A Guide to Flower Care

If you have recently received flowers from a friend or relative, you may be wondering how to care for them. After all, without some special care your bouquet is only going to stay fresh and crisp as it was on the initial arrival for so long. Therefore, if you want to keep your floral bouquet from Canadian Flower Delivery smelling and looking its best, you are going to want to keep in mind the following tips.

Of course the first step in keeping a floral bouquet beautiful is to start with fresh flowers, which is why if you are sending flowers you should always choose a top FTD rated florist, like Canadian Flower Delivery which is the area’s number one floral shop. This accomplished, you need to choose a vase that is not going to crowd the stems of the flowers. If you order from a top rated florist such as Canadian Flower Delivery, you can be sure that the vase is appropriate for your flowers. However, if they arrived in a box you should pay careful attention to this matter.

Next, a common mistake that people make with their floral arrangements is filling the vase completely full of water. Stems that are completely submerged in water will decay quickly ruining the flowers as they die much quicker. Therefore, you want to make sure that you keep the vase filled with approximately three inches of lukewarm water.

Before you place the flowers into your vase you will need to trim the stems so that they fit the vase properly and the foliage stays out of the water. Foliage that is exposed to water will quickly start to decay as well and will cause bacteria to grow in your vase that will ruin the flower stem’s ability to replenish the flowers with water.

Usually, you can take off about an inch of the stem from boxed flowers, but once again, if you purchase a vase or receive a vase from Canadian Flower Delivery this will be taken care of for you. This is an advantage of ordering from a floral shop that aims at providing you the best experience ever with any bouquet you receive. If you do trim your flowers, make sure you immediately place them in the vase so the stems can quickly receive nourishment.

From here on out, your flower maintenance for keeping a floral arrangement is pretty simple. Usually, unless you receive a summer hardy plant like a mum, you will want to keep the floral arrangement away from direct sunlight, but still with some light exposure. If you have long stems to work with, you should continue to trim a quarter of the stems and change the water in the vase to keep your flowers looking fresh and smelling their best. If you follow all of these steps, your wonderful flower bouquet will stay fresh and vibrant and in exactly the same condition as they originally arrived at your door!

Some helpful hints for purchasing and caring for houseplants

If you are thinking about buying or purchasing houseplants as gifts for others, you will probably want to know a few common guidelines for taking care of them first. This not only will help you take care of your own flowering plants, but judging by the houses your friends own, help you to decide which type of plant is a good idea for your friends as well.

Traditionally, if you are worried about how to take care of houseplants, you will want to buy or send flowers that are hardier species. You might consider getting a poinsettia for the holiday season delivered by Canadian Flower Delivery as they are fairly easy to take care. All they need is sunlight throughout the day, about 6 hours or so, and occasional watering when the soil dries up. In fact, if you want to sway a little from the normal traditions, you might consider purchasing white poinsettia as they are more unique and but easily acquired from the florist.

The FTD Palm is also another brilliant choice to have delivered from the florist because once they are grown they are also very easy to maintenance and take care of. Basically, you should just place the palm in direct sunlight and keep it at room temperature for most of its life. You do not have to worry about hot weather, but make sure your home stays above 60 degrees. A palm requires very little water but will require a decent sized pot to root in. However if you purchase the plant from CanadianFlowerDelivery.com it will come in an appropriate pot already.

You also might consider going to the florist and picking up a Lavender Phalaenopsis orchid as these only require sunlight throughout the morning and evening and watering only once every ten weeks approximately. In return you will get to enjoy the blossoms of the beautiful rich flower 3 months out of the year, and if you prune it correctly, you may be able to enjoy two different sets of flowers in a row.

Basically, the bottom line is that when you choose a houseplant from the florist you want to make sure you have all the conditions in your home that are required for the houseplant to stay healthy. To make this task a little easier, you should aim to find flowers that that require minimum watering and room temperature climates. You also will have to consider where you want to keep your houseplant as this will determine rather you need to purchase a plant that requires sunlight or shade.

