Here’s all you need to know in selecting your wedding flowers.  We give you the run down on current styles and favorites, and no matter where you are or who you use, at least give Boesen a though when you choose your wedding flowers.

Kim Birkicht (say “birk-it”) Cedar Rapids native now doing Couture Bouquets at The Velvet Garden for the Best of Hollywood — Candice Bergen, Jennifer Anniston, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Christina Aguilera, Bette Midler and more!

She’s been with Boesen the Florist today getting arrangements ready, after all, she needs the best flowers in Des Moines.  Tomorrow she’ll be at the Florist to the Stars event at the Des Moines Botanical Center.

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Boesen the Florist has been serving Des Moines, Iowa and the Nation delivering flowers and happiness to households everywhere since 1923. Here’s the Boesen story.

I found a great post about what to look for in a rose.  I’m sure you won’t be surprised by the fact that Boesen roses are in fact, the best.  Here’s a way of knowing you’re picking Boesen quality.  The author covers color, size, climate and maintenance.

“There are an extremely large number of rose varieties available at this time, most of these varieties are suitable to raise in your home garden. With so many different types to choose from deciding which roses to grow can seem more like a difficult task than a part of the fun of growing roses. By keeping just a few important factors in mind you can simplify this task and put the fun back into selecting your roses.”

Click here to read the post.

Here are Huntsville PR’s top ten plants for removing pollutants from the air and giving your home a cleaner breath.

1. The Feston Rose Plant: This plant has a variety of colors on it’s flowers and is incredibly low maintenance.  It purifies the air while leaving a wonderful scent with it.
2. The Devil’s Ivy: “This plant acts as an excellent natural anti-pollutant against common pollutants like benzene, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.”  But be careful, you can’t eat this whatsoever, apparently, not even your pet should ingest this.  It’s a vine plant that grows down and has marbled, gold leaves.
3. Phalaenopsis: This is a smaller plant that purifies the air.  It blooms with large flowers colored pink and white with only a few leaves.
4. The English Ivy: “This plant is known to filter indoor pollutants like fecal particles, formaldehyde aerosols and much more and keep your house toxin free.  It is apparently ideal for pets as well because of what it purifies.  That said, this plant is also poisonous so take extra care if you use it inside.
5. The Parlor Ivy: This is a beautiful plant with heart shaped leaves colored a deep green.  This plant filters out unwanted and harmful chemicals from the air in your home.
6. The African Violets: This is a beautiful plant with violet flowers.  You need to cut the leaves and this plant will also purify the air.  However, keep your eyes out for bugs that can infest it.
7. The Christmas Cactus:  “The blooms are beautiful violet, pink, red, oranges, fuschia colored glossy flowers.”  As though it’s not obvious, this plant makes a wonderful Christmas gift and requires an adequate amount of water and light.
8. The Yellow Goddess: This plant is actually a green color at the base but blooms beautiful yellow flowers.  “This plant needs bright light but not directly from the sun.”
9. The Garlic Vine: This plant has the smell of garlic and onion when crushed, hence, the garlic vine.  This plant, very similar to real garlic, serves as a treatment as well as an air purifier.
10. The Peace Lily: This plant bears beautiful white flowers and they grow right out of the base of the plant.  “The nail polishes, paints, other solvents and adhesives contain harmful pollutants like benzene, toluene and xylene. These pollutants are successfully filtered out in the ambiance of your house by the beautiful Peace lily houseplant.”

Check out some of our plants at Boesen the Florist here.  If we don’t have what you need online stop on in and see what we have or what we can get for you:)

I saw the coolest little thing today….Rose Pie.  I was parusing some blogs and saw this creative decorative piece.  You know, some people ask why I mention some of these do-it-yourself (DIY) decorations since it takes away business in that our designers are making them.  Well, let’s be honest, some people love to make their own floral decorations and I find it fascinating and fun.

This blog with quite a few Holiday DIY decorations featuerd a table with two rose pies.  I would never have though of such a thing.  I’ve posted below the directions to making your very own rose pie.  For pictures of what it looks like please visit this link.

Materials:

• Ceramic pie plate
• Roses
• Ribbon
• Oasis floral foam
• Flower shears

Directions:
1) Prepare oasis floral foam to fit snugly into the pie plate. Make sure the top of the foam is flush with the edge of the plate.

2) Cut stems of roses so that you have just enough to stick into the foam. I’m approximating 2 inches, but it could vary depending on the depth of your pie plate. Place roses artfully all around the foam to fill the pie plate.

3) Take your ribbon and form a lattice-work pattern over your flowers. Cut the ribbon into strips and lay them horizontally across the roses, then lay the other ribbon strips vertically across those.

4) Place on your table and wait for the Oohs and Aahs.

Not only is this a great DIY idea, but we’ve got something that will make it even better!  I know I mention this all the time but it’s such an awesome deal I can’t stop bringing it up.  You can make your Rose Pie at half the cost with Boesen Roses if you come in on any Friday.  That’s right.  Two stems for the price of one!  They didn’t mention the number of roses they would use, but come on in and pick up a couple dozen roses for the price of one dozen and make the best looking, and in my opinion, possibly the best smelling pie you’ll ever make.  Enjoy!

The holidays have already been filled with great blog posts. I found one today that makes special points of how to say it with flowers this holiday season (or anytime really). Aside from the fact that those who receive flowers this time of year aren’t expecting it, flowers themselves have had very specific meanings since Victorian times and surely even before then. Take a look at the list on this site and figure out the best way to say how you feel with flowers.

Say it with flowers.

Do it yourself flower arrangements every Friday at any Boesen location. We’re happy to offer you 2-for-1 stems so you can get the flowers you want and a price you can’t refuse. Come on in and try it out. Here’s a sample of what you can do. BTW, you can do all this at home for only $12. That’s right, 12 bucks!

This past month I was interviewed by Sherry Borzo of DSMBuzz.com about our business hear at Boesen the Florist.  I sure had a great time sharing about our business and industry.  I know I’ve said this before, but again, I love sharing the Boesen story.

I had a chance to chat about our history, what we do to be “green,” why do people buy flowers and more.  You can read Sherry’s post here and listen to the podcast here at DSMBuzz.com or just listen below.

As many of you know, last week I was on Skywalk Talk with Liz Nead and Mac from Macsworldlive. This is their internet radio show and I have to say I had a blast. I brought one of my designers and we had a lot of fun showing how to arrange flowers and telling our story of 86 years. Liz had some very nice things to say…

“Boesen is not just about flowers.  They want to bring beauty into your living space.”

We talked about how we are able to do whatever you want.  We decorate homes and businesses for the holidays.  Mac himself admitted to keeping a vase in the back of his car so he can pop into a Boesen location and let our designers work their magic.

“The florist business was conceived back in the mid 1920’s.  It was created with hard work and the passing on of that ethic through generations.  Amazing that the Beaverdale store was once far away from Des Moines.  And endearing to hear the pride in Tom’s voice as he spoke about his family legacy.”

It truely is an amazing story and I always find it a blessing to be able to share it with others.

“[Jane the designer] was excited to tell us about her preferences and demonstrate her skill.  She calmly and efficiently whipped up four beautiful arrangements three of which are in the living room in the studio.  The last one is in my house.  She is an artist.“

All our designers are artists. They know what you want before you do and they always help you express your feelings through a beautiful arrangement of flowers.

Thanks again Liz & Mac for letting us join you on your show. For those of you that missed it you can read her post here. Feel free to check out Liz’s blog too.