FREE Heirloom Seeds to Celebrate

In celebration of Conservation Week & Spring we are doing our bit with a Heirloom seed giveaway. The first 100 orders placed from the 17th of Sept will receive some complimentary tomato heirloom seeds.

The seeds are a mixture of NZ heirloom tomato varieties that are easy to grow in Auckland.

Heirloom seeds have been saved by families, generation after generation. These seeds have many qualities and are desirable for their high quality and taste. They have all been planted and harvested by hand.
 
Find out more here.

July's Flower - Daffodils

July's flower is the daffodil. While usually considered a spring time flower, the daffodil blooms very early in New Zealand, producing particular varieties as early as June.

They are a great way of bringing some colour into our lives in these cold winter months, and look fantastic simply in a vase on their own, or combined with freesias and tulips in a posie.
Daffodils are a fantastic cut flower, but can result in premature death for the other species if placed in a vase together. They produce a milky white sap that is poisonous to most other flowers.

When combining daffodils with other flowers in a vase, first place the daffodils in their own vase for 24 hours. After that time, most of the sap will drip out and they’ll be ready to combine in a beautiful bouquet with fresh water!

There are over 25,000 varieties in shades of yellow, white, orange and peachy pink.

Supporting Local Business

If you are a business within the Victoria Park, Auckland CBD area and you would like to network with other local businesses, come along to our networking evening at The Drake on the 8th of July at 5.30pm.

On the agenda is a discussion about ways that all the local businesses can keep in touch, increase referrals, combine collective marketing strength and build community spirit in the area.

RSVP numbers to yes@victoriaparkcollective.co.nz or visit http://www.victoriaparkcollective.co.nz/ to find out more.

Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

Sign up to receive our e-newsletter before the end of July 2009 & go in the draw to win one of our ten VPF Goodie box giveaways!

Plus you can also opt in to receive our quarterly wedding newsletter, letting you know about all the latest trends.

visit here

June's Flower - Iris

The name Iris is Greek and means 'rainbow', for it's many colours. Most cut iris's are shades of blue or purple, but in the garden you can also find white, yellow and brown.

The iris has been around for many centuries, and many artists have chosen to paint them. There are several famous paintings of the flowers. From 1888 to 1890, Van Gogh painted at least four paintings of irises. Monet painted "Iris" sometime between 1914 and 1917. In flower language the Iris means faith, hope, wisdom and valour.

Tips for Caring for Your Flowers

From time to time we get asked about what's the best way to care for flowers. With every order we send out a "How to Care for your Flowers" card but here is some more information.

General Floral Care

• On receiving your flowers, re-cut approx. 2.5 cm off the base of the stems o­n a sharp angle up the stem, this creates more area for water to absorb.
  
• Remove any excess greenery that will fall below the water line in the vase, as this will contaminate the water with bacteria.


• The vase or container must be thoroughly clean and water should be at room temperature. A small splash of bleach will help to minimise bacteria growth in the water.


• Check water levels frequently and change the water if it looks murky.


• Bouquets can be either be removed from giftwapping by gently removing gift wrapping with scissors. Wet wrapping may result in discolouring of the vase water, staining of table linens and contaminate the water.


• Place your flowers away from heat, direct sunlight and draughts. A cooler position is most desirable - the hotter the room temperature, the shorter the vase life of the flowers will be.


• Do not place your flowers near fruit. As fruit ripens it produces ethylene gas which is harmful to your flowers.

Carnations & Roses

Carnations and roses which have knotted type "nodes" o­n their stems, must be cut above or below a node, not o­n top of o­ne. Water can not be drawn up the stem if the cut is made o­n a node.

Wood Stemmed Flowers

Wood stemmed and hollow stemmed flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, gerberas, sunflowers and delphiniums can have their stems re-cut, then plunged into boiling water for approx. 30 - 50 seconds, and then back into their fresh vase of cool water. This removes any air embolisms that are created in the stem whilst being out of water, which restricts the water flow to the head of the flower (a common cause for roses who wilt their heads).

Tropical Flowers

Tropical flowers such as anthuriums, strelitzia, heliconia and orchids are sensitive to salt, which is produced in the sweat glands of our hands - therefore it is discouraged to touch the blooms as you may get black marks and cause bruising.

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers such as daffodils, jonquils and early cheer, release a sap like substance which is poisonous to other flowers. Spring Flowers need to be in a vase of their own for 24 hours before being arranged with other flowers.

Poppies

Poppies also release a substance similar to latex, which can seal the end of their stems and prohibit water from entering the stem.Singe the end of the stem with a flame to eleveate this problem.In contrast to what some flower experts say, do not bash the ends of woody stemmed flowers or foliage, as this damages the cells that make up the intricate flower uptake system, which ultimately will effect the longetivity of the flower.

Flowers in Oasis

Water arrangement o­n arrival and daily - do not allow oasis to dry out and keep arrangement away from heat, direct sunlight and draughts.

