Bollywood Fun

Bridesmaids of a traditional Indian wedding
with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.

We love that in the floral industry everyone is our customer. People from all cultures, backgrounds and walks of life enjoy the beauty of flowers and incorporate them into their lives.

We’ve had the recent pleasure of working with more of our kin from the Indian community. Their culture is rich and beautiful and flowers charmingly represent the country’s unity in the form of diversity, liveliness and generosity.

Bride & Groom of a traditional Indian wedding 
with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.

A single flower or a bunch of flowers can gladden the mind and confer prosperity. In various Indian traditions flowers have been associated with the Creator, religion, worship and with innumerable myths and legends across history. Similarly, flowers have forever remained an integral part of everyday life and culture.

We embraced the beauty of India and the fun of the Bollywood movie scene in some of our recent floral designs. We strive to represent all cultural communities in our work and love the wonderful opportunities we are granted to share our designs with the world!

We adorned our lovely model with flowers for her hair and wrist. We choose colorful assorted blooms to represent the fun and levity associated with Bollywood films.

The brightly colored sari she’s wearing, as well as, the blue sari with strands of 14 karat gold spun through it that is draped over the small table, were both given to us by a customer who had traveled to India. 

Her jewelry is authentic Indian jewelry, for sale in our stores, that was brought to us from India by the owner of one of our neighboring businesses when he traveled home to visit family.

We filled our pretty peacock pottery with stock flowers, liatris, spray roses, stargazer lilies, iris, tuberose and delphinium with a tail of peacock feathers. In Hindu mythology the peacock is a sacred bird, known as Mayura, and is associated with a number of gods and deities. 

We look forward to continuing to work with our diverse community and learning more about the world’s cultures and their beauty.

Flowers make the moment... 

Let us make a moment for you, at Stein Your Florist Co.

Let it Rain!

We have a wonderful new line of umbrellas available at the shops in colors and styles brighten any rainy day. They may be designed to keep you dry, but our umbrellas are making a splash! 

A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring. ~The Collected Later Poems of William Carlos Williams

It is not raining to me, It's raining daffodils; In every dimpled drop I see Wild flowers on distant hills. ~Robert Loveman

It will never rain roses. When we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses. ~George Eliot

I miss it if I’m not in it for any length of time; I don’t feel comfortable. I want trees and I want frequent rain. ~Murray Morgan

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. ~Dolly Parton

To see more great umbrella styles, flowers and more, stop in one of our stores today!

Flower Más!

Watching the news this morning we saw a pic of a Taco Bell employee… let’s just say, getting a little too into his work. While we don’t want to eat those particular taco shells, we totally get it Taco Bell… We love our product too!

 Flower Más!

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 6-10

As part of our 125^th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Flowers to Avoid with Allergies

Day 6 - There are a wide range of flowers that work well with people living with allergies, but there are also just as many flowers and plants these individuals should avoid. WebMD reports flowers with the most pollen production like chamomile, chrysanthemums, daisies, goldenrod and ordinary sunflowers are among the worst.

Spider Plants for Air Purification

Day 7 – Spider plants, named for their flowy, long branches that resemble the legs of spiders (not because spiders like them), are wonderful for cleaning the air in a home or office space. These plants work to eliminate benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene - the latter of which is a solvent used in rubber and leather. They are hearty (you can go away on vacation and still return to a healthy plant) and do not require a lot of sunlight to thrive, so they are great for indoor spaces with limited light.



English Ivy for Air Purification

Day 8 - English ivy, is another great plant to keep around for its air purifying qualities. It works to reduce airborne fecal-matter particles, which is especially helpful for homes with pets (those that have accidents or use litter boxes); however, its leaves are also toxic to pets, so be sure to keep it where your pet cannot reach it. English ivy has also been shown to filter out formaldehyde found in some household cleaning products.







Chrysanthemum

Day 9 - Chrysanthemums are a flower shop staple and November’s birth flower. They come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and petal formations. Their blossoms may even look exotic and in unusual colors with single or multiple blooms per stem. It’s important to remove the foliage of chrysanthemums if it begins to droop or yellow. The foliage often deteriorates more quickly than the flowers themselves. Recutting the stems often will also increase the uptake of water and increase vase life. Most chrysanthemums will last 7 to 12 days on average.

Amaryllis

Day 10 - Amaryllis are beautiful cut flowers, but they require some extra TLC to thrive and look their best. They may arrive with some of their blooms closed, but with proper care, they will open into large flowers. Their stems are hollow and need to stay filled with water at all times, so when you refresh the water and re-cut the stems, turn them upside down and fill them with water, plugging the bottom of each stem with a cotton ball or your finger until it is back in the vase. Their stems can be brittle and may bend or break when you refresh them, so be extra careful when handling them. As new blooms open, carefully pinch off older, wilting blooms.

On the Wings of Black Bowls

Stein Your Florist Co.,
the Phoenix florist.

Many of our long time customers know that 11 years ago we had a fire at our Philadelphia location that forced us to close our doors for almost a year. To catch up on that bit of Stein history check out this article that was in the Northeast Times shortly after we reopened.


It was a trying time, to say the least, and it is never too far from memory, but just a few weeks ago while rooting through some Stein storage we found a relic of our post-fire past, a box of black bowls.

 

A traditional arrangement
designed in a black bowl.

