Category Archives: Knight’s Flowers

Flowers, Knight's Flowers, Weddings

Walking on Sunshine

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If there were ever a flower that evokes the bright sunny outdoors it sunflowers. It’s one of the few posies that never go out of style. Sunflowers come in lots of different sizes. The mini sunflowers which are the size of baseball to huge sunflowers that are as big as a soccer ball. There are even little chrysanthemums called viking poms the size of a button that look just like a sunflower that are great in corsages and boutonnieres.

Some sunflowers have green centers and other have black centers. The petals can be bright yellow to a darker mustard yellow. Really cool are the two toned petals that are yellow on the edges and a rusty redish brown closer to the center. Also, sunflowers can be dyed with the most popular color being red.

Sunflower Varieties

Sunflowers are available year-around and at Knight’s we have them just about 50 out of 52 weeks a year. When someone wants an arrangement to cheer someone up and bring a little sunshine in a room you just can’t go wrong with these beauties.

When summer and fall comes around bridal couples just can’t get enough of radiant yellow sunflowers in their bouquets, reception flowers and for decoration. Doing an outdoor wedding, or barn wedding. oh my gosh, these settings scream sunflowers, with jute ribbon and a touch of greens you’ve got a classy country wedding. An added bonus is that sunflowers will stay fresh without wilting in the hot sunny outdoors!

We sell sunflowers from around $2 to $3 per stem and even better deals if you buy in bulk. Check us out.

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Check out our Flower Wedding package

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Flowers, Knight's Flowers

An Amazing Flower to Take Your Breath Away

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One of the first flowers I fell in love with when I really realized I wanted to be a florist was the alstroemeria. I”ll never forget that day. I was working for a florist in New York in the late 1970’s and it was just around the time Holland flowers started having an impact in the United States.

charmeliaalstroe

Every week I would call my dad and we would just talk about what was going on in our lives. I would tell him all the cool things I was doing in New York and he’d be telling about what was happening back home. Maybe we’d talk about a ballgame we saw on t.v. or a current event. I remember one time I was telling him about the unbelievable flowers we got in from Holland. One was the alstroemeria. He had never heard of it. Of course, in the flower business today everyone has heard of it, since it is one of our most widely used flower. Back then in the late 1970’s it just started coming into the U.S. I told my dad how long it lasted and the fact that it had multiple breaks with lots of flowers on the stem. One of my favorite flower back then. Beautiful and unusual. I’m still in love with it.

 

Since my first introduction to alstroemeria this flowers had become super popular  with lots of colors, longer life and very affordable. Recently, my wholesaler gave me a sample of a new variety of alstroemeria to try called ‘Charmelia‘. It took everyone here at Knight’s breath away. Here are some of fantastic characteristics of this amazing flower:

  • Bloom count: unlike all other alstroemeria that have 4-6 blooms per stem, Charmelia has 20 or more blooms per stem!
  • Vase life: while many alstroemeria have a vase life of over two weeks, Charmelia lasts over 3 weeks.
  • Color: a gorgeous blush pink that keeps its color for weeks without fading
  • Bloom structure: trails up the break like freesia and unlike other alstroemeria all the blooms stay on the stem and don’t fall off after they die
  • Weddings: perfect for wedding bouquets and  blush pink and green color of the blooms will compliment many color palates

 

 

Knight's Flowers, Miscellaneous, Roses

The 4 Top Rose Color Trends for Valentine’s

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Back in the early 1950’s when Knight’s Flowers started in business in Lake City, just about the only rose color your true love got for Valentine’s was red. A florist might have a few white or pink roses back then, but 60 years later we have kaleidoscope of colors. At Knight’s we carry over ten different rose colors. Now there are over 120 different rose varieties to chose from, many which last over 10 days!

The 3 top selling colors for Valentine’s are:

Ravishing Reds

The new reds for roses range from shades of bright raspberry to majestic scarlet to velvety-dark red to orange-kissed hues. At Knight’s we use the heart stopping Corazon rose from Rio Roses, which is a bright red rose that opens fully, last for over 2 weeks and amazingly doesn’t droop. Check our our ‘Dozen Red Roses’ arrangement that is sure to impress your love one.
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Pretty Pink Roses

This year we have traditional bridal pinks or adopted siblings of hip hot pinks. Cousins on this family tree include peaches, apricots, corals and lavenders. Check out our ‘Valentine’s Jewels’ bouquet for a wide variety of pink color tones this Valentines.
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Wild Yellows

