When thinking about all the ups and downs in life, it is easy to pick a flower that can embrace those moods and even aide in uplifting them, be it a single red rose or a floral arrangement of brightly colored various flowers. That is the beauty of flowers; no matter what the occasion or the feeling, there is a flower that can compliment or even change a moment. When that flower is embraced in a bed of living greenery, it makes the impact of the gift tenfold better.

Plants have long been known to improve peoples general over all moods and can even help in creating intimate connections when gifted. When gifting plants that bloom beautiful flowers, you only increase these already favorable outcomes. Even the color of the bloom can enhance that further with red bringing on passion, orange bringing about a sense of renewal and calmness, yellow, a brighten lifted spirit, blue – peace and tranquility, and purples bringing on a sense of honest and richness. When flowers accent the already rich greenery of plants, it just increases the intensity of the wonderful benefits it creates. When you are looking to help lift the mood of one in the downs’ of life or celebrate the ups’, send a gift of a flowering plant and create a uplifting atmosphere for that special person in your life.

When it comes to expressing concern for another, flowers are the best gift you can send. Their beauty and fragrance alone will show you care along with a heart felt note to the recipient.

Mother Nature has provided us with a bounty of beautiful flowers to help us express our emotions from regret, sympathy, to love, happiness, celebration and tender thoughts. When you want to relay these emotions, flowers are the best route regardless if you are sending them next door or across the nation.

Many flowers have their own sentiment attached to them making a gift of flowers even more special when selecting your flowers in such a manner. Some flowers are known for their sentiment in expressing friendship like a yellow rose. If you want your flowers to represent a particular emotion, call Brant Florist and let their expert team create the perfect arrangement that will relay your sentiments beautifully. When you want to express your concerns or any other thought or feeling, let flowers help you.

Have you ever noticed how many pictures of flowers you will see everywhere you look, from paintings to photos, they are everywhere. Flowers are copied in image due to their individual unique beauty, their colors, and their amazing and intricate designs.

The great thing about photography of flowers is there is always an abundance to capture. They are everywhere and the colors, textures, and intricate designs make for stunning pictures.

Any one who owns a camera can create stunning pieces of photography through photographing flowers. Even when you look at the many social media outlets on the Internet, you will find hundred upon thousands of people using flowers in their backgrounds and even as profile icons.

You do not need to be an expert photographer to snap pictures of flowers and capture pure beauty. You don’t even need a fancy camera, any camera will work. The perfect picture is always there in flowers – you only need to click the camera allowing the shutter to capture it.

From taking singular flower shots to a bed of flowers, you will capture the beauty that only flowers behold. After the first time when you capture the beauty of a flower in print, your creative juices will start to flow and you will find yourself with hundreds of flower pictures. You may find yourself creating flowerbeds in your mind around the pictures you have snapped. You may find yourself creating gifts used out of pictures of flowers you snapped, using them in scrap-booking, making cards, creating your own floral stationary, or even using them on the Internet. Capture the true essence of flowers through photography and really see their true beauty.

If you work closely with a business partner and put a lot of trust into their ability to get the job done right on a daily basis, why not thank them and compliment them for their hard work and dedication with a gift of flowers or a gift basket from Brant Florist. When a person feels appreciated for all they do, it makes them just that much more eager to want to please and to continue doing a fantastic job. A gift of flowers or a gift basket could be all it takes to remind that person just how much you do appreciate them.

Brant Florist offers many great deals that can relay the message you want to send to your dedicated business partner in both floral arrangements and gift baskets. Visit BrantFlorist.com and make your business partner feel appreciated.

Did you know there are many things in your kitchen that can make your flower garden perk up and even prevent or cure diseases? Well it is true.. For example, that left over pickle juice in the bottom of the pickle jar when poured at the base of your gardenias stand up and take notice producing even bigger and brighter blooms!

This little tonic will help your roses blooming all summer long beautifully. Just mix a couple tablespoons of instant tea, a tablespoon of dry red wine, half a teaspoon of fish emulsion, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of iron ( you can get it at any garden center) in a gallon of warm water in a bucket and treat your rose bushes to a quart of the mixture every three weeks during the growing center and you will experience roses like you never have before!

