Halloween flowers can make a great addition to your October 31 celebrations. A couple of weeks ago, we suggested a few ideas to help you dress up your home with beautiful flowers for Halloween. It’s not too late to order Halloween flowers, but if you’re going to go ahead, now would be a good time. Substituting flowers is a last resort for us (take a read of our substitution policy sometime), but our florists do all need to plan ahead to create your Halloween flowers.

Halloween flowers: Choose golds, yellows and bronzes

As a reminder, yellow-colored roses are a popular choice for Halloween flowers. They have two things going from them (aside from their sheer beauty, of course): First, they are bright and sunny, a warming color for late fall days; and second, they have no romantic connotations at all. They’re safe and pretty to decorate your porch or form an attractive table centerpiece.

Lilies, gerberas and sunflowers also come in “Halloween” colors. You can add red tones for a little fire to go with your Halloween ghosts and ghouls. We can still arrange same-day delivery of your Halloween flowers if you order by 1 p.m. local time where flowers are to be delivered, but the earlier you order, the better.

Order Halloween flowers now for the best results

Whether you want to order Halloween flowers or flowers for a Halloween birthday, we have you covered with our generous guarantee and bilingual customer service. We send Halloween flowers to cities through the Americas and, increasingly, to Asia and Europe too. You and your loved ones must be 100 percent satisfied with our garden-fresh, gorgeous blooms — or we’ll work with you until you are.

That’s just part of the daFlores difference and we look forward to serving you with amazing Halloween flowers.

Now, daFlores doesn’t sell Halloween costumes (there are times when the thought crosses our minds, but we do believe in focusing on what we’re best at). But we look out every year and see amazing flower-themed costumes, both home-made and store-bought. Our Halloween flowers lean towards gold, bronze and yellow, but there are no such restrictions in flower-themed costumes. Here are a few that we’ll describe for your Halloween fun. Give you some ideas? We’re all for turning people into fans of flowers!

The classic flower costume: The kid (or, sometimes, adult) waddles around in a green foam tube. Either the hands stick out of holes or sleeves masquerade as leaves. Sometimes, you see this variant in green fabric, allowing a bit more flexibility of movement. A home-made version could easily be crafted from green leggings and a green shirt, plus maybe a bit of fabric for the leaves. In the commercial version, the head is surrounded by a big cheerful flower. At home, that same effect could be built from green-painted cardboard or stiffened fabric. Ever seen a kid dressed up as a peanut or slice of pizza outside a mall, swinging a sign? You get the idea.

Bumble bee: We’ve never seen a homemade one of these. These foam outfits are rather bulky, cheerful and unusual. The kid usually has cheeks painted with big red circles, though no bee we’ve ever seen has such an embellishment. Either way, this sweet yellow-and-black striped costume is topped with curly antennae and a big, happy grin. With tongue firmly in cheek, we also reckon kids learn coordination by compensating for their sticking-out bustles…or should that be buzzles?

Flower power: Often seen on adults, some of whom we suspect aren’t really in costume, flower power outfits feature flares, long hair (sometimes wigs), big, loud sunglasses and bright colors. These hippie types wear headbands, floral patches or tie-dye. Guitars are a common accessory, though they’re not too great for collecting candy. Whether these costumes are fact or fiction, we at daFlores appreciate anyone who appreciates flowers!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our ever-so-whimsical look at flower-themed costumes. DaFlores can’t do the costumes, but we can bring you bright, beautiful and lovely Halloween flowers to decorate your home and cheer your loved ones. Happy Halloween!

We at daFlores.com love flower shows. Flower shows are fun, brimming with color and beautiful ideas. Last week, Greater Youngstown Area’s Garden Forum had its two-day flower show at the local visitor center. This is wedding season, so featured heavily here were displays of wedding flowers and other innovative designs. We at daFlores.com can supply the flowers for your wedding too, delivered to the door.

Our sprays of white and pink roses, lilies and other delicate delights provide tasteful accents for your special day. Each bouquet is lovingly handcrafted by experts, and constructed with the care that you need and have come to expect. We have bouquets for a bride and lovely designs that you can use to decorate an altar or center table. Need a formal setting for a bachelorette dinner? Look into our vases and pre-arranged options. You can even use flowers to thank your bridesmaids, new mother-in-law and other key people. How convenient is that?

