Have you ever been to San Diego Museum of Art’s Are Alive? If not, this is the year to go. More than 100 floral designers will re-creat and interpret famous works of art. One of our employees, Kristine Pili will be among the floral designers. Also Diane Citrowske, a former employee will be involved in the all-star floral challenge on Friday night – April 30th! We know she will come out on top!
Good Luck to all the floral designers!
Earth Day will be celebrating its birthday on April 22. In honor, we have created a wonderful display highlighting all things green and good. We are featuring Bottlehood, a local recycling company that takes wine and liquor bottles and recycles them into vases.
And what fun vases they are. Every time we get new ones in it’s such an adventure. Some of the Tequila bottles are the fanciest. If you need a fun gift idea, try flowers in one of these vases. You won’t get anything but compliments.
As you see they come in all sizes. Here is another photo.
Besides fresh flowers which are a great idea for Earth Day, we are also promoting our fair trade items. These all come from Exotic World Gifts.
There is pine resin jewelry from India, notebooks with paper made from recycling cotton rags, recycled glass key rings from Africa, jewelry made from the nuts of the tagua palm tree and beautiful shawls from Thailand that are handmade, naturally dyed. Our first photo showed some of the beautiful handcrafted bowls from Bali. Stop by and check it out.
Every year Adelaide’s make contributions to local schools, organizations, charities and foundations. Here’s our list of recipients in 2009.
Academy of Our Lady of Peace
Adopt a Float
All Hallows Academy
American Floral Endowment
American Ireland Fund
American Liver Foundation
Aquatic Adventures
Athenaeum Library
Bird Rock Elementary Parent’s Committee
Bishop’s School
Boy Scouts of America
Boys and Girls Club of San Dieguito
Cathedral Catholic High School
Challenge Center
Children’s School
Congregation Beth El
Crossroads Foundation
Explorer Elementary Charter School
Friends of Kate Sessions Elementary School
Friends of La Jolla Elementary
Friends of the Trinitarians
Friends of Vista Hill Foundation
Gillispie School
Globe Guilders
Interface
Junior League of San Diego
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Kiwanis Club of La Jolla
La Jolla Country Day School
La Jolla Country Day School PTA
La Jolla Garden Club
La Jolla High School Foundation
La Jolla Historical Society
La Jolla Kiwanis Club
La Jolla Music Society
La Jolla Rotary Club
La Jolla United Methodists Church Nursery School
Las Patronas
Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center
Liam Foundation
Mainly Mozart
Mary Star of the Sea
Mission Beach Women’s Club
Mt. Soledad Memorial Association
Museum of Contemporary Art
National Multiple Sclerosis
Parents’ Committee of Bird Rock Elementary
Patrons of the Prado
Project Concern International
Promote La Jolla
San Diego High School Foundation
Salvation Army
San Diego Chinese Cultural Association
San Diego Cooperative Charter School
San Diego Hospice Foundation
Scripp’s Cancer Center
Social Service League
Seany Foundation
St Germaine’s Children Charity
Stella Maris Academy
Sundt Memorial Foundation
Teen Challenge International
USO Council of San Diego
Zoofari
Zoological Society of San Diego
Gifts:
We are carrying unique glass hearts from a local artisan, Cindy McQuade, Blown Glass Artist. She has studied internationally as well as locally. Her hearts are beautiful and unique.
In a nutshell, here’s how she makes them. The pictures are amazing. First you gather molten glass – 2150 degrees. Roll into colored glass chips and powder. Melt the chips and powder into the glass. Gather more glass over the first gather of glass and colored chips, this magnifies the colors underneath. Then you shape the glass. After the heart if finished it goes into an annealing oven, – 920 degrees – where at the end of the day the temperature will be brought down slowly to keep the glass from cracking.
Here are some pictures. The one on the end is an assortment of hearts we have for sale.
Flowers:
Our Flower of the month is the unusual Hellebore. It is in the ranunculus family but that’s where the similarity ends. There are so many kinds of hellebores. The plants are typically grown as perennials in shade gardens. Hellebores come in shades of white, green, rose, purple and violet. They will last up to 10 days with the correct care. When you receive your Hellebore, trim a bit off the stems and immediately plunge the stem ends (1/2”) into hot water containing a floral preservative for about 15 seconds. Then put the flowers up to their necks in cool water for a few hours or overnight before arranging.
