Home Shop Flowers Bloomin' Blog Find Florists About FSN Contact FSN Florists Only!
Find Your Local Florist:
Home Shop Flowers Bloomin' Blog Find Florists About FSN Contact FSN Florists Only!

Help! My Polyscias House Plant Won’t Stop Rotting

Ask The Plant Expert:

Hi.
I had a Polyscias for three years, and it’s the most important plant in my home. Six month ago it started to lost some of the leaves began to lose some limbs. When I realized everything had fallen trunk with no branches and the trunk was soft and smelled of alcohol. I cleaned and put sulfur, waited for it to dry and then sealed with beeswax. However it was not good, because the rot has continued to rise. Now I’ve cut to see if I can save what remains of plant and I found this (pictured below). I do not know what to do, if you cut the remaining logs to try to save them or what. I would greatly appreciate your advice, I’m pretty desperate as it is a very beautiful plant, and the rest of the logs seem to be ok, but it also smells like alcohol. Thanks in advance for your attention. – Marina

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply:

Yes, it is best to remove any soft decaying tissue completely from the plant. The smell of alcohol indicates the wood has soured, likely because of oxygen deprivation. This causes anaerobic activity, which creates a build-up of acetic acid. From your photos, it doesn’t look like there is any mulch, but often the soured wood is due to too-much mulch piled up around the base. Be sure not to do this; spread mulch thinly around the base and always allow it to dry between waterings.

If no mulch was used, it could be an over-watering problem. Hold back on watering your plant until the soil is dry to the touch. It may take a while to air out, but smell should go away.

If all else fails, Polyscias is a very easy plant to propagate from cuttings. Simply take a stem of your plant and place it in water. To ensure rooting, apply a rooting hormone easily found at your local garden center.

That is my best guess, but perhaps our readers will have more suggestions.

Treat-Yourself Tuesday — Because You Deserve It

Treat-Yourself Tuesday

This weekend was such a BUSY shopping weekend — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday. Well, we decided today is Treat-Yourself Tuesday. Why not pamper yourself with all the money you SAVED over the weekend? Ever girl loves flowers; start your day of pampering by having flowers delivered to your home or office. It only takes about 5 minutes to order (remember local, local, local!), and your whole week will be enhanced by the beautiful flowers and lovely fragrances. Your florist will take care of everything and deliver them right to your door! (Santa better look out!)

If you shopped as much as I did, I know you need a pick-me-up this week, and fresh flowers are just the ticket! Some might hesitate at buying flowers for yourself, but why not? Forget red roses, you can choose a style that is all your own with your favorite colors and flowers. You might be surprised just how many beautiful types of floral designs are out there. Tell your florist about your favorite things, and let them create a custom arrangement just for you.

Flowers make your day better, but don’t stop there! Continue Treat-Yourself Tuesday with a nice hot bath, your favorite teas or wines, a good book. You’ve spent all weekend thinking about gifts for others, make this Tuesday all about YOU.

Flower Shop Network is an advocate for real local flower shops. To find your local florist, click here.

Shop Local This Holiday Season With Help From A Local Florist

Shop Local This Holiday Season

There’s been a real buzz this year about shopping LOCAL, and we couldn’t be happier! (In case you’re new to the blog: Flower Shop Network is a network of ALL local florists.) We just want to remind you of all the wonderful things florists have to offer during the holidays.

  • Holiday Centerpieces – Take your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner to the next level with a beautiful holiday centerpiece.
  • Holiday Wreaths – No matter what your Christmas style is, your local florist can create something stunning to match your theme, most florists offer real OR silk flowers.
  • Holiday Decorating – Need a hand to help with holiday decorating? Your creative florist will have lots of fabulous ideas for making your house a holiday dream home.
  • Gift Items – Many florists carry more than flowers in their shops. You can find some really unique and amazing gift items for those hard-to-buy-for people on your Christmas list.
  • Gift Baskets – A gift basket is also a great idea for those on your list who have EVERYTHING! Your florist can customize your gift basket to match your friend’s personality and interests.
  • Long-Distance Gifts – Your local florist makes sending gifts to far away relatives incredibly EASY! They have the ability to send flowers and/or gift baskets to other local florists anywhere you need!
  • Christmas Tree Decorating – Want your tree to have the WOW-factor of trees you see in displays? Whether it’s one tree or a Christmas tree in every room, your local florist can HELP!
  • Holiday Flowers – We can’t NOT mention simply flowers. During the winter, the warmth of holiday flowers make our hearts happy. When you’ve got the winter blues, or just want to liven up a room, order flowers for yourself! You can also send flowers to friends to put them in the holiday spirit.

These are just SOME of the great things your local florist can help you with during the holidays. I’m sure the florist in your area can do even more! Give them a call and see just what’s possible for your holiday celebrations.

[Read more…]

Photo Pocket Square Trend: Keep Her Next To Your Heart

You might have caught our post on trendy Pocket Squares a while back. Well, Libby’s Flowers, Gifts & More in Elberton, GA has taken it to a whole new level. We love this idea and had to share with you all!

Photo Pocket Square For Wedding

As you can see, the florist carefully attached a photo of the groom’s sweetheart to the pocket square insert. This would then be placed in the tuxedo pocket, and although you cannot see the picture when it is in place, the groom will always remember he has her next to his heart.

[Read more…]

Thanksgiving At FSN!

The amazing FSN Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving From FSN

Today was the annual Thanksgiving celebration at FSN headquarters. If you’ve been following our blog long, you know we love any excuse to bring food to work and Thanksgiving is the biggest homemade lunch day of the year! Today we filled 3 tables with homemade food and a whole bookshelf of desserts! It doesn’t get any better than that!

