Clare Florist Blog

The Clare Florist prize draw winner for July was Mrs Lauder, on Arran.
A beautiful bouquet of flowers worth £50 will be delivered free to her with our very best wishes.

Send lovely fresh summer flowers throughout the UK, next day and without any fuss - Clare Florist.

Every time we receive an order, it becomes a kind of mission for us to deliver the bouquet successfully and make someone's day extra great. Just recently we had a heartwarming little tale of 'Lost and Found' here at Clare Florist.

The story goes..that one day, we were rather excited to receive an international order from Australia (always feel extra special to send/receive flowers from abroad!). But then, lo and behold..although the delivery address was in Manchester, the post codes and street names were found to be non-existent. A wrong address! Our hearts sank.. We then tried to see if the recipient was listed in that area of Manchester and called them..still no luck! We kept our fingers crossed and hoped that some Google magic will point us in the right direction..and failing that..surely a call to Australia should point us somewhere?

Well, despite making sure that it wasn't silly hours in the morning when we called, all we got was an answering machine message. By this point it's turned into a bit of a detective game for us and we were unwilling to give up. As a last resort, we checked through all the people with the same surname and telephone area code within the phonebook. The few possibilities were our only hope left for reuniting the flowers with their owners..so we dialled...

What a relief to finally hearing one of them say 'That is my daughter-in-law!". A happy ending. We got the correct details and she ended up with the correct flowers. For us, the extra effort was definitely worth it when the mission is finally accomplished - the whole thing made our day (and hopefully theirs too!)

Clare Florist - the florist you can trust for flowers without the fuss.

Today we commence a rather special offer for lovely red roses.

Clare Florist will deliver 20 (rather than the usual 12) high quality Red Roses in a compact and trendy bouquet, throughout the UK next day and all for only £39.99 inclusive of delivery.

This represents a saving of a whole £10 or 20% - yes that is Twenty percent - off the usual selling price.

Order now by using this link, before we change our minds!

Clare Florist, flowers for all occasions without any fuss.

I just came across a rather interesting exibition which is currently on at the British Museum - seven different Japanese flower arrangements are to be displayed over seven weeks, a perfect chance to have a taste of the fascinating art of Ikebana!

For those who have never heard of Ikebana, literally meaning living flowers, it refers to the the Japanese art of flower arrangement. In contrast to Western flower arrangement styles, Ikebana puts emphasis on assymetries, and makes use of empty space and elegant lines to accentuate the beauty of their floral design.

With a Buddhist origin, Ikebana aims to represent the beauty and harmony of nature, while capturing its transience through the arrangement of flower blossoms and other materials such as branches and leaves. The entire structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on three main points that symbolize heaven, earth, and man.

Currently there are 3 main schools of Ikebana - Ikenobo, Sogetsu  and Ohara. Ikenobo was said to be the founder of Ikebana, introducing the form of standing flower, which was developed as the Buddhist expression for nature's beauty. Sogetsu teaches Ikebana in a disciplined manner using patterns, where there are 3 main branches arranged to precise angles and shapes. Ohara later introduced the use of shallow, flat containers. This style is described as 'piled up flowers', which allows more freedom into the arrangements following influences from the West.

Another fascinating point - this art form is enjoyed in Japan by men and women alike! In fact, currently, the leading flower arrangers are for the most part, men.

Do go and take a look at this exquisite form of floral art at the exhibition if you happen to be in or around London before the 19th August 2007. For more information on the exhibition, take a look at:

British Museum- future exhibitions - ikebana

You can find out more about Ikebana and its background history at:

http://www.ikebanahq.org/whatis.html

Prepared by Tracy, posted by Bob

Continuing our series on the legends of the Flower Kingdom, what better way to find out about the majestic Rose than from the Queen of Flowers herself? 

Today we finally managed to get hold of her (June was a particularly busy month for her!), and she was more than happy to tell us some stories about the origins and future of this royal family of the Flower Kingdom.