The Garden Forum holds about five shows a year, which means it takes its blooms seriously. We at daFlores do that too, not just five times a year but every single day. We’re not noted for displaying our goods in flower shows, though; we’d rather hand-craft our beauties and send them to your loved ones! Whether you need flower deliveries for birthdays, anniversaries or to cheer someone up, we have the options you need. Choose the country and language you need, then browse our selections until you find something that’ll do the trick.

Choose daFlores for all your wedding and other floral needs, and you’ll never be disappointed. Lilies, baby’s breath and tender roses…we have them all, and all were growing fresh the morning of delivery. Pick daFlores for your special day, then sit back and relax as our experts look after you.

A story about the Callaway Gardens in Georgia caught our attention: One of the people featured in the article said that, in spring, the azaleas had “colors to knock your socks off.” Colors to knock your socks off is something we provide when you send flowers to Colombia, Mexico and beyond. Our garden-fresh flowers were growing the morning we arranged them, and we won’t work with partner florists unless they promise that level of freshness. It’s how daFlores can keep on promising that your flower  delivery will last at least a week.

Callaway Gardens opened in 1952. The founder, Cason Callaway, was a textiles millionaire and figured that all children should be able to see something so beautiful they’d never forget it. He donated 2,500 acres of land and got started on a huge park that had azalea gardens, a variety of different habitats and even a golf course or two. Since then, it’s grown to 13,000 acres.

At daFlores.com, we  want to provide you and the world with that level of beauty. We’re not in the business of building gardens, but we are in the business of filling your homes with gorgeous, colorful blooms. Whatever the occasion, birthday, anniversary or just-because, we have the yellows, pinks and purples you require. Vivid sunflowers, delicate pink lilies and a host of roses from snow white to blood red (not to mention peach, lilac, orange and yellow) are all at your fingertips.

Callaway Gardens is a four-season park. We are a four-season florist. We deliver flowers for every major holiday and quite a few minor ones too. From Christmas poinsettias to Easter-time lilies, daFlores is your source for satisfaction-guaranteed color, beauty and freshness. And, while you have to visit the gardens yourself, with a daFlores.com flower delivery, those beautiful garden flowers come straight to your door.

Do you know where tea comes from? We do. It’s derived from the leaves of the tea camellia plant, Camellia sinensis. That plant first graced our shores in the 1600s, but wasn’t cultivated here until much later. Even here at daFlores that heritage is apparent: in a few of our gift baskets you’ll find sachets of gourmet tea!

We suppose that the ornamental versions would have gotten here sooner or later, but mixed in with those early tea camellias were a few that you couldn’t drink and it’s those, like Camellia japonica, that became beloved of growers in the warmer states.

Camellias flower brightly in pinks, whites, purples and mix-and-match. They grow tall and vine beautifully, which means you can train them into living fences. These gorgeous flowers come in simple forms and big, fluffy, many-petaled forms that look a bit like carnations. They also need a bit of warmth, so they grow just beautifully in Alabama.

Over the years, growers have perfected thousands of varieties of camellias. Some are cold hardy enough to survive zone 5 or 6 winters, but mostly they nestle in temperate to warm areas. There’s even a camellia society and growers who list hundreds of “introductions.”

Not all flowers are really suitable for bouquets. At daFlores, we guarantee that our flowers will last for a year, and camellias are too delicate to withstand such a promise. That doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the huge variety of flowers around us.

If you need a stunning bouquet for a loved one, we can always help with that. Our all-occasion offerings pair with seasonal gifts for Valentine’s Day and the holidays – among others. And we work only with the best florists who commit to a high standard of quality and experience. Whether you want to send flowers to Alabama or any of our dozens of additional countries, daFlores is the place to come.

Go out into the desert and you’ll quickly realize that, while everything looks the same from a distance, there’s a huge variety of plants when you get up-close and personal. However, with the cholla cactus, you might wish to keep a respectful distance while admiring this interesting plant.

Cholla, pronounced “cho-ya,” look a little like trees in that they have a variety of thin branches. These branches look a little furry but, close up, you realize that the fur is very prickly. (In fact, the prickly pear is also a type of cholla, but we’ll talk about that another day.)

There are around 20 chollas in the opuntia, or cactus,  family. They are special in that their spines, called glochids, have a papery covering that is colored red or yellow. You really, really don’t want to brush up against a cholla and, if you have a dog, keep him safely on a leash around these plants. The spines comes off at the drop of a hat and quickly lodge in your skin. In fact, one of the reasons the jumping cholla is so called is that the spines appear to “jump” at you!

