Magic City Floral

The Origin of Mother’s Day

dannettebarth — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:07:08 +0000

Anna Jarvis

Have you ever wondered about the origin of Mother’s Day? The story begins with a daughter’s determination to fulfill her mother’s dream of honoring mothers on a specific day. In 1907 on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, Anna Jarvis held a small tribute to her mother. Within two years with the support of others, the memorial quickly spread from Philadelphia to include forty-five states, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day as a National Holiday to be held the second Sunday in May.

Wearing flowers on Mother’s Day is also credited to Anna Jarvis. She chose carnations which were her mother’s favorite flower; especially white carnations which represent the purity of a mother’s heart. A white carnation was to be worn to honor the memory of a deceased mother, or a red carnation to honor a mother who is living. Some of our eldest friends might still remember this early tradition. For the rest of us the tradition has become one of sending flowers to the mothers in our lives.

Easter Lilies

dannettebarth — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:19:50 +0000

Easter sure is early this year, March 31st, about as early as it can be. After more than 40 years in the floral business, Easter has always been about delivering fresh spring flowers and Easter lilies. The traditional lily plant with the large white trumpet flower is the most common. But now there are some new hybrid lily plants grown for Easter. These are the Asiatic varieties more often available as a cut flower in a wide range of colors. Due to the variety of colors available these plants are becoming more popular each year. Magic City Floral will be offering colors of creamy white, pin and yellow. They are an easy care plant with water and diffuse light as the only requirements. After blooming the bulbs can be planted outside and will provide lots of color for next spring.

Shamrock Plants

dannettebarth — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:27:26 +0000

St. Patrick’s Day is near and shamrocks are the popular plant for March. They are an interesting plant with many varieties available and Magic City Floral stocks three of the varieties. They all have pin wheel shaped leaves and small white or lavender blooms. One of our varieties has large purple leaves and another has large dark green with silver tinge to the leaves. One of the more popular varieties we have is the small leafed variegated. The foliage on this plant is thicker and fuller and the leaves are more yellowish green.
All these shamrocks are in the oxalis family. After blooming, the plant normally goes into a dormant stage. The leaves turn yellow and it appears the plant is dying — it is not! Decrease watering and place in a cool dry place until it starts growing again. Then place in a brighter area and resume watering and fertilizing. These are fun plants to enjoy and add more “green” to your home.

Fresh Flower Care Tips

dannettebarth — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:35:27 +0000

So you just had flowers delivered to you, now what?

Keep fresh flowers away from drafts and extreme temperatures, which can quickly dry out flowers and cause wilting.
Avoid direct sunlight
Flowers will last longer under cool conditions
Place a moisture proof barrier under the container to protect your furniture
Keep container filled to the top with fresh water

I need to really stress how important it is to keep a vase filled to the top with water. If the vase is only half full of water some shorter stemmed flowers may no longer be submerged and this will cause them to wilt prematurely. When transporting flowers sometimes people pour out most of the water so it won’t spill in the car. When they get home they add more water. Unfortunately this is not good for the arrangement because any flowers that are not submerged in water need to be re-cut for the stems to be hydrated.

So take good care of your fresh flowers and ENJOY!