From our family to yours ~ Merry Christmas and Happy holidays. May it be full of joy and great blessings.

Thanksgiving is a great time to decorate with fall arrangements. A Thanksgiving dinner can really become an event with a floral centerpiece on the table. You can find ideas for centerpieces on our website here. 

Looking at www.brantflorist.com you will see buttons for more fall flower arrangements and Thanksgiving Day flowers and gift baskets. If you are attending a dinner a gift basket is a great way to say thank you and help add to a host’s presentation. (more…)

Decorating your front door with a Christmas wreath is an old tradition and dates back hundreds of years. The practice of hanging wreaths dates back even further because in the 7th Century, tree branches were used to crown Olympic winners and the winners hung their wreaths for all to see.

It is unclear when the wreath moved from the wall to the door, but it’s a common well-liked practice today. Unlike the tree branches of old, today’s Christmas wreaths are typically made from fir tree garlands (often balsam fir) and then wound or wrapped into the familiar wreath shape. Decorated with pine cones, flowers, ribbons and other festive items, the Christmas wreath can also be used as a table top center piece.

The Christmas wreath is an iconic fixture at this time of year and many families ensure there is a wreath hanging on their front door before they even trim the tree and hang the lights. The Christmas wreath is such a familiar icon of the festive season that homes and offices don’t seem festive without this favorite decoration.

For families with young children, creating a Christmas wreath is a great family project and requires only patients and a little imagination. Of course the professional great Christmas wreath is very different at your local florist can provide you with many choices from different shapes, different decorations, and even different kinds of garlands or swags.

The Christmas Poinsettia has become Christmas’ most famous plant. In fact, the Christmas poinsettia plant (and in particular the red poinsettia) has become a symbol for Christmas the world over. Discovered fairly recently (by traditional standards) the poinsettia is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, who imported it from Mexico in 1828.

The legend of the Christmas poinsettia tells of a poor village boy in Mexico who wanted to give the Holy Child a gift, but had no money. In desperation, he picked some weeds on his way to church to leave as his gift. He prayed to God to help him show his love and God answered by turning the weeds into a beautiful star-shaped flower with bright red leaves. The poinsettia has been a Christmas symbol ever since.

Poinsettia plants can last weeks beyond the holidays when placed in indirect sunlight at least six hours a day. Keep it away from cold drafts and excessive heat and water your poinsettia when it feels dry. Remember at Christmas the air is dry or so you might need to water it more. After the blooming season is over, use an all-purpose fertilizer once a month for best results.

It was once believed poinsettias were poisonous, this is untrue – they are safe. However, avoid allowing your pets to eat the leaves as they will likely get diarrhea or experience vomiting. For humans though, scientific evidence of the poinsettia’s safety is ample and well documented, in fact poinsettias are actually helpful in removing pollutants from indoor air.

The history of the poinsettia plant is quite interesting. The plant is native to Mexico and came from a region near the present-day Taxco. In 1825, Joel Robert Poinsett was appointed the first US Ambassador to Mexico and discovered these plants blooming in December. A botanist himself, Poinsett sent some of the plants to his plantation in Greenville, South Carolina, where they flourished in his greenhouse. These brilliant red plants quickly became a favourite during the cold dark months of December and with over 70 million poinsettia sold nationwide each year, the poinsettia is now the number one flowering potted plant sold in north America.

Christmas gift baskets are an ideal gift to send at Christmas. Whether you are choosing a gift for one person, a family or even your fellow co-workers, a Christmas gift basket is an excellent choice. Christmas gift baskets come in all shapes and sizes, and some aren’t really “baskets” at all, and are more like wonderful surprise packages!

Christmas gift baskets are also available to suit every budget which is one of the reasons why they are so popular this time of year. In truth, there’s little distinction between a Christmas gift basket and a gift hamper although your local florist is more likely to offer the gift baskets. Christmas hampers tend to contain meats, cheeses, crackers and other food goods.

Christmas gift baskets on the other hand, tend to be themed around flowers or Christmas plants and may include candies, cards are even plush toys. Again, remember that the florist who took to order for your Christmas gift baskets, may not be the florist who fulfills your order. This means you need to check for local and seasonal variations. For example, you may order a Christmas gift basket for your Grandma who lives in a country where Christmas flowers are hard to come by. Your local florist will advise you and explain how best to address such eventualities.

For most of us though, when we order a Christmas gift basket or someone orders one for us, we don’t need to worry about the particulars. Imagine hearing a knock on the door, or having a courier arrive at work and hand deliver a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift basket complete with flowers, chocolates, fruit, plush toys, and other decoration – it’s sure to be a special treat. In fact, with changes in the work place, and the advent of the Internet, giving your fellow workers – or even your boss – a Christmas gift basket is not unusual and does wonders for team building and morale.

With todays highly trained and skilled floral designers, choosing a suitable Christmas gift basket is as easy as picking up the phone or visiting a website. Whether online, in-person or on the phone, explaining your budget, your basic ideas and a few other design option choices is really all you need to do, and the professionals take care of the rest.

Remember, the best florists always guarantee your delivery and choosing a Christmas gift basket is easy, simply pick up the phone and call your local florist – they’ll have many gift baskets for you to choose from.

Wedding Flowers: When it comes to flowers, Weddings are one of the largest events.  More flowers are used on a single wedding day than any other day of the year.  Weddings are big occasions for everyone involved; from the bride all the way down to the caterer – and the flowers are no exception.  The flowers are an important part of the wedding.  Without the flowers a wedding would be a very drab affair.  The flowers add decoration to the wedding location, but they also give the wedding energy and life.

