Philadelphia Florist Shows Their Swag, Listening to the Language of Flowers and Following Their (Dub)steps

PHILADELPHIA FLORIST SHOWS THEIR SWAG, LISTENING TO THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS AND FOLLOWING THEIR (DUB)STEPS – Stein Your Florist Co. Keeps Current by Dancing Dubstep While Celebrating Their Milestone 125^th Anniversary

Belardo shows some smooth moves
listening to the language of flowers.

December 9, 2012 (Philadelphia, PA) Stein Your Florist Co. may be as old as an antique, celebrating their 125^th anniversary this year, but they are definitely keeping up with the times with a new hit YouTube video featuring Stein’s employee and popper Marc Belardo in a dubstep freestyle to the tune of “Saxon” by Chase and Status.

 

Belardo asks his boss, Stein’s owener/operator Patrick Kelly, “is it true flowers speak a language of their own?” to which he replies “Sure, all you have to do is listen,” the beat hits and Belardo shows off some smooth moves and fancy footwork across the slate floors of Stein’s Burlington, NJ location, Steins at Sunset Florist.

 

Belardo asks his boss, Patrick Kelly, if it's true that
flowers speak a language of their own.

Stein’s drew their inspiration for their latest video, following their hit Gangnam Style and Chanel No. 5 parodies as well as a poignant anti-bullying PSA, from the music and dance craze Dubstep. Dubstep is a type of electronic dance music described by Allmusic as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals." It has become wildly popular in the US in the last few years, heard in collaborations with mainstream artists such as Cee Lo Green and Rihanna and paired with amazing dances on shows like So You Think You Can Dance.

 

Kelly and his staff are always keeping their eyes on the latest trends in music, dance, fashion, and all of pop culture, and then they pair those trends with flowers. “Flowers are an amazing and wonderful part of our world and we love to couple them with whatever is trending to keep them top-of-mind, introduce them to people in a fun and innovative way, and make them relatable to all people,” Kelly says. “We’re receiving great responses, especially from younger generations that appreciate our fresh perspectives on the traditions of floral gifting.”

 

View Stein Your Florist Co.’s latest video “Dubstep Stein Style” and others on their YouTube channel.

 

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 26-30

As part of our 125^thAnniversary 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.

Daffodils

Day 26 - Daffodils last longer in shallow water, so when you re-cut their stems and change their water (adding additional floral food) every two or three days, fill the vase only partway. You can leave the protective husks on or gently remove them. When daffodil stems are cut, they release sap that can shorten the life of other flowers. To prevent this, after cutting their stems, place them in a bucket of water for at least 12 hours on their own before mixing them with other flowers. Some modern designs use daffodils with the bulb and roots still intact on the stems. The soil is washed from the root system – and you can enjoy the full botany of the flower from roots to stem, leaves and blossoms.

Sunflowers

Day 27 – Sunflowers are a wonderful cheerful flower that can put a smile on anyone’s face and their seeds are a tasty treat, but did you know their stems also were once used for a rather practical application? Before the advent of modern materials early life jackets used dried sunflower stems for buoyancy. Sunflowers also lent themselves to the Chernobyl nuclear crisis, sopping up dangerous strontium and caesium. Beautiful and useful!








Pine needle tea

Day 28 – Tis the season for pine and we are using tons of it in our shops, but besides looking and smelling great it has some edible qualities too (though we don’t recommend eating our ornamental pine). Some species of pine have large seeds, called pine nuts, that are harvested for cooking and baking. The soft, moist, white inner bark, cambium, found clinging to the woody outer bark is edible and very high in vitamins A and C. It can be eaten raw in slices as a snack or dried and ground up into a powder for use as a thickener in stews, soups, and other foods. This was so common among the Adirondack Indians that they got their name from the Mohawk Indian word atirú:taks, meaning "tree eaters". And a tea made by steeping young, green pine needles in boiling water (known as "tallstrunt" in Sweden) is also high in vitamins A and C.

Flower varieties

Day 29 – On any given day at our flower shops you’ll see more than 100 varieties of flowers, but did you know that there are between 250,000 and 400,000 species of flowers on planet earth, making up 462 different families? Only about 85 percent of these species have been cataloged. There are 1,300 species of begonia alone and approximately 130 species of roses, not including hybrids.