Whether crisp lemon, buttery hues, golden yellows or trendy two-tones, the variety of yellow roses cover a broad spectrum of color – and appeal. If you’ve never given flowers to a man before, introduce him to this family of colors. Yellow is the second most popular color cited by men. This year at Knight’s we have a wicked yellow rose that has red tinted edges on its petals called ‘Circus’. Check our ‘2 Dozen Circus’ roses arrangement that sure to brighten up any lovers day.
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Rainbow Roses

One of the hottest new trends in Valentines colors that past couple of years is a rose color called ‘rainbow roses’. Each petal on this rose is dyed a different color to create a spectacular show. If you want to just blow away you sweetie pie this valentines order this rose arrangement we call “Groovy Lovin’ Roses”.
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Roses are like fine wines, a delight to be savored and cultivated. Like an expanding wine cellar, Knight’s Flowers coolers are now stocked with more choices worth learning about. After all, variety is the spice of life.
Flowers, Knight's Flowers

Dazzling Dahlias

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Right now is peak season for dahlias, late summer early fall. These amazing flowers come in an extraordinary range of colors and some dahlia blooms can be huge.  Our dahlias are grown for us by Skyline Flower Growers in California, one of this country’s premier dahlia growers.

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Dahlias are native to Mexico and are part of the aster family, which includes asters, gerberas, sunflowers, marigolds and black-eyed susans. In some parts of the world people eat the stems of dahlias. Can’t imagine the taste and not quite sure I want to try.

Local Connection

Dahlias are very popular in the United States and there are several dahlia societies here in Tennessee. You may even have some growing in your yard. I found an old obituary for Elbert Cooper, SR, who died in 1974 that mentioned the fact that he was an avid grower of dahlias and won many prizes for his beautiful dahlias he grew on McAdoo St. Streets throughout Tennessee are named dahlia, including one in Knoxville.

Cut Dahlia Care

Dahlias come in lots of shapes and sizes. The vase life of dahlias can range from 4 days to 10 depending on the variety. Here’s a few tips to get the most vase life out of your dahlias from Knight’s Flowers:

  • If your buying dahlias loose by the stem or bunch immediately unpack them and remove any foliage that will be underwater
  • Recut one inch of the stem with a knife or garden shears, but don’t use scissors
  • Add the flower food (at Knight’s we’ll give you bulb food, since this is better) and follow the directors on the package
  • Arrange in vase
  • Check water level every few days and add more water if needed
  • Throw away any dahlias past their prime and after 5 days the rest of the dahlias that still look pretty recut them and replenish the water
Enjoy!
Flowers, Knight's Flowers

How I got to become friends with one of the giants in the floral industry-part 2

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For most of the history of the floral industry in the United States if you were a retail florist or wholesaler and wanted to know something about the care and handling of cut flowers you usually got it from reading articles in trade publications or a rep from Smither’s-Oasis, Floralife or Chrysal (who were usually pushing their products) They would put on a demonstration at a convention or wholesale  house or sometimes floral designers would talk a little about this during one of their design shows.
The problem was there weren’t any professional, unbiased programs out there on the care and handling of cut flowers. Most of the so-called experts were researchers at major universities who stayed in the labs and classrooms and rarely ventured out into the retail and wholesale world. When they published articles they were usually in obscure horticultural journals that most florists and wholesalers never read.
But this was all about to change.
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In the late 1970’s a flower researcher at Ohio State University was getting fed up with the lack of reliable information available to the floral industry, especially at the wholesaler,retailer and consumer level. Being attached to a university also presented lots of red tape and constraints.
During his time at Ohio State he, along with others, developed the groundbreaking marketing and educational program called “Chain of Life”. It simply stated that the life of a flower or plant is only as good as the weakest link in the distribution chain, from growers to consumers
So a man by the name of  George Staby decided to leave behind the university classrooms, not to mention the nice reliable paycheck and venture out into the real world and form his own company called Perishable Research Organization (PRO). Setting up shop in the mountains of California. Volcano, CA  became kind of the Menlo Park of the flower industry. George is responsible or played a part in creating several of the care and handling products that we use in the floral industry today.
I feel the biggest impact George had on the industry was not so much his research, but his tirelessly devotion to preaching the gospel of proper care and handling of flowers and plants. All across the country and the world he gave seminars and presentations at wholesale houses, florists conventions, wire service meetings, etc.
It was at a wire service function I first met George. In the mid 1980’s at a FTD Young Owners/Managers workshop in Fort Lauderdale, FL Having devoured the manual he had written for SAF I couldn’t wait to see him in person. To put it mildly, I was blown away. I’d never seen someone so energetic and madly in love with what many would consider the most boring subject in the flower industry-post harvest care of flowers. George was like a kid in a candy shop. It was obvious he loved what he was doing and he loved talking about it.
30 years later (2012) in Davis, Ca he gave what might be his last presentation. And you know what? He was just as enthusiastic and googly eyed about flower care as he was 30 years ago in Fort Lauderdale. For a little over 2 1/2 days from 7 in the morning to 7 at night he lectured and reminisced to 24 people from all walks of the floral industry from around the world about post harvest care of plants.
What did he talk about? What new inventions had come down the pike since I first saw him 30 years ago? What had changed in these past 30 years?   Well… the basic principles of proper post harvest care of flowers is still the same now as they were back in the 1980’s.
  • Proper Sanitation
  • Proper temperature
  • Controlling Ethylene
  • Identifying the cultivar
  • Use cut flower food
I suspect that 30 years from now the same successful tactics will still be important.
George Staby
George Staby