Water Filled Boxes (Vox's)

No further arranging is necessary. It is a self contained vase. Top the water level up frequently, taking care o­nly to put water in the plastic bladder and not letting water seep between the bladder and the box.

Update from the Winner of the Luxury Pamper Pack

As posted in May the lucky winner of the Luxury Pamper Pack we gave away for Professional Admin Day was Silvina (on left). Silvina was nominated by Tracy (on right) from Talking Tech and we thought we would share all the lovely things Tracy had to say about working with Silvina.

Hi Kathy,

Thank you so much for beautiful flowers that I received as my prize for nominating one of our Admin staff Silvina, who won your Professional Admin Day competition. I have had many compliments about how beautiful they look and Silvina has been absolutely delighted with her gift and is looking forward to enjoying her hamper of goodies.

Your prize draw was done on her birthday which made it a double celebration. Silvina is such a lovely person and always has a smile on her face. She does a fantastic job in the Accounts team as well as helping manage our reception desk. It was so great to be able to recognise all the hard work she does with such an amazing prize package, what a lovely idea.

Thank you again,
Tracy

Mothers Day - This Weekend!

It's time to celebrate Mothers Day this weekend & honour all those Mothers and Caregivers who took the time to nurture you as a child. Plus Dad's don't forget to help your little ones show their love & appreciation.

"Make Mum feel good with flowers this Mothers Day. "
Let us help you to make Mum feel good this Mothers Day. We will be delivering Saturday & Sunday, but get your orders in by the end of Saturday to ensure we can get it to your Mum on time.

New seasons Tulips, Stock & Lilies are now coming through the markets allowing us to make some beautiful fragrant bouquets along with the start of the orchid season.

Looking for something other than Tulips.. check out our other floral bouquets online here.

Winner of the Professional Administratives Day Pamper Pack

The winner of the Pamper Pack was Silvina, who was nominated by Tracy White. Congratulations from the team here at Victoria park Flowers.

Nominate your favourite Administrative Professional!

Nominate your favourite Administrative Professional & not only will they go in the draw to WIN a luxury Pamper Pack (valued at over $200) but you could WIN too!

Prize Consists of:
1 x Hamper of Goodies from Victoria Park Flowers
1 x Bouquet of Flowers
1 x Free Spraytan to the value of $60

All you need to do is go to: http://www.victoriaparkflowers.co.nz/pad

April's Flower - Oriental Lily

The flower of the month for April is the Oriental Lily and is available all year.

One of the first descriptions of the lily dates from the Chinese Middle Ages "the plant flowers until late autumn and there are three types, red, yellow and purple".

Remove the pollen stamens by pinching them together and pulling them up out of the flower. This prolongs the flower's life as well. Use sellotape to remove pollen, not water which will fix the stain.

In Greek poetry, the lily stood for tenderness. It was also referred to as the voice of cicadas or of the muses. There is a Greek myth that tells us how the lily was born from the milk of the goddess Hera.

These beautiful flowers are on special at that moment here.

Don't know your Bouquet from a Posy?

If you're not sure what sort of flower arrangement to send someone, don't worry we do!

All we need to know is:

• how much you want to spend
• what the occasion is that you are celebrating
• Is the gift for a woman or man

Then let us know the address to deliver them too and we'll do the rest, it's easy! (you can call us on +64 9 302 2013)

My Kinda People on BIG FM

We are happy to be sponsoring the BIG FM "My Kinda People" promotion. The promotion was set up to acknowledge an Aucklander who goes that extra mile for their friends, family or community.

Once a week Suzy Cato, one of the BIG FM Radio Announcers, is going to cross live to the lucky winner and present them a stunning Bouquet from us.

The first one was chosen last week and the lucky winner was Sue Stanaway, Congratulations Sue from the Team here at Victoria Park Flowers!

Flower of the Month - March

March's Flower is Lisianthus (pronounced lizzie-ANN-thus), also called Eustoma, Prairie Gentian or Texan bluebell. It originated in the prairies of Texas and Mexico, despite their delicate appearance.

Lisianthus come in shades of purple, cream, pink, also pale green, or bold two-tone "picotees" with coloured petal edges. They are available all year round and sily to the touch. To care for your Lisianthus recut the stems regularly.

February's Draw Winner

Congratulations to Ruth James, our lucky monthly draw winner for February!

Go in the Draw..

We produce a monthly e-newsletter detailing specials, new products and seasonal treats. If you would like to receive this and be a part of our monthly draw, simply register at www.victoriaparkflowers.co.nz/invited

First of the Winter Flowers

We are starting to see the first of the winter flowers coming through with the change in the weather, small quantities of Tulips, freesia & stock becoming available.

tulips

freesias

stock

New Brand & New Blog

We are pleased to announce that after 10 years in business we have just launched our new look.

We were ready for a change and feel the new brand takes us forward & better reflects our vision for the future of Victoria Park Flowers.

You may have noticed the changes already taking place in the store, on our website and in our print material.

Watch out for new improvements as they come along!

If you have any questions about any of these changes or perhaps just some feedback, please feel free to email us at info@victoriaparkflowers.co.nz.