| Gardener shares the power of flowers
With Valentine's Day around the corner, it is time to look at a few flowers that are grown for cutting.
I recently interviewed Amy Stewart, author of "Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers" (Algonquin Books, $23.95). Stewart has traveled the world looking at how and where the flowers in your holiday bouquets might come from, giving her a keen insight into the cut-flower industry.
Stewart is an avid gardener in Eureka, Calif., where she enjoys growing different kinds of plants. "I have a chilly Pacific Northwest climate, and I can garden almost all year round. I grow mostly flowers and some vegetables and perennial herbs," she said.
.
BOOK REVIEW: Roses are black, violets are blue
There is a certain mystique associated with the search for a black rose, but here the luxury of gorgeous photographs of dark blooms and historical drawings reaching back centuries illuminates the course followed by botanists and rose breeders toward attaining that elusive prize. One hundred illustrations portray contemporary floral arrangements in Baccarat crystal vases and close-up shots of currently available roses, including "Velvet Fragrance" and "Raven" bred by Gareth Fryer. An entire section is dedicated to recent black roses, and another to miniatures. Topics covered include a history of breeders, illustrators, scents, textures and deceptions. There are some interesting observations included here for those who want to know more about varieties of roses. The text, however, is difficult to read; the book was translated from the original Dutch, and although the ideas are interesting, it is obvious that the translator could not attain an easy flow in the English language.
Bold bouquet of faux flowers can brighten up any room
But the recent cold snap in California nipped fresh floral supplies and sent prices soaring. No worries. You can get some of the same splendor from artificial poppies, gladioluses and hydrangeas.
In recent years, artificial floral manufacturers have worked to make their products look more natural, with attractive, life-like stems and carefully crafted blooms.
"There is a lot of new technology that is making the flowers so much more realistic," says Jerry Danekas, the creative director for Select Artificials, a permanent botanical distributor in St. Louis. "Before, they would use the same kind for fabric for every kind of flower. Now, we're really paying attention to detail in hand-painting, veining and texture. Some of the flowers are coated to give them more of a tactile quality." .
Giant rose also packs price punch
If love were an arms race, the wooer would now have the floral equivalent of a ballistic missile: a 6-foot rose from Ecuador. Delivered in a 78-inch box emblazoned "The World's Tallest Rose," the ultimate long-stemmed rose is up to 72 inches long and capped with a furled and individually wrapped crimson bud 3 inches high and almost as wide. Regular long-stemmed roses, by contrast, are about 28 inches long with a bud an inch and a half wide. As with true love, the price of these "extreme roses" is not for the faint of heart. Expect to pay $249.95 for a dozen, plus $59.95 for priority shipping. A conventional bouquet will typically cost between $70 and $90 in advance of Valentine's Day next week, the peak period for cut-rose sales and prices. "People who are giving flowers want to make an impression, and this is the ultimate impression you can make," said Gerald Prolman, whose online flower company, Organic Bouquet, is selling the tall roses as part of an exclusive arrangement with grower Roberto Nevado.
|
