Our Newest Member of the Family..........Meet Rusty!

Yep, that is right I said yes to another puppy. How could I say no? He is soooo cute! What a snuggler! I know what you are thinking, it is the wrong time of the year to get a puppy. I agree..........but just look at that face!

He belongs to my youngest son, Mason, but we all adore him. He is an 8 week old Chocolate Lab & he is to be trained to be a water fowl dog. (My sons love to duck & goose hunt) Sadly he lost his Black Lab, Bella, last fall, before she was ever able to go hunting with him. We miss her.

Now if we could only master the puppy potty training, he would be just perfect!
If anyone has any successful puppy potty training tricks, I would love to hear about them. Please send me your tips!!

Now, say hello to Rusty...........Rusty says Hello!!

Keepsakes for Sympathy

More & more I find that my customers are looking for a keepsake to send to memorial & funeral services. We have found ways to incorporate these keepsakes with our fresh flowers to enhance the keepsake & promote our floral designs too. Here are a couple of examples that we do at White Iris Designs.

The first one is a sympathy throw (which are similar to an afghan) with a spray of fresh sweetheart roses attached to the easle that we display it on. The throws usually have scripture on them or other verses or sayings appropriate for memorial tributes. The customer does not pay for the easle, we use it for the display during the service & then our funeral directors return them to us.

The second is an example of how we use angels & cherubs in with our fresh arrangements. The family members can take home the arrangement & when the fresh flowers are gone they have the cherub or angel left for a keepsake. We have also displayed crosses & stepping stones in this same manner.

The next time you need to send something for a memorial or funeral service, why not consider something like one of these. They make a beautiful showing & leaves something for a member of the family to treasure for years to come.

Who Says Valentine's Day Flowers Have to be Red?

Any one who knows anything about me, knows that when it comes to flower design I love to break the rules & think outside the box. After spending all of December doing red & white for Christmas arrangements, it is hard for me to get excited about the thought of having to start the whole red & white theme all over again for Valentine's Day. Don't get me wrong red & white still has it's place in this girls designs, but why stop there?

Yesterday we were trying to get the jump on this male driven holiday by fill our cooler with uniquely designed alternatives for our procrastinating Romeos. Yes, you will find traditional in there, but most of what we came up with has some sort of a twist to it.
When our Belles of Ireland came in we found them to all be curled over at the top, which is never a problem because we love the wild look that they give an arrangement. But these were extremely curled. Upon further scrutiny we found that if we placed them just so they formed a heart. Well, let me tell you that only set the wheels in motion.

With the Belles now front & center in our designs, we set out to create some very hip Valentine's bouquets. The bright green color combines nicely with pinks as well as reds. They also look great with shades of other green flowers with just a few red accents for very masculine looking arrangement.

Here is an example of one of the designs that we came up with. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Words of Love to Live By

Here we are just 4 days from Valentine's Day. For some it is a very romantic day, very much looked forward to. For others it is just a reminder of the loneliness that they feel or the fact that they are still looking for love. But is Valentine's Day just for couples, lovers? I say no. Valentine's Day is a day for Love all types of Love.

My first memories of Valentine's Day is of my Father bringing me some little token of his fatherly affection. He always remembered me with a small card, a note on a piece of paper, a necklace, a charm bracelet, my favorite candy & yes even a single rose on occasion. How special must I have been, for him to think of me, his daughter, on this holiday set aside for "couples in love"?

He was honoring a different kind of love, a bond between father & daughter, yet still a love needing to be celebrated. All love, no matter what the relationship needs to be celebrated. Not just on Valentine's Day, everyday! So I urge you this year on this holiday to celebrate "LOVE" in all of it's forms. Your brother, sister, sons, daughters, mother, father, grandparents, special neighbor, whoever it is that is special to you that you love & loves you................ Tell them!!!

Here are a few famous quotes about love:

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. ~Aristotle

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~Lao Tzu

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. ~Helen Keller

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever. ~Winnie the Pooh

Flower of the Week "The Orchid"

In the 19th century Victorian England Era, the orchid was the most highly collected type of house plant. They were a symbol of luxury amongst the Victorian women & were revered for their unusual, exotic beauty. There are nearly 25000 varieties, with new ones being discovered every year. Today there is a resurgence of orchid collectors & the price tags on some of the rare varieties can range into the hundreds of dollars.
There are even Orchid conventions held each year for the most avid of enthusiasts.

I love to buy them as a cut flower not only because of their beauty, but because of the vase life that they have. I have found them to last, (if they are truly fresh when I purchase them), nearly 2-3 weeks. They are mostly know as a tropical flower & appear to be very delicate. They are in reality a very durable cut flower & hold up very well in wedding bouquets. They can have a higher price tag, but I feel it is worth it. A stem of cymbidium orchids can have 9-12 blooms per stem & can be used as a whole stem or each bloom can be cut off the stem to be used in smaller arrangements.

They were commonly know in the Victorian Era to protect against disease & have been correlated with love & fertility. Given as gifts, they mean preciousness & seduction. It is also the Chinese symbol for many children. Other meanings for the orchid are: maturity, thoughtfulness & charm.

If you are interested in purchasing them from your local florist, I would suggest giving them at least 2 weeks notice for special orders. Not all florist will carry orchids on a regular basis. Common orchids for flower shops to carry are: Dendrobium Orchids, Cymbidium Orchids, Phalaenopsis Orchids & Oncidium Orchids

Here are a few example of some of the orchids we commonly use at White Iris.

Count Down to Valentine's Day

As I begin the count down to this very unpredictable of holidays, I am once again questioning myself. Did I order enough roses, lilies, tulips, carnations, orchids etc? Did I order the right colors, did I order too many? On & on this goes in my head.
You see, as a florist, this can be one of the most stressful holidays to prepare for. Many things factor in to how successful it will be.

Like:
1. What day of the week it falls on. If it falls on Tues, Weds. Thurs. this is good. Men will send to their Loves at their place of work. Scoring big points with her & her coworkers. If it falls on Fri., Sat., Sun.,or Mon. Not so good. Most of the time couples will opt for the weekend dinner & a movie out on the town scenario.

2. What the weather is like is a huge factor. If the weather is nice, more walk in business. If the weather is bad, but not too bad, a lot of call-ins for delivery business. If the weather is really bad....well, so is business.

Like last Valentine's Day. In Indiana, where my shop is located, last year we had 10 - 15" of snow on Feb. 13th. It was the most horrible of circumstances. I had already received all of my flowers and then the orders just stopped. People freaked out & so did I. We could not deliver a lot of the orders we already had because most of them were places of business & they were not at work. The pick up orders were not being picked up because they couldn't get into town to pick up their flowers. I own a 4-wheel drive and was able to make it into the shop & did what I could. We spray painted red hearts & "Happy Valentine's Day We're Open!" on the 4-5' snow banks in front of my shop. Hoping that the crazy men out driving around would come in. It did bring in a few, but I think a lot of my customers just decided to wait until the weather cleared up & did the dinner & a movie thing on the weekend. The whole holiday was a bust for me, I lost a lot of flowers & a lot of money.

Here it comes again, this fickle holiday. I have placed my flower orders, bought my vases and now I wait. Valentine's Day is on a good flower day, Thurs. this year, now as for the weather..........well that remains to be seen. I will be ready come what may.

Call your local florist & send someone you love some beautiful fresh flowers this Valentine's Day!