Surviving Valentine's Day.....
For Boys with girlfriends - let's face it.... Valentine's Day is an important day for expressing your love. Depending on your partner, this may have to be a public proclamation. And I would say that in the majority of cases public acknowledgement of your love is critical. You should have a restaurant booked, flowers organised, chocolates purchased and/or a nice bottle of champagne. You may need to add a teddy bear and/or balloons. Delivered to the workplace for greatest impact, where the most people possible will see how much you love your girl. Remember, the bigger the bunch of flowers the better.
For Boys without girlfriends - lets look at Valentine's Day as an opportunity to woo one (or more) you like. Prepurchase a few red roses and leave them lying around with a little message of love. Or a delivery for more impact. Special note here - there is no point being too anonymous here because the main aim is for her to know that you are interested and that you are a nice and thoughtful guy. Tip - don't limit your options, deliver early, deliver often, the more targets the better.
For Boys with boyfriends - lets be politically correct here - read all the above and replace boy with girl.
For Girls with boyfriends - Although boys are not always expressive, what man would not be happy to receive a token of love on this day. Given their tendency towards embarrassment about public displays of affection I would suggest a less public display is appropriate. ie this could be a roses on the pillow, chocolates, or a nice home cooked meal (or takeaway for those intimidated by masterchef)
For Girls without boyfriends - This can be a hard day for those not committed to coupledom. It can be an opportunity to put out a few feelers to boys of interest with some red roses and a little message. Again, remember not be be too anonymous here otherwise you'll never hook up. If there are no prospects, order yourself some flowers with a sweet and cryptic message. At least you won't have to walk out of work without a token of love under your arm. Then go home and self medicate with your favourite alchohol.
For Girls with girlfriends - today you cannot br OTT. Be extravagant and make sure your message of love is received loud and clear.
Posted by Liz Toussaint on February 05, 2012.
Continue Reading
Corsage... is it formal season??
December Formals in Canberra
Corsages .. what are they and who wears them?
Corsages are given to girls attending school formals by their dates. They are a small spray of flowers attached to an elasticised band and worn on the wrist. They are a thoughful gift, especially when the boy buying the corsage manages to order one that matches or compliments the colours his date is wearing.
Choosing a corsage
Its important to find out in advance what the corsage will be worn with - the style of dress and most importantly the colour. We can make corsages in modern styles (sleek, simple, few flowers) or traditional styles (more floral and pretty). Having more or less foliage can also make a difference to how it looks - more leaves can look more modern, while less greenery and more flowers tends to be more traditional looking. When you place the order, you can discuss colours. Flowers come in a range of colours but not all flowers are small enough to suit a wrist corsage, and so the colour range may be a little limited. Sometimes, when a good match cannot be found a complimentary colour can be chosen. White is always a safe back up if the colour choice is difficult!
Flowers that suit a corsage
Small light flowers suit being worn on the wrist. Commonly, singapore orchids and miniature roses are used, and both come in a wide range of colours. Orchids are available in pinks, whites, yellows, reds, greens, oranges and purples. Miniature roses in white, cream, pinks, oranges and reds. Delphinium is available at the moment and comes in lovely shades of blue and white.
Corsage Bling
We can also add a range of sparkles, ribbons and glitter to add a little bling to the corsage. When ordering you can request gold or silver adornments.
Some corsages we have made this week for formals in Canberra.
Posted by Liz Toussaint on December 06, 2011.
Continue Reading
David Austins
November Weddings in Canberra
Beautiful David Austin Roses are perfect for a November wedding in Canberra. ...
David Austins
David Austin (or English) roses are beautiful full roses with an open garden look. Since the Kidman-Urban wedding in 2006 these beautiful roses have been growing in popularity in Australia, with a number of well established growers cultivating that very loose, old-fashioned look with a range of David Austin roses.
Gallica rose "Charles de Mills" from before 1790
These roses were first bred in England by David Austin of Shropshire (1). His aim was to bring back the beautiful loose shapes of the old fashioned roses Gallica roses of southern and central Europe and eastwards to Turkey and Caucasus; the Alba roses (which includes some of the oldest garden roses) and the originally middle eastern Damask roses. Their recent popularity represents a backlash against the stiff and formal cultivated glasshouse roses that have been flooding our cut flower rose market for some time.
"Maiden's Blush", an Alba rose from before 1400
Working with David Austins
Like most fragrant and field grown roses these elegant roses do not have a long vase life, but as wedding roses they are beautiful. Although quick to open, once they are open they hold well. The blooms themselves will tend to be irregular, and there may be a small amount of marking on outside petals. The imperfections add to the old fashioned garden rose ambiance and are part of the charm of the David Austin roses.
Availability in Canberra
The roses are generally field grown and so are available in Summer - from late October to March. This year they were first available from growers in Sydney for the first weekend in November, but the timing of the first blooms are very weather dependent. Some growers manage to extend the season of the roses and I noticed last year they were available until May. Also, over winter there have been some imported David Austin roses so while you may not have to give up hope entirely if you have a wedding outside of the usual season, but I would have a second preference that you would be equally happy with. There are some larger, full petalled standard roses that imitate the David Austin elegance and a David Austin rose look can be closely imitated with standard roses. However, the flat full centre petal whorls are unique to the David Austin roses and if that is what you love about these flowers, make sure you get married at the right time of year!
Style of Bouquet
David Austin roses suit a loose informal posy. We are often combining them with with other classically beautiful flowers like standard roses, lisianthus and peonies that are all generally available at the same time of year. Consider also adding a few berries, some beautiful silver dusty miller foliage.
Colours
The David Austin roses some in an ivory (usually with a blush of pink), cream or champagne (and heading into the apricots), a nice range of pinks including the dusky pinks and reds (usually a deep magenta, or with purple tones).
References
(1) See the Wikipedia reference to David Austin roses
Posted by Liz Toussaint on April 15, 2010.
Continue Reading