Some hellebores are named for the time of the year in which they bloom. For example, there’s the Christmas-rose, and the Lenten-rose. In fact, both of these will typically be in bloom well into late spring. If given winter protection, the Christmas-rose will bloom throughout the winter months. Our hellebores come from Northern California.
Plants:
How are your phalaenopsis orchids looking? We have some photos to guide you in the proper way of trimming your orchids.
We are going to show you what to do with a not so looking plant. This plant needs help. The first picture shows you an orchid plant with a dead stem (see the color – it’s beige, not green) as well as a green one, except as you can see in the second photo the green stem has a top that is dead. Also note all the roots growing out of the top of the pot. The smaller dark brown branches are birch that is used to support the blooming stem. We are going to trim the dead branches off and also the plant needs to be re-potted.
In the 3rd picture, you can see the node and our hands on either side of this node. We are going to “snap” the branch into two. We could use scissors or a knife but please clean them first with rubbing alcohol before using them to cut off the dead stem. In the 4th and 5th pictures you can see the clean end of the stem.
The 6th picture shows the potted orchid in it’s new pot. The original orchid was planted in moss. When repotting, we remove all the moss and re-plant it in bark.
In the next series of photos, we show a new orchid plant. Notice that there is one bloom open and the others are just buds. This is why in the second photo you see the bloom on the left is dead. This is not a problem, it’s just been around the longest. Just remove that bloom. The others will continue to bloom.
If you have any questions on orchid care, just send us an email: plants@adelaidesflowers.com.
Harry Walter Phillips, Jr.
August 5, 1924 – July 22, 2009
A longtime La Jolla resident and businessman, Harry Walter Phillips was born at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where his father was a park ranger. His family moved to California when he was young and he grew up in the then small community of Encinitas, graduating from San Dieguito High school in 1942. He entered the US Army Air Corps as a Second Lieutenant in 1943, became a P-51 pilot, and served his nation proudly during the war years.
Harry attended UCLA, where he received his Bachelors degree in Engineering in 1949.
Growing up, Harry had never expected to become a florist, however, his mother Adelaide had started a flower business in 1936 along highway 101 in Encinitas and when the town of La Jolla ask her to open a shop in the small enclave by the sea, she jump at the chance. Adelaide asked her son Harry to open the business and in 1949, that was the beginning of the second Flowers by Adelaide. Over time, the entire operation was moved to La Jolla and Harry bought out his Mother’s share in the business in 1974, he leased the space next door and modernized the look of the store in order to grow Adelaide’s into the successful small business model it is today. Creative with a sharp sense of business skills, Harry was a trendsetter in the floral industry, always on the cutting edge. The family is now carrying on with the wishes of their father, and Adelaide’s is now a third generation family business.
A family man active in community affairs, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, Harry was the recipient of numerous awards honoring his philanthropy, most notably to the Rotary Foundation.
His wife and children surrounded Harry at home when he left to be with God. He passed peacefully after a four year battle with Lewy Body Dementia.
A celebration of his life will be held at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 7713 Girard Avenue in La Jolla on Sunday, August 2, 2009, at 3:30 pm.
Donations may be made in memory of Harry Phillips to the San Diego Hospice c/o Foundation at 4311 Third Avenue. San Diego, CA 92103.
Flowers:
July starts out with a bang with the Fourth of July!
Try our Flower Confetti to sparkle the table.
*2 bags red rose petals
*12 white carnations
*10 stems delphinium (or agapanthus) blossoms
Pull carnation petals apart. Take delphinium blossoms off main stems. Scatter rose petals, carnation petals and delphinium blossoms on your party table!
July is also when the horses come to Del Mar. We will be designing the flowers for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club again this year so remember to look at our incredible designs. Here’s a photo of one of them from last year. Check out our “What’s New” and our blog for more pictures when the racing season opens.
If you are planning a party at the Club, remember to have us design your table and or buffet arrangements. Here is the link for the Thoroughbred Club: http://www.dmtc.com/
Plants:
The beginning of July is a good time to re-visit poinsettias. If you put your poinsettia plant outdoors after the holidays, I’m sure it has grown. Now is a good time to prune the plant to keep it bushy and compact. For more information on poinsettia plant care, check out Ecke’s website at http://www.ecke.com/html/h_corp/corp_pntcare.html.
