Pollen Nation

Beetlemania provides hope for roses

John, Paul, George and Ringo aren’t the only Beatles with a reputation for mind-altering experiences, it seems. According to Science News (via The Free Library), Japanese Beetles are prone to tripping out, too… on geraniums.

Popillia japonica, a.k.a. the scourge of rose lovers the world over, have been shown to have a particular predilection for the narcotic properties of geranium petals. Apparently, the beetles ‘never learn’ and keep returning to get pickled on pelargoniums. This ain’t no summer of love, though: bugged out bugs tend to lay only half as many eggs as their buddies who weren’t given narcotic nourishment. Good news, then, for rose gardeners who believe that prevention is better than cure.

Unstoned roses: plant some geraniums nearby and your rose garden might stand a better chance against Japanese beetles

Tags: flowers, roses, Japanese beetles, geraniums

Not just desert roses in the Saudi sands

Forget about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the hand-built gardens of Saudi Arabia are about to become the newest floral wonder of the modern world.

An impressive 24 acres of land in the desert – five times the size of the Eden Project – is going to be transformed into an antediluvian botanical paradise, documenting the development of the plant world from over 400 million years ago to the modern day.

Roses are red, but sometimes they’re blue

One shudders to think of the rhymes our grandchildren will be writing in their Valentine’s cards if Peter van de Werken, owner of River Flowers®, becomes a full fathom force in the floristry world. Gone will be the days when it’s just violets that are blue…

By placing the stems of white flowers in a concoction of ‘natural substances’ that are ‘absorbed in a natural way’, van de Werken has transformed monochrome celosia, gerberas and roses into rainbow-hued blossoms. Happy Colors indeed, but we’re sure the floriographers would be turning in their graves – how to come up with connotations for all these new hues?

Tags: flowers, Happy Colors, floriography

Cops and roses

It's usually the cops who pick up the scent of criminals, but the tables will soon be turned in India when Gujarati police get new uniforms impregnated with the fragrance of flowers.

Tags: flowers, police, India

Romancing the stoner

Possibly  the most unromantic Valentine flower story ever... or, perhaps pretty cute if you consider that policemen don't usually drop around to people's houses dressed as delivery men with bow-tied flower boxes.

That's what a group of Colorado coppers did on Valentine's day -- not because they fancied the homeowner, but because that was the only way they could get the alleged drunken driver to open his door to them. 

Have a hotter tale to tell? Spill the blooms in our real-life romance competition and you could win a Serenata Flowers bouquet of your choice.

Petals proven to ease the pressure

Holidays? Yoga? A glass of wine? Oh, you’re so passé! When it comes to beating stress, flowers are the answer. No, really – it’s been proven by clinical researchers at Harvard Medical School:

“ … people feel less stressed and more compassionate toward others when they spend time in a floral environment.”

Colour Study bouquet from SerenataFlowers.com

Via Florist News

Tags: flowers, stress

Keeping your roses going all night long... and beyond

Water, lemonade, vodka... and Viagra. You can probably guess most people’s order of preference – but what about the preference of flowers? Some budding scientists have decided to find out for themselves.

Disbelievers can always revert to more traditional methods for keeping flowers fresher for longer.

Image from www.myscienceproject.org

Tags: flowers, viagra, care instructions

Flowers are Mel Gibson’s new lethal weapon

Following on from his alcohol-fuelled anti-Semitic tirade and sexist invective, Mel Gibson is reported to found a way to win over the cops – he’s said sorry in the time-honoured tradition of misbehaving men by sending the police officer he offended a bunch of flowers.

Perfect Pink – A small price to pay for a ticket out of the dog box and into the good books

We were unable to track down the details of the bouquet, although it’s rumoured to have cost $500. We reckon the Maverick actor could have faired equally well for less than half that price with our best-selling apology bouquet, Perfect Pink. Although, whose to say a little Tequila Sunrise wouldn’t also have done the trick?

Tags: flowers, Mel Gibson, apologies

Flower powers car design

Necessity is deemed to be the mother of invention, but it was Mother Nature who inspired Jonathan Punter, creator of Deadalus, a design that won The Royal College of Art’s Best Overall Concept Car award.

Daedelus concept car by Jonathan Punter.
Photo from Automotoportal.

