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Looking ahead to spring flowers | The Chronicle Herald - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)This tough native of northern Russia is as hardy as they come. The beautiful blue bells appear in early spring just after the narrow, grass-like leaves.Unlike many of the other early spring bulbs, these plants thrive in shade and will grow just about anywhere.Plant bulbs in the fall about three to four inches deep and a few inches apart, and that’s it. Left alone, they will spread to cover large areas with a carpet of soft blue each spring. S. siberica alba produces white flowers.Crocuses (Crocus spp.)There are many species of crocus and all are native to the highlands of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These early spring bulbs come in an array of colours but I have to admit that the dark purple and white are my favourites.As they are fairly inexpensive, buy as large a package as you can in fall and plant in groups of 10 or more to put on a show next year.Plant the corms three to four inches deep, pointed side up, from late August to early-October in an area which receives full sun for most of the day.They need good drainage, so note that the corms will drown in areas of heavy clay or soggy soil. While deer and rabbits tend to leave them alone, the same can’t be said for squirrels. Cover the bulbs with chicken wire and then a layer of shredded leaves after you plant to deter these little pests. The corms multiply rapidly, and so the plants will develop good sized colonies over a few seasons.I love seeing crocuses planted at the base of trees and beneath deciduous shrubs which leaf out a bit later in spring.Once all of the above spring bulbs have bloomed, resist the urge to cut back the foliage, as this feeds the bulb for subsequent seasons. Allow the foliage to yellow and die back naturally. Some people have no problem waiting for this to happen when bulbs are planted in the middle of lawns.But if you like a neat and tidy garden, then plant beneath the base of deciduous trees and shrubs, in rockery areas and perennial borders, or in spaces reserved for annuals planted later in the season.A wise person once said: “It’s the little things that make life big.” I agree, especially if you’re a gardener. http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/1399954-looking-ahead-to-spring-flowers

Plant this time of year to enjoy the simplicity, beauty of spring bulbs - Tribune-Review

This one inherited something that tastes bad and doesn't smell good to them.” There are many different colors of the variety, too.For the shade, Spanish blue bells ( Hyacinthoides hispanica), sometimes called wood hyacinths, are one of his suggestions. They have short, pretty pink, white or blue flowers and will form a colony by naturalizing. “It's wonderful, it will tolerate a good bit of shade,” he says. “It will spread, and it's critter resistant. It doesn't taste good to them.”One of the eternal questions of bulb growing is, when do gardeners remove the foliage? Heath quotes a University of Delaware study, which concluded nothing is gained by waiting longer than eight weeks. By that time, the bulbs have absorbed enough energy to bloom again. He has other suggestions for the foliage: “Never bend it, never tie it in knots, never braid it. The leaves are there because they need sunlight and air.”Lilies are often thought of as spring-planted bulbs, which is fine, he says, but they get a better start with fall planting. They should be planted deep, 8 to 10 inches down. “ ‘Black Beauty' is incredible; it's my all-time favorite,” he says. “It's a later bloomer, deep red with a white eye, specked and freckled, and they have a heavenly fragrance. They will multiply annually, too.”Heath wants his bulbs to make gardeners happy, but sees even further-reaching benefits. “I hope they get smiles. Plant bulbs and harvest smiles. I hope they get pleasure, and they can share that pleasure with other people. If we had more people smiling in the world, we'd have less strife in the world.”From Holland fieldsAs a child, Hans Langeveld ran between long rows of bulbs just across a narrow canal from Keukenhof Garden in Lisse, Holland. He was there with his father to look over the endless fields of flowers. “I used to love it. The smell was fantastic,” he says. “I've got good memories from that time.”Langeveld is a third-generation bulbsman who's co-owner of Longfield Gardens in Lakewood, N.J. He hopes gardeners will discover the simplicity of planting these spring bloomers.“First of all, bulbs are easy,” he says. “The bulbs have all the reserves inside without too much additives like fertilizer.”He likes to plant his bulbs in concert with perennials. When the bulbs are done blooming, the foliage of the perennials will mask the foliage as it turns brown. The plants also keep the soil temperatures a little cooler during the summer, which the bulbs appreciate. Daffodils and day lilies are a great combination, he says.Langeveld has experimented with mixes and loves planting muscari (grape hyacinths) together with tulips or daffodils.“Muscari combines with pretty much any color of bulb that we have,” he says. “It's an excellent companion planting. Since the plant is long blooming, it will put on a show when the other bulbs flower.”He's introduced “Perfect Pairs,” which teams different bulbs together. He's growing single tulips with doubles, tulips with daffodils and more.Gardeners can make their own combinations, too. The company used to sell a mixture of muscari and ‘Moulin Rouge' tulips, which now can be purchased separately. “It makes a spectacular show,” he says of the mixed bulbs. “It almost creates fireworks.”Langeveld has some ideas for plants that animals will leave alone. Alliums are from the onion family and are pretty much deer-proof. ‘Gladiator' and ‘Globemaster' have pretty purple, ball-shaped flowers, and ‘Graceful' blooms with a smaller white flower. After they bloom, he says, the seed heads make great dried flowers.Fritillaria come in many forms. “I like the big ones — they put on a show,” Langeveld says. “They grow incredibly fast.”‘Rubra Maxima' grows 3 feet tall with brilliant orange blooms. ‘Lutea Maxima' is as t... http://triblive.com/lifestyles/dougoster/9198386-74/bulbs-says-planting