Have you seen our new succulent terrariums? Our designers have been busy. Here’s a sample of one, something unique.
Terrarium Care Instructions:
The succulent garden terrarium is planted in a porous potting mix, to allow for some drainage. The plants require bright light, but not hot, direct sun. Succulents store water in their thick stems. For best results, maintain a moderately dry soil. Water sparingly, approximately 3 teaspoons of water every 7-10 days.
Specials:
WOW! Our beautiful phalaenopsis orchids are on sale! We were able to negotiate a great deal on them and want to pass it on. For the month of July, all the phalaenopsis orchids will be 15% off. Our orchid gardens with phalaenopsis will not be on sale but will be less expensive using these beautiful orchids.
Flowers
The “Rose” is the flower of the month. The rose has historically been associated with romance and beauty. We are celebrating the rose by bringing in more roses and rose types for your selection. The first 2 weeks of June we will be showcasing spray roses from 2 of our favorite growers. If you haven’t bought spray roses before, this is the time to try them out. Spray roses have a single strong stem with a multitude of smaller roses on their branches. They provide a lot of color and enjoyment for a single stem. The last 2 weeks we will have a larger than usual supply of regular roses, short ones and long stemmed ones.
Our first grower is Eufloria Roses (here’s their link www.eufloriaflowers.com). They grow beautiful spray roses as well as other beautiful roses. Although they are located in Central California, once they cut their roses, they are always in water and even shipped to us in water. Here are some photos.
The second grower is Dramm & Echter (here’s their link www.drammechter.com). They are a local grower and we have been buying flowers from them for over 35 years. We are so fortunate to have them in our backyard.
Have us create a great arrangement using roses for that someone special or “just because”.
Plants:
June is a good month to talk about Hydrangeas. They are a spectacular garden plant as well as an extra special cut flower. We have had beautiful ones here in the store. Now is a good time to plant them in the garden or you can wait until they finish blooming.
Plant the hydrangea in an area where it will get partial shade or morning sun /afternoon shade. Drainage is also important. Moist doesn’t mean wet. Hydrangeas will thrive in rich, moist soils with adequate water.
Do you like pink blooms or blue ones? You can change the color of the blooms by adding different amendments to the soil. For pink blooms, the soil needs to have more lime and for blue blooms, it needs to be more acidic (adding aluminum sulfate). However, white blooms are always white.
Hydrangeas are easy to root from stem cuttings. Take a 6 inch cutting off the plant, remove the leaves on the lower 3 inches and place in water in a bright location. When there are roots on the stem, plant it in soil.
Here’s a great link for more information on hydrangea care http://www.filoli.org/downloads/garden/gardeners-reference-sheets/hydrangea-care.pdf
Specials:
June is the month of our annual inventory reduction sale! We are trying to reduce our giftware before we have to inventory it. The sale starts June 1st for the whole month. Come early for our best selection. Here’s what’s on sale:
Red-tagged items 40% off
50% off selected candles
25% off selected “silk” arrangements
10% off silk stems or free labor on custom silk arrangements
10% off all other gift items.
No flowers or plants will be on sale.
May is here and so are the holidays!
May Day – May 1
Kentucky Derby – May 2
Cinco de Mayo – May 5
National Nurses Day – May 6
Mother’s Day – May 10
Memorial Day – May 25 (observed)
Flowers:
Here’s a snapshot of some great Mother’s Day gifts.
Mom is special!
Place your order early for best selection!
Plants:
Phalaenopsis care:
Ever wonder when to transplant your orchid? Phalaenopsis are tropical plants. Now is the best time to re-pot if the plant is not in bloom and the plant is growing out of the pot and/or the bark is poor (easily breaks into pieces). When re-potting, it may shock the plant and therefore might not bloom for 1-2 years. As soon as the new root growth is seen, begin regular watering and fertilizing to make maximum use of this growing season.
Special Offer:
Adelaide’s has teamed up with San Diego Home & Garden. You can purchase a one year subscription of the magazine for $9.00 when you order flowers from us. That is a savings of $9.00. The subscription comes with a 2 line personalized message on the label. What a great way to tell your Mom that she is extra special each month! Call or place your order on-line, click here .