If you live in Las Vegas Nevada, you don’t have to put on your swim trunks to visit An Octopus’s Garden. Cathy Labrum, head of accounting for Flower Shop Network, recently sent flowers from this trusted Las Vegas florist. Not surprisingly, the results were amazing.

Cathy’s only instructions were “designers choice—make it something unique”. That was all it took for the florist at An Octopus’s Garden. They delivered the birthday flower arrangement to Cathy’s longtime friend, June, and were greeted with a surprised smile. Surprised, yes, because she was not expecting the flowers. Surprised too because of the beautiful, contemporary design of the arrangement.

See? You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you leave the design to the florists. Opting for “designer’s choice” is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow without having to chase the colors from end to end. It’s like saying “I need money” to a bank teller and watching them cart out piles of money. Saying “designer’s choice” to a florist, especially florists at An Octopus’s Garden, is like watching brilliance fall from the sky and land in the vase. The artistry and expertise of florists and floral designers is a reassurance you can trust. When you let the experts decide, the best awaits.

Much like Cathy’s experience with An Octopus’s Garden in Las Vegas, leaving the art to the artists will result in a masterpiece of flowers.

Want a designer’s choice arrangement from your local florist? Use FlowerShopNetwork.com to contact your local flower shop today.

90th Birthday Flowers by Flowers Plus

Congratulations to Joel at Flowers Plus, a Charlotte NC florist, for winning this week’s Flower Shop Network Facebook photo contest of the week!

It’s a team effort for sure over at Flowers Plus. Johnny Fann submitted a photo of Joel’s design and then called on all of his friends (and a few of ours) to vote for the photo. Together, the votes tallied very high for Joel’s winning arrangement. We’re very happy for everyone at Flowers Plus because they work hard to please everyone they meet. Customers, coworkers, other florists, other people…everyone. They deserve a nod and now they have an award to go with it.

Neat story–my birthday was the 23rd of October. Joel’s birthday was the 24th. Here’s a happy belated birthday present, Joel.

Want to get in on the action? Join the photo contest by submitting your photo to the Flower Shop Network Facebook page or adding it in a comment on this post. There’s always something fun happening when Flower Shop Network is around so come join us and see some really fantastic photos.

Get a look at this week’s other photo contest entries from other fans and local florists: (View all on the FSN Facebook page)

Ask The Expert: I read your article on Peace Lily  - (Spathiphyllum clevelandii) but didn’t see anything on how to propagate it.

Is it similar to a Hosta, (plantain )lily?

Thanks, JH

Plant Expert Reply:

Yes it is basically the same process.  You create new peace lily plants by dividing them. Propagate by removing the peace lily from it’s container; then take a sharp knife and cut the plant from the roots to the top of the plant - this will ensure that each plants has an ample amount of roots. Take the divide pieces and follow the re-potting instructions.  The new container will need to be same size as original container.

Peace Lily Re-potting Instructions

Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) should be re-potted when the root growth has overfilled the container. Use a humus rich potting soil to repot the peace lily. To help the roots to retain soil and prevent the root tearing, re-pot the plant when the soil is somewhat moist. For determining pot size follow this rule of thumb; use a pot that is 1½ times the size of the previous pot. When placing the peace lily in it’s new pot, keep the plant level the same as it was in the old pot (fill the pot so that the top of the root-ball is at the same level as before). After re-potting, water slightly to remove any air bubbles that might have occurred and wait a couple of weeks before fertilizing.

Want a unique gift? Don’t forget about birth month flowers. November is a festive month full of enjoyable fall weather and holidays. To play this up when giving a birthday gift try sending the November birth month flowers instead. And the November birth month flower is…

The mighty Chrysanthemum!

Buy Chrysanthemums From A Local Florist

I’ve found that everything sounds better with a little grandeur or fanfare added. Add a dose of that to the enclosure card message and you have the best birthday gift you’ve ever given. Birth month flowers are unique and quirky which is perfect for the unique and quirky person you love!

Remember last year’s story about the November birth month flower? I can barely remember yesterday so here’s a recap. My grandfather’s birthday is exactly one month after mine. November 23rd rolls around each year and I struggle to find a gift for him now that he’s in his “80 somethings”.