On the RCA Summer Show 2006 website, Punter explains:

“Exploring biomimetric design principles, I aspire to create a socially responsive interior that functions in the way plants are environmentally responsive... intuitive, and positive.”

Via Automotoportal.

Tags: flowers, concept car, Deadalus, Jonathan Punter

Plant a virtual flower of hope

An everlasting garden where optimistic messages blossom into virtual flowers… or is it the other way around?

Made by flash maestro Paul Mayne, Hope Garden is not only beautiful, but useful:

“BSD Medical firmly believes people have the power to positively influence others. They’ve provided the garden as a way for those struggling with cancer, and their loved ones, to plant hope in others.”

A Rutgers study has already proved that flowers have an immediate positive impact on happiness, so combined with an encouraging message, the effects can only get better.

Tags: flowers, cancer, Hope Garden

The floral carpet of Brussels

Every second year since 1971, Brusselian flower lovers weave a magic carpet of begonias outside the city’s Grand-Place. Spanning 77 m x 24 m, this year’s floral floor covering was inspired by ‘the alchemy of the Middle Ages’.

Floral carpet of flowers by William Helsen

Fourteenth magnificent floral carpet
Grand-Place of Brussels
12-15 August 2006

Unlikely to make it there? Reading Cicily Corbett’s delightful first-hand account will more than make up for missing the spectacle.

Tags: flowers, floral carpet, Brussels, Tapis de Fleurs

Corpse flowers kick up a stink

Hello, this looks familiar. Is it a new product in Clark Sorensen’s flower urinal range?

Amorphophallus by Jef Poskanzer

Amorphophallus titanum, a.k.a the corpse flower, certainly looks like a work of art, but it most certainly doesn’t smell like one. In fact, its stench puts even the most rank of public ablution facilities to shame in the malodorous orders of merit.

Fortunately for those with sensitive noses, the blooming of the corpse flower is a rather infrequent occurrence – to the extent that such activities in Indonesia and the US have been making the headlines.

Tags: flowers, corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum

Get your business blooming

Start-ups hoping to avoid the crash and burn that comes from burning cash too freely in the heady first months have been offered some hot tips from publishing tycoon Felix Dennis.

Along with indispensible advice about overheads and underindulging, the entrepreneur suggested that ‘a vase of beautiful flowers in reception every week creates a better impression than £100,000 worth of fancy Italian furniture’. We couldn’t agree more.

Tags: flowers, business, Felix Dennis

Nature’s call

A fresh conundrum for art historians who have tired of debating whether Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made urinal ‘Fountain’ qualifies as art: do Clark Sorensen's floral artworks qualify as urinals?

Tags: flowers, urinals, Clark Sorensen

UK heatwave – not all the flowers are suffering

A new and rather undesirable floral trend has emerged across England this week. Petals are wilting, stems bending, leaves drooping – adding sweat to the already sweltering brows of flower lovers. But the heat hasn’t proved bad news for everyone…

The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew has reported the first flowering of Clematis zemuensis for over 25 years.

“It could be that conditions here now are as they would be in the Himalayas where this plant comes from”, said a spokesman.

Clematis zemuensis (Photograph by RBG Kew)

Since it’s rather unlikely any of your floral arrangements will be enjoying the weather as much as Clematis zemuensis is, try these simple tricks to keep your flowers fresh in the heat:

• Cut about 3cm off each flower stem at a 45-degree angle, using a very sharp knife – the angle increases water absorbing surface area and a clean slice ensures none of the waterways become blocked


• Change the water often – not only do flowers drink more in the hot weather, but bacteria breed far more quickly


• Keep the flowers out of direct sunlight – they’re just like us, really.

If you’re going to send flowers to someone in a hot place, try and pick sturdier, tropical varieties that are accustomed to hot climates. From the Serenata range, we recommend Curcuma Sensation, Twist and Shout  and Tropical Cascade for longevity. Lilies are also good at keeping their cool when it’s summer in the city.

Tags: flowers, clematis, heatwave

Insulin growers victorious with Carthamus tinctorius

The Globe and Mail reports that the Canadian company SemBioSys Genetics Inc has discovered a way of genetically modifying safflower plants to create commercial levels of human insulin.

“‘We believe that when we’re successful, people in the developing world, who otherwise wouldn’t get insulin because there isn’t enough supply or they can't afford it, will get it,’ said Andrew Baum, president and chief executive officer.”

