Today as I walked into our beautiful shop, I was so excited to see a beautiful arrangement in our cooler. Yes, that’s right, once I looked past all of the early (but necessary) Christmas trees, mantle garland and wreaths, there was a very classy Thanksgiving center piece. As much as I love Christmas—which is a lot—I love Thanksgiving even more.

This might be because all the pretty fall colors are still involved in all of the arrangements. I don’t know. I just know that I always love this holiday. It’s a great time for family, but without stress—just relaxation, and really good food. And of course, the food table has to be ornamented with an elegant floral arrangement. It just makes the look complete. So come by and check out our Thanksgiving arrangements to keep you and your family’s memories brighter and more beautiful than ever.

Flower Care How-to Guide: 10 Ways to Care for Your Special Arrangement

1. Keep it away from heating sources
2. Keep it away from windows with a lot of sunlight
3. Keep the room at as low of a temperature as comfortable
4. Keep out of reach of small children and pets!
5. Change out the water every other day
6. Ask your florist for flower food packets that you can put into your water when yo change the water out at home.
7. Recut the stems of all the flowers at an angle when you change out the water
8. Make sure none of the leaves on the flowers sit below the water line
9. If any of the flowers begin to look droopy, take them out and recut the stems again to see if they will perk up again.
10. Remove flowers that droop and do not revive after recutting the stems.

Finding Fall Through the Clouds

Today marks the 1,000th day of the unstoppable precipitation and nap-time-inducing cloudiness that have been gracing us with their presence. Ok, so maybe that it slightly exaggerated, however, I don’t know anyone who wants this dreary day weather to keep on its roll. We’re ready for the beautiful leaves of fall to drape gracefully from tree limbs—so beautiful they almost appear artificial—and for the shielding mountains at our perimeter to soften with captivating rust themed colors. The air will be crisp, but not biting like the winter. The wind will be soft and just enough to rustle the fallen leaves in their orange, red, and yellow costumes. Those leaves will make their happy crunching sound that no one can get enough of, and children will busy themselves by making piles of the crunchers to throw themselves into.
The good thing—something to look forward to—seeing through the rain and thick clouds to the beauty waiting on the other side. This rain is going to do nothing but intensify the beauty of fall that we can’t wait to see! Whenever the rain finally stops and the trees realize that their camel sized thirst has been satisfied for much longer than they would ever need, their foliage will be more astonishing than we could ever imagine.
The cool crisp air will require no more than a light jacket and little activity. The corn mazes will be full of wandering children lost among the stalks that will be taller than they’ve ever been! Millet, sorghum, bittersweet and other fall arrangement foliage will accent vased flowers in ways that will be innovative and astounding—sure to amaze the surprised recipient, and please the anticipating sender.
So keep looking through the rain, the beauty of fall is on its way!

So what’s the deal with all of this social networking stuff? It’s all over the place. I mean, even John McCain has a Twitter account, and my grandmother has Facebook. So really, why is all of this so popular now? I remember when I didn’t know anyone who had a cell phone, and when my dad got a pager I thought we were big stuff. We didn’t get the internet in my house until I was a sophomore in high school and that was the buzzzzzz, beeeep, uuuuehhhhhhhhh, kind. And when anyone was using the internet no one else could get a phone call. My AOL instant messenger time was limited to only certain hours of the evening—this was nearly catastrophic to my social well being.
Well, things have definitely changed! Here at Humphreys Flowers we started this blog over the summer, and soon after that began a Facebook page as well. But not only that, because of the overwhelming developing popularity of Twitter, we have one of those now too. And the best thing about that is that I just send Twitter a text of my tweet and it automatically updates my Twitter page! Very convenient. So you all should definitely check out our Facebook and Twitter pages—become a fan and a follower!

One of the most unique and creative wedding receptions that I have ever seen pictures of took place this past weekend. Located right in the middle of the antique tire business, a quaint, festive, and unique wedding reception took place, and we at Humphreys Flowers got to be a part of it.
Having their showroom cleared (kind of) white tables and chairs, a cake, and beautiful floral centerpieces took the place of most cars and tires. This was true for all but the cake however. Creatively located on a table top in the trunk of an antique car was a decadent masterpiece. Yes, the beautiful and surely tasty bridal cake was delicately placed on display on a car.
To make the elegant yet spunky reception’s look complete, various floral centerpieces were placed on the tables; however though, these arrangements were not all the same. This made the look even more fun and less uniform—but still cohesive.
Hanging from the metal beams in the ceiling were coordinating paper lanterns and strips delicate white fabric to polish it all off. And that is exactly the look they achieved—a polished and elegant, yet fun and festive wedding.

Race for the Cure

Sure to be an event worth your involvement, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is this Sunday! This event is something that we at Humphreys Flowers make sure to participate in every year. It has become an employee tradition! Catered to any walk of life, Race for the Cure offers a 5k fun run/walk, and a competitive 5k run as well. If the 5k is a little too long for you, there is also the 1 mile fun run/walk as well. Most of us here will be participating in the 1 mile so that our families can participate with us.
Most importantly though, this event is significant because it supports local breast cancer screening, treatment and education programs. The proceeds from the race will mostly remain in the ten Southeast Tennessee and six Northwest Georgia counties that the Chattanooga Affiliate service. The remaining money will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure © Award and Research Grant Program.*
Please consider being a part of this great cause. For more information please visit their website at http://www.chattanoogaraceforthecure.com/.

*Information taken from Susan G. Komen for the Cure website.

Gerbera Galore

Like a burst of sun and cheer is a flower quickly growing in fame, with color and confidence exuding from every petal—the gerbera daisy. Known as a bloom to bring cheer and a lot of smiles, the daisy is a “classic symbol of beauty,” and can also be interpreted to mean cheerfulness.[1]

No wonder this beautiful flower gained recognition and has only continued to catch the eye of many. In fact, it has quickly become one of the hottest trends not only for floral arrangements and home gardens showpieces, but also for wedding bouquets and ceremony and reception decorations. Most commonly used in spring and summer weddings, the gerbera daisy has even gained speed in fall and winter weddings as well.

One of my absolute favorite wedding bouquets was done right here in our shop just last weekend. The colors were bold, yet muted enough to capture the essence of fall beauty. The element, however, that gave this bouquet a completed look was the stunning appearance of the large, crimson, gerbera bloom. It simply pulled the look together in a unique way.

All of our arrangements that include gerberas seem to have an eye catching, second-glance-worthy look to them. If you want to see for yourself be sure to look us up on Facebook and become a fan! For your enjoyment, I will frequently be updating our photo albums with our work—so be sure to check it out!

[1] ProFlowers. September 10, 2009. http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/flowermeanings/daisy-meanings.aspx