“The desert has taught me to be more responsible for my designs, choosing plants and flowers that are drought tolerant, sustainable, and beautiful.  I like to think of my design aesthetic as eco-chic.”  ~ Colleen LaFleur

Colleen LaFleur of LaFleur Plantscapes + Fresh Flora in Tucson creates an eco-friendly centerpiece that keeps its cool in the summer heat. Visit flowermag.com to see more.

Certain varieties of dahlias can change appearance during their flowering.  Shown below is the “Coupe Soleil” which starts orange and gradually becomes white!

It is interesting about the daisy.  Many people adore them and consider them fun, refreshing and charming.  Others consider them less than quality “filler” flowers.  Our florists have found a wonderful alternative!

During summer months, try asking for Chamomile or Feverfew blossoms!

Floral Designer Simon Lycett rocked the world with gorgeous florals of the British Garden Pink, and delivered delicious arrangements good enough to eat, for British Flowers Week at New Covent Garden.

Modern garden pinks belong to the dianthus family of plants which are native to the mountains of Europe and Asia.

The Greek botanist Theophastus (371-287 BC) gave the dianthus it’s name: dios meaning divine and anthus meaning flower.

Pinks have been cultivated for hundreds of years, since before the time of Elizabeth I.  Pinks were known as feathered gillyflower in the 16th century.  They are referenced by Shakespeare in a Winter’s Tale.

Fascinating!  It seems that pink meaning flower predates pink meaning color!

Florists, supermarkets, and event planners throughout Southern California have chosen Flowerlink to be their provider of Los Angeles wholesale roses for a number of reasons.  

Flowerlink carries over 200 varieties of roses including spray roses, garden roses, and premium select hydrangea. All delivered directly to their clients no later than three days after they’ve been cut from the plant ensuring that their best days are ahead and not behind them.

Beyond their beauty and longevity, Flowerlink roses are grown under the strictest social and environmental standards.  They believe that the world’s best roses can be grown without damaging the earth that helps them flourish.

Ojai Valley Lavender Festival! June 28, 2014

Marks & Spencer ambassador, Twiggy, enjoying “Nature’s Hidden Heros” at

Chelsea Flower Show 2014.

It is said that the original parrot tulip was traded for property in Holland over 100 year ago.  A property that in today’s standards was worth several hundred thousand dollars!  Unfortunately, the plant died within a year, due to a virus which was cause of the unusual blooms.

Today we can enjoy these beautiful flowers for a great deal less, and, from the benefit of hybridization – not virus!

Sources include Small Hill Orchids, Spokane, WA.

Limes are used for nutrition, as medicine, and, for aesthetically pleasing accents.  But, have you noticed?  Limes have all but disappeared from your local grocer, corner store and flower markets.  Where have all the limes gone!

A case of limes used to cost as little as $30; prices have shot up to as high as $200. And the limes are smaller — golf-ball-size fruit that doesn’t produce much juice.

Mexico is now the world’s largest producer and exporter of limes, and provides some 95 percent of United States supplies. Generally, the lime harvest is smaller and prices are higher from January through March, but in November and December severe rains knocked the blossoms off lime trees in many areas, reducing lime exports to the United States by two-thirds. California, with just 373 acres, is now the largest domestic lime source — but it produces less than 1 percent of national consumption, and its season is late summer and fall, so it’s no help right now.

Other factors may also be squeezing the lime market. Since 2009 a bacterial disease that kills citrus trees, huanglongbing (HLB, also known as “greening”), has spread across many of Mexico’s lime-growing districts.

As a result of high prices and rampant lawlessness in some Mexican regions, criminals who may be linked to drug gangs are plundering fruit from groves and hijacking trucks being used for export.

All of this suggests an uncertain fate for limes, a fruit we’ve taken for granted for so long. This time the crisis is likely to be temporary. As new crops mature, prices should be back down near $30 by June, and there should be plenty of limes this summer.

Sources are NY Times and NY Post magazines.