There’s a lot of grumbling about GM, but it does appear to generate some beneficial results… or does it? When exactly is it acceptable to tamper with flower genes?

Tags: flowers, safflower, Carthamus tinctorius, insulin, GM

Fresher flowers, eh?

Phospholipase D might sound like the bastard son of an ancient Greek and a Bronx rapper, but the truth is far less pleasant. It’s the enzyme that breaks down the cell membranes of cut flowers and causes them to wilt.

Fortunately, some bright sparks at a Canadian university have found an antidote. Thanks to a plant molecule called hexanal, flower lovers can look forward to their roses lasting up to twice as long as usual – and blooming even more brightly.

Until you can get your hands on the new elixir, you can try some of these tips for keeping flowers fresher for longer.

Tags: flowers, care instructions, hexanal, Canada

Flower shoot-'em-up for stand-up comedy

They help reduce workplace stress and have been known to induce giant grins, if not quite uproarious laughter.

As such, the humble flower has earned itself celebrity status in the promotional materials for this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Although, perhaps the joke’s on them after all – as you have to blast as many blossoms as possible in this highly addictive Crazy Flower game.

Tags: flowers, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Flower proves a vital clue in art forgery

Art authorities have long considered the passion flower in Joos van Cleve’s famous Madonna and Child painting to be of integral significance, reports Florida Wildflowers.

But flower enthusiast Michael E. Abrams discovered that drawings of the passion flower only appeared in Europe 70 years after van Cleve’s death, so unless the artists had exclusive knowledge of the blossom, it was added by someone else...

A passion flower by tanakawho

Tags: flowers, passion flower, van Cleve, art

Flower proves a vital clue in art forgery

Art authorities have long considered the passion flower in Joos van Cleve’s famous Madonna and Child painting to be of integral significance, reports Florida Wildflowers.

But flower enthusiast Michael E. Abrams discovered that drawings of the passion flower only appeared in Europe 70 years after van Cleve’s death, so unless the artists had exclusive knowledge of the blossom, it was added by someone else...

A passion flower by tanakawho

Tags: flowers, passion flower, van Cleve, art

Posting someone flower photos? Don’t forget to include the scent…

No matter how fast Old Time is a-flying, a new device from Japan makes it possible for you to gather rosebuds – or at least the scent of them – indefinitely.

“The new device, developed by scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, analyzes smells through 15 sensors, records the odour's recipe in digital format and then reproduces the scent by mixing 96 chemicals and vaporizing the result.”

Tags: flowers, odour recorder, Japan

Flowers: the new weapon of choice for saboteurs

A disgruntled property developer whose building work was interrupted after a species of endangered flower was found on site is crying foul play.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, clumps of protected Sebastopol meadowfoam were planted on the San Fransisco site by environmentally conscious objectors, although residents are denying any wrongdoing.

“It looked like a bad toupee,” said one botanist, who observed the small, white flowers – latin name Limnanthes vinculans – growing through clods of “alien” soil.

Tags: flowers, meadowfoam, sabotage

Man prickled by flowering cactus gift from another guy

Chris Ayres was a little perplexed the first time a man sent him flowers. Had the gift-giving gentleman overstepped the line of social acceptability, or did Chris just have a few issues? Unable to resolve the dilemma, Chris consulted the famed LA florist Eric Buterbaugh:

“For a man, I usually recommend an orchid,” he declared. “But a cactus is the same thing. It’s a plant, not a flower. And that’s important, because a plant is masculine. Men send plants to men every day in Hollywood. It’s just business.”

But is it just movie-star men from America who fancy flowers? Tell us your men and flowers tales…

Tags: men, flowers, cactus, orchid, florist, Eric Buterbaugh

How gardeny is your green policy?

Wind turbines need no longer be blots on the landscape, as proved by the florally-inspired Dutch designers who conceived of these energy-generating bouquets.

Photo and story from www.bright.nl

Tags: flowers, wind turbines, netherlands

Roses to combat smelly toes

Does your dream date suffer from bromhidrosis (that’s stinky sweat to you and me)?

If your answer is yes, you’ll be pleased to hear that, from next Monday, you can smell your sweetheart through rose-tinted nostrils.

