Making your Bouquet of Flowers Last - Flower Care

How to care for your bouquet of flowers

You just received a beautiful bouquet of flowers, maybe for your birthday, a special event or occasion, or perhaps it is a single flower. You want these to last as long as possible, make the memory last.


Here are tips and instructions to help in keeping your flowers last as long as possible.


Remove any leaves that will be under water in the vase.

WIth the end of the flower stem under water, cut about an inch off the stem with a sharp knife. Cut at an angle. This will open the veins in the stem to allow more water to pass through.

Mix floral preservative to fresh water at room temperature or slightly warm water as indicated on the package. It comes with most floral arrangements intended for vases.

Fill a clean vase about 3/4 to the top with water and preservative mixture.

Arrange your flowers as you prefer. Then leave them in a cool, dark room for a couple of hours to allow them to settle into their new home.

Always display your floral arrangement in a cool area.

Keep them out of direct sunlight.

Keep the water fresh. Add the water daily and change the water in about 3 days.

In the evening before you go to bed, place your floral bouquet in the coolest place in your home, perhaps the garage. But, do not leave them in any area which could reach the low thirties or freezing temperatures.
Enjoy your bouquet, and for a longer period of time!

Did you know?

Flowers do not like Ethylene gas. Sources of Ethylene gas include ripening fruits and vegetables, cigarette smoke, and car exhaust.

Basics of Floral Arranging

The best reward for our work as florists is when we get a compliment from our customer or the recipient of our floral bouquet. The best compliment is getting a repeat order for our work.

The basic guideline we have followed for years is the following
- Always place larger flowers first, the smaller flowers can be used to fill the form of the design.
- Flower color influences the visual balance of the design. Darker flowers are usually placed at the base since they appear heavier, soft colored flowers are placed along the perimeter since they appear lighter.
- Maintain a proportional balance.
- Add filler flowers and foliage after the main flowers are in place.
Delightfully Spring

In Loving Memory of a Loved One, Delivering Flowers to a Gravesite or Niche

When a loved one passes, the grief and the feeling of loss stays for a long time after the funeral service. Relatives leave to go on with their lives and friends' calls and visits fade slowly. For close relatives who live far away from the burial place, it makes it difficult for them to make the trip to visit the gravesite.

Florists like us offer the service of delivering flowers for those who can't make the trip. We have a few customers who rely on us to deliver flowers on holidays, the loved one's birthday, or some choose to have flowers once a month. We then send the picture of the flowers we delivered at the gravesite for them.

Florists like us are grateful that we are able to help express the loving memories of those who our customers miss dearly.

The cemeteries we deliver to are:
Sylvan Cemetery District which is located in Citrus Heights and the oldest District cemetery established in 1862 serving Citrus Heights, Rio Linda, North Highlands, Natomas, Orangevale, Carmichael and Fair Oaks.
Calvary Catholic Cemetery at 7101 Verner Ave., Sacramento, CA 95841
Eastlawn Mortuary and Sierra Hills Memorial Park at 5757 Greenback Lane, Sacramento, CA 95841
Eastlawn Memorial Park on 43rd and Folsom
Sacramento Memorial Lawn at 6100 Stockton Blvd.
Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery
Sunset Lawn Memorial Park at 4701 Marysvilee Blvd.

July weddings and other Stuff in Sacramento, CA

As a small business in the floral retail industry, the months of May and June are usually the busiest months. Schools have the high school prom, senior dances and graduation. We also celebrate Mother's Day in May. June is full of weddings - big and small, planned and last minute. This year, July has been unusually busy with weddings and we are booked until the end of July.

My Favorite Flower - Bird of Paradise

My favorite flower is the Bird of Paradise, whose botanical name is Strelitza reginae, commonly called the crane flower.

The flower head is a boat-shaped bract from which pointed featherlike flowers emerge. Each flower has a blue or purplish structure called a tongue. The bract extends from the top of a smooth leafless stem at an angle about 90 degrees or less.