Half the battle of raising a successful houseplant is purchasing one that has had a healthy head start on its life. This is why you always want to make sure that the florist you purchase your houseplant arrangement from is trustworthy and knowledgeable about their plants. You should always look for FTD ranked florists (such as Canadian Flower Delivery) as this certifies and assures you will receive only the top houseplants in healthy condition.

Let’s face it, without plants, blooming perennials and greens among others, the home would be a boring place. So how do we go about caring and making full use of these houseplants to both add beauty to our abode and keep them as healthy? That’s a tough question to answer considering that not all of us have the gift of the green thumb. Here are some general things to consider when caring for plants indoors:

Light

Plants, whether they are for indoors or outdoors all need adequate sunlight for photosynthesis. To keep indoor plants healthy, make sure to place them in an area in the home or the living room where adequate sunlight is easily accessible for the little one.

To even be caring for it and making full use of the houseplants’ ability to decorate and add warmth to the room, try placing it atop a good table that is usually hit by the sunlight during the day. If it is the table in the center of the living room or the table where the family photos are standing on, then all the more it enhances the warmth and beauty of the living room.

Watering

Watering plants is an easy, day-to-day task that even those without the notorious green thumb can perform. Enough water should be poured onto the soil on the pot where the plant is settled in during the summer and spring as with the help of the humid environment of the summer and the breezes of spring, it can grow beautifully. Same is true during the winter and the fall. Overwatering may prove fatal to the plant.

Humidity

Often, the dryness of the atmosphere, or the humid environment, causes failure in the growth of some houseplants. One important thing to do to prevent this from happening is to syringe the plants’ leaves often. You can make use of humid-loving perennials such as Saintpaulia, Begonia semperflorens, Maranta, Ferns as well as the small Ivies to help the plant overcome the humidity in the air.

Soil

Good soil will help in caring and making full use of the houseplants as they are essential to every plant there is, they be the indoor type or the outdoor-loving green. A healthy mix of good garden soil and well-rotted compost or peat would help keep the plant healthy for days, weeks and even months to a full year!

How to care specifically for an orchid plant

Orchid plants are astounding when they are in full bloom. In fact there is no flower that produces such a delicate and beautiful bloom as an orchid can. This is why once it hits December onwards towards May online florists and flower shops get hit hard with requests for the flower. However before you buy flowers or send orchids, you are going to want to know a few basic care tips so that you can make sure your orchids last as long as possible. Plus if you take care of them extremely well, you can keep them blooming just as healthy as they were in the store.

Of course, before you look at which flowers you want to purchase and how to care for the bouquets you receive, you should probably know that the popular gift orchid you probably have received is a phaleanopsis. This is the popular white or purple orchid that people most commonly purchase. They are easier to care for than some of the less common varieties of orchid plants.

First of all, your lovely orchid will bloom for at least a quarter of the year, which means three months if they are taken care of correctly. You will want to place your orchid near the window so that they receive sunlight throughout the day, although you should avoid the harshness of the midday sun and aim to give your orchid morning and evening sunlight. This is why the eastern side of your home is an excellent place to place your orchid. Fluorescent lights about a foot above the orchid’s flowers are also helpful, although you still want to limit exposure to normal daylight hours.

Orchids thrive best in temperate temperatures, above 55 degrees Fahrenheit but no higher than 8o degrees. If your orchid is in weather that passes 90 degrees you may notice the buds will fall off and your orchid will cease to bloom at all. Along these same lines, you will want to make sure that the flower stays moist, but not over water the roots as this will also kill the blooms. A nice compromise is to water the plant once every ten weeks, or keep the orchid in a water tray constantly, but make sure that the roots do not touch the water tray as it will then constantly be soaking up too much water.

If you are interested in the flowers of the orchid the most, you of course will want to know how to keep it in bloom the longest. While you may think fertilization is needed, you should avoid fertilization while the flowers are developing in full, but spark the blooms by fertilizing beforehand. Also, if you carefully prune the orchid while it is blooming, you can see a second set of flowers develop. Of course, if you want the flowers now, than you might consider having a fully flowering orchid delivered to you by Canadian Flower Delivery so you are guaranteed to start with a healthy plant.