Pollen Nation

Want to send roses? Make sure you know your stuff.

The meaning of roses
Roses are the ultimate romantic gesture. And who better than the French to turn to for elucidation on this tricky matter? According to a saying from la republique, white roses are for love, red roses are for passion, and yellow roses are for friendship. If you’re a victim of love at first sight, express your enchantment with lilac roses. For happiness, choose pink roses, which connote grace, gentleness and gratitude, and tell recipients they’re a joy to behold.

A brief history of roses
Fossil evidence suggests that our friend the rose is over 35 million years old.  Originating in China, roses are now grown around the world, and are believed to have first been cultivated in Europe in the 18th century.

In the mid-18th century, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu documented the use of roses as a means of covert communication in Middle Eastern harems. In this silent language, a red rose declared that the sender was full of love and desire, a provocative white rose in bloom asked "Will you love me?”, while jaded lovers questioned the interest of their partner with a yellow rose.

The rose is also England’s national flower.

Rose varieties
Roses are one of the best known and most loved flowers in the UK, and are available all year round in a wide range of colours. Throughout the northern hemisphere, there are around 150 species of plants within the genus Rosa.

Gorgeous deep red Grand Prix roses (the champion of champions), soft pinky-lilac Aqua roses and plump, snow-kissed Avalanche roses are just some of the exclusive varieties that you can find at SerenataFlowers.com if you’re looking to order roses online.

How to care for roses
Every rose bouquet sent from SerenataFlowers.com comes with a helpful care instruction card with top tips for making your roses last even longer. But just in case you didn't get to read those in time, here are a few little extra tricks to perk up some droopy blooms:

• If your roses are looking limp, revive them by moving them to a cool room and standing them up to their necks in lukewarm water.
• Unless they’re part of a hand-held posy, don’t remove the thorns, as the lesions are an open invitation to bacteria.

Tags: flowers, roses, sending flowers, Serenata

Romantic flowers: a guide for perplexed paramours

Send someone a bunch of long-distance kisses;
It’s a gesture that’s quaintly old fashioned,
But you’ll weaken the knees of the trendiest lover
With sweet petals that whisper of passion.

There’s this girl, you see (it always starts like that, doesn’t it?).  And you’ve got your eye on her (or your arm round her, or you heart in her pocket). And you’d like to send her some flowers. And you’ve got absolutely no clue how to choose the right ones. Well, sigh no more, gentlemen, sigh no more. If romance and flowers are on the agenda, we’ll show you how to ensure you make the perfect presentation.

When it comes to sending flowers for a romantic occasion, there’s no easy one-size-fits-all approach. The blossoms must suit the stage of seduction. But fear not, the Serenata Flowers guide to sending romantic flowers will see you crowned Prince Charming of the petal world in no time.

From a distance
“From a distance, the world looks blue and green, and the snow capped mountains white…” It’s a shocking song, but it holds some pretty good advice for the fellow who's been admiring someone from afar. Blue, green, white… no mention of red, now, is there? That’s right: first-time flowers are not about laying on the romance thick if you’ve not even shared a cup of coffee with your cutie. Keep it friendly and light at first; you’ve got to save the fireworks for later.

What’s more, the first bunch of flowers you send to the nubile nymph that you’d like to see more of (or ‘more often’, should we say, as this piquing-of-interests period is all about chivalry and decorum), will set the tone of any togetherness that may ensure, so choose wisely, dear Romeo.

This bunch is also about letting her know a bit more about you – and there are more ways of doing that than spelling it out in the accompanying note. Are you a practical, happy-go-lucky fellow? Gerberas in yellows or oranges are a good bet. A little bit of a dark horse? Try a single green orchid stem for far-eastern mystique. Roses? Hold ya horses, mister. As a general rule, steer clear of roses, and any flowers that are red, pink or white. Something seasonal and bright will get her heart racing without making her want to run away. 

Prelude to a kiss
When they say ‘timing is everything’, they don’t just mean you mustn’t be late to your rendez-vous. They mean you’ll do yourself a lot of favours by sending her a bunch of flowers the morning of the big date.

Romance is in the air, and if you give her an opportunity to inhale it – by sending some lush scented flowers, for example – it’ll be firmly in her head by the time you meet for dinner.

Our recommendation: pink lilies hint of romance without being too pushy, and mixed or all-white freesias are a glamorous yet girly treat – and they all smell fabulous!

The morning after
Hot diggity, Don Juan. That was some date! Now you can get bring out the roses, oh yes. But not the red ones, just yet, mind you. You might be feeling like the king of the world, but she might only fancy being your princess for a bit. So stick to pinks or whites.