The flowers are bright yellow to yellow-orange to orange with blue/blue violet tongues. Bracts are grayish green to purplish green and edged in red.
If flowers fail to emerge from the bract, the can be gently pulled out, one at a time, by hand.

The Bird of Paradise is a subtropical plant so it is sensitive to chill.
Birds-of-paradise are one of the few flowers polinated by birds; however, the common name was given because the open blossoms resemblea crested bird's head or the wings of a bird in flight.

Caring for Your Valentine Plant

So you received a potted flowering plant for valentines, or for your birthday or any occasion and you want to make sure your gift last as long as possible.

You should locate your plant in a well-lit area and avoid direct sunlight.
Always keep plants away from ripening fruits, cigarette smoke, or a heater. Ripening fruits produce ethylene gas which can cause flower bud to wilt, and leaf yellowing and/ or dropping and makes flowers die quicker.
Check your plant for watering needs. Water only when needed and make sure water drains from the pot. Never let plants dry out and avoid water on leaves or flowers.
Follow the care tag instructions so that you can enjoy your plant a lot longer indoors.
After the flowers are spent, you can usually take your plant outdoors, other tropical plants prefer to stay indoors.

A beautiful Pink Azalea from your local Florist - A Vanity Fair Florist

Roses on my mind

It's February....already, in just a few days, Valentine's day will be here; I've been thinking roses since the beginning of the year. Rose is the most popular flower people order as gifts on Valentine's Day. Aside from the wide variety of roses, from the ever popular red, it comes in a variety of attractive colors and very sweet scent.

One Dozen Red Roses

A dozen red roses is always the perfect choice. One dozen red roses in a clear glass vase professionally arranged. Order this from your local florist, hand delivered to your loved one. And yet, there are also a variety of ways of rose arrangements to choose from to best express your love, one of which is a mix of roses with other attractive flowers.

Love is Divine

Give Thanks

November 25th, 2010 is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. There is so much to be thankful for - family, friends, home, love, health, faith and hope and the determination to survive, work hard, seek opportunities to grow. Even in this difficult economy, there are still a lot to be thankful for.

With all the festivity on thanksgiving day, make your table look festive and complete with a bright harvest centerpiece. Send it to family who are out of town, or take it as an appreciation to the dinner host for her dining table. Enjoy your family and loved ones this thanksgiving day.

Bronze Centerpiece

Funeral flowers

A funeral for a friend or loved one can be difficult, but funeral flowers from A VANITY FAIR FLORIST of Sacramento, CA (CA) can help begin the healing process. Funeral flowers provide the opportunity to express how much the departed means to you. Celebrate the life of your loved one with one of the beautiful funeral flower arrangements found on our websites: White Promises Spray, Mixed Flowers Sympathy Tribute or one of our Basket or Vase Arrangements.

One of our customers ordered this online for a memorial service and rosary at the East Lawn Andrews and Greilich Mortuary on Sunday, 11/21/2010.

White Promises Spray

Roses for any Season

Roses from A VANITY FAIR FLORIST in Sacramento, California (CA) always make an impression. Nothing says I Love You more clearly than the rose. You can express yourself in a variety of ways from the simple Rose Bud Vase to an extravagant Two Dozen Roses or more arranged in a vase. Show your flair for the creative with the Rose Garden Topiary or the Rosy Posy arrangement.

Browse our Rose Pictures to find the best arrangement of roses for you. If you don't see something you like give A VANITY FAIR FLORIST a call. We can arrange roses in a variety of styles to suit your special occasion, style or color such as: yellow roses, white roses and pink roses. Send your message of love with Roses from A VANITY FAIR FLORIST today.

Sixty four percent of Valentines roses sold are classic red. But did you know that women prefer to receive other colors - yellow, pink, peach or white? Two shades that are growing in popularity are orange and lavender.

