Clare Florist Blog

I'm not making any new year's resolutions this year, but I do have a few new year's aspirations! More exercise is one, which I'm sure I'm in good company in aspiring to. I got off to a good start with a run on January 1st, but by that evening I was starting to cough —maybe outdoor activities is not the best choice of exercise for this time of year! Another of my hopes is to find lots more interesting topics to tell you about on this blog, which made me wonder, what sorts of things would you most like to hear about? This is a blog for you, our flower-inclined public, after all. Let us know what you'd be interested in seeing here and we'll happily see what we can do. In the meantime we're preparing for the unveiling of our exciting new spring bouquets... coming soon!

Lucy

Long gone are the days of associating Chrysanthemums with funerals and crummy old rooms. Vibrant with exhilarating colours and varieties, and durable beyond most cut flowers, they are the current hippest favourites in town!

In fact, I've always wondered about the name. As it turns out, the flower was named by Mr. Linnaeus (mentioned a couple of entries ago), the funky long name coming from a combination of the Greek 'krus' meaning gold and 'anthemum' meaning flower. 

In Japan, the gold flower has always been viewed as symbol of the sun. There, Chrysanthemums have a long history of being used to represent divine authority, where the throne is referred as the Chrysanthemum throne. The Japanese even have a special festival dedicated to it!

For the Chinese also, the flower is of a special value - East Asian species of these golden beauties are often boiled with rock sugar to make the powerful throat healing, fever cooling remedial herbal tea. There's also a city named after Chrysanthemums in China!

Unfortunately the Chrysanthemums in your lovely bouquet won't be edible! Just as well..according to Feng Shui, they will bring endless amount of laughter and happiness to your home - so leave them on display! Other symbolism of the flower include longevity and nobility, they are great for adding that royal touch to any rooms.

And of course, these colourful delights are perfect for making eye-catching arrangements, you can get some inspirations for possibilities of what to do with them here.

We will soon have some of these enchanting chrysanthemum bouquets in stock - look out for them!!

P.S. Another piece of trivia - there's a type of firework that's named Chrysanthemum for its resemblence to the flower!

When trying to pick the perfect bouquet, besides choosing the variety that will send the right message, the biggest headache must be choosing the best colour or combination of colours! As Oscar Wilde once wrote, "Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways."

Meanings associated with different colours, and his/her favourite colour aside, each colour is said to have subtle effects on our mental states caused by the neurological effects from the different frequencies of colour lightwaves. So, whether you want to create a particular mood for your room, or seek some flowery therapy for the soul, some knowledge of the powers of each colour will go a long way!

Red - Ahhh..the colour of warmth. With the longest wavelength, it is also the colour associated with blood and energy - perfect if your room is in need of an energy boost, or stir up some warm feelings in that special someone!

Suggestion - Roses or the Clare Florist Tropical Red Anthuriums

or for a slightly darker shade of red:  Black Cala (which are in reality not black but more a dark maroon - still lovely though)

Yellow - Wake up to some sunny yellow flowers for an injection of optimism and alertness. Eye catching and memory stimulating, yellow flowers not only look delicious and brighten up any gloomy rooms, they also do wonders for those who would rather be more decisive.

Suggestions: Sunflowers, Mango Cala, Yellow lilies

Orange - For those with hay fever or dust allergies, befriend the Orange flowers! Orange is said to improve immune and digestive systems, with the psychological effect of making us cheerful and more warm-hearted. 

Suggestion: orange roses and gerbera

Blue - Calming and non threatening, blue flowers are particularly good for those in need of some relaxation and a good night sleep. It's said to suppress appetites though..so perhaps not the best flowers to put in the kitchen!

Suggestion: blue collection

Green - Another relaxing colour..green flowers are not only great for getting rid of stress, they also aid concentration - making them ideal for study rooms or offices.

Suggestions: anthurium, lime bouquet

For all the colours why not have a look at our Colour Collections range of flowers.

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.

Following on from my last post on edible flowers (thank you for the correction), here is some information  on the specific medicinal uses of various flowers.

Some of these are consumed in the form of flower tea or in essence form, whilst others are applied externally.

More information on flower and plants as skin treatment (including some recipes) can be found here or for more detail on the medicinal uses of wild flowers - here.

This entry and the Clareflorist page prepared by Tracy,  posted by Bob

After recently receiving some customer requests we have increased the range of message cards available for delivery with beautiful fresh summer flowers in the UK from Clare Florist.

Onto these cards we print the customers personalised message and it is then delivered with the flowers.

The range has been increased by adding some relating to the birth of baby girls and boys, more flower images, balloons and so forth.

Why not send some flowers now and see the complete range !

Clare Florist have recently introduced an additional new service for our online clients.

Once you have chosen your beautiful bouquet of flowers to be delivered.

You can then further personalise them by  choosing from a range of cards onto which you add your own message - exactly as you desire.

The process is secure and very simple to use :-
Choose the bouquet of flowers and the date you wish them to be delivered.

Fill in the recipients address, type your personalised message ready to go on the card.
Choose card style from those present as default or from a larger range.

Click Next Page

The "Place your order" page displayed - summarising your order - click Checkout to proceed.

Full details of your order will then be displayed along with a payment form for use with your credit or debit card details. When this has been filled in click the "Make Payment Now" button.

Your flowers will be then be delivered with no fuss by Clare Florist - the florist you can trust.