Clare Florist Blog

Lest we Forget - an extract from Rudyard Kipling's poem.

Kerry Joyce — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

Trick of Treat weekend !

Kerry Joyce — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:39:44 +0000

This weekend brought the celebration of Halloween on October 31st. It's amazing to see how many adults are getting into the whole thing, or was it just because it was a Saturday night and a good excuse to act silly ?

It is believed that Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland's famine in the 1840's.
It's really a festival celebrating the end of the Summer and the start of the darker half of the year.
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the next became thin on this dates which allowed spirits to pass through. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks.
Ancient Celts would place a skeleton on their window sill to represent the departed. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body lanterns were carved from turnip .
The name Jack-o-lantern traces back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling , hard drinking old farmer, who was condemned by the Devil for tricking him, to forever wander the earth at night with only a candle in a hollowed turnip for light.
When the Irish went to America they carved pumpkins because they were more easily available than turnip.
Trick of treat is for the children on Halloween. Children go from house to house asking for treats. The word trick means the children will perform some mischief on the homeowners if no treat is given.
This is my daughter as a corpse bride, it was such a struggle to find rotting roses for the bouquet!

Maybe this mask should stay on ?

Floral Names

Kerry Joyce — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:33:11 +0000

Driving through the city last weekend I was looking at all the amazing colours upon the trees, especially when the sun was shinning.
It got me thinking about all the different varieties of trees we have here.

As we know floral names have always been popular for baby girls:
April, Bluebell, Daisy, Heather, Iris, Jasmine, Lily, Poppy and Violet to name but a few.
But now it seems that some people are choosing Tree names. However I think they are more suitable to baby boys names as they are more strong, sturdy and masculine.

Tree names suitable for boys:
Ash, Aspen, Beech, Birch, Cedar, Elm, Maple, Oak, Teak and Yew.
I really cant see these catching on - can you ?

These tree names would be good for girls :
Apple, Hazel, Cherry, Holly, Laurel, Myrtle, Olive and Willow.

Do you know any guys who would suit this name ? OAK ?

63 days till Christmas !!

Kerry Joyce — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:43:31 +0100

How scary that Christmas is only 63 days away!
The design team at Clare Florist have been busy working on a great range of Christmas designs for the past few weeks and have came up with some great new ideas.
Here is a sneaky preview of our Favourite Christmas Bouquet that will be on sale very soon.
In fact if you join up to our mailing list we will send you a special offer to allow you to purchase this particular bouquet at a fantastic price.

Prize Winners

Kerry Joyce — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:43:42 +0100

Every month we select a winner from our huge bundle of postcards that you send back to us with your fantastic positive comment.s
To be in with a chance of winning a bouquet worth £50.00 - its easy just fill out the card that arrives with your flowers and tell us what you think of your flowers, its all ready post paid so it wont cost you a penny.
Here are some examples of similar bouquets our lucky winners received over the Summer.
Pink Roses

Kim Hayden from Upminster in June

Pink Delight

Angela Cottrell from Chelmsford in July

Sensation Lillie's

Theresa Connor from York in August

Roses and Freesia

Emma Welsh from Birmingham in September

Beautiful British

Caralynn Shaw from Rochester in October

Bonsai Trees

Kerry Joyce — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:33:47 +0100

This week we launched our new range of Japanese Bonsai Trees. We have three different sizes to choose from and they have been aptly named.
Gafu meaning small, Komono meaning medium and Katade-Mochi meaning big.
These wonderful little trees make fantastic long lasting gifts and would look superb on a table or a desk, they guys at work just love them and get really excited about the horticulture of these interesting little plants.
Bonsai is the art of aesthetic miniaturisation of indoor and outdoor trees. Cultivation means a slow process of techniques for shaping, watering and re-potting in various styles.

We are Live !!!

Kerry Joyce — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:56:46 +0100

Last week seen the launch of new "live" on-line chat system. It's really been great and for those of you who love ordering from our website but maybe have a wee question that needs answered, it saves you having to pick up the phone.
There will always be someone from our experienced team ready to send the answer to your question whether it be an order enquiry, tracking information or just help deciding which of our fabulous bouquets you want to choose.
So don't delay, click away, let us know what you have to say ........

Amisfield Tower

Kerry Joyce — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:33:01 +0100

I had the great privilege of being invited by friends to stay at Amisfield Tower this past weekend.
We had great weather to enable us to enjoy the wonderful gardens and the splendid scenery.
Amisfield Tower was built around 1600. It has four stories and an attic, rich in corbelling and turrets.
The castle rooms have fine fire-places and evidence of tempera wall-painting.
The Victorian mansionhouse itself is amazing as are the gardens from which you see in the photos below.

Birthday Flowers!

Kerry Joyce — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:26:02 +0100

I thought it might be a good idea to drop a wee hint that it's my birthday this Thursday (so everyone here can be really nice to me) - and my favourite flowers are our Gerbera Gem Bouquet.
Hopefully I will come into a desk filled with flowers, cards and cakes :-)

Some little facts about Gerbera
1. There are several hundred varieties.
2. Growing in countries such as South America, Africa and Asia.
3. It was named in honor of the German doctor Traugott Gerber.
4. It is the 5th most popular cut flower in the world.
5. Commonly known as "African daisy"
6. The only colour NOT available is blue.
7. The plant is native to South Africa.

Kerryanne

Congratulations Polly !!

Kerry Joyce — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:26:26 +0100

One of our team members Polly recently got married on her home island of Harris.
Polly and Chris were really lucky with the weather as you can see in the photo.
The flowers arrived in the usual fashion via our Highland and Island courier Royal Mail Special Delivery service which had them shipped all the way up there by planes, trains and auto-mobiles in perfect condition. Well done Royal Mail.