Autumn Roses that say Thank You for being you!

Classic Car enthusiast

We own a classic Ford Mustang Car, a 1978 Mustang II inherited from my father. In California, it is required that cars manufactured in 1975 and up are required to undergo smog test, otherwise the state will pay you to junk your old car. Our Mustang is a rare one because it is a t-top with Cobra striping and has original parts. It's used only for car shows and would not in any way affect the environment for the few times that it is driven.

Anyway, I think I resemble an old car:

IF MY BODY WERE A CAR...

If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish, and my paint job is getting a little dull. But that's not the worst of it. My headlights are out of focus, and it's especially hard to see things from afar.

My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather.

My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins. It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. My fuel rate burns inefficiently.

But here's the worst of it --


Almost every time I sneeze, cough or laugh, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS..........
I QUALIFY - How about you?

High School Dances and Homecoming

High Schools around us have been having their homecoming dances. Some students are more organized than others, or the mothers are involved in their children's school activites.
I got a call from a young man for a beautiful corsage 2 weeks before the homecoming. And then on the day of the homecoming, after a long day assembling corsages and boutonniers and ready to call it a day, I get a call from a mother who was looking for a florist who could make a corsage and a boutonnier for her son. She was so glad I was still in the shop and willing to take her rush order. It turns out, she had ordered and paid for these items from a florist closer to her home, but when she got there, the flowershop was closed due to a family emergency. What a contrast, but, then again, this mother was a victim of circumstances and she was so grateful to find a florist that was still open that time of the day on a Saturday. Most flowershops close around 2 or 3 p.m. I just happened to have been working late because of school homecoming.

Two weeks ago, I had a lady come in to order her bridal bouquet and her groom's boutonnier. A week later she added 3 bridesmaids bouquets and another boutonnier. She picked the items today, Friday, for her wedding tomorrow in Reno, NV. Her bouquet consisted of red and ivory roses, with white and red satin ribbons, the boutonniers were ivory roses and the bridesmaids were also red and ivory roses. She loved her bouquets and was excited for her wedding. She mentioned that she waited a long time to meet the right person.

I'm happy for her and wish her and her groom all the best the world can offer. Fortunately for florists like me, we can share in the joys of other people - in their weddings, school dances, birthdays, births of new babies, anniversaries and other joyous moments.

White Rose Corsage

Taking Care of Peace Lily Plant

Houseplants are usually very nice gifts to send to a friend or a loved one to express what you feel. It could be sent as a warm welcome and congratulations on their new house or office, congratulations on an achievement or a memorial for a loved one who passed away.

One of the most popular houseplants that we deliver is the Spathiphylum, or more commonly known as the Peace Lily. Like the more common calla lily, white petal-like leaves envelope the true flowers which are the central yellow columns. Most of the spathiphylum plants we deliver blooms intermittently all through the year. It is an evergreen plant that tolerates even very dry conditions.

Caring for your Plant

Light: This plant tolerates low light, but ideally, it needs bright light during the gray winter days but during summer, it loves diffused light.

Water: Keep the soil moist, but not soggy.

Handling and care: Feed every 2 months from March to September with fertilizer. When the plant becomes rootbound, divide the roots with a sharp knife after all the flowers have bloomed out. Pot up segments in standard potting soil mix that provides very good drainage.

Leaves that turn brown on the edges and turn yellowish are aging, cut these off. If the leaves tip yellow, it could be that there is too much water, or there is insufficient food.

More plants are lost from overwatering than from underwatering. Excessive wet soil crowds out oxigen needed by the roots and the roots can not support the leaves if they don't have oxygen.

By following this care guide, your plant will live a long time.