80 years of birthday gifts is hard to top but last year my brother and sister joined me in creating a festive fall display for his new city home to make him feel more at ease. He’d farmed for over 70 years so the natural touch just outside the door made him perk up a lot. This year, we’re repeating the decorations in a different design and including chrysanthemums. The choice of flowers and plants is irrelevant to him but it makes us feel better for giving a truly unique gift. He’s just happy to have our outward affection.

Know someone like that? Whether sending a birthday gift to someone like my grandpa or to someone who requires fancy and unique gifts, chrysanthemum’s the word for November. Don’t forget to let us know how it turned out!

Want to send chrysanthemums this November? Flower Shop Network makes it easy to buy chrysanthemums from your local florist.

How do you fill your Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings? If you’re like the fun florists at Helena Florist in Helena Alabama, you spend your evenings laughing and talking, drinking and learning, sipping and snipping. That’s the idea behind their “Sips and Snips” classes which teach you how floral design techniques that you practice during the class on an arrangement that you get to take home. How cool is that?

Sips & Snips Design Class Photos by Helena Florist

Flower Shop Network recently detailed some ways to hit home with DIY (do it yourself) customers. Helena Florist has found a fun way to make everyone see how magical and charming the world of flowers is. With the “Sips and Snips” classes, you simply bring in your favorite beverage and spend a few hours playing with flowers.

This is something that DIY-ers should rush to (and do by the droves in Helena AL). You’re not just throwing something together willy nilly. You’re not stuck at home reading a book on floral design, lost as a goose while figuring out which flower goes where and how to make it look better. At “Sips and Snips” classes you are actually being taught how to design flower arrangements yourself. Plus, you get to KEEP what you create!

Now I’ve seen a lot of great ideas. I’ve sat through hundreds of hours of classes on a range of subjects. I’ve watched florists bloom and I’ve felt a tiny hearbreak as some have wilted. What I haven’t seen as often–something Helena Florist has mastered beautifully–is the art of involvement. True. Personable. Involvement.

You can spin words to say whatever you want. Catchy phrases and quirky gimmicks become dated quickly. What sticks around and forms lasting impressions is knowledge that comes with a smile. When Helena Florist opens their doors for a “Sips and Snips” class, they greet their friends with a smile.

These guests aren’t just customers or students. They are friends who share an interest and benefit from the expertise of the florists. They’ll forever commit to memory what they’ve experienced at Helena Florist even if they can’t always remember the difference between a Flemish and an English Garden bouquet. It’s the smiles that draw them in, the sips that wet their appetites for learning, and the snips next to a smiling teacher that stick around forever.

Want to win free blood red roses? Find the official contest rules below. Before we get to that, here are some tips for how to use your Halloween flowers to vamp up your night!

Ever heard of Twilight, True Blood, or The Vampire Diaries? Ever read Dracula or The Vampire Chronicles? Welcome to the current world of pop culture, my friend.

These iconic series, books and movies are sweeping all generations and creating a bloodthirsty craving for all things vampire. This Halloween, you can guarantee that at least one person on your block is throwing a vampire halloween party. If that person is you, here are some flower decorating tips that will really vamp up your halloween decorations.

First, remember that most dark colored flowers need to be special ordered by your florist. But hey, knowing that someone else is taking care of that planning tip will ease your mind and free up time for the other details. When talking with your local florist about which flowers to order, consider these:

• Peppermint Carnations mimic the flower on the cover of the New Moon book (Twilight Saga book two)
• Chocolate anthurium are perfect inside a werewolf flower arrangement (Twilight Saga)
• Chocolate cosmos, a favorite fall flower, also accent werewolf colored arrangements (Twilight Saga)
• Taboo or Black Beauty roses along with red roses give a black and red theme to Vampire flower arrangements
• Twisted willow is just creepy enough to be perfect for Vampire or Werewolf inspired flower arrangements
• Oak leaves are readily accessible foliage that look awesome beneath punch bowls filled with blood red brew

Next, think about the characters that your party will focus on. Are you throwing a True Blood party? Think Southern with an edge of vampire. Throwing a Twilight party? Romance is the name of the game so play up the rivalry between vampire and werewolf. Half of the room can be Vampire inspired (fun to say) while the other half howls werewolf. If you’re jamming at an 18th century vampire party, get a little scary and pick flowers that lend to your spooky ambiance.