Interviewer: Hello, good to have you with us. Wow those petals of yours have a nice looking glow today!

Queen Rose: (Smiles coyly) Well, I did try to make an effort..

Interviewer: So, let's get started. We are all very curious as to how roses came about in the first place and how it came to symbolise love and admiration. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Queen Rose: We have always been told that our ancestor was created from the essence of gods and goddesses. It all began, from the body of a lifeless nymph which the goddess of flowers, Chloris, had found in the woods. Determined to make it The Flower of Love, she  saught the help of other gods and goddesses..hmm let me think who they were again..

Queen Rose: Ah yes. She gained the help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who donated a portion of her beauty; Dionysus, the god of wine, who gave some nectar to give our sweet scent; and the three Graces who gave us charm, brightness and joy! Zephyr, the West Wind, made the clouds disappear so that Apollo the sun god could make the flower bloom. So enchanting she was..she was crowned Queen of Flowers, and the status has remained with us until today!

Interviewer: And how about the thorns?

Queen Rose: They have another story of their own..To cut a long story short, the friend of a beautiful maiden named Rhodanthe grew jealous of her beauty, and turned Rhodanthe into a rose as it was back then and her eager suitors into these ugly thorns. Those have stuck with us ever since...

Interviewer: But that's what make a rose special! And your beautiful natural colouring - we all know that Red Roses are the most popular breed.. but how did roses first become this intoxicating shade of crimson?

Queen Rose: Wow that's a difficult one..I have heard lots of wild stories about that. My favourite one is probably an Arabic legend where a nightingale's love for a beautiful white rose inspired him to sing...However, when he got close to her, her thorns pierced his heart and turned all the white roses into blood red roses. Such a beautiful story! As far as I know though, I believe we infact originated from the Chinese mountains...

Interviewer: Hmm, interesting indeed. So moving on, do you think the current popularity of roses will remain in years to come?

Queen Rose: In my opinion we are timeless! We are 'The' original flower of love..as I mentioned before, so I don't think that can ever change. Also, the huge number of breeds of us means that there is a style and colour to suit everybody and every occasion. Whether it's just a bunch of us or with our friends, I believe we will always be a popular choice!

Interviewer: Final question. Just out of curiosity, what do you think of the number 12?

Queen Rose: Hmm, personally I prefer 99! Afterall, for us the more the merrier in a bunch. Although the number 12 does have special symbolism for perfection, and it can be associated with months of the year, or number of zodiac signs..hmm..

Interviewer: Well, thank you for the great stories and I should hope to see you again soon. Hope you enjoy moving to your new home today!

Maybe I have been thinking too much about flowers recently, the other day I had the most bizarre dream of a gorilla giving me a gigantic carnation! Feeling curious, I searched around for the meaning of seeing carnation in a dream, which in fact turns out to symbolise light-heartedness, vitality and joy. Inspired by this, I decided to also look up the meanings of the appearances of various other flowers in dreams and share my findings here:

• Certain flowers are seen as being good omens when appearing in dreams. These include jasmine, chrysanthemum, marigold, myrtle, laurel, violets and daisies field. In particular, marigold is associated with wealth, violet symbolises prosperity, while laurel is associated with success in love. Dreaming of currently blooming flowers is also seen as good luck.
• There are more flowers that are associated with love and marriage. Rose is another flower which signify success in love, while honeysuckle represent a happy marriage when appearing in a dream.
• Unfortunately, there are also some flowers which denote misfortunes. Dandelions, wilted bouquets and withered roses are the most common unlucky flower symbols in dreams. Boohoo.
• Of course it is in the nature of dreams that there would also be an element of personal significance in what you dream of. Colours, environment and events are all common factors which can affect the dream interpretation - ultimately it is your own interpretation which reflect the most about what your dreams might mean!

Prepared by Tracy, posted by Bob.