Easy to grow and maintain, the amaryllis is the perfect decorative solution for the busy and sociable Christmas period – no wonder then that this flower has grown in popularity faster than any other over the past few years.

Blooming like no other bulb, usually producing one or two tall flower spikes topped by up to four big, blousy flowers that can last up to two weeks, the amaryllis is a special flower.

While red and white might be the obvious Christmas choice, the alternative colours such as pink and orange, when combined with festive accessories, could also provide a striking and original centrepiece for the homes of your customers. Meanwhile, a single amaryllis makes the perfect place setting either alongside or instead of the traditional Christmas cracker.

As well as being a great decoration for the home, amaryllis also make a great alternative gift idea – therefore, make sure you have a selection of beautifully packaged, ready-to-go ideas in store.

Christmas red varieties to look out for – and more than likely the ones used by our Direct2florist professional florists – include “Liberty”, “Red Lion”, and “Hercules”.

Making your own Christmas decorations is a great way to have some Christmas fun with the family, so why not create your own personal style with fresh and exciting Christmas plants?

Plants are nature’s own decorations, creating a lovely atmosphere in the living room, but they can do much more than just “look good” and be decorative. Many of them conceal a fascinating story about their origin and spread, so with the right accessories and a little imagination, plants can become miniature Christmas stories in themselves.

Keep poinsettias warm

The classic Christmas poinsettia comes from South America, and so cannot tolerate cold temperatures and draughts. Therefore, why not keep the plant warm with a home-knitted “pot warmer”, or put it in small glass pot covers and place these in colourful cloth bags that can be hung on .

Christmas wreaths with different expressions
Christmas wreaths acquire a completely different look in the company of plants. The wreath can be made to match the modern home with, for example Phalaenopsis orchids or succulents, while roses or euphorbia give the arrangement a more romantic look.

Decorations for the Christmas table
With plants, you can also create decorations for the Christmas table, or small, smart tableaux for your coffee table or bookcase. You could, for example, arrange mini-plants in matching colours on a platter or tray, and give the decoration horizontal or vertical bulk using chopsticks, perhaps decorated with stars.

If you’re lucky enough to receive flowers as a gift this Christmas, or you’ve picked up a festive table centre or vase of something seasonal for yourself, you’ll want to ensure they last as long as possible, which is where the correct care and conditioning comes in.

There are plenty of old wives tales out there about adding sugar, bleach and even Coca-Cola to the water to prolong life. However, whilst all of those can help, there are better ways to ensure your Christmas flowers last the course of Christmas.

Firstly, here at Direct2florist, we believe a long life starts at the beginning of the chain, which is why our florists only buy top quality flowers and are encouraged to use professional flower food solutions in store, which means healthy flowers will be sent to you in the first place.

Once in your home, a few things you can do to help ensure longevity is:

1. Allow your flowers to acclimatise in your house before unwrapping – this will allow them to ‘warm-up’ gradually.
2. Remove packaging. Whilst it might be tempting to leave the beautiful florist’s wrapping on, for the longest life, remove all packaging.
3. Re-cut the stems – just a few centimetres will do. Cut at an angle, allowing for maximum water intake.
4. Strip away all leaves below the water line.
5. Place in clean, fresh water. Plus, if your flowers were sent with a sachet of flower food, use it!
6. Replace the water regularly to ensure bacteria can’t build up.
7. Avoid placing flowers near a radiator – central heating in an already hot Christmas house will significantly reduce vase life.
8. Keep flowers away from fruit – certain fruits (bananas in particular) give off ethylene, which flowers don’t like at all!

By following these simple points, your flowers will give lasting pleasure throughout the Christmas period.

We love Christmas here at Direct2florist – and so too do our florists, judging by the beautiful selection of floral gifts and decorations for the home they have on offer this year.

 From beautiful table centres that will make the Christmas table look a million dollars, through to hand-tied bouquets that make brilliant gifts, not forgetting festive plants and numerous different designs for decorating the home, our florists have Christmas sorted.

 When ordering through www.direct2florist.co.uk, as well as next day delivery, a same day delivery service is available on all orders placed before 2pm local time, meaning the service is great for

last-minute gifts, whatever the occasion. Plus, because we let you choose the florist you would like to deliver your Christmas flowers, based on real photos of actual work and previous customer ratings, you can relax in the knowledge  our order is in safe hands.

So, for perfect festive flowers, log on to www.direct2florist.co.uk today to see what our florists have to offer this Christmas.

With only two weeks to go until Christmas, now’s the ideal time to order your Christmas gifts and beautiful floral decorations for your home from Direct2florist.

What’s more, because we’re getting all excited about Christmas here at Direct2florist towers, we’ve decided to give away some flowers to five lucky customers – simply for ordering early!

Everyone who orders Christmas flowers before Friday 16th December will automatically be entered into a draw to win one of five beautiful deliveries of flowers, sent to an address of the winner’s choice any time during 2012. Don’t worry if you’ve already ordered – you’re automatically entered into the draw as well.

This Christmas, Direct2Florist’s talented florists are offering a superb selection of festive floral gifts at prices that won’t hurt your pocket. From traditional gifts and table centres made using favourite Christmassy flowers and accessories, to contemporary designs and plenty of plants, including beautiful poinsettias, we’re sure you’ll find something suitable for all tastes and budgets.

Simply log on to www.direct2florist.com, select the town and city where you need your Christmas flowers to be delivered, and we’ll provide you a with a list of florists that deliver to your chosen location. From there, you’ll be able to choose from a huge selection of different gift ideas, with all prices clearly displayed and no hidden extras to worry about. And remember, with Direct2Florist, 100% of the flower value goes to the florist, unlike with our rivals.

