Past Newsletters

Vol 4 No 1

Special From New Zealand

From the Pacific Northwest to New England, Endless Flowers wishes you and yours a healthy and prosperous New Year! And this month's bouquet, a tribute to sophisticated beauty, vibrant colors, breakthrough hybrids, and fortitude, is fitting way to begin your 2003 membership to our Fresh Cut Flower of the Month Club.

Treasure Calle Lilies are, simply put, wonderful cut flowers. With just a handful of these beauties, you can make wonderful arrangements. These South African natives have rolled, flaring leaves (spathes), about four to six inches long. The spadix, which is the plant's male flower, extends from the center of the spathe and resembles a pencil. Their leaves, which can grow to about eight inches long to five inches wide, are similar in shape to arrowheads. There are different varieties with varying shades of color, including white, pink, and even black flowers. We've paired them with Geraldton Wax flowers, Alstroemeria, Vryon Mums and Lemon Leaf to assemble a bouquet that is both elegant and bursting with color!

Calla Lilies make great houseplants if a sunny window is available, although they may need a little protection from the midday sun. They do best in night temperatures of 50° to 65° and day temperatures of 68° or higher.

Outdoors, Calla Lilies look majestic in mass plantings or in clumps, like some ancient foliage you would expect to find in Cleopatra's gardens. In fact they look lush even without their flowers, so you don't have to feel guilty when you cut and arrange them!

Callas due well in areas that are too wet for other bulbs, as long as the soil is well drained. Their flowers open widest in full sun, but will tolerate some shade. They will bloom year round (peak times around spring and summer), providing you with dramatic, graceful and chic arrangements.

Please make sure no one eats any part of this plant or flower it's highly toxic.

Geraldton Wax
Australia's Most Famous Wildflower

Although the adaptable Waxflower is broadly used as a cut flower in Australia and overseas, it's a recent stable for American florists. It was first used as a cut flower in Australia and Israel, which are the two leading exporters of this flower.

Each one of the small waxy petals includes many gorgeous colors and hues. Because of the flowers' intricate construction, dusky centers, and the various ways the blossoms look as they very slowly open, each cluster has its own personality. Most varietals of Geraldton Waxflowers will last for well over a week.

The needle-like leaves (they look similar to rosemary) are ever so softly scented just bend a few to release the delicate bouquet. Waxflowers can be used to complement the main attraction in an arrangement, or simply enjoyed on their own. The colors of the varietals vary from pure white and pale pink, variegated white and pink, through to dark purple. The flowers are cut from a medium to large shrub, typically 6 to 9 feet high.

Waxflowers can be used to complement the main attraction as they do in this month's featured bouquet, or simply enjoyed on their own. They bloom in late winter and may last well into summer. Waxflowers can last for several weeks under the right conditions.

Vyron Mums Steal the Show!

The Vyron is a small yellow "daisy mum" about 2 inches across, with a dark brown heart. This flower is distinctive and quite unique for many reasons. First of all, it's the only dark centered Chrysanthemum that has ever been developed. Your friends will want to touch these flowers to see if they are real… even next week! Vyrons continue to thrive and add empirical beauty an exceptionally long time after they have been harvested.

Vyrons don't feel like a normal flower, you can crush them with your fingers and they remain steadfast and determined to resume their inherent shape. They're powerfully built taking their strength in part from a wax like texture… even their leaves feel as though they have been polished and buffed.

Pull out a couple of petals and you will see that much of that brawny vitality is a product of geometry. Each petal curls inward forming a cone at the base, but what is really interesting is the corrugation in the center of the petal! Mother Nature, you did it again… another work of art!

These daisy mums can be a great bouquet all by themselves or you can mix them with just about any other flower. And their colors area perfect "pick me up" for this time of year… A summer, sun-shining feeling, when a big part of our country is freezing, snowing, and raining… and could use something bright and cheerful!

South America Splendor

Shaped like a horn of plenty, the Alstroemeria (pronounced alstro-MARY-ah) is a graceful flower that originates in South America. The flower, sometimes called Ulster Mary, or Peruvian lily, is named after Klas von Alstroemer, a pupil of the great botanical classifier Linnaeus who went to South America for extensive study of this species.

