Frozen Valentine's Day Flowers

In the news today was an article saying that wild storms and icy cold is blasting parts of the U.S. It's probably time to remind my faithful readers about the proper way to say Happy Valentine's Day.

It's really simple, call your local florist. A real florist, in the neighborhood where you sweety works or lives. Have them send over a fresh, beautiful arrangement that conveys your true feelings--and I don't mean flowers in a box.

Sure, you can save a few bucks ordering the so-called direct ship flowers, but a do it yourself flower kit doesn't have nearly the impact as a real florist designed arrangement. Plus, if it's freezing cold where the flowers are going, the flowers may well be frozen (aka Dead). Check out this video of an actual delivery of proflowers. How much credit do you think you're going to get for sending those?

Finally, since we're talking about credit, here's a great tip. Have the professionally designed flowers delivered on Feb. 13, the day before Valentine's Day. No, I'm not off my rocker. Instead of your honey waiting all day at work to get her flowers while everyone around her is acting all smug because they have theirs, she gets her flowers first. All the other people at work will be jealous and you, my friend, will be King of the world.

Lucky Bamboo

Visser’s plant of the week is the Lucky Bamboo. Technically, it’s not really a bamboo, but a member of the dracaena family (but don’t let that ruin your fun). It’s a very popular plant, not only because of the Feng Shui association, but also because it is so easy to grow.

This unique plant has a variety of spiritual meanings, based on Feng Shui--the Asian beliefs regarding the balance of elements in life. The ancient Chinese believed that elements of life are wood, water, metal, fire and earth. The lucky bamboo brings the elements of water and wood, and with the red ribbon often tied around the stalks, fire. This is almost guaranteed to bring good energy (Chi) to your home.

The number of stalks also have different meanings: three for happiness, five for wealth or six for health. There are never four stalks since the Chinese word for “four” sounds like death. The plants come in all sizes and designs which only make them more special.

The lucky Bamboo makes a great gift for someone special. Visser’s florist has a variety of bamboo assortments that are sure to bring some Feng Shui to your home.

Care Tips:
The plant needs just a little light (no direct sun), clean water (spring or distilled is best as tap water has a lot of chemicals) and once or twice a year a little fertilizer. In fact, it doesn’t really need soil. It is often grown directly in water, with a few little pebbles to hold it up. A few tips:

• Keep canes submerged in at least 1” of water. Try to maintain the same level of water.
• It prefers bright diffused sunlight, but will grow in most indoor light conditions.
• This is a tropical plant. Place in a moderate to warm temperature location
• If a stock turns yellow, it is going to die. It is probably getting too much sun, or the water is not clean. Change the water (or give it less sun). Also, remove it as soon as possible so it doesn’t affect the other stocks.
• You can make more stalks (but never four) by taking a cutting from the originals. Cut with a sharp knife just below the joint.

OC Florist wins Amazing Race

Rachel Rosales, 23 and T.K. Erwin, 22, are both from Orange County and are the newest winners of The Amazing Race--and $1 million.

Rachel is the owner of Costa Mesa florist in Orange County. The race covered 30,000 miles in 21 days and went through 10 countries. Talk about jet lag! Although they were known on the show as the hippies, I guess Rachel showed them how tough florists really are.


All of us at Visser's say congratulations Rachel and T.K.

Carl Karcher flowers

Just thought I would share a picture of one of the arrangements that we did for Carl Karcher's funeral. As I mentioned before, Visser's created most of the family pieces as the Karchers and Vissers were friends for over 50 years. The piece was designed by Gudrun Martinez, our head designer and was sent to the service by Carl's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A blue rose?

Ahhh, the blue rose. Often talked about but seldom seen. There is only one true blue rose, and it was developed using gene replacement techniques (see picture above). Those roses are very rare. Most roses that are called blue are either sort of a purplish color, or are stem-dyed.

In fact, flowers often have to be dyed in order to get a specific color or to return their original color after they are dried. Frankly, there are times when you need a specific color of flower and it just isn’t available. While spray paint is sometimes an option, stem-dying produces some unique, and often superior results.

Whether the target color is blue, green, purple or magenta, the best color of flower to start with is white because it is more reliable in its results, but other colors work as well. Here is a nice summary of stem-dying from a floral art website called preservedgardens.com. Special coloring for flowers by Design Master or Koch are the best dyes (contact your local florist—like Visser’s or floral supply house) but food coloring may also be used.

