Christmas is right around the corner, and already many homes are decorated with beautiful red rose Christmas table centerpieces. But red roses also bring quite a alluring accent for the coming New Year as well. Red roses bring on a feeling of hope. Think about the last time you received red roses, especially those of you in courtship. Did it not bring on a sense of pure hope and joy of an everlasting romance?

The New Year brings on hopes for a better year than the past, new resolutions, new dreams and desires. The same feelings that can be instilled by receiving red roses. Take the feeling that a gift of only red roses can delivery and bring that feeling into the New Year of someone you care about. Not only will you bring a smile to their face, but a since of hope of a grand New Year.

Poinsettia, a beautiful accent for the holidays, definitely adds to the appeal and spirit of Christmas. However, after time takes its toll, your poinsettia can loose its appeal, but with proper care, dedication, and luck, you can re-bloom your poinsettia bring back the appeal and extending its beauty in to later months of the New Year.

By cutting your poinsettia back to approximately 8 inches in height in late march or early April, and then maintain a regular watering schedule, and giving your poinsettia a healthy all purpose fertilizer, by the end of May you should begin to see healthy new growth.

In the Spring, place your poinsettia outside where it can get the healthy nutrients from natural sun while continuing with your regular watering schedule. Fertilize your poinsettia every 2 to 3 weeks during this time. You may need to do a little pruning in Late June, early July to keep your poinsettia bushy but do not prune later than the first of September.

You can transplant your poinsettia the first part of June. Do not choose a container more than 4 inches larger then its current pot. Poinsettia bloom during November and December but can be difficult to get to bloom for the holidays if not cultivated in a very controlled environment. Beginning in October it is imperative that you place your poinsettia in total darkness for 14 hours out of the day and then ensure they get 6 to 8 hours of bright sunlight a day. Night temperatures must range between 60 and 70 degrees. Any alteration of this will result in delayed or halted blooming. That is why for many it is just much easier to let the professionals grow and bloom your holiday poinsettias. They can be very temperamental, and when you are counting on their beauty to accent your home, for many, it is easier just to order poinsettias delivered.

When you think of winter, generally the first thing good you think about is the holidays. After all, it does help those that don’t favor the wintery winds manage to get through it a tad easier. However, when you think about the holidays, you can’t help not think about Christmas Flowers and Greenery. The first thought of many is their Christmas tree, and so starts the decoration to set off your holidays perfectly.

The fresh pine scent of the evergreen Christmas tree is just the beginning the wonderful aromas that begin to fill your home during the holidays. Of course, you cannot have a Christmas tree without the Christmas greenery – wreaths, swags and more, to accent the beauty you have already started to create. They add more of the holiday spirit to your home.

Mantles, tables, and just about anywhere you can think of are accented beautifully with poinsettias. What is Christmas without a poinsettia or two, or three or more for that matter? While waiting for the time to place gifts under the Christmas tree, poinsettias look extravagant encompassing the tree skirt.

Since the 17th century, it has been customary to have mistletoe adorning doorways. It’s a great way to get that Christmas kiss! Holly has been around even longer and gives Christmas that holly jolly feel.

Christmas table centerpieces can add just that perfect finishing touch. Christmas just wouldn’t have the same feel if not for Christmas greenery and flowers.

Flowers play an active role in Christmas decorations everywhere. Some of the more popular flowers used in Christmas floral decorations are the Poinsettia, Christmas Cactus, Holly, Christmas Rose, Ivy, and Mistletoe.

In ancient times, the Poinsettia was a symbol of purity to the Aztecs. Ivy is known to symbolize eternity and resurrection and the mistletoe has a long-standing place in the Christmas celebration as an excuse to catch a quick kiss.

The Christmas cactus also known as the Orchid Cactus makes for beautiful Christmas gift baskets. The Christmas Rose, also known as the Snow or Winter Rose makes for another great Christmas floral arrangement.

Let Brant Florist help you celebrate the season by making the perfect Christmas flower arrangement or flower accents for your home or office. They can also help create the perfect gifts for sending flower and gifts baskets for you this holiday season as well.

Depending on the region you reside in reflects if you will be enjoying the ability to take walks through a winter wonderland full of glistening white snow.  If it is not in the cards for you to be able to enjoy a little glistening snow this holiday season, you can at least get a good feel of the holiday season with some beautiful white poinsettia plants. 

Poinsettias have had a long standing in Christmas Holiday decorations and traditions with the white poinsettia being somewhat of a Christmas icon.  The great thing about poinsettias is the longlivity of their blooming season making it quite easy to deck out a home with a real Christmas feel.  As long as your white poinsettias get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, is kept away from extreme cold or heat, and water when soil is dry to the touch you can keep this symbol of Christmas around for a very long time. 

If you have friends or family where the snow doesn’t glisten, provide them with the next best thing to a white Christmas – white poinsettias.  A White Poinsettia from Brant Florist can be delivered decorated with Christmas balls and ribbons that can add a beautiful winter wonderland accent to any room of your home.  They also make great office gifts and teacher holiday appreciation gifts.  With Brant Florist, you can even add your own special touches to the White Poinsettia gifts you send such as adding some chocolate to your delivery, a teddy bear, balloons, or other accents.