We hope you have an wonderful Thanksgiving Day too! I’m off to get another no-bake cookie…

[Read more…]

Anthuriums & Succulents In New Colors To Dye For

Something Old, Something New…

While going through my emails, I found something NEW I just had to share! In GrowerTalks‘ newsletter, they talk about a European company that has developed a way to dye Anthuriums blue, much like the way they dye the new Blue Mystique orchids. It’s a complicated process, but the results are phenomenal!

Blue Anthurium

The Blue Anthurium

As you can see, the blue is bright and vivid. This new, blue anthurium is called Princess Alexia Blue and is from the Dutch company, Rijnplant. They also offer a yellow one called Princess Alexia Yellow. From their website (and after translating) Rijnplant explains, “The plant is as naturally painted as possible, the dye leaves via root pressure and the assimilative capacity of the leaf.While I couldn’t find this for sale to florists YET, it’s definitely something to keep an eye out for.

EcheveriaColored Succulents

Another cool dyed product to look out for is the colorful new Echeverias. According to GrowerTalks’ newsletter, “One trend that’s been going on [in Europe] for years and continues strong is painting and glittering echeveria. They were everywhere, in every color. Big sellers? Heck, yeah!” [Read more…]

Congratulations Matt & Meghan!

8 Bit Wedding Shower - Congrats

Yes, another party, woo! This time we are celebrating the marriage of one of our programmers, Matt to his wonderful fiance Meghan. Because they are both avid video gamers, their wedding actually had a gaming, 8-bit theme. We tried to continue this with the wedding shower decorations with 8-bit hearts and fonts.

8-bit Hearts - Gamer Wedding Shower

You can see the hearts are kind of squared, this is what 8-bit means. Think of the graphics of Mario and old Nintendo games. What a neat idea for a themed party or wedding, and just perfect for Matt & Meghan.

So BIG congrats guys, from ALL of us at FSN!

[Read more…]

Thanksgiving Flowers – A Style For Everyone

An easy way to take your Thanksgiving decor to the next level is by incorporating harvest-themed flowers. The colors, fragrances, and beauty of the flowers can make any buffet table look like it was composed by Ms. Martha Stewart herself. Let’s take a look at the different styles available; try to imagine each of these on your holiday table.

Thanksgiving Cornucopia - Holiday Decor

The Cornucopia – Holiday Decor

How gorgeous is this beautiful cornucopia design above? Wouldn’t you love it adorning your holiday buffet table, or even as a centerpiece? It’s rustic fall leaves mixed with deep red flowers and orange mums are enough to dazzle any Thanksgiving guest.

The cornucopia (or horn of plenty) has an incredibly interesting history itself, dating back long before our current Thanksgiving holiday. The word ‘cornucopia’ actually dates back to the 5th century BC. It derives from two Latin words: “cornu,” meaning horn (as in the name of that one-horned creature, the “unicorn”) and “copia,” meaning plenty (a relative of such words as “copious” and “copy”). Read all about the history of the cornucopia (horn of plenty).

More Examples of Cornucopias:

 "Nature's Bounty" Cornucopia  "Harvest Horn of Plenty" Cornucopia  Bountiful Cornucopia

 


Thanksgiving Centerpiece

The Thanksgiving Centerpiece

You cannot go wrong with a beautifully designed centerpiece featuring flowers in all the colors of fall. A true feast is just not complete without the adornment of a beautiful, fall-colored centerpiece. [Read more…]

What Are The Names Of The Flowers In My Floral Arrangement?

Ask the Plant Expert:  

What is the name of this flower bought from a florist? The blossom has many many petals. – Earl

Flower Arrangement Identification

Flower Shop Network Plant Expert Reply: Earl,

The big pink flowers are Protea neriiflora.  The long bushy looking stems with flowers are Scotch Heather (Erica malathera). The large yellow flowers are Asiatic lilies, and the dark purple foliage-like flowers are leucadendron or safari sunset.

Do you need to know the name of anything else? Please let me know if you need more information about any of the flowers.

Here is a diagram to help identify your flower arrangement:

Flower Arrangement Identification

  [Read more…]

Setting Up Your New Google+ Business Page

Setting Up Google+ Plus for your Business

So, we all heard the buzz surrounding Google+ Plus when it came out a couple of months ago, however they weren’t allowing businesses to set up profiles back then. Well, as of this week, Google+ Business Pages can now be created. FSN is here to help you set up your own Google+ Business Page. Please read over this post carefully to make sure Google+ is right for you.

Advantages of Google+ (Plus) For Your Business

I know exactly what you’re thinking… “I have a Facebook Page, why on earth do I need a Google+ page too??”

To be honest… there aren’t a whole lot of reasons for florists to use this new social network, except for one big one: It’s Google. Google is by-far the main search engine people use when looking for something online. Listing your business information on Google+ very well could boost your rankings. There is currently no way to know for sure, but I could definitely see your Google profile and G+ Page being connected together in the future.

Remember: the key to social networking is being where your audience is; this is likely not Google+. While tons of people signed up for Google+ in the beginning, the activity level began sinking fast. With the addition of Business Pages, this may change, but for now Google+ is full of tumbleweeds.

Advice on Getting Started With Google+

  • My advice to you is to join Google+ as a user and see how many friends, family members and acquaintances add you to their circles. This will give you a good indication of how many people you know are using Google+.
  • Go ahead and set your business up on Google+ and see what sort of activity it generates.  This will also tell you how much time to invest in this new social network. That way if Google+ does end up taking off as a network, you’ve already got a jump start and claimed your business’ name. (And who knows, it just may help to elevate your rankings! *fingers crossed*)

Setting Up A Google+ (Plus) Business Page

Setting up your business page is actually pretty simple, just follow along with the images below. [Read more…]