Start the process by cutting the flower stems at least 1 inch from the bottom. Remove the lower leaves from the stem. Use the freshest flowers possible because it takes a couple of days for the color to pick up. Mix the dye with warm water and add a little flower food like Floralife. Put the flowers in the water. The color will start to change at the edge of the petal and then move inward. In addition, the leaves and stems will change colors also. After a couple of days, you will have beautiful artificial colored roses that are unique and fun.

Visser’s plant of the week, the Orchid

Visser’s Florist and Greenhouses is now introducing our plant of the week. Each week we will feature a different plant with interesting facts about them.

This week’s plant of the week is the orchid. Did you know that the orchid has been around ever since dinosaurs roamed the earth?!. The term ‘Orchid’ originated from the Greek word ‘Orchis’ meaning testicle, referring to the paired underground tubers of the European variety. The orchid has more than 25,000 known species and more are being discovered everyday. Orchids have adapted to live in all types of locations except Antarctica.
Although different species require slightly different care, here are some general care techniques:
· When watering your orchid, water the soil, not the leaves. If the leaves get wet, dry them off quickly using a tissue or cotton ball. Water your plant every 5-7 days.
· After you water do not allow standing water to come in contact with the base of the orchid plant.
· When all the flowers drop off, cut your flower spike (the long stem) halfway down the stem. Your orchid may re-bloom if proper care is continued.
· Orchids need bright light, but not direct sunlight.
· Feed with an orchid fertilizer during the growing season only. The rest of the year use only water.
· Buy your plants from a reliable source—like Visser’s Florist of course.

Goodbye Carl Karcher

The world lost a good person last night. Carl Karcher died at St. Jude's Medical Center. He was 90 years old.

Carl and his family were good customers, and good friends, of Visser's since the 1950s. He was a good man, successful in business and in life.

The restaurant story is well known: Bought a hot dog stand for $326 in the late 1930s, built up the business and opened his first Anaheim restaurant in 1945. Today his legacy is a company with over 3,000 restaurants.

He was a loyal family man with 12 children and a devout christian. He has given much to his community, fighting homelessness and supporting educational causes. For this, we will always be in his debt. His wife Margaret died in 2006. Now they can be together again.

Valentine's at Visser's

Get ready! The countdown to the biggest holiday of the year is officially underway. Only 34 days until Valentine's Day and we're ready. Our windows and the inside of the shop are decorated and ready. The picture above is just a sample of what awaits you when you visit Visser's.

Just one tip. Don't wait until the last minute to order flowers for this special day. Most florists max out on their deliveries before Valentine's Day arrives. Why not call today and lock in your spot?

Amazing Tulips

This is really interesting. Most people don't know that tulips drink tons of water. We recently conducted a test to demonstrate how resilient these flowers are. The picture at the top is where we got some yellow tulips and deliberately left them out of water for a day (Let me tell you that as a florist this almost killed me to do that)

Then, we cut the stems about 1 inch up and added water. Just plain water--no flower food. Voila! here are the same flowers:

The point is this: Flowers, especially tulips, are very resilient. If you buy cut flowers (hopefully at Visser's) and they accidentally dry out and look all droopy, don't throw them away. Cut off the stems, put some fresh water in the vase, and cross your fingers. More often than not you will be rewarded.

FTD ROSE PARADE FLOAT

As most of you know, Visser's Florist is one of the top 100 FTD flower shops in the nation. That's why we were happy to see that the FTD rose parade float won a prestigous award.

FTD won the Tournament Special Trophy for exceptional merit in multiple categories! FTD's tribute to New Orleans drew attention from all over the U.S. and across the globe this year with media coverage on ABC, CBS, FOX and KTLA in LA, New Orleans and on TV spots across the globe, as well as newspaper.

"The Magic of Mardi Gras" was FTD's 55th entry in the parade. Featuring more than 100,000 roses, the glittering style and carefree folly of costumed revelers, music and dance is magnificently captured in the float's floral juxtaposition of color and excitement.

Since FTD's first entry in the Rose Parade, FTD has received 36 trophies for outstanding floats, including the grand prize Sweepstakes Trophy in 2007 and 2006.