Jack has given flowers every week for 70 years

Valentine’s Day is still a few weeks away, but one romantic pensioner has shown that tokens of love need not be confined to just one week of the year.

In perhaps the most touching story of the year so far, it has been revealed that 89-year-old Jack Mills has bought a bouquet of flowers for his wife Millie every week for the past 70 years; gifting her a total of over 3,000 bouquets in the process since their marriage in 1942.

The first bunches of flowers Jack bought for Millie cost 1 shilling, but if he had the time or didn’t have enough spare money to buy her a bouquet he would pick some from a local meadow; whatever was in bloom at the time. In total, it is estimated that Jack has spent almost £20,000 on flowers for his wife during their marriage.

“The secret of a long marriage is caring for each other and sharing, and for me that is buying Millie flowers. I get Millie whichever flowers are in season at the time and always red roses on Valentine’s day,” said Jack of Yaxley, Cambridgeshire.

“When we were first courting and I didn’t have much money I used to pick buttercups and daisies to give her. It’s money well spent. It’s just natural if you like someone you would spend you last ha’penny on them.”

Jack’s thoughtfulness has been an example for the couple’s offspring, with 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren bearing witness to his weekly ritual.

“Dad is an old romantic and mum has always loved having flowers in the house,” commented this daughter Dee, 64.

“It doesn’t happen to a lot of couples. They wanted to underplay it, but I felt it was quite important that it was recognised.”

As for Millie herself, she added that, “The secret to a long, happy marriage has to be a bit of give and take. He knows I love flowers.”

Philcoxia Minensis: A Delicate Carnivore

There are several well-known carnivorous plants in the world, such as the Venus Fly Trap, Tropical Pitcher plants and ingenius Drosera. All deadly and all very obviously carnivores. Whether they snap shut on an unsuspecting insect, ensnare them inescapable chambers or trap them in glue before sucking out their nutrients, it is abundantly clear that the plant is feeding on the insect.

However, a newly discovered carnivorous plant isn’t quite so obvious in its methods and prefers to do its hunting out of sight. The Philcoxia minensis, recently studied in its native Brazil, looks innocent enough but while there are only delicate purple flowers to see above ground, below the surface it is busy munching its way through the local wildlife.

The secret of the Philcoxia minensis is that it eats the tiny worms that burrow around its subterranean leaves, trapping them in a sticky gum and slowly digesting them.

At first, scientists could not be sure whether the flower was actually eating the nematode roundworms, which are almost microscopic in size, but testing revealed with certainty the worms’ fate.

In tests, the scientists fed the worms with the stable isotope Nitrogen-15 before introducing them to the soil around the plant. Two days later the researchers sampled the leaves of the flower for the isotope, with the results coming back positive – the worms had been absorbed into the plant.

Speculation is rife on just how many other plants could also be using the same tactic to get the nutrients they need, particularly in areas of poor soil (or so-called “nutrient-impoverished environments”) such as the Brazilian Cerrado.

“It’s a great example of how plants, which can’t move to find food and water, are able to develop interesting mechanisms to deal with extreme environments,’ commented Rafael Oliveira, Professor of Botany at State University of Campinas in Sao Paolo.

Daffodils: Appearing now in a field near you

In what is fast becoming an annual event, Spring has arrived in Britain’s countryside and gardens early again this year. Or at least that’s what many flowers seem to think.

The exceptionally mild weather and lack of ground frost has seen many of our wild flowers emerging earlier than ever, with the Woodland Trust reporting snowdrops and daffodils in full bloom several weeks ahead of schedule.

Although we are still only in mid-Winter, sightings of fully-emerged wild flowers have been popping up all over the country; a wild flower survey from the Museum of Wales found that there were more than double the amount of flowers around the capital Cardiff than normal – 63 different species compared to the expected 20 to 30.

“Most of the wild flowers have continued to flower because autumn frosts have not been severe enough to knock the plants back for the winter,” he said.” commented the musuem’s Head of Vascular Plants, Dr Tim Rich. “Only winter heliotrope is supposed to be flowering at New Year, but three Spring-flowering species – hazel, primrose and lesser celandine – were flowering very early.”

