection of flowers now ready to buy online or in supermarkets, but I bet if we looked at the bestsellers it would be a cultural memory of flowers.

I have thought about which flowers have moved me through my life. Those memories from the distant past that have stirred my blood, and turned my knowledge for horticulture and gardening into a passion. We all have memories of flowers, partially remembered but in our heads. These first flowers start the process of gardening to grow flowers, or make us buy them to be displayed in a vase in our homes.

My nan’s sister said I always stood in front of her lilac tree when I was about three. I do not know why I was drawn to it, but now I love the smell and flowers of the Syringa Vulgaris (lilac lree).The purple flowers have a heavenly smell and take me back to an innocent time.

One of my first jobs was to clear up after our greyhound Lizzie, a sweet placid light coloured dog. I followed her and dug her mess into the Rose bushes in Barlby. I have always thought gardens need at least one rose bush, to savour the flowers, the scent, and the romance of the plant. I have seven rose plants in my garden.

My mum’s first garden was always full of self-seeded wallflowers and foxgloves. These flowers mean home to me. Mum showed me the original meaning of the cottage garden by letting them run wild down one border along the lawn.

My sister and I used to make daisy chains for necklaces and bracelets, and soft downy pillows from dandelions. These wild flowers always make me smile, and my sister will still not mow grass that has daisies in flower.

I work in a hospital and I am amazed how many flowers are brought in. Spray carnations, roses, lilies, gypsophila, tulips, and orchids too. I wonder if the people who bring them have flowers in their past that makes them select the displays that they do.

As we look back, we can remember the flowers that influenced us and made their way from our memories into our gardens or vases. Our own past experiences make the meanings of flowers to us personal. I love hearing what people’s flower memories bring to the surface.

People’s personal memories are like treasures and are great shared. What are people’s favourite memories of flowers that have influenced them the most?

I hope you comment on this post, telling us of your fondest floral memories. Here’s to the flowers that make us imagine, dream, and endeavour.

Filed under: Flowers, Guest Posts on May 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

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Posted by: Guest Editor - Sarah Holland on May 20th, 2008

My name is Sarah, I work for the Flowers & Plants Association, and I’m here to offer hot tips and advice every few weeks on flower fashion trends, quick arrangement tips, and to answer any questions you may have about flowers or plants – care tips, what to have for your wedding day, what your Mother-in-law will like – you name it, I’ll answer it. Email your questions to sarah(at)flowers.org.uk.

After the recent shock secret wedding of Mariah Carey to Nick Cannon, we could be seeing a change to this mega-star who helped coin the term ‘diva’. Who would have thought that the woman who demanded her Jack Russell be flown in to the hotel she was staying at a cost of $1500, as well as a pink rose bouquet on arrival, would settle for a small, secret ceremony without a fanfare or thousands of guests?

Whether she will become more down to earth or not after her small-scale wedding, I’ve got the perfect diva for you to admire this month. She’s from-the-earth, beautiful, with a full body and a satiny-smooth texture – and doesn’t make too many demands (hey we’re talking about a diva here so there’re going to be one or two, right?). Like the stars, she likes the right water (but not like Madonna and her requirement of chilled kabb