Flower pollination via hummingbird

Day 30 - Fossil evidence suggests that flowering plants have only been around for about 140 million years. This could be because flowering plants are dependent on animals for their reproduction and dispersal. Despite their relative youth, flowering plants, or angiosperms, now dominate the world's plant life. Many fruits and seeds are eaten or otherwise used by people and almost all the plants we use in agriculture are flowering plants.

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 21-25

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.

 

African Violet

Day 21 - A healthy African violet will bloom for nine months and then rest for three. Despite their delicate appearance, they are not difficult to care for. Keep their soil moist to dry and allow it to dry out between waterings to encourage blooming. Because water can damage their leaves, always water them from the bottom by placing the container in a tray of water. Allow the plant to absorb the water for about 30 minutes. Place your African violet in moderate to bright, indirect light, and avoid exposing them to sudden temperature changes. Pinch off wilted blossoms and leaves to encourage blooming, and fertilize monthly or when the plant is actively growing new leaves and buds.

 

Areca Palm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 22 - Areca palms are generally hardy plants and prefer medium to bright light. Keep their soil moist but not soggy. If you allow the soil to become too dry, areca palms wilt dramatically, but it's easy to revive them with just a little water (though some of their fronds may turn yellow). Trim back palm fronds that become damaged or turn brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spathiphyllum

Day 23 - With dark green leaves that can be more than a foot long, the spathiphyllum plant, commonly known as a peace lily, produces hood-shaped white blooms, and in some cases, can grow up to 4 feet tall (although many varieties are developed to be compact). These plants can wilt easily, so it's important to keep the soil moist, providing good drainage and emptying excess water from trays or saucers to prevent their roots from rotting. If your plant does begin to wilt it will typically perk right back up after being watered. Display them in a spot with bright, indirect light. Low light slows their blooming cycle, and too much direct sunlight may cause burn spots on their leaves. Wipe their leaves with a damp cloth to remove dust.

 

Pollen

Day 24 – What’s up with plant allergies? Allergyware.comreports one of the main reasons certain plants and flowers effect people with allergies stems from the plant's gender. Monoecious plants are ones that have separate male and female flowers living on the same plant, such as a corn plant. Because the male and female flowers are separated, the males, which contain the pollen, must send the pollen through the air to fertilize the female flowers, in order to make more blooms. Although the pollen is meant to be delivered to the female, some bits get sent out into the air, causing people to have allergies. Plants that are dioecious, that have either all male or female flowers also rely on wind travel to pollinate and create more blooms. Allergy sufferers may want to instead look for what is referred to as "perfect flowers," or ones that contain both female and male parts, like the rose. This is the best option as these flowers don't need to use air travel to pollinate.



Pet Friendly Bachelor's Buttons

Day 25 - Here is a brief list of common pet friendly flowers and plants:

· Common Name| Scientific name
· African daisy | Arctotis stoechadifolia
· African violet | Saintpaulia spp.
· Alyssum | Allysum spp.
· Bachelors buttons | Centaureaa cyanus
· Begonia | Begonia spp.
· Celosia | Celosia spp.
· Common Snapdragon | Antirrhinum majus
· Easter Daisy | Townsendia sevicea
· Orchids | Barbrodia, Sophronitis, etc.
· Peruvian lily, Brazilian lily | Alstroemeria spp.
· Rose | Rosa spp.
~Dr. Sharon Gwaltney-Brant, DVM, PhD, DABVT, DABT
Vice President and Medical Director
ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center

Day of the Dead

We love Halloween around the flower shop. Some of our crew is dressed up today, we have a wolf, a baby and even some creative Day of the Dead makeup. So we got to thinking… why end the celebration with Halloween when we can enjoy Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead?


Day of the Dead, celebrated on November 1^stand 2^nd, is primarily a Mexican holiday that focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember lost loved ones.  

Traditionally those celebrating visit the graves of family members that have died to tidy them up and build altars honoring the deceased using decorative sugar skulls, marigolds and other flowers. They also leave the favorite foods and beverages of the departed as gifts.

 

Offerings for the souls of the dead.

The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them.

 

Elegant Skulls for Day of the Dead

While this may seem like a sad occasion, Dia de los Muertos usually takes on a jovial tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed. La Calavera Catrina, “The Elegant Skull”, is the most iconic image of Day of the Dead celebrations. Sugar skulls are elaborately decorated as offerings and senoritas paint their faces to portray elegant Catrinas as part of the celebration. Orange Mexican marigolds, sometimes referred to as Flor de Muerto or “Flower of the Dead”, are the traditional flower used to honor the dead.

