Care guides, seasonal stories, and the occasional opinion about proteas — by the florists who arrange them.
Featured · Flower Guides
The Victorians invented flower-as-secret-message; South Africa added an entire indigenous vocabulary. Here's what each bloom actually says — what's canonical, what's florist convention, and what to (gently) avoid…
Flower Guides
St Joseph, Stargazer, Asiflorum, Oriental, Asiatic, arum — six names for what looks like the same flower. Five are true lilies, two are not even in the same family, and one of those distinctions matters enormously if there is a cat in the house. What each type is, how to tell them apart, and how to make them last.
Flower Care
Glycerin, air drying, silica gel or pressing? There is a moment, around day eight, when a bouquet stops being flowers and becomes a decision — bin them, or keep them. Here are all four ways to preserve a rose, what the RHS and Clemson actually say about each, and the one method genuinely documented for rose blooms.
Flower Guides
Cape Town's flower calendar runs upside-down to anyone raised on a Northern Hemisphere garden book — proteas peak in winter, agapanthus blue out the coast in midsummer, and the West Coast turns into a wildflower carpet at the end of August. Here's the full month-by-month rundown, plus the imported staples you can order any week of the year.
Etiquette Guides
South African funerals are emotionally and culturally varied — what comforts one family will quietly offend another. This is the gentle, practical guide we wish more people had: what to send, when to send it, where it should arrive, what to write, and how to get the cultural and religious notes right.
Flower Guides
Most cut roses give up after five days. With a florist's routine — recut stems, clean water, the right vase, and an honest read on which kitchen-cupboard 'tricks' actually work — you'll get 10 to 14. Here's the method, and the myth-busting.
Flower Guides
Cut proteas can hold court in a vase for two or three weeks if you treat them right — and they happen to be the only national flower with a Greek shape-shifter for a namesake. Here's the complete guide: vase care, varieties, meaning, and which proteas to send (or keep) this season.