Send yellow roses at your peril – they signify friendship (and, some say, infidelity). Don’t say we didn’t warn you…

Random acts of romance
Girls are big on important dates. Unfortunately, guys don’t always know when those are. She’ll never forgive you for missing the big ones (Valentine’s, birthdays, annual anniversaries), of course. But there’s a flipside to that: she’ll favour you forever if you remember the little ones… especially if she’s forgotten (or doesn’t know them herself). 

Try a dozen red roses for “xxx days since you first made my heart skip a beat”, or a Pink-A-Boo gift wrap a month after that flirtatious dance you shared – perhaps some crimson gerberas for that one-month milestone? Make up occasions as you go along, and you’ll always be one step and a hundred bonus points ahead.

Rekindling the flame
You’ve got your favourite bars, you favourite restaurants, your favourite TV shows, your favourite ready meals. And this spells real trouble for romance. But you can stop the ennui. You'll never be scolded for sending a bunch of red roses, but there are other tricks you can try, too: a single rose to her desk, a bunch of sunflowers for a Saturday morning delivery… or, for the ultimate in romance rekindling, a bunch of flowers just like the ones you sent her the very first time.   

Tags: flowers, romance, romantic flowers, Valentine's flowers,Serenata

How to choose the perfect birthday flowers

Flowers: never the wrong size, the wrong fashion, the wrong message, the wrong colour. And, even if they are, you don’t have to live with them forever. What could be a more perfect birthday gift?

“Ha! But that’s exactly what makes birthday flowers such an abominable idea” cry the killjoys – clearly ones who’ve never been festooned with frivolous floral treats. “Birthday presents should be long-lasting and very personal. Flowers just don’t cut it.” Well, we’ve got news for you, party poopers…

Bestow on somebody a bright bouquet
That’s bursting with buds of their favourite flavour;
There’s no better way for a friend or a lover
To savour the colour of their happy day.

Flowers can convey a very personal birthday message – and create an impression that’s remembered long after the candles have been blown out. How so? Just follow these three easy steps for choosing the perfect birthday flowers for a very special person:

1. Conjure up a picture of your birthday buddy
What colour is that top they’re donning? That’s a good bet for deciding on the colour of the flowers. If the celebrant's penchant for pale skin and heavy eyeliner means the top is never anything besides black, no need to despair. Deep blood reds will probably go down a treat, and purple’s got a mystical quality that’s often much admired by the less conventional.

2. Picture your birthday buddy’s boudoir
A man’s home is his castle, but his bedroom’s the mirror of his style. That goes for women, too. And, mixed metaphors aside, will give you a good gauge for choosing the style of the birthday flowers. If the bed’s draped in a monotone blanket or geometric duvet, chances are this person would pick a more contemporary or architectural arrangemnent. Candlewicked spreads, quilts and frills: a traditional posy will go down a treat. Are those Indian or Eastern throws and velvety cushions I spy? A retro bouquet will blow their mind.

3. And now… what’s their favourite genre of film?
Romance and rom-com gluttons will be laughing and loving if you present them with roses. Action-addict amies – try gerberas, thistles, or sunflowers. Only art house will do? Tulips are the choice du jour for those continental cognoscenti. Sci fi, suspense or Asian cinema? Why, orchids, of course! And lilies or freesias will make those period-drama pleasure-seekers go quite weak at the knees.

Birthdays, you see, are all about them, them, them. What do they like best? And choosing the perfect birthday flowers is really easy if you spend a few minutes thinking about the recipient – not how you’d like them to be, but how they really are. And when they receive some flowers that reflect a little bit of themselves, they’ll be thrilled… because it means you’ve taken the time to get to know them. Add a short message card mentioning a random memorable day when they made you smile, and you can be sure those birthday flowers will stay fresh in their mind even after the last petal has wilted. And that’s quite a bit longer than you’d think, if you send those birthday flowers from us.

Sending to someone you don't know to well? You could always choose this more traditional route:

Month	Traditional flower	Serenata's pick
January	Carnation or Snowdrop	Hyacinth
February	Violet or Primrose	Roses
March	Jonquil or Daffodil	Tulips
April	Sweet pea	Celosia
May	Lily of the Valley or Hawthorn	Peonies
June	Rose or Honeysuckle	Curcuma
July	Larkspur or Water Lily	Sunflowers
August	Gladiolus or Poppy	Calla lilies
September	Aster or Morning Glory	Gladioli
October	Marigold or Calendula or Cosmos	Gerbera
November	Chrysanthemum	Thistle
December	Narcissus or holly	Ilex berries

Tags: flowers, birthday, Serenata

How to make your Valentine’s Day flowers last longer

Your knees have stopped quivering, your cheeks are a most becoming blush instead of that embarrassing bright red, the oohing and aahing crowds in the office have all gone back to their desks and your pulse rate has dropped back below 100 beats per minute. Oh well, the thrill of getting flowers had to come to an end sometime... or perhaps not.