 

All of the beautiful flowers and imagery of Day of the Dead are not totally foreign to us, we have done more than a few themed weddings for the occasion. So we took our inspiration from our Day of the Dead experience, Mexican traditions, and our love of flowers and headed to one of the local cemeteries to create an altar and shoot a few photos.

 

Jessi Rose, our floral design apprentice and resident dress up doll, was painted like a Catrina and given a beautiful bouquet of marigolds, roses, zinnias, asters, mums and calla lilies. We designed flowers for her hair in blooms to match with accents of blue hydrangea.

 

Our offerings included a bowl of fruit, a bottle of tequila (a popular offering for Dia de los Muertos celebrations) and skulls hand painted by our designers in iconic Mexican styling.

 

We brought along more flowers as well, a bouquet of gladiolus, another popular flower for the occasion, and another bouquet to match our model’s with more lovely marigolds and lots of yellow Jerry’s balls. These bouquets were left at the cemetery as offerings to Jessi Rose’s grandparents who are at rest there.

 

We hope everyone enjoys today’s haunting Halloween celebrations and that you embrace the fun, tradition, and remembrance of Dia de los Muertos!

 

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

Lovely is the Rose

Rainbow Roses

June is National Rose Month, so to celebrate we wanted to share 30 (one for each day) of our favorite original rose photos taken by us, Stein Your Florist Co.





Orange Roses



Gold Strike Roses

Pink Spray Roses

Sterling Roses

High and Yellow Roses

 

Pink and White Garden Roses

Freedom Rose

We are fortunate to be surrounded by roses, the world’s most popular flower, every day. We import literally thousands of roses each week and tens of thousands during the peak floral holidays of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.





Peach Roses

Not only are they popular, there are over 15,000 varieties of roses cultivated across the world, including ones named for Barbara Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rosie O'Donnell!





Priceless Roses





Roses are valued for their romantic symbolism, but their blooms are also edible and some have flavors like green apples and strawberries.

Black Magic Roses

Cool Water Roses

 Jennifer, Stein’s self-appointed floral Goddess, has sampled more than a few rose petals… “some taste dandelion greens, while others taste like you accidentally sprayed perfume in your mouth. All make [her] throat itchy, even those grown organically.”



Charlotte Roses

During the Victorian era ladies would serve rose petal sandwiches at their tea parties and sometimes even use the petals or flower buds to flavor their teas. Yum!



Sweet Akito Roses

In France, rose syrup is extracted from the petals of roses and it is used to make tasty treats such as rose scones and marshmallows. Our favorite use of rose syrup is in cocktails, figures ;)

Twinkle Bride Roses



Rose hips, the fruit of the rose plant, are a wonderful source of vitamin C. They are sometimes used to make jam, jelly or marmalade. Rose hip seed oil is used in various skin and makeup products. And a particular variety of rose hips has some medicinal uses too, especially in traditional Chinese medicine for stomach problems. Rose hips are even under investigation for controlling cancer growth.



White Roses

Rose perfumes, made from the attar of roses (the oil extracted from the petals), smell amazing and are one of our favorite scents. Who doesn’t want to smell like roses?



Blue Rose Bouquet

Around the flower shop, aside from the occasional petal tasting, we use our roses for artistic and ornamental purposes. In our 125 years in the floral industry, roses have always been our biggest seller. From a single stem for a first date to dozens upon dozens filling vases in the honeymoon suite, roses are simply perfect. Ancient symbols of love and beauty, roses lend themselves to an array of floral design techniques.



Yellow Spray Roses

A final florist tip:  if you receive roses with thorns, leave them; removing the thorns wounds the stem. The more wounds there are, the more likely the flower's life will be shortened.

Blush Pink Rose

"Barking" the stem ruins the vessels that transport water up the stem to refresh the flower and creates an opening through which bacteria can enter. If you must remove a thorn, it's best to remove just a small piece of the pointy tip (and trust us, they can be very pointy). So be careful of those thorns and enjoy the beauty of the rose.

Leonidas "Rootbeer" Roses

Wild One Roses

The world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends. ~Persian Proverb



Advenire Roses



Orange Spray Roses

Green Tea Roses

Classy Cezan

To see more beautiful rose pictures, follow our Pinterest board, Lovely is the Rose.



Blue Bird Roses



Amnesia Roses



Red Intuition Roses



Confetti Roses