The cylindrical stems of most chollas are, upon closer inspection, jointed. These joints are multi-tasking: they produce flowers, store water and feed the plant through photosynthesis (the spines on any cactus are actually desert-adapted leaves).

There appears to be a cholla for every occasion. They grow in most western deserts, down low and up as high as eight thousand feet. They grow together in clusters. You might be able to find out information about flowering times through Bureau of Land Management or National Park Service offices. The range is from April to June, usually, and you’ll see these inhospitable-looking plants bloom orange or yellow-green.

DaFlores.com doesn’t sell cacti in any shape or form. But we do appreciate each blossom for what it is: a precious thing that’s utterly beautiful. Each year, we shape thousands of blooms into exquisite arrangements so you can tell your loved ones Happy Birthday, Get Well Soon or just plain, “Hello.” We work with only the best local florists to bring you flower arrangements across the globe…even in the Southwest. Send flowers to the Dominican Republic or any other country in the Americas with daFlores.com

It’s sometimes hard to let go of the summer, with its bright colors and warm, relaxing weather. But the Fall has its charms too, in the gorgeous shades of falling leaves, the golds and oranges that usher in winter holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just round the corner, but if you’re feeling a bit blue, why not celebrate the season with beautiful flowers?

The official start of Fall is September 21, but nature doesn’t listen to humanity’s “official” dates. Any time the weather is getting colder and your thoughts turn to warm drinks, you can consider it Fall.

There are two approaches you can take when adding fall flowers to your home: Either bring Fall in and welcome it, or stave it off a little longer with some brighter colors.

Golds, yellows, oranges and bronzes are your traditional fall colors, echoing what’s going on indoors. Set against a warming candle or next to a carved pumpkin, fall-themed flowers from daFlores add natural cheer. Just the act of receiving a delightful decoration will make your loved ones smile. Look to orange roses, sunflowers and our special Fall arrangements for this gift.

But if you want to brighten up the cold, then try something different. We still have sunflowers, lilies, fiery tropical flowers and rich red roses. Choose those warm colors to bring light to a table and your family’s faces. Send these flowers just because, or to bless a Fall birthday or other celebration. Just because winter is taking away your garden, doesn’t mean that you should live without flowers.

No matter what you choose, daFlores will look after you from beginning to end. On our website, pick your language from several choices, then select the country where you’ll be sending your beautiful Fall flowers. You can make your selections based on price or occasion. Add extras like vases or chocolates if you wish. Then fill out the details and we’ll arrange for an experienced florist to hand-craft your flowers and deliver them to the door.

No matter what the season, we at daFlores only ever use flowers that were growing fresh that morning. Send flowers for Fall and celebrate life in a beautiful way.

Meaning of Pink Roses by daFlores.com

Around 150 species of roses, in the rosa family, exist in nature. Early roses tended to be pink, white and magenta and they grow all over the northern hemisphere. It’s believed that the Chinese were the first to cultivate roses, something like five thousand years ago. The Romans also liked them, growing these flowers in the Middle East. Not only were they decorative, they were used as confetti, to brew medicine, and for perfume. Romans even started public rose gardens in the south of Rome.

Medicinal uses

In Persia, what we know now as Iran, rose oil and oil of attar were made from damask roses. These were highly sought-after commodities. The Greeks scented olive oil to use as perfume, as disease repellents and to bless their dead. Rosa gallica officinalis cropped up for the first time in the 1200s, and was turned into all sorts of powders and potions to cure all sorts of ills. (It probably didn’t do much good, but at least it smelled better than most medicine.)

Roses as money

In the seventeenth century, roses became popular enough to be counted as legal tender. They were used for rose water, perfume and just as flowers. You could actually barter with roses and pay bills with them. Josephine, Napoleon’s wife, established a huge rose garden at Chateau de Malmaison, near Paris.

What about pink roses?

Pink roses, the large blossoms that we tend to think of today, didn’t start to emerge until the late eighteenth century. Rose breeders started hybridizing natural roses to see what they could come up with. Well, we all know the answer to that one!

The color “rose” is a gentle pink. “Rosy-cheeked” implies health and vigor, and is a popular girl’s name.