This breed of flower is rather new and was considered quite unusual four or five years ago, however, international interest in this bloom grows every year because of its easy cultivation, unique beauty and lasting vase life.

Grown natively in Chile and Brazil, this flower is a beautiful component of our bouquet with a medium-sized bloom and delicate anthers. It opens up showing off its multicolored velvet petals reminiscent of a spotted leopard. The main stems of these cut flowers are 2 to 3 feet long and branch into four to six short pedicels - each holding two to four flower buds giving it a clustered look and making it a perfect complement to larger flowers.

You Can Eat Lemon Leaf, But Calle Lilies are Poisonous!

Whether you call it Lemon Leaf or Salal, so much in the Pacific Northwest depends on this leafy plant, yet few people ever notice its prevalence. In recent years, this plant has become a staple of florist shops across North America because its leathery, glossy dark green leaves go so well with long-stemmed roses and other florist bouquets.

Today, families can purchase houses and cars from wages earned gathering the foliage for florists. Historically, the leaves were eaten raw to suppress hunger, heartburn, or diarrhea - native peoples have feasted upon its berries for centuries. The reddish-blue to blackish berries may be eaten raw or cooked, and they taste somewhat like a blueberry. In fact, Salalberry jams and wines are quite popular in the Pacific Northwest and of course the deer and elk continue to thrive on its leaves.

This evergreen with spoon shaped leaves, flowers in late May or early June, and produces berries in autumn. Lemon Leaf loves moist forests throughout the northern coast mountain ranges - from southern California to northern British Columbia. It grows well in acidic soil, such as a redwood forest, and once it takes hold, it sets roots deeply into the soil.

The shrub usually stands less than 4 feet tall (2-3 feet in full sun, but 5-10 feet in shade), and often grows in clumps. As you can see, the leaves are alternate, evergreen, and the leaf margins are minutely serrated or "saw-toothed." The flowers are tiny candy pink urn-shaped flowers that hang along reddish or salmon-colored racemes. They turn paler, almost white as they age.

Salal (Gaultheria shallon) is a member of the Ericaceae family, along with the familiar heathers. It's related to wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) and creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula).

How the Pros Cut Flowers

Flowers and foliage are always cut in a cool part of the day early morning, late afternoon, or in the evening. If you must cut material during the day, be sure to shade it immediately.

Avoid undue delays between picking and cooling. Plant material should be cooled as soon as possible after harvest to minimize deterioration. Cooling does this by reducing respiration rates, water loss, ethylene production, and Microbial development. For example, cooling Geraldton Waxflowers from 20 to 10ºC reduces the respiration rate by about 71 per cent. Further cooling from 10 to 0ºC reduces the respiration rate by an additional 77 per cent! So if you have room for your arrangements in your refrigerator, they might like to take a nap from time to time.

Choose the Right Container

Your bouquets and flower arrangements can be shown off in many different types of vases and containers. Here are some great considerations when choosing the perfect container!

Get Creative! The possibilities are endless - from an antique teapot or brass urn, to an elegant crystal vase, or a simple glass jar. But avoid containers made of steel or iron. Make sure your ingenious container is leak proof, and has a neck and water reservoir large enough for the flowers to fit comfortably. Your flowers will be very thirsty after their trip.

For some flower arrangements you may also want to use a brick of floral foam -a substance that, when saturated, holds flowers in place. Be sure to soak the foam in water containing a floral food solution. Let the foam absorb water at its own rate. Cut it to fit the shape of the container, leaving enough space for reserve water. Floral foam cuts easier when wet.

If the flowers don't stand up straight, it could be that the vase is too short or too wide for the flowers. A good rule of thumb is the height of the vase should always be at least half to one-third as tall as the flowers. Try building a grid across the top of the vase with clear or floral tape. Then place flowers within the grid.

You can also create a grid by placing your greens and other supporting members of the cast in the vase first. Then fill in between the stems and branches with your leading ladies.

If you've cut your flowers too short, don't worry - just add pebbles or marbles to the bottom of the vase. And simply float the head of a broken flower with a few greens in a clear bowl for a charming bedside or bath display.

To avoid "spill over" when watering the flowers, use a kitchen bulb-type baster to reach into narrow vases and full arrangements.