Buy Blood Red Roses In A Red or Black Vase

Twilight party flowers don’t have to be dark and scary. Bella says that blood smells like rust and salt. Try a rust colored arrangement like Autumn Vibrance. Bella is also from Phoenix. She’d love the Phoenix Flame flower arrangement at a party inspired by her. Unique containers make the flowers look great so red or black vases with dark roses or other flowers will light up the night. Think of the Richly Rosey bouquet when picking flowers for the Cullen family.

Also for Twilight party flowers, remember that the werewolves in the books were different colors. You have russet brown, almost silver and several other colors. Playing to the werewolf side will give you a lot of creative leeway with the color of flowers you choose.

If you’re throwing a True Blood party and need flowers, pick flowers with scary names. Your local florist can tell you which are in season, in stock, need to be specially ordered and which have names that make your blood run cold. Since True Blood is more “adult” than Twilight, pick flowers that perk your adult “spidey senses”.

And yes, there is another series on television called The Vampire Diaries. Bram Stoker’s Dracula books have been around for generations. With the blood lust in full effect, you can walk into any bookstore and find a vampire story that will get your party planning mind in gear. Take those ideas to your local florist and watch the magic happen on the spookiest, creepiest night of the year.

OFFICIAL TWITTER CONTEST RULES:

That’s right. Flower Shop Network is GIVING AWAY FREE BLOOD RED ROSES to one lucky person. Luck has less to do with it though. All you have to do to enter is retweet this post with the hashtag #FSNBRR. That’s it! Just retween this post by midnight Thursday, October 29th and you will be eligible to win your choice of free blood red roses or another Halloween flowers bouquet from a local FSN member florist for delivery in the USA or Canada (valued up to $50). Wanna play? Get tweeting.

I have to admit that I’m pretty much addicted to the new Flower Shop Network Flower Dictionary. It’s awesome! It accompanies the FSN flower meanings page but enhances it. For people like me that want to know something quirky or trivial about everything, it’s the cat’s meow.

For starters, I love flower meanings. I know several of them by heart and can prattle them off to my friends. Whether they’re listening or not, they’ll remember the conversation when I send them flowers and put the meaning in the enclosure card message. It’s fun to be the sender of a unique gift. Matching flower meanings to an arrangement? Well, that’s cupid’s arrow shot straight to the heart of quirk-lovers like me.

We all know how Generation Y loves to be unique. As it was mentioned to me yesterday, “your generation loves to be heard.” We do. I have to agree. We also love stuff that stands out from the crowd. How can you be heard if your message sounds the same as everyone else’s? Ya can’t. So, flower meanings are a win-win because you get to send a traditional gift of flowers which everyone loves plus the added benefit of making it unique. Ta-da!

Here are a few of my favorite flower meanings to get you started:

• Ambrosia — “your love is reciprocated”
• Bouvardia — “enthusiasm”
• Mini Carnation — “pure love, my heart yearns for you”
• Orange Rose — “fascination”
• Red Rose –”love, I love you”

There are tons more on the FSN flower meanings page so check it out and see if any stand out to you. Florists–feel free to print these off and put them with your FSN Selection Guide. Watch what the unique twist will do when Generation Y visits your store.

To send flowers with special flower meanings, use Flower Shop Network to contact your local florist.

Ask The Expert: What color is an American Beauty Rose.  Valeria.

Flower Expert Reply:

This seems like a very simple question to answer. However, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the color and actual heritage of this rose.  The foundation for this confusion may be a result of a 1999 movie - American Beauty.  In the movie, a dark red rose is used thus creating a connection between dark red roses and the term American Beauty.

