Flower and Gift Article Archives

Brant Florist is Burlington's top wedding flower shop when it comes to Bridal Flowers, Boutonnières, Corsages, Hair Flowers, Wedding Cake Flowers, Wedding Table Centerpieces, Church and Hall Flowers. As one of Ontario's most trusted wedding florists, we have been designing wedding flowers for brides in the Burlington weddings, Oakville weddings, Hamilton weddings and Niagara Falls weddings for over 40 years! We take great pride in helping brides on their special day. We do everything we can to make your wedding flowers everything you imagine. We appreciate that your wedding flowers are a special part of your wedding day and we want them to be perfect for you.

We are a full service wedding florist - we do it all - from engagement party flowers, rehearsal dinner flowers to wedding and reception flowers. We have worked with thousands of brides and their families and strive to make your wedding day exceptional and beyond your expectations. Working with other wedding professionals - we service a large part of the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe, and we work at the most popular wedding locations in the area.

We custom design all your wedding flowers - corsages to match your wedding colours. Hair flowers to suit your hair and bridal veil, wedding cake flowers to compliment your wedding cake, boutinieres for grooms men. We want your wedding flowers to be as unique as you are.

Same with wedding decorations and wedding flowers - wedding flowers for the ceremony, church flowers, pew bows, hoopah, balloons and other wedding ceremony decorations decorations. We design wedding reception flowers that compliment your wedding colours and style. Beautiful and custom designed table centrepieces for every style and budget.

Because of the personal nature we do not accept Internet orders for wedding flowers or bridal bouquets. However, we are happy to help you with your wedding flowers. Please phone us at 1-877-545-5535 or email us at inquiries@brantflorist.com for all wedding flower inquiries. We would be pleased to discuss your wedding flower and bridal bouquet plans and ideas.
You are also welcome to come into our shop located in Burlington. Because of the time involved we prefer you schedule an appointment by calling or emailing us, and start making your wedding day dreams come true!

Sending Sympathy Flowers or Floral Tribute

Sending sympathy flowers or floral tribute to funeral home or memorial service or sending sympathy flowers or planter to a home are appropriate ways of expressing condolences to the family of the deceased. Flowers can express a feeling of life and beauty and are the traditional way of expressing sympathy to a friend or family member  who has lost a loved one.

Send Sympathy Fruit Basket

An popular alternative to flowers is to send sympathy fruit basket or a gourmet basket. This is a tasteful and appropriate way to show your condolences. Send sympathy fruit basket to residence.

Floral Tribute

A floral tribute is a flower arrangement that is sent to a funeral home. Standing Sprays, Flower Crosses and Floral wreaths are also sent to funeral home. If you send sympathy flowers to a residence then typically a flowering plant, planter or a small vase of fresh flowers is suggested. When you send sympathy flowers or floral tribute to funeral home an identification card with personal message can be placed on the floral tribute. At the funeral home the cards are removed from the floral tributes and given to the family.

Sympathy Cards

Expressing sympathy with a card is always appropriate. It will mean a great deal to the family. Include a personal note with your card- such as: "I'm sorry to learn of your personal loss"

Making a Memorial Donation

A memorial contribution, to charity or specific cause is an alternative to sympathy flowers. There a several memorial funds available and most families will express a preference. If in doubt you can call the funeral home handling arrangements. If recognized as a charitable institution, some gifts may be deductible for tax purposes. The funeral director will be familiar with these and can explain each option.

Fresh Cut flowers have different life spans. Alstromeria, Daisies and Carnations, for example, can remain vibrant for longer periods. Roses have a shorter life, but are prized for their special and delicate beauty. Here are some tips that will allow you to enjoy your fresh flowers longer.

- Vases and arrangements should not be never on electrical appliances such as televisions and stereos this can dry them out. Your flowers will last longer in areas that are moderate in humidity.

- Use the floral food provided with your fresh flowers. Please read direction on package for amounts. The floral food will also help ward off bacteria. Keeping flowers fed and reducing bacteria will help your floral arrangements last longer.

- Keep away from heat or extreme cold (65-72 degrees Fahrenheit), Keep away from direct sunlight, heating or cooling vents and direct drafts from ceiling fans. Heat will shorten the life of any fresh flowers- keeping them in moderate temperatures helps your floral arrangement last longer.

- Water should be added to baskets and containers daily. Use warm water. Warm water has less oxygen in it and will lessen chances of air bubble being trapped in stem. Giving your fresh flowers clean water regularly will keep them lasting much longer.

- Vase water should be added to daily and changed often with stems being re-cut to increase longevity. You flowers need a constant supply of fresh, clean water. Giving them fresh water keeps floral arrangements lasting longer.

- If water becomes cloudy, replace it entirely. If possible, re-cut them by removing one to two inches. Remove leaves that are are below the waterline. Rotting leaves will contaminate water and also shorten life. Clean water is essential - keep the water clean and you will enjoy your fresh flowers longer!

Surprise the love of your life with beautiful bouquet of Valentines Day Flowers ordered online through our website and delivered same day (next day International delivery).
Valentines doesn't have to be expensive. We offer a wide selection of inexpensive Valentines Flowers. Some people are looking for Cheap Valentines Flowers or Discount Valentines Flowers or low priced Valentines Flowers and yes we do carry some of lower priced arrangements for the budget conscious. Although lower priced, rest assured they are still beautiful fresh flowers sure to please. Although Valentines Red Roses are the traditional gift given on St. Valentine's Day, but they're certain to be well-received any time of year!

