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Begining with 'S' |
[List All] |
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Scabious
Name: Botanical name Scabiosa
Origin: They have been cultivated since 1800, when they were brought from Hungary and Mediterranean Russia.
Colour: Scabious are available in a soft lavender blue, lilac or creamy white.
Availability: All year but main season summer
Family: Scabious are close relatives of the teasel, though you wouldn't know it to look at them. Their cousins may be stiff, spiky, prickly plants like ornamental hedgehogs, but scabious are gentle, pastel-coloured daisy-like flowers often seen in cottage gardens and cornfield fringes. |
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Sedum
Name: Common name, stonecrop
Description: Sedum are succulent-leaved plants with large flat flowerheads. Their leaves often have a bluey-grey tint to them, and are attractively fleshy, the flowerheads are shaped like umbrellas. Each flower has a papery case around it, giving an interesting texture to the flowerhead.
Origin: Native to Asia, they have been cultivated in the UK since 1596, originally for their healing properties rather than their ornamental value.
Colour: Shades of pinky-brown, with light green stems; and there is a rarer purply-brown form with brown stems.
Availability: June to October
Varieties: The variety shown here is Sedum spectabile which means "worth seeing". Gardeners may be familiar with relatives of this plant, Sedum flowers naturally towards the end of the year, providing a month's worth of welcome colour in grey autumn months. |
| If you would like to send flowers for a special occasion, contact 01600 715724 |
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Snapdragon
Name: The Snapdragon's botanical name is Antirrhinum, from the Greek anti (like) and rhin (a nose), referring to the snout like shape of the flower.
Description: The Antirrhinum is reminiscent of English gardens with the tall stems grouped amongst cottage borders. If you squeeze the sides of the Snapdragon gently the dragon's mouth will open and close.
Origin: Mediterranean.
Colour: A large range of colours including white, red, pink, orange, yellow and bi-colours.
Availability: Most of the year with peak seasons between April - June and August - October.
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Caretips: Snapdragons are sensitive to ethylene gas, and should be kept away from mature fruit and vegetables, dying flowers and excess heat. To promote the flowering of the buds, and to avoid stem curvature the top 2-3" (5-8cm) can be removed, though many people feel this spoils the look of the flower. Wilted flower heads should be removed to promote the opening of upper buds. |
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Stock
Name: The botanical name is Matthiola incana, named after Dr Matthiole (1527-1576), a personal physician to Emperor Maxmillian of Austria, who wrote several medical and botanical books. Its other common name is gillyflower.
Description: Tall, strong stem with a cluster of sweet-scented, double flowers forming a spike.
Origin: Mediterranean and Canary Islands
Colours: White (the most popular colour), pink, red, yellow, lilac and purple.
Availability: Peak season is from March-August
Varieties: A favourite since Elizabethan times, its versatility in breeding has led to new longer lasting cultivars. One well-known group is the Brompton Stock, bred in Brompton Park, London, where the South Kensington museums now stand.
Care Tips: To prolong its vase life of 8-12 days, make sure all the foliage is removed below the water level and that the water is changed regularly to prevent slime forming. Re-cut the stems each time and also add flower food.
Trivia:
Language of flowers: Stock means lasting beauty, bonds of affection and promptness. |
| If you would like to send flowers for a special occasion, contact 01600 715724 |
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Strelizia
Name: Also known as Bird of Paradise. Named Strelitzia after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Streliz, who married King George III to become Queen of England in 1761.
Origin: Originate from South Africa.
Colour: A green 'beak' with a bright orange and blue crest, silvery-green leaves.
Availability: All year round. Limited availability in summer.
Care Tips: Purchase Strelitzia when the first flower bud is fully open. They ooze sap which can make the flower quite sticky; this sap can be wiped away carefully. Pull away wilted crests and new ones will pop up from inside the 'beak'. |
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Sunflower
Name: The botanical name is Helianthus. The Greek word "helios" means sun and "anthos" means flower. It is aptly named after the sun which it resembles.
Description: A large flower head with usually a big dark centre and bright yellow petals.
Origin: South and West of the USA.
Colour: Most sunflowers are bright yellow with dark brown centres, but varieties are appearing now which have tan, orange, maroon or striped petals, and green-yellow centres. Some are even without the central disc, but are fully covered in petals instead.
Availability: A summer flower, but some are available all year round ('Orit') and most can be available from late spring to late autumn.
Family: Asteraceae, Aster family
Varieties: There are now so many varieties owing to its popularity and sunflower is one of the top ten best selling cut flowers in UK. 'Snittgold' cultivar, which is the classic sunflower, has more than 15 different varieties from the small-flowered 'Sonja' to the large-flowered 'Orit'. 'Sunrich Orange' has the darkest yellow of all the sunflower varieties. Other bi colours such as 'Prado Red' and 'Floristan' have reddish brown petals with yellow bordering.
Care Tips: They need a lot of water.
Trivia:
Facts: Sunflower stems were used to fill lifejackets before the advent of modern materials. Low-pollen sunflowers have been developed in recent years which not only helps asthma sufferers, but extend the flower's life
Language of Flowers: The dwarf sunflower means "adulation".
Medicinal: The sunflower is grown for the seeds and oil it produces.Each mature flower yields 40% of its weight as oil.
History: The flower was cultivated by North American Indians for many years as a food crop the nutritional value is still the main reason for growing it in many parts of the world. Only recently have we begun to grow sunflowers for decorative reasons.
Zodiac: Sunflowers are bold and exuberant and one of the flower associated with the star sign Leo. |
| If you would like to send flowers for a special occasion, contact 01600 715724 |
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Sweet Pea
Name: Botanical name is Lathyrus odoratus - odoratus means scented.
Origin: Italy
Colour: Purples, pinks, creams, salmons.
Availability: March to November
Care Tips: Keep cool, always in water, and away from ripening fruit. Commercial sweet peas are treated after cutting to prolong their life; garden-cut ones may only last one or two days but florists' peas can last over a week.
Trivia:
Language of Flowers: Sweet peas mean "delicate pleasures". Breeders are trying to develop a scented yellow sweet pea. The Lathyrus family has a naturally occurring yellow pea but it has no fragrance. |
| If you would like to send flowers for a special occasion, contact 01600 715724 |
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