Poinsettias play an active role in the holiday season, and because of that you want to keep them just as fresh and beautiful as the day you got them. Here are some do’s and don’ts of poinsettia care to help you extend the longlivity in the beauty of your poinsettias.

Do’s:

Your poinsettia plant should be placed in indirect sunlight for at least 6 hours a day.

For the longlivity of your poinsettia, keep the room temperatures between 68-70 degrees.

Water your poinsettia plant when the soil feels dry to the touch.

If you need to transport your poinsettia outside of your home, cover it in a large roomy plastic bag. Kitchen garbage bags work nicely.

Fertilize your poinsettia plant only after the blooming season. Use a general all purpose fertilizer. Never fertilize your poinsettia while in bloom.

Don’ts

Do not place your poinsettia plant by cold drafts or excessive heat sources such as heating ducts, space heaters, or fireplaces. It is understandable that poinsettias can set off a fireplace mantle beautifully, but if it is a working fireplace, your poinsettia will not be able to withstand the heat.

Do not leave your poinsettia out in the cold. Just because poinsettias are considered a winter plant, does not mean they fair well in cold temperatures.

Do not overwater you poinsettia or allow it to sit in standing water.

By following these few simple do’s and don’ts, your Brant Florist poinsettias will not fail you.

It is that time of year again to show your appreciation to everyone in the office that has made it possible for your business to succeed. All their hard work and dedication definitely should not be overlooked this holiday season. You can show your employees your gratitude by giving them the perfect Christmas Corporate Gift.

Brant Florist offers a wide array of Christmas Corporate Gifts from flower arrangements, fruit gift baskets, flowering plants, and green plants, and much more. The Christmas themed gift baskets and arrangements offered vary from whimsical with candy canes to elegant with deep rich colors. There is the perfect match for anyone in or out of your office.

Christmas Corporate Gifts are also a great way to show your appreciation to long standing clients that have showed their devotion through their years of support, service, or customer dedication. Often times during the holiday season, background support people for businesses are overlooked. Support such as carriers, delivery services, and even your mailperson. These types of services also make an impact on the success of your business and the holidays are a great chance to extend your appreciation to them as well. By extending your sentiments especially during the holiday season, and throughout the year even, will help solidify those important connections that makes your business thrive. Brant Florist is happy to help you choose the perfect gift for all those individuals tat make an positive impact in your corporate world with Christmas Corporate Gifts in all price ranges.

December brings on many gatherings, from office parties to family and friends.  A great way to make those occasions extra special is to make sure your table is set with great care that draws the masses together.  You can do this with a holiday floral centerpiece that will not only draw your group together but also bring on many awes of admiration. 

Holiday floral centerpieces are a great way to express who you are as a person or set a mood for a room.  During the Christmas season of holiday gatherings the lights are shining, homes are decorated in bright colorful decorations, reds, greens, silver and gold all shine and sparkle about.  It isn’t hard to meet and even surpass that entire splendor with beautiful holiday floral centerpieces.  They have there own special shine and with the added fragrance in the air, no amount of glitter can beat that. 

 Holiday floral centerpieces like the Celebration of the Season Centerpiece pictured above brings grandeur to your table.  The deep red roses and spray roses set the holiday scene with the earthy backdrop of assorted holiday greens and holly.  The candles bring warmth and the gold pinecones and metallic brocade ribbon sets the final touches to this enchanting holiday centerpiece.  

Probably the greatest part of holiday floral centerpieces is that you are not limited to just what you see in the picture.  You can add your own vision of your holiday décor or just add a flare of your personality.  Maybe you prefer red carnations to roses or just want red carnations added due to the longlivity or the shade of red they present.  All you have to do is relay your vision to your florist an allow them to bring your vision to life.

Christmas flowers are unique to the holiday season, and apart from the Christmas tree they are one of the few organic items that indicate the holidays are here once more. Christmas flowers bring the soft gentle fragrance of the holiday season into your home. There are many varieties to choose from and each Christmas flower has its own story to tell.

The poinsettia’s Mexican origins tell of a little boy who wanted to take a special flower to church, and all he could find were weeds by the road. The European history of ivy and mistletoe is equally enchanting. Holly is said to bring luck, mistletoe love and good fortune, the poinsettia is said to represent belief, and the yule log (not strictly a flower by any stretch of the imagination) was supposed to ward off evil spirits.

Christmas is a special time of year and Christmas flowers simply make the season more memorable. Some Christmas flowers last longer than others, and choosing them for beauty or longevity (or both) requires some knowledge, as well as the ability to care properly for them during the holiday season.

(more…)

Poinsettia is The Christmas Plant: we’ve written about it before so here are the links to our previous 3-Part series about this wonderful Christmas flower.

1. Poinsettia – The Christmas Plant [Part 1]
2. Poinsettia – The Christmas Plant [Part 2]
3. Poinsettia – The Christmas Plant [Part 3]
4. and click here to Send Christmas Flowers…