Win Win Win!

To thank you for ordering your Christmas flowers from us and for helping our florists by ordering early, we’re giving away free flowers. Everyone who places an order for Christmas flowers with us beforemidnighton Friday 16th December will automatically be placed into a prize draw to win a free delivery of flowers to the address of your choice, to the value of £30. We have five prizes up for grabs in total.

So, for the perfect Christmas gift, and the chance to win free flowers, simply click here.

Terms & Conditions of the prize draw: All customers ordering flowers between 17 November 2011 and midnight on Friday 16 December 2011 will automatically be entered into the prize draw. 5 prizes of flower deliveries to the address of the winner’s choice are available. Total prize value £30.00. Total prize fund £150.00. Prizes must be claimed by no later than 31 January 2012 with delivery made by no later than 31 December 2012. Winners will be selected at random by an independent adjudicator. Winners will be notified by email by 4^th January 2012. Names and addresses of winners are available on request from Direct2Florist. Details of how to claim prizes will be supplied to the winners.

Christmas is now less than 3 weeks away, which means there’s no better time than now to sort out those all-important gifts of flowers for someone special with Direct2florist.

Handmade, personally delivered flowers never fail to impress at Christmas, especially when sent to family and friends that you can’t be with during the festive season. After all, few other gifts make the statement that flowers do, with your personal message card delivered with your flowers to add that extra special finishing touch.

At Direct2florist, we make ordering Christmas flowers easy. Simply log on to www.direct2florist.com and enter the location that you would like your gift to be delivered to. Then, you’ll be able to see which florists deliver to your location, view photos of the florist’s individual work, including any festive specials, find out more about suggested price points and even read reviews from previous customers, before choosing which shop will deliver your Christmas order.

Then, unlike other big name flower delivery services, Direct2Florist guarantees that 100% of the cost of the flowers is passed on to the chosen florist, meaning the lucky recipient will receive a bigger, better festive gift.

Direct2Florist’s talented network of local florists is able to deliver a wide range of festive gifts, from a traditional Poinsettia plant or festive hand-tied through to a Christmas table centre with the extra wow-factor, at prices to suit all budgets.

Why worry about Christmas when you can trust it to the experts! For more information about Direct2Florist’s service, log on to www.direct2florist.com today.

Of course, for most of us, thoughts have now turned to Christmas, which at the moment means wreaths are very much at the forefront of our minds.

The wreath is considered to be the classic symbol of life, a circle with no beginning and no end. Direct2florist’s network of skilled florists tend to use a mix of different greens (fir, cedar, boxwood, holly, juniper, white pine and blue spruce) to provide interesting colour and texture for your outdoor arrangements, accented with all manner of wintry extras, including birch branches, winterberry, eucalyptus, pinecones, ruscus and even (if a power source is close by) lights.

But wait, there’s more. Whether you’re working on decorative items for your own home, or contemplating gifts for friends and family, there are many options available to celebrate a fresh, natural, evergreen Christmas.

Poinsettia is the classic Christmas flowering plant – and no doubt you’ll be sending these in your thousands this year. Meanwhile, the lovely cyclamen is one of the most popular of winter-flowering potted plants, offering a bright splash of colour above decorative patterned foliage. Colours range from white through pink, orange, red and magenta. Just as with poinsettias, they make lovely Christmas gifts.

Another festive Christmas plant is the Christmas Cactus – the plant that is perhaps the choice of the fashionable set if the word on the street is correct. Christmas Cacti don’t look like much for 10 months of the year, but when they finally bloom – just before Christmas – it’s easy to see why they’re likely to be so popular this year.

Send Christmas Plants

This week of course sees the celebration of Thanksgiving Day in the US, which of course means plenty of roast turkey, pumpkin pie, family celebrations and, of course, Thanksgiving Flowers.

In homes from Miami to Massachusetts, no thanksgiving table would be complete without a floral centrepiece. Whilst in Canada, where Thanksgiving is held in October, the table centres and of course those sending flowers to family and friends, will concentrate on autumnal leaves and the lovely rich colours of the season, in the US it’s all about the late autumn, early winter flowers. That means plenty of gladioli, chrysanthemums, dahlias and zinnias.

Of course, American citizens can be found living across the globe, which means lots of Thanksgiving flower deliveries to homes across the globe.

Here at Direct2florist whilst we’re busy sorting out those Thanksgiving gifts, we thought today was the right time to wish our American colleagues a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you enjoyed reading this all-new first Direct2florist newsletter. We’re committed to providing you with an enjoyable, informative read, so would love to know what you thought of it and what you would like to see in future issues.

So, if there’s something you’ve always wanted to know about flowers, the global world of floral gifts, some design ideas you would like to see or a specific topic you would like us to cover please let us know – we’d be more than happy to oblige. Simply click here to email your thoughts and we’ll do the rest.

To celebrate the launch of the all-new Direct2florist newsletter, we’re giving away two pairs of tickets to a true winter wonderland – the fabulous open air skating rink at London’s Natural History Museum.

Open until January 8th 2012, the 950-square-metre ice rink is set on the museum’s east lawn, a setting made even more magical with its fairground carousel, 76,000 fairy lights, sweet shop and the cosy Café bar. There’s also a 100-square-metre rink for children, making this the perfect winter wonderland.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the two pairs of tickets we have up for grabs – suitable for either one adult and one child or two adults – simply click here and email your name, contact telephone number (only used to contact you if you win) and a preferred date for when you would like your tickets (any time between December  1st and January 8th). Closing date for entries is Wednesday 30th November 2011. Good luck!