The history, color and origin of this rose is surrounded by controversy. The original American Beauty rose is said to be a rich deep pink, long-stemmed rose with intense fragrance. It has been said that the original rose came from a nursery in Baltimore MD and was planted in a Washington DC garden in the 19th century. A well-known Washington DC florist then took cuttings from this plant propagating a large number of plants which he forced to blooms. This florist then sold the long stem roses under the name American Beauty. Many rose experts claim that the American Beauty is actually a French rose called Mme. Ferdinand Jarmin, a French rose.

Since confusion and controversy surround this rose, some red roses maybe sold as American Beauty roses or called Red American Beauty roses.

Hopefully one of our readers will have more information about this rose.

"Whimsical Flowers" Bouquet--The Perfect Scorpio Birthday Gift

By this point everyone who has spoken to a Generation Y-er knows how quirky and unique we love our life to be. We want special. We want different. We want stand out appeal. That’s why so many of us love zodiac flowers.

I’m not a Scorpio but I’m on the cusp so I can understand why Scorpios would love their zodiac flowers. These include gerbera daisies, marigold, and sunflower. What do these beautiful blooms mean? I’m not an astrologer but I do know that anyone into astrology will love astrological flowers. Seems like an easy connection, right?

It’s not surprising that people like me fall into two categories. I’m a Libra at heart and in most publications but often I’m labeled a Scorpio. If you know someone into astrology and the zodiac but can’t figure out which one they fall into, try something special like this. I mentioned it briefly in last year’s post about Scorpio zodiac flowers. It was fun then and it’s twice as fun now.

The solution as I see it is to send a flower arrangement whose flowers denote certain astrological signs and time of the year. This is a very creative way to show someone how special they really are. For people like myself it is an unexpected treat. The zany mixture of flowers such as dahlias, gardenias, tea roses, gladiolus, and orchids (Libra) with the beautiful blooms of gerbera daisies, marigold, and sunflowers (Scorpio) provide a very quirky and colorful present for fall birthdays.

See? It’s simple to send a fun birthday gift to a Scorpio or a Libra (or both). Just call up your local florist and ask for an arrangement that includes some dahlias, gardenias, tea roses, gladiolus or orchids for a Libra. If you’re hunting for flowers for a Scorpio, ask your local florist for a bouquet including gerbera daisies, marigold, or sunflowers. Zodiac flowers are a fantastic gift for someone on the paranormal edge of awesome.

Want to send birthday flowers to a Scorpio? Use Flower Shop Network to contact your local florist today.

Flowers aren’t typically frightening sights for sore eyes but they are a tried and true gift. That’s right. Even Halloween is touched by the boo-tiful grace of flowers. If you’re heading to a Halloween party this year, remember to take flowers along for the host or hostess. You can jazz up Halloween flowers to match everything from a haunted house theme to an informal dinner party for adults. It’s all in the flowers.

Most of us are in a rush and don’t have time to head to the store just to buy a hostess gift. Florists make giving Halloween flowers easy. There are a few ways that florists can help. First, you can have a spooky arrangement sent to your home and pick it up on the way to the party. You could also have the arrangement sent to your friend’s house and spare yourself a trip. Another suggestion is to call in the order the day before the party and ask your florist to have it ready at a certain time the next day. Just drop in, pick it up, and Bob’s your uncle. Halloween flowers in a hurry.

Here are some suggestions of what you can find from a local florist:

The “Boo!” flower basket is a fun way to get a ghoulish night started. Ghosts and goblins are Halloween staples so make sure they’re part of your Halloween flowers.

Need something for an adult party? Go with “Awe-Inspiring Autumn” which has color, movement and beauty all in a fall flowers arrangement.

Oh what a “Tangled Web” flower basket we weave when first we practice giving Halloween flowers. Even though I butchered the quote, butchering works around Halloween. So does the “Tangled Web” flower basket.

Scared of spiders? Is your host/hostess? You may get the first scream of the night when you give the “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” Halloween flowers arrangement. I shiver just thinking about it.

Some less frightening but definitely spooky Halloween flowers are the ones found in the “Jack O’Lantern Tree”. Mini pumpkins carved with crooked smiles and sin-shaped eyes are an easy addition to fall arrangements. Just don’t stare into their eyes for very long. They hate that.

Want more fun hostess gift ideas? Contact your local florist today.