Many times the wedding flowers are made up from the favorite blooms of the bride-to-be along with other flowers for the color of the bloom, which will fit in with the dress colors chosen by the bride-to-be.  The flowers and the colors of the wedding theme will go hand in hand.  It has been said that many look at the wedding flower arrangements online, but most never buy their wedding flower arrangement from the web.

Many brides-to-be don’t really have a clue as to the type of arrangement or how they want their bouquet arranged, so they must look at pictures.  Because weddings take so much time to plan, and in almost all parts of the planning the bride-to-be must be present, so it stands to reason the bride-to-be does not have a lot of free time when the wedding is in the planning stages.

In order for them to have some ideas regarding the wedding arrangements, the bride needs to look at pictures.  Her options there would be to visit the florist and look at the pictures they have in books, or they can look on the web.  The web can be accessed at all hours of the day or night. Many smaller florists close by 5 or 6pm and don’t open again until 9 or 10am the following day. The bride-to-be will find it easier to find time to look on the web.  She will be able to look at the pictures several times before making her final decision.  She can then print out the pictures to take to the local florist or to give to her wedding planner.

It is unclear why more brides-to-be don’t order their wedding flowers online.  Maybe they are not aware of how an FTD florist works.  Maybe she believes the UPS or the FedEx driver will be the ones who will deliver her wedding arrangements to the chapel.  However, if she lives in the Burlington, Ontario area of Canada, the florist on the web she is looking at could also be the local florist she chooses for her wedding arrangements.  Brant Florist in Ontario has an extensive web site, which includes wedding arrangement as well as a location close by in Burlington.

A few days ago we published a Father’s Day Flowers article – we hope you liked it. Some folks emailed us asking if we have an “Easy Print” option, well you are in luck – we do.

Our production team took the article and made it into a one-page ‘easy print’ PDF newsletter. To download your own copy simply click here or on the image to enjoy!

Happy Father’s Day… and if you like the newsletter, why not email it to your friends. Once downloaded, click the link in the bottom right hand corner of the PDF newsletter and you’ll see what other great Father’s Day ideas you can choose from…

But hurry, time is running out!

Father’s Day occurs on the third Sunday in June and it’s a great time to celebrate your Father. Fathers Day has been officially recognized since 1972 and if you were wondering “When is Father’s day?” well it’s on Sunday June 15th in 2008, June 21st 2009 and June 20th in 2010.

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Unless buying your Dad another tie is a running family joke, consider something different this Father’s Day. Ideas for great gifts are plentiful, and this Father’s Day go ahead and get Dad flowers. Flowers are a wonderful gift of nature. Everyone likes receiving them – including your Father – because flowers represent love, happiness, joy and all the other positive emotions.

And contrary to popular myth flowers are not just for women – many men enjoy the gift of flowers too. Flowers – specially well structured and strong looking varieties – appeal to mens masculine nature. Bold, bright colourful flowers are also popular with men and tropical or exotic varieties are a good choice that fits this description.

Traditional Father’s Day Flowers

Traditionalists might select a bold rose arrangement for their Father because the red rose is the official Fathers Day Flower. A white rose is worn or given to commemorate Fathers who are deceased. Other Father’s Day ideas may include humorous arrangements like the ever popular bright yellow “Be Happy Mug” flower arrangement and of course the cactus collection (draw your own conclusions from this gift!)

All joking aside, men do have a softer side – admitted or not. Gardening or getting fresh flowers for the home are common male past-times. The next time you are at the local garden centre, pay attention to what men want and you’ll see that they’re not always shopping for their wives!

If you must continue the Father’s Day gift idea of a tie (or some other item like a baseball cap, or socks) at least speak with your local florist about incorporating these Father’s Day ideas into a Father Day flower arrangement he will likely never forget.

Father’s Day History

Father’s Day is a celebration introduced in the early twentieth century to complement Mothers’ Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father’s Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities.

The history of Father’s Day dates back to the turn of the century, however President Calvin Coolidge recommended Father’s Day as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father’s Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June however the holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon

Share the following inspirational quotes with your Mother. Send her a beautiful Mother’s Day bouquet or basket of flowers, candy and of course a special card with your chosen message. Contact a professional florist today and don’t leave Mother’s Day to chance.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~ Rajneesh

All mothers are working mothers. ~ Author Unknown

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love. ~ Mildred B. Vermont

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~ Tenneva Jordan

A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done. ~ Author Unknown

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~ Irish Proverb

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~ Jewish Proverb

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~ Oprah Winfrey

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~ Graycie Harmon

Anna Marie Jarvis (May 1, 1864, Webster, West Virginia — November 24, 1948, West Chester, Pennsylvania) is recognized as the founder of the Mother’s Day holiday in the United States of America

Anna Jarvis was born in the tiny town of Webster in Taylor County, West Virginia. She was the daughter of Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. The family moved to nearby Grafton, West Virginia in her childhood.

On May 12, 1907, two years after her mother’s death, she held a private memorial to her mother and thereafter embarked upon a campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday. She succeeded in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson made the second Sunday in May a nationally recognized occasion celebrating Mother’s. The International Mother’s Day Shrine was established in Grafton to commemorate her accomplishment.

Anna Jarvis incorporated herself as the Mother’s Day International Association and claimed copyright on the second Sunday of May. Ms Jarvis had very strong opinions regarding how Mother’s Day should be celebrated and this included appropriate gifts, handwritten notes, candies and flowers – of which she chose the white carnation as the official flower of Mother’s Day.

Don’t leave Mother’s Day to chance – Use a professional florist…