Taking care of your flowers properly is a great excuse to prolong the buzz and show off your blossoms by asking jealous secretaries and the like for things such as scissors to snip your flower stems, vases, you know, to keep those flowers you got looking gorgeous and, um, well, water, oh, to keep those flowers someone sent you feeling perky.

Top tips on caring for your Valentine flowers

How do you feel when you arrive somewhere after a journey? Chances are your flowers feel much the same. Welcome them to their new environment by following these simple steps.

1. In the same way as you like to take off your coat and put down your bag, your flowers want to get rid of any excess baggage. Remove the protective aqua packaging over a sink, but leave on any strings tied around the stems – these holds the flowers in place and don’t discomfort them in the slightest.
2. While relaxation is important, you need to keep your flowers on their toes. Lay the bouquet on its side and cut about 3cm off the stems, ensuring you make the incision at a 45-degree angle.
3. Drinks and snacks all round! Empty the sachet of plant food into a clean, wide-necked vase and fill it with water. Not ice cold water, mind you. Water is the red wine of the flower world: best served at room temperature.
4. Lower the bouquet into the vase and then settle your guests somewhere they’ll feel welcome – away from fruit, radiators, bright light and drafts, and somewhere you’ll enjoy their company and remember to take care of them.

Play the perfect host by changing the water every few days. In warm or dry environments, you can also mist your bouquet every morning. Feel free to talk to your flowers, but be careful not to cause unease to other guests who may be visiting.

Taking your flowers home with you from work?
It’s perfectly safe to leave them in their florists’gel packaging for a few hours. Keep them upright in a temperate room, and just remember that, like you, they’ll be keen for a nice long drink after a hard day in the office.

Tags: flowers, flower tips, Valentine's Day

Cheap roses… made from maple leaves

A step-by-step guide to making roses from maple leaves.

Perfect for those afternoons spent sitting in the park when you’re suddenly compelled to present your sweetheart with petals, you simply can’t wait a few hours for our timed flower-delivery service and you’re wary of the watchful eye of the warden who’ll scold you if you pick the real roses.

Via Digg

Tags: flowers, roses, maple leaves, craft

Customised flowers

Who needs Pimp My Ride when you can Hack Your Plants?

Pollination’s not just for the birds, you know. If you’ve got a pair of tweezers, a paintbrush and a penchant for meddling, read Robert Luhn’s step-by-step guide to creating crazy floral hybrids.

Tags: flowers, hack your plants, hybrid, pollination

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

Vaseology: the science of choosing the right vase for your flowers

For the aesthete, there’s almost nothing worse than seeing a nubile young beauty in ill-suited couture.  Nothing, except perhaps a bouquet of flowers in a mismatched vase. The horror indeed!

While most people would just avert their eyes from such instances of floral injustice, we’re going to take the proactive measure of offering some top tips for choosing the right vase.

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

Pistils at dawn: a showdown between hand-tied and gift-wrapped bouquets

To a garden-variety flower lover, florists’ pricing can seem something of a dark art. Well, roll up, roll up! In today’s stage spectacular, we’re going to uncover the mystery of why one bouquet of 12 gorgeous Illios roses can fetch a higher price (and causes a greater gasp from the audience) than another bouquet of 12 equally gorgeous Illios roses. Hold on to your seats, ladies and gentlemen…

How to make a hand-tied bouquet – a step-by-step guide

If you’ve received a gift wrap of flowers and want them to look as fabulous in the vase as they do in their packaging – or indeed, even better – follow this handy hand-tie how-to guide.

It shows a slight prejudice to right-handed people, but if you’re a southpaw, we’re sure you’ll be smart enough to switch things ’round where necessary.

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

How to keep your flowers fresher for longer

Keeping cut flowers fresh is simple: just add water. And a little pampering, perhaps. Oh yes, and a brass penny, some bleach, some lemonade and some vinegar, but perhaps not all at once – or perhaps not at all if you’ve any sense.

If you’re overwhelmed by the numerous old wives’ tales, urban legends and internet myths purporting to prolong the longevity of flowers, read on.