Their survey found that many garden varieties, such as the forsythia, camellia and laurastinus, are also in bloom. The museum urged caution to gardeners seeing their cultivated flowers coming up early, warning that they would be very vulnerable to any sudden cold snap and that measures may need to be taken to protect them in this event, such as covering them with a fleece or sheet overnight.

Elsewhere, the National Trust are reporting that fields are very green compared to the same time last year, when the snow and ice damaged the grass and set back its growth cycle.

Matthew Oates, Conservation Adviser for the National Trust, commented that warmer, milder winters are now becoming the norm, with the icy weather of the last two winters the exception rather than the rule.

”After two cold winters, we’ve reverted back to the modern trend of mild, wet winters. If you look closely in woods, valleys, stream-sides and south facing slopes in particular, there are features of late January and early February everywhere.”

So the likelihood is that we will be seeing greater volume and variety of flowers in coming winters; a boon for flower lovers, if a tad disappointing for kids waiting to try out the toboggans they got for Christmas!

Buttercups: Mystery solved

Most of us will have played the game during childhood – hold a buttercup under your chin and if it glows yellow then it shows that you like butter – but how many gave a thought as why buttercups behave in this peculiar way when other flowers don’t? Well if it was a concern then worry no longer, as science has found the answer.

Researchers looking into the problem found that it is the anatomical structure of the buttercup that sets it apart from other flowers and allows it to reflect light so efficiently.

Although we can see with the naked eye that buttercups have bright, glossy petals, closer inspection reveals that instead of the corrugated cell structure of most flowers, buttercup petals are almost perfectly flat, helping them to bounce light back off their surface rather than absorbing it.

In tests, scientists found that the epidermal layer of the flower reflected light almost as effectively as a sheet of glass. An air gap underneath the top layer helped magnify the glow, and a brilliant white layer of starch underneath this helped bounce back any other light shining on to the plant.

“This phenomenon has intrigued scientists and laymen alike for centuries,” commented Dr Beverley Glover of Cambridge University’s Plant Sciences dept. ”Our research provides exciting insight into not only a children’s game but also into the lengths to which flowers will go to attract pollinators.

Although entertaining for children, the primary function of the buttercup’s reflectiveness is to attract pollinators such as bees and other insects whose eyes are sensitive to UV light. The brighter and more brilliant the flower, the better chance that it will be noticed by passing insects.

“Many different factors, such as scent and temperature, influence the relationships between pollinators and flowers,” said Dr Silvia Vignolini, also from Cambridge University. “The visual appearance of flowers is one of the most important factors in this communication.”

The researchers also announced that due to the constant nature of the effect, everyone should like butter. Mystery solved.

Remembrance Day Poppy: Lest We Forget

Today, people in many parts of the world paused in quiet reflection to remember those who have fallen in armed conflict. Armistice Day, marking the date when Germany signed the armistice to officially end World War I (at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) is also known as Poppy Day in reference to the flower that has become synonymous with the occasion.

The Poppy Appeal in Britain dates back to 1921 and drew inspiration from the famous poem ‘In Flanders’ Fields‘ written by John McCrae, a field surgeon in the Canadian artillery, but it was American War Secretary, Moina Michael,who first started the tradition of wearing poppies in remembrance.

After Ms Michael purchased 25 poppies she started selling them to other overseas War Secretaries, including her French counterpart, Madame Guerin. It was Guerin’s idea that the flower could serve a practical as well as a symbollic purpose,  with them being sold to raise funds for ex-servicemen and their families.

Field Marshall Haig, Founder-President of the British Legion took the idea a step further, and rather than buying the poppies from a French manufacturer, said that their production should be used to provide work for injured and disabled service personnel and set up a factory in 1922 with five disabled ex-forces workers in Bermondsey, South London.

The poppy was designed to be simple enough that a disabled person could assemble them quickly and easily and today consists of a red paper double petal and a green paper leaf attached to a plastic green stem by a black plastic centre. There are many varieties of poppies sold, including metal brooches and the white pacifist poppy. There are no hard and fast rules on how you should wear your poppy, with the only guidance being to wear it with pride.