Mainichi Daily News reports that the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo has developed a gum that leaves the chewer’s body smelling flowery fresh. Interestingly, the product has been named ‘Otoko Kaoru’, which means male scent – further evidence that flowers aren’t just for the ladies.

Tags: flowers, roses, gum

Bullock takes the buds by the horns

She may be Miss Congeniality these days, but there was a time when the guys didn’t look twice at Sandra Bullock. Although they did look twice at the flowers she had in her home.

Desperate to capture the attention of a certain gentleman friend, the Speed star ordered five-dozen long-stemmed roses, complete with romantic cards, to be delivered at her home when she knew the object of her affections would be popping around.

The fellow, who’d previously paid no romantic heed to the brunette thespian, called her up for a date straight after leaving.

Devious means or legitimate groundwork? We’d be curious to know what you think.

Tags: flowers, roses, jealousy, celebrity

Kidman imports a cool mountain of roses

Although we’re by no means celebrity obsessed, we do get a certain thrill from coming across a pair of starry lovers tying the knot. And not because we’re romantics at heart, but because their wedding flowers tend to be so utterly extravagant. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s nuptial florals proved no exception to the rule.

The couple are said to have jetted in 150, 000 pink and white roses from Europe (the Serenata buyers will be nodding knowingly at the couple’s impeccable taste) to decorate the walls of the Royal Motor Yacht Club where the reception was held. A thoughtful choice: pink roses in bud connote new love, and, once opened, perfect happiness. White roses (which were also the stars of Nicole’s bridal posy and Keith’s boutonniere), on the other hand, connote innocence when in bud, and declare ‘I am worthy of you’ when in bloom.

While most of the paparazzi press have fixated on the star-spangled guest list, we’re pleased to see that the Herald Sun considered it just as important to list the floral celebrities in attendance: freesias, gardenias, gumnuts, green goddess lilies, hellebores and orchids – which were afterwards donated to the Sydney Children's Hospital. Certainly more than the human guests can say for themselves!

Tags: flowers, roses, wedding, Nicole Kidman

Orchids doing it for themselves

Orchids – we always new they were incredibly attractive. We just didn’t realise that they were so attractive to themselves.

In a tale of gravity-defying narcissism that has got scoptophilic scientists in as much of a twist as the Holcoglossum amesianum plant itself, the orchid coils the male part of its flower to fertilise the female part.

The auto-pollination is not such an oddity in itself, but according to the report on IOL, the fact that no floral fluids are produced to aid the process, and that each anther exclusively fertilises its own flower’s stigma cavity, makes this an entirely new method of pollination.

Tags: orchids, science, pollination

Another slagging off for the silkies

Further to the debate on artificial and GM flowers, it seems that fresh flora is up one point – in Tennessee. Administrators at the Chattanooga National Cemetery have placed a seasonal ban on fake flowers because they’re making too much mess.

Tags: flowers, GM, Tennessee

It makes them stronger, but does it harm them?

Yesterday we pooh-poohed people who tried to outdo Mother Nature; today we’re wondering if we weren’t a little hasty. KPUA.net reports that the whitecoats at Hawaii University have been pottering about with their pot plants in an attempt to create sturdier varieties of anthuriums and orchids.

But hold on, those are pretty sturdy varieties as it is. At first thought, flower lovers could hardly seem to object to longer-lasting flora, but what exactly does it entail?

Is it ethical to support genetically modified plants? We’d be interested to hear your thoughts. (For some interesting views, have a look at this article on biotechnology from The Flower Council and this one about some GM cress that can detect landmines.)

Tags: orchids, anthuriums, Hawaii, GM, ethics

Ersatz? Err, no thanks!

It’s just not natural – literally. False eyelashes are one thing, but fake flowers? If you don’t have Betty Boopers, by all means resort to a bit of artificial help, but there’s simply no way you’re going to get better bloomers than those provided by mother nature.

First to agree are the inhabitants of Bourton-on-the-Water, who’ve been voicing their objections to the counterfeit carnations that are filling the street-side hanging baskets in their village. Martin Macklin, chairman of the chamber of commerce, claimed people would find it tricky to tell the difference, but was unable to say what variety of flowers the silk simulacra were mimicking.

Perhaps, next time, the powers-that-be in the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ should try the improved artificial blossoms that are making headlines in China. Or maybe they should just stick to the real thing.

Tags: artificial flowers, Bourton-on-the-Water, China