Peace Lily Plant

All Souls Day - A Catholic Holiday

As I hang some more decorations for Halloween and also for Thanksgiving, I suddenly remember that around this time most Catholics are preparing for another holiday - the observance of All Souls Day.
In contrast to halloween, All Souls Day is not about ghosts, ghouls, goblins or monsters or the dark, cold, gray skies and eery air. In the Philippines, a week or two before this holiday, my mother, my sisters and I would go to the cemetery and clean the gravesite of my brother and a niece. We pulled weeds, cleaned and repainted the graves in preparation for the day. A day before All Souls Day, we went to the market to buy flowers and candles and also ingredients for rice cake. On All Souls Day we first went to church and then head on to the cemetery with our flowers and candles and rice cake. The road to the cemetery was full of people, cars, jeepneys and the sidewalks had vendors selling flowers and candles. It was a day set aside to remember our dearly departed and this tradition is passed on to the next generation. Now, I realize that this holiday was observed by our parents and their parents to remember their loved ones, prayed for the souls of the dead and those of us that are living.

It's been years since I have celebrated this holiday. When I moved to the US, I had learned to celebrate halloween instead. My children have not seen the rituals that we in the Philippines observed and enjoyed. My sister and her family continue the tradition of going to the cemetery where my parents are buried. My excuse is - I live too far from the cemetery and before that, I lived in another state.

Now, I understand what the tradition was supposed to be. Prayers and masses are offered for the dearly departed's repose of their soul. Flowers serve as a living memory reminding us that once these people had remained close to us and they, like us, had once been fascinated by the beauty and color of life. Lighted candles likewise signify that the love, hope and joy they shared with people they had left behind shall be kept forever burning and alive even though they may have found their destiny somewhere or even in the arms of the Heavenly Father.

Flowers for a funeral

It is common knowledge that death is inevitable but when it comes, no one is ready for it's occurence specially for those that are left behind. Then, not all deaths is the same; some are logical and some are illogical. It seems it would be easier to cope when a loved one has lived a long and fruitful life and dies quietly in his/her sleep. If a death was so sudden and tragic, the love ones left behind will require more to cope with their loss. To express sympathy and sincere compassion, and respect for the deceased, sending flowers is very appropriate .

Flowers bring comfort to the loved ones left behind to grieve and commemorate the life of the deceased. They provide a beautiful and thoughtful distraction from the grief of survivors. They express gratitude for life and for the privilege of knowing the departed. And sympathy designs (flowers sent for a funeral) ought to be as special and unique as the life of the person they memorialize. To suggest that flowers are trivial or unimportant to the grieving process is to deny the truth of their message: life always goes on.

In some obituaries, the words "in lieu of flowers" are mentioned seemingly suggesting that flowers are not important. The same sentiment would never be expressed with respect to the dead. And while a contribution to charity in the name of the deceased is always a fitting tribute, the value and importance of flowers sent in sympathy can never be understated. Of course, you can rely on your local florist to help you express your sympathy; they will deliver flowers with your comforting message of condolence and your love and concern.

Joys of a Wedding, Sacramento Florist

The mother of the groom for one of the recent weddings we worked on last month came for a visit today with a thank you card, and a wedding favor and the wedding album.
She mentioned that the bride loved her bouquet and the guests expressed that they were very impressed with the flowers and the decorations for the wedding event and the reception.
There were a lot of pictures of the flowers and she promised to provide me with a copy of the disk so that I can use it as a portfolio. The result of a professional photography makes all the difference and shows the beauty of the professionally arranged bouquets. It makes for a happy closure to the week and helps keep the joys of being a Sacramento florist, and a small entrepreneur.

Surviving this Down Economy - Strategies of a Small Flower Shop

This year, instead of focusing on being succesful and profitable, we are striving to survive and outlast our new and old competitors. With this in mind, I am sharing our strategy so that small business owners like me also survive this down economy we are now in.

Our strategies:
- Provide superior products and services at very reasonable price
- Develop a bond with customers, and vendors,
- Celebrate milestones, and share not only with clients but also with vendors,
- Acknowledge and show appreciation to loyal customers and also to vendors
- Share our expertise in flower arranging, plant care, care of fresh flowers and knowledge of gift giving.

