All about flowers and gifts

In Roman times rose petals were used to flavor cooked brains, sweet marjoram flowers were baked in hash, and safflower petals were used for a boiled sauce.

Roses and violets were added to wine to enhance flavor. Later, in the Middle Ages, rose petals were used to flavor cakes, creams, and confectionery. Both orange blossom and rose petal water are flavorings made from flowers. Since the third and fourth centuries C.E., rose water has been made by steeping petals and then distilling the water.

Middle Eastern and Indian sweets such as shola, baklava, firni, and halvah are flavored with rose water. It is also used to flavor Middle Eastern beverages such as lassi and sherbet. Flower use varies from culture to culture and age to age.

While in America today roses are used more as a decoration than a flavoring, dried rosebuds are used as a condiment in Asian cookery. But in addition to their symbolic, cooking and spiritual uses, flowers are consumed for their healing properties.

Flowers from the great scarlet poppy contain alkaloids such as thebaine, which is a source of codeine. The unripe pods of opium poppies are used to make many alkaloids including morphine, thebaine, narcotine, and codeine.

The list of flowers used as medicine is extensive, and it includes arnica used as an anti-inflammatory analgesic and hawthorn used as an antispasmodic, cardiac, and vasodilator. The marsh mallow is a diuretic, antitussive, and demulcent.

Passionflowers are a sedative. Rosemary is used as a tonic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and astringent. And finally, due to their astringent qualities, some flowers, including nasturtiums, roses, and yarrow, are used as bath oils.

But in addition to their symbolic and spiritual uses, flowers are consumed for their healing properties. Flowers from the great scarlet poppy contain alkaloids such as the baine, which is a source of codeine. The unripe pods of opium poppies are used to make many alkaloids including morphine, thebaine, narcotine, and codeine.

The list of flowers used as medicine is extensive, and it includes arnica used as an anti-inflammatory analgesic and hawthorn used as an antispasmodic, cardiac, and vasodilator. The marsh mallow is a diuretic, antitussive, and demulcent. Passion flowers are a sedative. Rosemary is used as a tonic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and astringent. And finally, due to their astringent qualities, some flowers, including nasturtiums, roses, and yarrow, are used as bath oils.

Flowers are a symbol of life and a source of birth. For example, when placed on a wedding cake flowers signify new life, and at times of sickness and death they comfort the grieving.

During the Easter season the passion flower is a symbol of the holy passion, the suffering of Jesus Christ.

In ancient Greece the rose symbolized love, beauty, and happiness, and during the Roman era, roses were associated with Venus, the goddess of love. Edible flowers are used with various foods to mark events such as graduation, marriage, and retirement.

Christians associate flowers with Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Epiphany. States and nations have adopted flowers as emblems. For example, the emblem of the Netherlands is the edible tulip, and Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have adopted the violet as their state flower. Four states—Georgia, Iowa, New York, and North Dakota—have adopted roses. Florida adopted the orange blossom, and Hawaii the hibiscus.

Floral symbolism became very popular in England during the Victorian period. It was a way to assign meaning to an object that was both secretive and creative. Indeed, an entire language of floral symbolism sprung up. This language was adopted from a Turkish one, and became known colloquially as sending a “Persian Selam.”

 So, flowers always something symbolized and you can voluntarily or not express your feelings when present your bouquet.

It is not an very easy to make your garden bloom in the winter  time. But with some persistence and proper watering techniques it is possible to add some brigth colors to all of the grey and brown that comes with winter. The winter flowers make us realize that spring is not far away.

Wintersweet tree

Wintersweet is a fitting name, for the flowers appear all winter on the mature plants, and are renowned for their fragrance; whole stems are often being cut for attractive indoor arrangements. The small waxy blooms are light-yellow with brownish-purple inner petals. The blooms are produced on the bare branches of older bushes and it takes a juvenile plant a few years to settle down to flowering. It is best grown on a warm sheltered wall in full sun, behind other plants which provide color once the wintersweet has finished flowering.

Witch Hazel

They are popular ornamental plants, grown for their clusters of rich yellow to orange-red flowers which begin to expand in the autumn as or slightly before the leaves fall, and continue throughout the winter. Depending on the variety, they begin to blossom from early January to mid-February. Not all the varieties are fragrant, so if you are sure you want fragrance check that it has scented flowers before you buy.

The leaves also colour well in autumn for added interest. Plants look good when grouped with shrubs that have provide blooming flowers or scent during the winter.

 Common holly

The native holly tree has bright red berries (found only on female plants), and shiny evergreen leaves. It grows as a shrub or tree, and has a narrow, conical crown and smooth silver-greyish bark. The fragrant male and female flowers are found on separate trees; they occur in clusters, and are white in colour.

Other winter blooming flowers will brighten those gray days. Most are bulbs: tulips, daffodils, freesia, native iris and hyacinths.  They bloom at different times during the winter so something is always going on in that bed.

 Camellias have a long bloom period. Some sorts start in late November or early December and continue into April.

 If you want to add brigth colors to your garden and home you can always make it with winter blooming flowers.

There is a special language of colours, and it is possible to use it for transfer of certain additional data to that to whom we give them. For example, « I love you (do not love) », « I trust you (do not trust)» «remember (forget) me ».

People use speaking flowers to transfer their feelings to loved ones. There flower language even has own name - to "Selam" on the East. With a unique, patented embossing technology, Speaking Roses makes it easy to say “I Love You”, without even saying a word.

Their cutting edge technology allows customers to create a personalized gift for any occasion, by sending roses embossed with special messages and images.

Every order is personalized to fit that special someone, from the colour of the roses to the message to the floral arrangement. Your special Speaking Roses will ship right to your loved one’s door.

Speaking Roses will help you make the best choice in roses using their language of Flowers concept. Each rose colour has a different meaning; red for romance, yellow for friendship, white for loyalty and so on. Using their guide, you can find the most suitable flower for the message you want to send. Have them embossed with “Kiss Me”, “I Love You” or “Happy Holiday! , and you’ll be sure to make that special someone smile. Speaking Roses will make sure that the people you value most are very well aware of just how much you care.