The Royal British Legion Poppy Factory Ltd is now situated in Richmond, Surrey and provides work for 50 ex-servicemen throughout the year, assembling an amazing 27 million poppies annually, along with well over 100,000 wreathes and 800,000 remembrance crosses.

Use your local florist

Consumers today have more choice than ever before when buying products and services. Thanks to the internet we can buy things from companies not just based on the other side of the country, but also on the other side of the world. What’s more, buying from these distant online retailers is often easier than walking down our local high street.

However, just because buying online is easy it doesn’t mean it’s always the best option. Using your local florist can give you a number of benefits that it’s impossible to get from many online flower retailers.

Face-to-face advice – As helpful as online flower retailers try to be, nothing comes close to talking to a real-life florist in their shop. Whereas you tend to be limited to a few pre-selected bouquets when shopping online, your local florist can discuss your requirements and tastes with you to create exactly what you want, giving you the benefit of their experience on what will and won’t work. Not only do you get the personal touch, it’s like getting a free one-on-one consultation.

Cost – In a world where we are used to everything being available for cheaper online this seems counter-intuitive, but your local florists will often be cheaper than buying on the internet. Steep delivery charges and hidden costs can be eliminated by going straight to your local flower shop.

Flexibility – Local florists are more flexible than online bouquet delivery services; changes can be made to orders at short notice and if you’ve forgotten something (or need to rectify a mistake) your local florist can often save the day at the last minute.

Keeping it local – Using local businesses such as your nearest florists means you are keeping the money you spend in your own town’s economy rather than having it go to the shareholders of a plc. Buying local means your high street stays in better shape and the cash is likely to flow to other businesses in the area, so everyone in the town wins.

Go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast cancer awareness is a cause that is important to many people; which is unsurprising as it is one of the UK’s most common diseases. It is estimated that 50,000 new cases are diagnosed in this country every day, which equates to someone discovering they have breast cancer every 10 minutes.

Happily, the survival rates for breast cancer are steadily improving as a result of earlier detection and more effective treatments. Playing a big part in this push for greater awareness of the disease are some of our florists, who have taken part in events and even produced special bouquets and displays to support the cause.

Blossom and Berries in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, which is run by florist Angela Stokes, took part in a campaign by local shopkeepers to raise money for charity and spread the message with pink decorations and displays.

“There is no cure for breast cancer and sufferers do need help, and everybody needs to be aware of it,” commented her husband, Rob Stokes.

As an international campaign, florists from across the world have been getting involved in special Breast Cancer Awareness events, with pink-themed fundraisers also being held in the United States, Australia and Canada.

After the news that UK flowers are being used as the basis for “smart bomb” cancer drugs, it’s great to hear that as florists we can also have an effect on a disease that affects so many people – an estimated 550,000 people living in the UK today have had a diagnosis of breast cancer, so if you haven’t been affected yourself, it’s almost certain that you know someone who has been.

The message from the experts is that early detection really makes a big difference, so we urge you to check yourself (breast cancer can affect both men and women). It’s easy and you can carry it out yourself in a matter of minutes; for a guide as to what you should be looking out for check out the breastcancercare.org.uk website.

Autumn crocus: A new hope for cancer treatment

Researchers have found a surprising new ally in the fight against the cancer in the shape of the Autumn crocus.

Experiments have found that a modified version of the chemical colchicine, which causes the plant to be poisonous to humans, is able to target tumours like a “smart bomb” whilst leaving the rest of the body unaffected.

After early success in treating tumours in mice, clinical trials are set to start shortly, and researchers from the Institute for Cancer Therapeutics (ICT) at the University of Bradford are hopeful that drugs developed from the compound will have similar success in either slowing or eliminating tumours in humans affected by the disease.

The new drug works by altering the colchicine toxin so that it remains inactive until it reaches the cancer. When it comes into contact with the tumour it is reactivated and attacks the blood vessels of the growth, starving it of the blood supply it needs and killing it off.