Next spring when you start planting your annuals and perennials, give them a healthy energy boost and a great start by making a mixture of 1 cup of sugar, three cups of bone meal, and one cup of Epsom salt in an old bucket. Now, before planting your seedling, just sprinkle a pinch or so in the bottom of the hole and you will between last years plantings and your current flowers when they grow faster and stronger and provide more blooms!

Another cure for black mold I didn’t mention before comes in a cleaning solution mixture of 1 cup of antiseptic mouthwash, one cup of chamomile tea, and one cup of Murphy’s oil soap in a 20 gallon hose end sprayer. Spay down all your treasured beauties and repeat every two weeks through out the growing season and you will have the best looking flower beds around!

Do you have any flower secrets you would like to share with the readers? Feel free to do so here!

We got a request to answer a flower problem one of our readers asked. The reader was questioning what a powdery mildew was on her phlox leaves. I took this as an opportunity to answer that question for anyone who may be dealing with this in their flower beds.

In Mid to late summer is when gardeners will begin to see signs of plant diseases. Powdery mildew on your plants leaves is just one of the diseases you may encounter. Over a period of seasons, this mildew will weaken your plant until it no longer produces or dies.

This condition can be isolated to just the flowers leaves, but if severe can move onto the plant stem and flower as well. Although not instant detrimental to your plant, it isn’t very attractive and if left unattended will eventually kill off your plant.

Annual flowers that are particularly susceptible to powdery mildew include zinnias, snapdragons and verbena. Perennials that are commonly infected include delphiniums, lungwort, bee balm and garden phlox.

This fungal disease is spread by wind and splashing water. To help prevent the onset of this fungus avoid getting water on the leaves and flowers, water in the early am to give leaves plenty of time to dry during daylight hours.

Most fungal diseases are spread by microscopic structures called “spores” that are transferred on wet foliage. However, powdery mildew flourish in high humidity. By keeping plants well-spaced and removing weeds will help ensure good air circulation and reduce the humidity around plants thus lowering risks of this fungus. .

To control this fungus there are several different things you can try – use a horticultural oil, insecticidal soap or another spray. Begin applications at the early onset of the disease and when treating make sure to treat all foliage. Repeated applications are usually necessary right through the duration of the growing season

A home remedy that works for some is a mixture of baking soda and warm water. Mix 1 teaspoon baking soda per quart of warm water and spray on plants every seven to 10 days.

If you have a gardening question, feel free to ask! If we don’t have an answer for you we will get one!

School’s out for the summer, accept for those who attend year round school, but the majority of students are running free for the next couple months. Besides being out of school for the summer, there are many things to excite and delight us – cook outs, family reunions, pool or beaches, and the beauty of flowers blooming all around us! Colors are popping out everywhere, flowers in the garden, at special occasions (weddings, baby showers, reunions, parties, etc..) and even possibly around your town as many towns accent corners, parks, etc with flowers. Why, because they are beautiful and appealing and well, they just make a town look friendlier! (Does your town accent with flowers? Feel free to take pictures and share them with us on the Brant Florist Facebook FanPage wall!)

The greatest thing about summer time is the abundance of different flowers that come into bloom! Here is my question to you – What is your TOP TEN FAVORITE FLOWERS of Summer and why.

My list would have to go as follows in no particular order of most favorite (just as I think of them):

Rose: Well I guess the rose because it is June’s flower and also because there are so many varieties and colors. My favorite color of rose would have to be yellow.

Daisies!: Daisies have always been one of my most favorite flowers. I just love the pure innocence they seem to deliver and carefree attitude of them.

Marigolds and Zinnias: I have to pick these two and put them into one because marigolds and zinnias were the first flowers I had ever planted as a child and still to date will always have them somewhere in my garden. It is just a tradition now.

Hydrangeas: One of the first flowering plants I received from my mother (blue hydrangea). I feel madly in love with it!

Sunflowers: Big and small, I love sunflowers. The big ones because I can enjoy their magnificence in the summer and feed the birds in the winter. The smaller sunflowers because they make great cut flowers for floral arrangements for my kitchen!