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
- Henry David Thoreau

Never close your lips to those whom you have opened your heart.
- Charles Dickens

May the love you share be as timeless as the tides and as deep as the sea.
- Anonymous

To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
- Mark Twain

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
- Hellen Keller

Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.
- John Keats

Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned.
- William Butler Yeats

Love is the mortar that holds the human structure together.
- Karen Casey

He is not a lover who does not love forever.
- Euripides

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.
- Elizabeth Bowen

Other men said they have seen angels,
But I have seen thee
And thou art enough.
- G. Moore

Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.
- Elynor Glyn

If you live to be a hundred,
I want to live to be a hundred minus a day
So I don't have to live a day without you.
- Winnie the Pooh

Real love stories never have endings.
- Richard Bach

Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
- Oscar Wilde

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.
- Elizabeth Bowen

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world Is a woman's heart.
- Josiah G. Holland

Love is not a matter of counting the years ... But making the years count.
- Michelle Amand

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
- Henry Drummond

Love is a look that linketh noble minds, Faith is the key that shuts the spring of Love.
- Robert Greene

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To love is to know the sacrifices which eternity exacts from life.
- John Oliver Hobbes

Love consists in desiring to give what is our own to another and feeling his delight as our own.
- Swedenborg

Love is a beautiful dream.
- William Sharp

Those who love deeply never grown old; they may die of old age, but they die young.
- Arthur Wing Pinero

We were two and had but one heart.
- Francois Villon

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
- Samuel Butler

I have learned not to worry about love; But to honor its coming with all my heart.
- Alice Walker

I love you - those three words have my life in them.
- Alexandrea to Nicholas III

I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion.
I have shudder'd at it.
I shudder no more.
I could be martyr'd for my religion.
Love is my religion.
And I could die for that.
I could die for you.
- John Keats

Real love is a permanently self-enlarging experience. Falling in love is not.
- M. Scott Peck

Love vanquishes time. To lovers, a moment can be eternity, eternity can be the tick of a clock.
- Mary Parrish

Love cures people, the ones who receive love and the ones who give it too.
- Karl A Menninger

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
- David Viscott

It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist.
- Muriel Spark

Quarrels in France strengthen a love affair, in America they end it.
- Ned Rorem

Let those love now who never loved before; Let those who always loved, now love the more.
- Thomas Parnell

Black Flowers: Introducing the Rarest of Colors

Black flowers have long had a mystical and alluring appeal that has attracted noble and commoner alike, and been the subject of search of many explorers. Botanists and gardeners strive for centuries to breed the perfect black flower, with any success however remote usually fetching a considerably-high price on the market.

Whether black flowers were considered to have ties with the occult, with faith or with merely looking impressive, the popularity that they once enjoyed has remained to this day at full force. They show no sign of becoming less-so, especially since botanists and scientists are able to come up with new and beautiful varieties at a rapid pace.

It may interest you to know, then, that despite the popularity and great effort put into growing black flowers that they don't actually exist. That's right, there is no such thing as a truly black flower. Instead, what we call a flower is actually the result of a high concentration of pigmentation in the blossoms. A black rose is in fact a very dark red rose. A black tulip, dark purple.

Growing a flower from the seed with the intent of making it black is a technique that even master gardeners find it difficult to excel at, with much trial and error being required to produce results. Geneticists have more luck manipulating the genes of the plant themselves to coax the creation of black flowers, but they remain mere concentrations of pigment and aren't truly black at all.

Where to Buy Black Flowers

Since, unless you are a master botanist with great experience, it is nearly impossible to grow black flowers, it is necessary instead to purchase them from a florist or garden center if you desire them for your home or garden.

The garden center won't offer many varieties of black flowers, and indeed you may have to settle with a dark purple that is still visibly purple from up close. The effect of extremely dark blossoms will still be had, however, and can make a worthy addition to any garden.

Your local florist may carry certain varieties, although they are not the most common types to have around. You may need to order them specifically, especially if at short notice. Fortunately, online ordering can let you do this without having to stop by their shop, and can save you some time if you are pressed for it.

Where to Enjoy Black Flowers

The best place to enjoy black flowers is in your home or in your garden. Whether alone or combined with other colors and varieties, they will add a touch of elegance and mystery to whichever room or garden they are placed in.

We recommend a vase for the coffee table in your living or sitting room, or perhaps matching ones for the end tables if you have them. A mantelpiece bouquet is a popular creation as well, and one definitely worth considering.

Black flowers, specifically fresh tulips or roses, can be great in the bedroom to create a certain sensual ambiance that won't be lost on you or your spouse or partner. Always use a white vase to complement the striking vibrancy of the blossoms, although black also works well if required.

Artificial silk flowers are a great option if you have difficulty finding live specimens. The fact that they neither age nor wilt means that your purchase will be around as long as you are, and won't require frequent replacement.

In your garden it is best to keep black flowers in highly-visible sunny areas (so long as their species is not of a shade-loving variety). They will likely be the highlight of everything you've planted, so arranging other colors and species to enhance the presence and appearance will help to draw and keep the eyes of friends, family and anyone who stops by for a neighborly chat over the fence.

One additional place to view black flowers is a botanical garden, if your city happens to have one. You will more than likely find at least one display featuring them, and can enjoy the fact that they have been arranged in a professional manner to create patterns and combinations everyone will love.

Black Flowers: Concluding Information

Black flowers, with their historical appeal and dark, mysterious beauty, are perfect for both the home and garden. If you are wondering what species to choose for your home based on geographical location, or would merely like to look at various blooms for enjoyment, the Internet or local library are excellent resources.

If you are interested in growing black flowers yourself, there are many botany courses that you can take which would arm you with the ability to do so. To engineer them, you'll probably need a degree in genetic biology, which is unfortunately a little harder to come by... although greatly rewarding.

If you're looking to add some color to your life - check out the different types of flowers Brant Florist sells.