Category Archives: Mother’s Day

Can We Make Flowers Last Forever? – DIY

DIY, Home Decor, Mother's Day, , , ,

Pink Roses

I received some beautiful roses which I enjoyed for almost 2 weeks. I started to think of a way to make them last forever, so when they started to perish I hung them upside down to dry. They turned a beautiful hue of soft pastel pink with a hint of grey in the blooms. Within a couple of weeks, they were dry enough and I got out the glue gun, found a lovely grapevine wreath snipped off the blooms and made a wreath for the wall. I accented the roses with a delicate ribbon and glued bits of sea lavender throughout.
In no time at all, I created a sweet wreath with dried roses that will last forever.
Try this project yourself with roses you may have received or with the roses in your garden this summer.

See my DIY directions below!

 

What you need:

Dried roses
Grapevine Wreath
Ribbon (Optional)
Sea Lavender (Optional)

Tools: Scissors, hot glue gun

Roses After 2 Weeks

Roses Wilted - 2 weeks

Step 1: Hang Roses to dry.

Roses Hung to Dry

Step 2: Once roses are dry, snip off the blooms from the stem. Hot glue dried roses onto the grapevine wreath.

Step 3: Optional glue sea lavender onto the grapevine wreath, placing between the roses. Next glue on the ribbon for the finishing touch to the wreath.

Roses Glue on Ribbon

Now you have a beautiful wreath to enjoy in your home!

Completed Dry Rose Wreath

This is a great DIY floral project. I would love to see what wreath looks like, send us a pic! Share with us on our Facebook Page or send us an email info@appleblossomflowers.com.

 

Shop Local

Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, Shop Local, Thanksgiving, Valentine's

The other day a client walked into our shop and after admiring the flowers in our cooler, began asking questions such as “Do you buy local or is everything imported?”

I am proud to say that we do buy local. However, at this time of year, Ontario growers are faced with extremely cold temperatures which result in much higher costs to operate their greenhouses. Some local growers choose to keep the temperatures at a minimum, just enough to keep their plants from freezing, because the operational costs are more than what they can produce in the winter months. To grow a flower the average time period of sunlight hours is 6 weeks. As we all know, the sunlight we get in the winter months is also at a minimum. There is a big demand on flowers for peak holiday times such as Valentine’s, Easter and Mother’s Day and oftentimes local growers rely on that 6 week period in between holidays to rebuild their supply.

We are also a member, a buyer at the Ontario Flower Growers, which is a co-op, a combination of some 175 Ontario flower growers who supply “The Clock” (based on the Dutch Flower Auction system) with locally grown product. From here we attend the auction and purchase gerbera, tulips, snapdragons, chrysanthemums, carnations, not to mention various different types of flowers and plants that are grown in Ontario. The other great thing is, that our purchases are made in Mississauga, within the 100km radius of our shop.

There are times when we have to purchase other flowers, at this time of year, which come from other regions, such as California and Florida, and as far away as Holland, Israel, Africa and Australia, Columbia and Ecuador. Be assured that all of these flowers are purchased free trade and employees are paid fairly.

Whether you walk into our shop to make a purchase or if you check out our website, www.appleblossomflowers.com to order on our online site, you can be sure that the stock that we sell, is supporting local growers of flowers and plants and that you are assisting in the fair trade environment of flower production and its purchases. We appreciate questions asked by our clients because an educated consumer is our best customer.