What makes George Staby so unique in this industry and why will they may never be another like him? It’s pretty simple when you think about it. While there have and will continue to be great researchers in the field of floriculture that will come up with groundbreaking products and ideals to make our flowers last longer, there still has to be someone who can educate and get the industry to use these tools. Someone who is not tied to any one company or institution and has the time to tirelessly educate the industry and consumer about post harvest care of flowers. Not too many horticulture professors would leave behind their nice, stable job at a university to go out on their own and do this. George Staby took a huge career risk and it paid off for him and most importantly, for the floral industry. For this, I and the floral industry owe George Staby more than we could ever pay back.

Flowers, Knight's Flowers

How I got to become friends with one of the giants of the flower industry

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Last week I attended the PRO Institute in Davis, CA on the care and handling of cut flowers and plants, presented by Dr George Staby, one of the foremost authorities in the history of post harvest care of cut flowers and plants along Dr Michael Reid, who is also a world renowned flower care expert.

About a month or two ago George called me up and said he was  retirirng and giving what could possible be his last major presentation and invited me to come. I said I’d think about it. He said you HAVE to come. Quickly regaining my thoughts and realizing how much I owed George for the path I took in the floral industry I booked a plane ticket and signed up.

I’m not sure where or what I might be doing today if it wasn’t for George Staby. After getting out of college in the late seventies with a major in music I ended up working in one of my dad’s three flower shops. I hated it. Flowers just wasn’t for me. Since I was very culturally inclined I took off to live in the cultural capital of the world- New York City.

Quickly needing a job I ended working in a flower shop, something I knew a little something about. After settling into the job I found flowers could be fun, especially in New York, with flowers coming in from around the world. Unlike my dad’s shop in which most of the arrangements were funeral designs I was making arrangements for broadway openings, society dinners, opera performances, photography shoots, not to mention making arrangements for famous people. It was, shall we say…cool. It was also a very expensive town to live on a flower designers salary.

Not wanting to live like a starving artist, I packed up my bags and moved back to TN, but not for long. With the taste of the big city life I decided to try another culturally craved town-San Francisco. Loved working with flowers in San Francisco and in my mind San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Then, disaster strikes!

I ended up losing all my hearing.. Some days I could hear, others I couldn’t. Ironically, the world’s leading ear doctor for my problem was in Memphis and I needed immediate ear surgery. I had a one in four chance that if the surgery wasn’t successful I would be deaf the rest of my life. Luckly, it was successful.

There was a year of recuperation and doctor visits. Not idea from going back and forth from the west coast to Memphis. So… back to living in TN.

After several months of recovering I got back into working in my dad’s flower shop in Clinton. Having seen all the wonderful flowers from around the world in New York and San Francisco I decided I wanted to try to bring some these wonderful blooms to Clinton. I started importing flowers from around the world, when importing flowers from countries other than South America, was in its infant stage. My cooler at one time had over 50 different varieties of flowers. It was paradise. Except they didn’t last very long, sometimes they didn’t even make it through shipment. Customers loved the flowers, but complained about vase life. This wasn’t working.

My next thought was to carry only flowers that lasted a week.  This was in the mid 1980’s when flowers that lasted 5 days was considered great. I had a huge challenge ahead of me. Where do I begin? About this time the Society of American Florists (SAF) came out with a groundbreaking manual called the Flower & Plant Care Manual-A Contemporary Approach by Dr George Staby.

This manual and its author literally changed my life.

Next, how George Staby’s passion for flower care changed my life and the floral industry for years to come and why they’ll probably never be another one like him.

Knight's Flowers

Does Heaven Have a Phone Number

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Mommy went to Heaven, but I need her here today,
My tummy hurts and I fell down, I need her right away,
Operator can you tell me how to find her in this book?