Coronavirus hits flower farms at the worst possible time - Chicago Tribune

Cousins Matt Ott, 17, left and Luke Ott, 16, pull the flowers off the hanging plants so the plants won't die March 24, 2020, at Cleveland Ott & Son, a wholesale nursery in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, that sells its flowers and plants to smaller garden centers in the region, most of which are closed. (Steven M. Falk/AP)... https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-coronavirus-flowers-bouquet-20200407-h7t4shavzffllmiiy6gsmwno3a-story.html

These Valentine's Day Gifts Will Be At Your Doorstep In No Time, Even If You Started Shopping Last Minute - Yahoo Lifestyle

Uncommon Goods. Here's one example of a delightful little gift — a wine-shaped container filled with tasty truffles. Check out all of the small businesses and makers like this Pennsylvania-based baker, Neil Edley.Uncommon Goods Bottle-of-Wine Chocolate Truffles Box, $, available at Uncommon GoodsCheryl's CookiesThese are decorated and frosted with delicious buttercream icing. (Pssst, there's even an assortment of gluten-free options for our friends with food allergies.)Cheryl's Cookies Cheryl's Long Stemmed Buttercream Frosted Cookie Flower, $, available at Cheryl's CookiesPartake FoodsIndulge in this coveted black-owned brand that offers delicious cookies in every variety — you can even find vegan and gluten-free options here. Chocolate chips, cookie butter, and carrot cake flavors are abundantly available to ship right to your door. Partake Soft Baked Cookie Butter Cookies, $, available at Partake FoodsDavid's CookiesGive the people what they want; an entire tin of chocolate chunk cookies. No nuts, no teeny tiny chocolate chips, just the good stuff from this reliable, top-selling cookie lover's brand — that also happens to ship out delicious cheesecakes to pies, too. David's Cookies Fresh Baked Decadent Jumbo Cookies, $, available at David's CookiesDoughees By M.Dough.WMargo Wolfe’s Miami-based M.Dough.W features brownies, Oreos, caramel, rainbow cookies — you name it and they've stuffed it inside a gooey, fully-cooked, and ready-to-eat cookie dough.Doughees by M Dough W Build A Box (12), $, available at Doughees by M Dough WCarlo's BakeryFrom chocolate fudge cake and rainbow slices to ooey-gooey butter cookies and cannoli kits, you can find it all at Carlo's Bakery. Trust him — he was on Cake Boss. Carlo's Bakery Cannoli Kit - 12 Pack, $, available at GoldbellyMagnolia BakeryAsk almost any New Yorker, and we bet they will say that Magnolia Bakery sells some of the world's best-tasting cupcakes to banana pudding...like, ever. Available in a deliverable variety of flavors with seasonal frostings, this shop's sweets are prime Valentine's gifting material.Magnolia Bakery World Famous Banana Pudding - Party Sized, $, available at Magnolia BakeryBake Me A WishIn addition to brownies, you can send cheesecakes, cupcakes, giant cakes, traditional cakes, baskets, towers, and pies. Plus, 5% off all purchases goes to Bake Me A Wish's Small Business Empowerment Fund.Bake Me A Wish Gourmet Brownie Sampler, $, available at Bake Me A WishWicked Good CupcakesAs seen on Shark Tank, the family-owned team at Wicked Good Cupcakes offers up a fun way to serve and eat, cupcake-in-a-jar. They even have your gluten-free bases covered with a giftable GF package for two, four, and six.Wicked Good Cupcakes Cupcake Jar Custom Pack (12), $, available at Wicked Good CupcakesSugarfinaHome of the OG and ever-popular rosé gummy bears, Sugarfina boasts an equally tasty lineup of specialty treats — from sugar lips to peach bellini hearts, dark chocolate-covered scotch cordials, chocolate vodka shots, and much more — that can be shipped nationwide. Sugarfina XOXO 8 Piece Candy Bento Box, $, available at SugarfinaHarry & DavidAs stated in the brand's Insta profile, the folks over at Harry & David take gift-giving and entertaining pretty seriously. So much so that they offer what seems like hundreds of pre-wrapped items at a moment's notice, which comes in handy for some especially in last-minuting gifting dilemmas.Harry & David Valentine's Day Truffles in Keepsake Box, $, available at Harry & DavidRuss & DaughtersLocated in New York's historic Lower East Side for over 100 years, Russ & Daughters is an institution beloved for its appetizing bagel spread, a good schmear, and babka. The sweet yeasted cake is perfect for breakfast — or anytime.Baked By MelissaBaked By Melissa delivers cupcakes in innovative mini-form, so you can sample the best in seasonal flavor variety — from... https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/valentines-day-gifts-doorstep-no-141400857.html

