Joe's flower stall has been identified as a traffic hazard
An award-winning gardener living in Stafford has been banned from selling his beloved flowers due to the local council insisting they are a safety hazard to passing motorists.
Joe Poultney, 69, who donates hundreds of pounds a year to children’s charities with the proceeds received from selling his flowers, has been ordered to discontinue selling flowers outside his house by Stafford City Council.
Paul Burrell advises consumers to shop locally for their flowers
The popular MoneySavingExpert website carries an article this week from Paul Burrell of Princess Diana ‘Rock’ fame (or infamy depending on your point of view) with his tips on buying flowers.
Mr Burrell, the owner of a florists in Farndon, Cheshire since hanging up his butler gloves, warns readers to think twice about buying flowers online and consider the advantages of a local flower shops.
Police forces using flower power
Bunches of flowers are given to mark a whole host of occasions – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, get well soon gifts, Valentine’s day, Mother’s day… the list is practically endless.
As many a person who has missed one of these important events will attest, flowers are also a great way of saying sorry. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the police, with some forces now turning to bouquets as a way of softening the blow for victims of crimes that are unlikely to ever be solved.
Pressed flowers: a beautiful, traditional craft
You might think of the art of flower pressing / drying as something that all but disappeared with the Victorian era, and in some ways you would be right.
The practice certainly waned after becoming a wildly popular pastime amongst the well-heeled young ladies of the late 19th century, but a mini-revival means that flower pressing is now cool again (Is saying cool still cool? We’ll assume that it is.) If you fancy giving this traditional craft a try then here are a few pointers.
Are squirrels being trained to vandalise gardens?
A Solihull pensioner branded a ‘neighbour from hell’ ripped up her neighbours’ flower beds after becoming convinced that a local resident had specially trained a squirrel to damage her garden.
Marion Webster, 78, was found guilty of criminal damage at Solihull Magistrates Court after uprooting £50 worth of flowers from a bordering property; the latest in a string of anti-social incidents involving the OAP.
Bumblebee pollinating a flower
New research has revealed that more subtle forces are at work as the bumblebees merrily go about their pollination, and that the arrangement is more complex and nuanced that it would first appear. Scientists have discovered that flowers are actively communicating with bees using tiny electric fields.
Oprah with the offending bouquets
The world’s foremost chat show host Oprah Winfrey got an unexpected birthday present when she put her back out trying to lift several large bouquets of flowers she had received as a gift from close friend Tyler Perry.
Oprah, who turned 59 this week, was surprised by the flowers from long-time chum Tyler as she spent the day relaxing at home in her pyjamas with her partner Stedman Graham, but was probably more surprised when she tried to move the bouquets and strained her back.
Flowers of the Snow Queen Exhibition (Kyiv Post)
It may not be a winter wonderland for Christmas here in the UK, but in Ukraine they are gearing up for an icy celebration that could come straight from the pages of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Flowers of the Snow Queen exhibition, hosted in Kiev from the 2nd-27th January, will feature an array of beautiful ice figurines, some of which are to be created by artists using real flowers.
Random Acts of Flowers donates bouqets to those who need them most
Everyone knows that the best bit about Christmas is the giving, so we were thrilled to hear that a charity based around giving flowers to those in need has turned out to be a roaring success.
The brilliantly-named ‘Random Acts of Flowers’, a charity based in Knoxville, Tennessee, has now given 18,200 bouquets away to people, worth $1,000,000. That’s a lot of day-brightening.
Signs remain a mystery (East Anglian Daily Times)
Mysterious signs have popped up in the floral displays of a small Suffolk market town, requesting that people do not eat the flowers.
In what could very well be a response to a flower eating craze sparked by our recent article on growing edible flowers, person or persons unknown have planted the official-looking printed signs in Sudbury’s municipal flower beds.