Old-fashioned roses

The first modern rose is said to have been La France, introduced in 1867 (yes, it took growers that long to develop our big, stunning blossoms). La France, incidentally, is a pale pink large-blossom rose.

An Old Garden Rose is of a type that existed before that time. Damask roses belong to this class and arose as a natural cross between two species. Parson’s Pink China roses were introduced in 1793. There are many, many more varieties of pink roses, old-fashioned and modern. In more recent times, a revival of interest in these old garden roses has resulted in modern hybrids.

The meaning of pink roses

So now we come to the meaning of pink roses. They’re a gentler alternative to the passion or red roses in a romantic relationship. Pink roses speak of affection and can be sent to your beloved and also to female friends and family. Great for mom, each exquisite pink rose is a reminder of caring and remembrance. Light pink roses means gracefulness, admiration and sympathy, while you can express appreciation and gratitude with darker pink roses.  To send flowers to Lima or any other city in Latin America please visit daFlores.com

How can you tell it’s spring? Look for the littlest flowers.

As though timidly checking to see if it’s still cold out, the earliest spring flowers are small. Crocuses and snowdrops are among the first out of the ground, sometimes pushing their way up through melting snow. These hardy little blossoms don’t need to show off by being big: They’re just happy to be out there, bringing a sense of joy to those who see them.

And it is a joyous thing, isn’t it? We at daFlores think so, anyway. That first flash of color as the little bulbs unveil themselves, even the first green shoots, are a sign of hope and renewal. In many cases they are a sign of Easter, itself a festival of renewal and joy. DaFlores, of course, can supply all your Easter flower needs from our extensive floral catalog.

After the littlest flowers come the daffodils, and then it’s really spring. Even if that’s not happening in your neck of the woods, know that it will come. If you’re suffering from the winter blues or know someone else who is, a beautiful flower delivery from daFlores is sure to brighten up any day. And of course get-well flowers  provide a joyous antidote to those nasty late-winter colds and flu.

DaFlores knows all about cheering up people with spring flower bouquets. We have gone through ten springs in our company already, and our family has decades of experience in the flower delivery industry. We work only with florists that share our passion and know exactly what they are doing. Between you and us, that means fresh flowers every morning and the extra something that’s added when love is part of the mix.

Treat your loved ones to a gorgeous spring flower delivery from daFlores. We have hundreds of bouquets with cheerful sun-bright blossoms and fiery tropical arrangements. There’s bound to be something that’s perfectly right for the special people in your life. We’re with you all the way and our superb customer service will help you set up your international flower delivery in no time at all.

DaFlores.com is ready for its spring flower delivery season. So is Murphys, Calif. The weekend of 12-14 March is daffodil time in the Calaveras County historic town, home to the National Daffodil Show held at Ironside Vineyard. Quaint little Murphys is well worth a visit at any time of year, but the sight of thousands of daffodils can only enhance the experience and add a unique slant to your visit.

There will be themed daffodil displays, juried shows and a wealth of other spring flower-related adventures at the show. Heritage daffodils mingle alongside miniatures and new hybrids. Daffodils, with their cheerful bright trumpets, have inspired poetry and brightened many a hillside. The sight of these spring flowers peeping above the often still-cold ground means that warmth is well on its way. California and Florida, home to daFlores.com, may see “daffydowndillies” a little sooner than, say, Minnesota, but that sense of relief after winter is the same anywhere.

California’s Gold Country has more than one famous daffodil locale, of course. Daffodil Hill near Sutter Creek started off with just a few bulbs and has swelled into a magnificent annual display. The host farm, the McLaughlin Ranch, doesn’t see it as a commercial venture but just a way to bring a little beauty into the world. Over 300,000 daffodils spring forth at this 3000 foot attraction in the Sierra Nevada hills.

We at daFlores.com are ready for spring, too. If you know someone in a colder part of the country, why not send them a beautiful daFlores spring basket? Our international flower delivery service relies on the freshest flowers made by expert artists. We offer great bilingual customer service with local toll-free numbers in all the countries we serve.

You don’t have to wait for Mother’s Day or Easter, though we do offer special bouquets for these flower delivery occasions. Do you know someone with a March or April birthday? Or who’s tired of the winter and could use a little cheer-up in the form of a beautiful flower delivery? Then we at daFlores.com can help you out. Browse our catalog today and find a stunning array of flowers to make anybody’s day better.