To make the colchicine molecule inert, scientists combine it with a protein, which is then stripped away again by the enzymes which all solid tumours produce, the effect being that the drug only targets cancers and remains harmless to the other cells in the body.

“What we’re looking for is a delay in the growth of the tumour,” said Professor Patterson at Bradford University ICT. “But sometimes the treatment is so effective that in half of the studies, the mice appeared to be cured of their cancer. All mice responded to the treatment.”

The process for introducing a new drug on to the market takes some time as it must be proved to be safe and effective in clinical trials, but it is hoped that the new drug will enter trials at St James’ Hospital in Leeds within the next 18 months.

Professor Patterson commented that he was “…very optimistic about the opportunities of the treatment, but still cautious because everything done to date has been in the laboratory”.

The Autumn crocus, which is not truly a crocus but a flower which sits in its own genus, is a native of the UK and would truly be a home-grown cure.

Restoring wild flower meadows

Kew Gardens has launched a new initiative to help protect and restore wild flower meadows in the UK.

The UK Native Seed Hub, part of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank project, will provide conservation groups across the country with seeds for native wild flower species and the advice on how to manage natural meadows in their areas.

Kew claim that only a tiny proportion of the wild flower meadows found in Britain 60 years ago survives, with much of it being lost to farmland and housing developments, and that urgent action is needed to restore the species-diverse meadows traditionally found in our countryside.

“This is habitat that has suffered the most over the past decades. Only about 2% of the old species-rich meadows are left since the second world war,” said Robin Probert, Head of Technology and Training at Kew.

The first restoration initiative to be aided by the Seed Hub will be the High Weald Landscape Trust’s Weald meadows project in West Sussex, where volunteers are hoping to reintroduce plants including oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)  and sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica).

The Seed Hub itself is an extensive seed bank, with a hectare of production beds growing seeds ready to be used by schemes across the country. Kew will also be working with commercial seed producers to help them generate larger quantities of seeds once they have been able to establish a large enough collection. It is hoped that the scheme will particularly benefit species which are difficult to germinate, pairing the scientific expertise of the horticulturalists at Kew with the production capacity of commercial seed companies.

Although the Seed Hub has an extensive collection of the UK’s wild flowers, it has not yet been able to secure examples of all native species.

“The UK has around 1,500 native flower plants, of which most have been collected, although a few are still so rare even Kew has been unable to collect samples,” said Professor Stephen Hopper, Director of Kew.

After getting the restoration project off the ground for wild flower meadows, the plan is to roll out the project for other natural environments in the UK, including heathland and chalk grasslands.

Edinburgh's Amorphophallus titanum aka "Corpse flower"

Staff at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden have been left disappointed (or should that be relieved?) after the smelliest plant in the world failed to come into flower as had been anticipated.

Botanists had predicted that the garden’s star attraction, a giant Amorphophallus titanum or “Corpse flower”, would finally bloom after eight years developing in their hothouse, but sadly it wasn’t to be this season.

The flowering of the 153kg plant is notoriously rare, particularly in captivity, but hopes had been raised after it produced a giant bud – growing at a rate of up to 10cm per day. After weeks of patient waiting the bud produced not a flower but a 14ft leaf – larger than many of the surrounding trees.

“Everything pointed to the bud being a flower but it turned out to be a leaf instead,” said Louise Galloway, a horticulturalist at the Garden. “We were really surprised it wasn’t a flower but we are still really excited about it being a leaf. It will be like that for about a year.”

If it had bloomed it would have been a first for Scotland and staff at the Royal Botanic Garden were hoping the event would attract thousands of extra visitors, who had been able to follow the plant’s development on a special webcam. The garden had even brought in special thermal imaging equipment so that the plant could viewed at night.

Had the flower successfully bloomed visitors would have been treated to a stench similar to rotten meat, intended to attract flies as pollinators rather than a curious public.

However, staff do still have high hopes that the plant, native to the sweltering rainforests of Indonesia, will flower sooner rather than later. It is already the largest Corpse flower specimen in the world, being almost six stone heavier than the next largest which is kept at a botanical garden in Germany.