Is heaven in the yellow part, I don’t know where to look.
I think my daddy needs her too, at night I hear him cry.
I hear him call her name sometimes, but I really don’t know why.

Maybe if I call her, she will hurry home to me.
Is Heaven very far away, Is it across the sea?
She’s been gone a long, long time she needs to come home now!
I really need to reach her, I simply don’t know how.

Help me find the number please, is it listed under “Heaven”?
I can’t read these big words, I am only seven.

I’m sorry operator, I didn’t mean to make you cry,
Is your tummy hurting too, or is there something in your eye?
If I call my church maybe they will know.
Mommy said when we need help that’s where we should go.
I found the number to my church tacked up on the wall.
Thank you operator, I’ll give them a call.

Knight's Flowers

Facebook Rosy Business Contest

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How would you like for your business to have a free rose arrangement? At Knight’s Flowers we think free prizes shouldn’t just be for individuals. Businesses deserve reconition too. Each Friday Knight’s will anounce the start of our Rosy Business contest. The winner will be announced Monday morning. Simply enter your business name in the comments section and the business with the most likes wins.
Rules:
1-Business can only win once
2-Business must have a storefront or name on a door if in an office building
3-Flowers will be delivered to the business
4-Business must be in Anderson County
5-In case of a tie, a random drawing will be held
6-Knight’s Flowers reserves the right to disqualify contestants at their decretion
Flowers, Knight's Flowers

Poinsettias Myths and Care

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History and Legend of the Poinsettia

Joel Robert Poinsett, who was an amateur botanist and the first ambassador to Mexico, first introduced poinsettias to the United States in 1825. He introduced the plant to the United States when he brought some cuttings to his plantation in Greenwood, South Carolina.

December 12 is National Poinsettia Day, an official day set aside to enjoy this symbol of holiday cheer. It was established upon the death of Mr.  Poinsett to honor him and the plant he made famous. He died in 1851.  Poinsettias are native to Mexico, where they grow wild. The enchanting legend of the poinsettia dates back several centuries, to a Christmas Eve in Mexico when a little girl named Pepita had no gift to present to the Christ child.  Her cousin Pedro urged her to give a humble gift. So, on her way to church she gathered some weeds she found along the road. As she approached the altar, a miracle happened: The weeds blossomed into brilliant flowers. Then they were called Flores de Noche Buena – Flowers of the Holy Night. Now they are called poinsettias.

Poinsettia Care Tips

Poinsettias are one of the longest-lasting blooming plants available to consumers.  To choose the perfect poinsettia and keep it blooming all year long, follow the care tips listed below:

Choosing the perfect poinsettia:

  • Pick a plant with small, tightly clustered buds in the center.
  • Look for crisp, bright, undamaged foliage.
  • Avoid plants displayed in drafty or crowded areas.

To keep the poinsettia blooming:

  • When surface soil is dry to the touch, water thoroughly. Discard excess water in the saucer.
  • To prolong color, keep a temperature range of 60 degrees for night and 72 degrees for day. High humidity is preferable.
  • Place plant away from hot or cold drafts, and protect from cold wind

To rebloom for the next season:

  • During winter, continue to follow holiday upkeep tips.
  • March 1 (St. Patrick’s Day): When bracts fade, cut stems back to eight inches above soil line.
  • Continue to water regularly.
  • Lightly fertilize with a balanced all-purpose plant food every three to four weeks.
  • When temperatures are warm, place plant outdoors; first in indirect, then direct sunlight. Avoid temperatures below 50 degrees throughout the summer.
  • July 4 (Independence Day): Cut back new growth stems. Repot if needed.
  • Early September (Labor Day): Move plant inside. Provide six or more hours of direct light.
  • October 1 through December: Confine plant to complete darkness for 14 hours, giving it 10 hours of natural light daily. This will set the buds and cause bracts to color

Poinsettia Toxicity Myth

The poinsettia is the most widely tested consumer plant on the market today, proving the myth about the popular holiday plant to be false:

  • Scientific research from The Ohio State University has proved the poinsettia to be non-toxic to both humans and pets. All parts of the plant were tested, including the leaves and sap.
  • According to POISINDEX, the national information center for poison control centers, a child would have to ingest 500-600 leaves in order to exceed the experimental doses that found no toxicity.
  • A study from the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University found that out of 22,793 reported poinsettia exposures there was essentially no toxicity significance of any kind. The study used national data collected by the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
  • As with any non-food product, however, the poinsettia is notmeant to be eaten and can cause varying degrees of discomfort; therefore, the plant should be kept out of the reach of young children and curious pets.