Dahlias: Have you seen them? They are gorgeous! Need I say more!?

Phlox: All kinds, all colors – phlox just complete a flowerbed! They also make great cut flowers for floral arrangements!

Carnations: Make for terrific cut flowers for arrangements! Can be grown in a large variety of colors, but to be honest, my luck on growing carnations have not been the best so I will leave that to order when I want some for a floral arrangement!

Morning Glory: I love the morning glory for an easy carefree vine to grow. It adds a ton of color to any trellis!

Gladioli: Galdioli’s are one of the longest lasting flowers of the summer flowers so a definite must have in flowerbeds were some flowers die out sooner to keep the color flowing!

I could list a ton more, but thought 10 was a good place to stop. Now it is your turn – list your 10 top favorite flowers and why.

Father’s Day is June 20th. It is understandable that some may still feel a bit apprehensive to send their Dad flowers for Father’s Day. Some may feel Dad wouldn’t appreciate the good hearted ribbing he may get from fellow co-workers or feel that Dad may just be uncomfortable receiving a gift that was typically considered to be a gift given to women. Although the truth is the good hearted ribbing is simply secret jealousy and what was once considered a gift for women hasn’t been that way for centuries. Many men enjoy getting flowers and florist are sending men flowers for all occasions daily! However, for those who have a dad that still has a few old fashion thoughts, you can gently bring his way of thinking to the current with a gift of a plant for Father’s Day. He will enjoy the thoughtful gift especially and even more so if he likes plants. Many more men are getting into gardening and decorating with plants and flowers and it definitely doesn’t make them less of a man.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever sent a man flowers or a plant? What was there reaction? If you are a man, have you ever received flowers or a plant and how did you receive the gift?

Here are some great plant arrangements that make terrific Father’s Day gifts!

Woodland Greens Green Plants Assortment

Azalea Garden Basket

Village Square Planter

Planter… A Bit of Sunshine For those who love Plants

Convallaria majalis is commonly known as the lily of the valley and is possibly the only species in the genus Convallaria in the flowering plant family. This woodland plant is native throughout the cool temperate in Asia, Europe, and a limited native population in Eastern USA. There is, however, some debate as to the native status of the American variety.

The Lily of the Valley has many legends as to how they came about. One Christian legend has it that the Lily of the Valley, also known as Our Lady’s Tears came to being from Eve’s tears after she was driven with Adam away from the Garden of Eden. Another Christian legend states that Mary’s tears turned to lily of the valley when she cried at the crucifixion of Jesus thus lily of the valley also being labeled Mary’s Tears. Yet another legend says that the lily of the valley came about from the blood shed by Saint Leonard Nobiac during his battle with a dragon.

The lily of the valley signifies the return of happiness. Another legend tells of the affection of a lily of the valley for a nightingale that did not come back to the woods until the flower bloomed in May. It is a symbol of humility in religious painting.

Other names include May lily, May bells, lily constancy, ladder-to-heaven, male lily and muguet (French). Its scientific name, majalis or maialis, means “of or belonging to May”. It is the national flower of Finland and the official flower of many fraternities and sororities.

April’s Birth Flower is the Daisy

The official birth month for daisies is April. There is a saying that goes “Spring has not arrived until a person has set foot on 12 daisies.”

There are various different types of daisies include the African daisy, Painted daisy, Gerber daisy, and Michaelmas daisies.

The Gerber daisies, discovered by Robert Jameson in 1884, are said to represent beauty, cheerfulness, innocence, and purity. Gerbera daisies are the third most popular florist blooms.

Gerbera Daisies are an especially bright and long lasting version of these popular flowers with their vibrant reds, yellows, pinks, and oranges. It is hard for anyone not to break a smile when looking at beautiful Gerbera Daisies.

Daisies are all about friendship. They exude happiness and are the perfect choice for those looking to lift spirits or convey appreciation. Did you know that in public, the giving of a daisy from one person to the next can sometimes represent the passing of a secret because daisies represent truth in all forms.

The daisy flowers overall symbolizes innocence, a loyal love and gentleness.

 

Happy Birthday to all you April Daisy babies from Brant Florist!