Flower Of The Week – Peony

May20

Fragrant and beautiful. The peony is a native flower of Asia, Southern Europe and Western North America. Available locally during the spring and early summer. Peonies have many different varieties and colors. They are remembered most for the soft fragrance, the manner in which it opens and their size. Most people believe that the ants that seem to cover the buds are helping the flower bloom, this is a common myth, the ants are attracted to a sweet nectar that the buds produce. Read more here

We generally have peonies locally in time for Mother’s day and for a few weeks after. This year however, they are late blooming with the crazy weather we’ve been having causing the delay. The local peonies are finally starting to burst open, and they are everywhere. Be on the lookout for these fragrant beauties while your out and about.

Photo Courtesy of Greenhousebed.com

If you’re not familiar with the Peony, it’s not to late to take this wonderful opportunity to experience them for yourself! You won’t be disappointed.

Perfect Peonies
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Flower Of The Week – Corsages and Boutonnières

Apr22

This week we’re changing up our “Flower Of The Week” a little to introduce our new line of corsages and boutonnieres.

We are so excited to be introducing the newest addition to our corsage line. We now offer beautiful fashion bracelets to accent your corsage as well as a large assortment of jeweled accents, rhinestones, pearl sprays, glitzy ribbon and even feather accents.

You’ve selected the perfect dress now let us help you create a glamours corsage! There are so many flowers to choose from, so call us and consult with our expert design staff to make your corsage a one of a kind dream come true. Do you want your corsage to be hip, funky, different or just plain you? Email us a photo of the dress (CustomerService@BellFlowers.com) and we will contact you with custom ideas just for your special night. Want to see some recent corsages we’ve made? Check out our new Prom page, dedicated to showcasing our custom creations!

Flower Of The Week – Lilac

Apr15

Lilac is a favorite of the designers here at Bell Flowers. It’s a spring blooming shrub that adds a wonderful fragrance to fresh cut flower arrangements. There are about 20-25 varieties, that bloom throughout the spring. Colors range from the most popular purple or “Lilac” to white, dark purple, blue and light pink. The shrubs can grow to over twenty feet tall and require very little care. As a cut flower, Lilac are just like any other bloom. They need a drink of fresh warm water right after cutting and then a fresh trimming every few days, in order to allow the flower to drink. With the right care these beautiful blooms will emit an intoxicating fragrance for up to three weeks. We just got our first shipment of lilac from California last week, and expect to have it each week though the middle of May.

Fun fact, Lilac is the state flower of New Hampshire!

(Photo from statesymbolsusa.org)

Think Flowers… Think Bell

Flower Of The Week – Tulip

Apr9

We’re back with our Flower Of The Week! We’ve been super busy with the re-location of our flower shop. Now that we’re settled and gorgeous designs are flying out the door, we’re back to talk flowers!

Tulips are the perfect spring flower! These bulb flowers are available as cut flowers from December until the middle of May. They begin as bulbs that are planted in the ground in the late summer and early fall, and slowly begin to sprout through the ground and bloom as the weather gets warmer. With many different colors and styles tulips are a great accent to any cut flower arrangement.

Did you know that once the tulip stem is cut from the bulb, and put it in water it will continue to grow another inch or two! Sometimes the tulips will arrive and appear to be “droopy”. This is normal after a few hours of drinking and being in warm temperatures they will begin to stand up and their blooms will start to open.

Besides being a beautiful spring bloom, the tulip is well know for the crash of the Dutch economy in the mid 1600′s, know as “Tulip Mania”. “By the peak of tulipmania in February of 1637, a single tulip bulb was worth about ten times a craftsman’s annual income…”

The National Park Service plants hundreds of thousands of bulbs each year. They even have a garden called the “tulip library”. “Nearly 100 varieties of tulips can be seen in one location called the tulip library near the north side of the Tidal Basin between the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.” Read more about the National Park Service bulb planting by clicking here.

Think Flowers… Think Bell

Bell Flowers – New Location

Mar27

As we celebrate our 66^th year in Silver Spring we are proud to announce that Bell Flowers has re-located to a larger facility at 8947 Brookville Rd Silver Spring, MD 20910 effective Monday March 25, 2013. Our phone number, fax number and website will remain the same.

Millions of designs went out of our Georgia Avenue building. Some great relationships and memories were made during the 65 years we called it home. We plan on servicing the Washington DC metro area for another 65 years, and creating lots of new relationships and memories at our Brookville Road location.

The new space will better serve our growing business, and we will continue to offer pick up service for designs that have been pre-ordered.

We will continue to provide the highest quality products and unmatched customer service everyday!

Think Flowers… Think Bell

Flower Of The Week – Cherry Blossom

Mar18

It’s Cherry blossom Time!

One of the fun things about living in the Washington DC area is the Cherry blossom Festival. (We all know it’s not the traffic) This year’s festival is March 20- April 14^th with peak bloom time being March 26 – March 30. Peak bloom is defined as when 70% if the blossoms are open. The Festival commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington DC, and honors the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan.

Think Flowers… Think Bell

Flower Of The Week – Hydrangea

Mar11

Hydrangeas are an interesting flower, they are one of the few flowers that change color based on the pH level of the soil. Once the weather starts to get cooler, most hydrangea will start to “antique”. They will change from their vibrant colors in the spring to darker reds, mauves, ambers and some will include hints of green. The antique hydrangea is usually available as a cut flower in late September or early October.

Antique Hydrangea

Just like last weeks post, there are a large number of varieties of hydrangea as well. But there are two well known varieties. The mophead hydrangea, which is the most popular in the cut flower industry, is the large round head and is available wide range of colors, this lends itself to a wide variety of uses in floral designs.

The beautiful purple hydrangea in this design really makes the other colors pop!

The beautiful purple mophead hydrangea in this design really makes the other colors pop!

Beautiful blue mophead hydrangea

The lace-cap hydrangea are more popular in gardens. Their unique blooms are flatter than the popular mophead, and have inner flowers that are surrounded by beautiful single blooms. They are a great bloom to use in a DIY flower arrangement right from your garden. Cut a few stems of lace cap hydrangea, and accent it with other garden flowers such as roses, iris, tulips, and daffodils. It’s a great way to bring the garden inside.

The lace cap hydrangea adds unique blooms to your garden.

Lace cap hydrangea

Other varieties of hydrangea include oakleaf, and PeeGee hydrangea. These two, like the lace cap, are more popular plants for your garden rather than a fresh cut flower arrangement, but still make great DIY garden designs.

The oakleaf variety is a long dramatic bloom with large white flowers and buds, like the lace cap. It also changes colors as it ages. It goes from a vibrant white to a reddish-pink color in the fall. The blooms get dryer and eventually fall off as the seasons change from fall to winter.

This oakleaf hydrangea is absolutely stunning!

This hydrangea plant is absolutely stunning! You can see why they call this one an “oakleaf”.

A lovely white oakleaf shrub

Until next week…

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It’s Cherry blossom Time!

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