Many of my fondest memories as a child with my mother and grandmother took place out of the window of a small, slowly creeping car as we drove by fields, stones, and structures of personal significance to the two older ladies. Few moments were as special as the first time we, along with my younger sister, stopped on the side of the road for our first view of the magnificent spring blooms. At that moment, neither my sister Shannon nor I could pronounce the name Narcissus for the beautiful daffodils (jonquils) lining the road ways. Neither did we know of the many stories that shroud these gentle blooms with popularity. (more…)

Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick’s Day.  Tracey, Flower Shop Network receptionist, had a wonderful day yesterday.  She received these wonderful flowers.

  The flowers weren’t green, but St Patrick’s Day was still celebrated with the green bow.  The offer still stands - send me a photo of your St. Patrick’s Day flower arrangement and I’ll post it on the blog.

Once I was selected by the Nielsen rating group to log my TV habits. When they got my logbook I’m sure they thought – we have some weird weather fetish person here. Most of my entries included the weather channel. When you have a nursery and landscaping business, weather is your friend and enemy, knowing what the weather is doing 24hours a day is very important. We have the weather channel on all day long at the nursery; before we had cable at the nursery my father-in-law would call us every few hours with a weather update. So when I saw the report about the snow in the Northeast, I could really relate to the people in the story. One man in Smithfield, Rhode Island was concerned about his pine trees bending under the weight of the snow – we have to worry about the weight of snow

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Jenny’s (Oak Hill Florist in Scarborough, Maine) “Thoughts of Valentine’s Day” post on Monday was interesting. First, it proves what I always thought: Florists never rest - they are constantly trying to make the next holiday or flower arrangement better for us. Second, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and the earlier we prepare for it, the better it will be for us and our special someone.

Jenny had a good point when she said “… men – you don’t have to buy roses for Valentine’s Day.” Roses maybe the Valentine’s Day flower and considered the flower of

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Although autumn didn’t officially begin until Sunday September 23rd, last Saturday I attended an autumn wedding. I was told, the date was selected because the Farmer’s Almanac said it would be a nice fall day (meaning it would be cool). Evidently someone forgot to tell Mother Nature; because Saturday in Paragould Arkansas was hot and this autumn wedding was held outside under a tent. Luckily a light breeze began during the ceremony.

Despite the warm temperatures this wedding was the ultimate autumn experience. A beautiful sheer moss green ribbon hung between stakes lining the pathway to the tent.

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Ask the expert:

I just had the quick question if I would be able to have cali lillies (sorry, not sure the exact spelling) in September.