- Network with other business owners and know that each one can depend on one another for encouragement and the knowledge that we all exist in a very challending economic time.
- Donate flowers for charitable causes. Flowers bring out smiles, encouragement, motivation, and joy.
Bright Cheery Bouquet by A Vanity Fair Florist

Summer of Recovery?

Summer of recovery? It's a statement coming from the government, repeated by the POTUS and the VPOTUS as they stomp around the country campaigning and fund raising. Is it really a summer of recovery?

We made a delivery the other day to a small shop. My husband stayed a while to visit with the store manager and asked how business is going. He said that business is really slow and they have experienced several theft that they have a new policy that customers have to leave their handbag at the front desk. He also mentioned that there's another small business which now locks their doors and have their customers ring their doorbell to get in to get their service. The Teriyaki Place we loved to go for lunch didn't survive, they finally closed in June. I suspect another flowershop closed because I got 3 phone calls this week from people seeking employment. Ever since I was burglarized, I've started locking my doors and have customers ring the doorbell if they need flowers. Besides, most of my customers make their flower order over the phone or on the web.
Here in Sacramento, our economy depend so much on state and government employees. For small businesses like a flower shop, our fear is that business will be affected negatively with the impending furloughs. Furloughs ended in June but because of the inability of the legislators to come up with a budget on time, the governor uses the state employees as pawns.
So, is it a summer of recovery? Most small business owners don't think so, especially when you know personally someone who is laid off.

In the Loss of Life

Death is inevitable, but for those of us who are left behind, we are not always prepared when it happens. As a florist, we see a lot of death, from a distance. The bereaved come in to order flowers to honor their loved one or friends and relatives that are far away call for their flower order either for delivery to the family home or to the service at a church or a funeral home.

Last week, a sister of the deceased came in to order flowers for the memorial service. She mentioned that the family is raising funds for the funeral by doing car washes and appealing to their church for help. A church member came in the next day to put in a deposit. The living sister called and promised to pay the rest the next day. However, the day of the memorial, I called but there was no answer. Two hours before the memorial service, she called to say that her mother went to another florist and ordered flowers. She proceeded to say she'll come in to pay for the rest of her balance, but that we don't have to deliver the flowers. I told her, since we haven't yet delivered the flowers, she doesn't have to come in to pay for the flowers. I wonder what the family is going through and it seems that the loss of their loved one has created misunderstanding and hard feelings.

I usually go through the Obituary section of the paper. A week ago, I saw that one of our accounts lost her husband. I knew he was going through cancer treatments, yet, the news of his death still took me by surprise. Yesterday, I saw that another of our good customers just passed away. I know she's old and lost her husband last year. Her husband used to buy flowers for her and her children, now they're both gone and it saddens me because I have lost two dear friends.

What helps in the healing process is my faith in God and saying a prayer for the loved ones of the deceased. It also reminds me to be grateful of my living dear friends, relatives and loved ones.

Gentle Thoughts by Sacramento Florist

Sacramento Florist Going Green

Flowers bring the romance with all its fragrance - sweet, soft, or strong scent, and they come in really pretty colors, and in many shapes. This month of March brings the color GREEN for the St. Patrick's Day celebration. We use green carnations, green mums, green gladiola and lots of greenery in our arrangements.

St. Patrick's Day brings us all to wearing green even if we're not Irish. We celebrate it on Thursday, March 17, 2010. And to all the Patricks and Patricias or Patty's, we celebrate your day with you!
Let's drink Ale to that!

And speaking of green, we either put the stems and leaves cut off from our flowers and greens into the green pile and into the greens trash bin but mostly into our compost pile. We recycle all our newspaper and the paper wrappings that our flowers are wrapped with by the wholesalers and all the cardboard boxes that our vases come in. We try to be responsible stewards of our environment and our land.