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.

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 306 - 310

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.

Day 306 – Matthiola, commonly known at stock, is more than just pretty to look at and wonderful to smell. The flowers, leaves and seedpods are also edible. They may be eaten as a vegetable or used as a garnish, especially with sweet desserts. And when all else fails, they may be used as a famine food.

 

Day 307 – Zinnias are not only pretty, but edible too! Just rinse the flowers in cool water prior to use, check for bugs, and then remove the tasty petals. You may want to remove the seeds as well, but that’s optional. Check out this blog post with lots of fun zinnia recipes to try:  http://www.arcadia-farms.net/2012/09/01/10-ways-to-eat-zinnias/


 

Day 308 - Liatris make a great cut flower, both fresh and dried.  To dry the flowers, harvest the spikes when one-half to two-thirds of the flowers are open.  Spikes can be air-dried by hanging them upside down in a protected spot for approximately three weeks, or by using a desiccant such as silica-gel or sand (which often leads to superior color preservation).

Day 309 – Liatris is also known by the name colic root, due to its historical medicinal use as an intestinal antispasmodic (reduces muscle spasms).













 

Day 310 – The exquisite Liatris symbolizes the meanings I Will Try Again, Happiness, Bliss, Enthusiasm and Satisfaction.

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 221 - 225

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.

Day 221 - Chamelaucium, also known as waxflower, is a genus of shrubs endemic to south western Western Australia. They belong to the myrtle family Myrtaceae and have flowers similar to those of the tea-trees. The genus was first defined by French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines in 1819. The derivation of the name is unclear. They are commonly known as waxplants, or wax flowers from the waxy feel of the petals.

Day 222 – The wildly popular “Green Trick” dianthus, a relative of carnations and Sweet William, is imported to the US from Holland, Israel, Ecuador and Colombia.

 

 

Day 223 - Plant pharmacological studies have suggested that Calendula extracts have anti-viral, anti-genotoxic, and anti-inflammatory properties in vitro. In herbalism, Calendula in suspension or in tincture is used topically for acne, reducing inflammation, controlling bleeding, and soothing irritated tissue. Pretty and practical!

Day 224 - Hydrangeas are fascinating in that, unlike most other plants, the color of their flowers can change dramatically. The people who have the most control over the color of their hydrangeas are those who grow them in containers. It is much easier to control or alter the pH of the soil in a container than it is in the ground. On the other hand, hydrangeas often change color on their own when they are planted or transplanted. They are adjusting to the new environment. It is not unusual to see several different colors on one shrub the next year after planting. It is much easier to change a hydrangea from pink to blue than it is from blue to pink. Changing a hydrangea from pink to blue entails adding aluminum to the soil. Changing from blue to pink means subtracting aluminum from the soil or taking it out of reach of the hydrangea.

Day 225 - Your liatris and other cut flowers will stay fresh longer if you add a copper penny and a cube of sugar to the vase water. The copper in pennies is thought to act like an acidifier, which prevents the growth of bacteria.

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 56-60

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.

Day 56 - Lilies can be used as food or for their medicinal qualities. The Chinese use lily buds in cookery to flavor stir fries. They also use it as a medicine for respiratory problems. Native Americans have used lily roots boiled as a tea for stomach problems and as a wash for bruises. They also used it to relieve the pain from insect bites.



Day 57 – Liatris, also known as Blazing star, Gay-feather, and Button snakeroot, are a classic favorite around flower shops. They have a vase life of 6-14 days and work well in many bouquets with their slender, 6-10” tall spikes with needlelike petals. Their stems can grow as long as 32” and though we typically see them in beautiful purple hues, they are also grown in whites, lavenders and pinks.

Day 58 – Unlike pink, red and white roses that originate from Britian, yellow roses derive from the Middle East and were only first noted in the 1700’s. They have since been cross bred to create stunning hybrids, creating stronger and varied shades of yellow, as well as, the beautiful scent that yellow roses are now synonymous with. The variety pictured here is called Gold Strike.

Day 59 - From the Latin "delphis" meaning dolphin, from the shape of the buds, Delphiniums are a genus of around 300 species in the ranunculaceae family. These blossoms traditionally come in bright, creamy white, dainty pink, blue and a marvelous purple blue combination; however, some of the highbred flowers can be seen in shocking reds, oranges and yellows.

Day 60 - Anemone is a genus of approximately 120 species of flowering plants of the ranunculaceae family. The name anemone comes from the Greek word for "windflower." According to Greek mythology, the anemone sprang from Aphrodite's tears as she mourned the death of Adonis. Thought to bring luck and protect against evil, legend has it that when the anemone closes its petals, it's a signal that rain is approaching. Still other mythology connects the anemone to magical fairies, who were believed to sleep under the petals after they closed at sunset. Perhaps it's because of this magical and prophetic tales that today in the language of flowers, anemones represent anticipation.