A devoted florist gives each 9/11 victim a white birthday rose - The Gazette

I write this,” said Jennifer Glick in an email to the memorial. Her brother Jeremy was among those who rushed the hijackers on Flight 93, which crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. “With all the insecurity and chaos that we face right now, knowing that our loved ones are remembered gives me great comfort.”Kerry Irvine, an artist, used to visit the memorial often to think about her sister, Kristy Irvine-Ryan, a 30 year-old equities trader who had been married for just three months when she died. But in March, she told The Washington Post, “It was all chained off, and one of my first thoughts was, ‘Oh, God, her birthday,’ which was May 22nd.” Then she got a photo of her sister’s name decorated with a white rose. “To know they’re taking care of all of them, and giving them the respect they deserve,” she said, “it takes the load off the families a little bit.”The memorial grounds reopened July 4. The museum will begin allowing visitors inside again this weekend - first, family members only on Friday and then the public on Saturday, with drastically limited capacity.Collarone didn’t come up with the idea for the birthday flowers; that was a volunteer in the museum. But he’s the one who’s made it happen all these years, carefully selecting roses - he wants them to be a perfect white - from the city’s flower market and cleaning them and nursing them at his shop Floratech, in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. “I’m not looking for the cheapest roses,” he says. “I look for the best.”When the pandemic forced New York to shut down, halting inbound flights bearing hard-to-get white roses from global suppliers in the Netherlands and South America, Collarone knew instantly “that I had to take care of it,” he says. “I went into an immediate rescue mode for the 9/11 memorial.”Whereas roses had been coming in on 10 flights a day, there was now one flight a week from Europe. He worked connections (“My Holland guys helped me out.”), paid large markups as freight pricessoared, and sent drivers to the airport to pick up loads of roses directly from the source, circumventing wholesalers, because, he says, the city’s flower market, then and now, “is operating on life support.”His own shop, which used to supply flowers for Madison Square Garden and high-end hotels like the Mandarin Oriental, has hit dire straits. “We’re lucky if we make enough money to keep our electricity on,” Collarone says. He’s had to close all three of his retail flower shops, and lay off all of his employees, some of whom had been working with him for 20 to 30 years.Still, he wouldn’t dream of stopping the birthday-rose ritual, or asking for payment.He “grew up poor,” he says, in the firemen-and-cops enclave of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, and worked in a flower shop before becoming an insurance salesman.It was a chance meeting with Andy Warhol at the legendary Limelight nightclub, he says, that got him to turn back toward his love of flowers. Warhol commissioned him to decorate his parties, Collarone says, because the art icon was amused by the idea of this big guy with a Brooklyn accent who rode his Harley around town and knew everything about roses and hydrangeas.His shop is near the World Trade Center,... https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/a-devoted-florist-gives-each-911-victim-a-white-birthday-rose-20200911

Sales aren't blooming: Florists adjust during pandemic - Delaware State News - Delaware State News

I just wanted to get open and salvage the flowers we do have.”Ms. Bobola said she had to shut down the florist because wholesalers where Bobola Farms receives flowers from in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were closed. Bobola Farms will begin selling some produce in the upcoming weeks; first up are strawberries, which have started to bloom.Bobola Farms has been open since the late 1990s and Ms. Bobola said she never experienced anything like this. She hopes Mother’s Day can help bring back some normalcy but reminded that everything is limited.“It’s the longest we’ve ever been closed,” Ms. Bobola said. “You’ve got to get started somewhere, so we’re just going to do the best we can. I hope people will be patient. We’ll do everything we can to be as close to normal but there will be substitutions. I hope people understand this isn’t easy but we’ll work with them.”Florists are following all protocols recommend by the Centers for Disease Control to help limit the spread of COVID-19. This includes wiping down all vases, wearing gloves while handling flowers and disinfecting the store every night.It also includes contact-free delivery, where the driver will call the customer when the flowers are on the steps of their home.Mrs. Fries said Jen-Mor had to lay off part of its staff when the pandemic first began. She added it has been able to slowly bring back some of the staff.The loss of workers has made the busy weeks even more stressful.“It’s been exhausting,” Mrs. Fries said. “The few of us that are here are doing the work of more people. There’s only so much we can do with this staff so our inventory is smaller than usual.”... https://delawarestatenews.net/coronavirus/sales-arent-blooming-florists-adjust-during-pandemic/