Remember when gas stations had those give-aways when you filled the tank? Well that’s what these black bowls were. From the gas stations hundreds made their way to Penn State Gardens, a greenhouse that Steins has a close relationship with (in fact, it used to be owned by Steins years and years ago). Paul, the greenhouse owner, eager to help us get back on our feet upon reopening with a mountain of post-fire debt (insurance is never enough) sold us the bowls at a generous 10 cents each!

A topiary arrangement
designed in a black bowl.



Sure, the bowls were filthy after being stored under greenhouse potting benches for 30+ years, but what’s a little dirt when you have a shop full of floral designers eager to return to their craft? We scrubbed the bowls, filled them with oasis floral foam and let our art take over.



A traditional arrangement
designed in a black bowl.

At a time when we were working in a building still partially under reconstruction and trying to get the word out to our wonderful and loyal customers that we were back (and better than ever!) these simple black bowls became the vessel upon which Steins stayed afloat. They allowed us to focus our resources on flowers and provide our patrons with what Steins has always been known for, beautiful lush arrangements at a great value.

Party centerpieces designed in black bowls.

These bowls are versatile enough to house designs from traditional to ultra-contemporary. We used them for almost everything:  party centerpieces, birthday arrangements, and beautiful everyday designs.

Now, we are happy to have returned to arranging in extravagant glass, impressive ceramic and stylish baskets, but we have found ourselves waxing nostalgic upon rediscovering these simple receptacles.

A kind customer likened our return after the fire to the legendary Phoenix, reborn from the ashes to live again. Thanks to these humble black bowls this Phoenix florist continues to soar.

 

Stein Your Florist Co., the Phoenix florist.

We would like to thank those that helped us through this difficult time… Our friends and family, our wonderful employees that stood by us, as we stood by them, Paul and everyone at Penn State Gardens, John Dorschug and Graebel Van Lines for your support, manpower, boxes and packing supplies, and all our wonderful and valued customers. Because of everyone’s support we have been able to practice our craft for 125 years! Thank you!

 

Something Seussian

So we’ve been pinning like crazy on Pinterest (need an invite? send us an email at steinyourflorist@aol.com or leave a message after this post and we'll send you one) and I stumbled across a picture of swirly pastel sugar cookies, which then inspired a board of many Seussian delights, which then inspired this post, a chance to share my love of all things Seuss with you…

It must relate back to my childhood, my love of Dr. Seuss. Bedtime readings of his whimsical tales and colorful drawings always brought such joy! The Foot Book, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, There’s a Wocket in my Pocket (a favorite), and so many more, are all classics that I fell in love with!



The Joyous Leaping of Uncanned Salmon

Cat From the Wrong Side
of the Tracks

Now as an adult I still enjoy the fanciful art of Dr. Seuss. His painting “The Joyous Leaping of Uncanned Salmon” was my desktop background for almost a year and I swear my pet cat Isosceles is his “Cat from the Wrong Side of the Tracks”! His work has inspired the imaginations of people for generations, including myself and some of the other designers here at Stein Your Florist Co.

It’s all about colors and curves for us in our land of Seussian design. Like this topiary arrangement, whose curvy raffia wrapped trunk and large round top, remind us of a truffula tree. And the bits of green hanging amaranthus at the bottom are reminiscent of the crazy hanging hair of Dr. Seuss’ Zlock (behind the clock), Bofa (on the sofa), or the Yeps (on the steps), to name just a few of his creative characters.

Joseph Katz

Another topiary-esque arrangement of Seussy inspiration is this whirly spiral of colorful floral fun. The bright colors are akin to his painting “Every Girl Should Have a Unicorn” or the snazzy sweater of “Joseph Katz.” We think this would be a lovely compliment to a sweets table among delightfully yummy lolli-pops, taffies, and some swirly pastel sugar cookies (why not?)!



Every Girl Should Have a Unicorn

And, if you’ve been reading our other posts, you surely noticed that we love to play dress up… So we put our favorite “doll” Jessi Rose in a bright blue dress, put her hair in playful pig tails with touches of fanciful foliage, and painted her face with pretty pastels. We created a Seussian bouquet for her inspired by a bevy of Dr. Seuss’ work; though, especially by the Nooth Grush (on the tooth brush) with his cute pastel colors and the _ellar (in the cellar) with his lengthy tail from There’s a Wocket in my Pocket.

 

The bouquet itself consists mainly of rainbow roses, their assortment of colors are bright in the center of a collar of yellow solidego, with a canopy of craspedia, which we like to call golden balls, bobbing about at the top.

 

The bottom of the bouquet is long and trailing, breaking off into different directions with pops of color from mums, ranunculus, asters, more golden balls, hanging amaranthus, a few berries, something periwinkle that we can’t remember the name of, artificial cherry blossoms, a dahlia, a peony, long streamers of ribbons and the kitchen sink (which of course has a Nink in it).

And how cool are those Seussy silver vases!?! Just like Seuss Landing in Orlando, FL there are no straight lines here. These vases defy gravity and stand upright despite their curvy shape and we filled them with just a few stems of brightly colored artificial gerbera daisies, whose stems have also been Seussified. And just for fun… here’s a few shiny gazing balls :)

Next time you’re feeling blue, or need a little a little joy, inspiration, or fun in your day, visit Dr. Seuss’ world, “where everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies.” My love of Dr. Seuss will endure always, because as the wise man himself said, “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope” and I, for one, enjoy the view.

-Jennifer Kelly