Village Gardens

There are many different things that are considered romantic.  One of the things people often think of when asked to name something romantic is a bouquet of flowers, especially red roses.  When it comes to planning a romantic date or dinner, flowers are almost always a must.  The magic of flowers can turn any event into a romantic one…but why?

Flowers aren’t always romantic.  Sometimes, they symbolize friendship, such as when you receive flowers congratulating you on a promotion or for a job well done.  Sometimes they remind you that others care, as in get well flowers.  Sometimes they help to commemorate an event like a birth, a graduation, or a birthday.  While these flowers are certainly magical, they aren’t considered romantic unless they come from your significant other.

So what brings about the romantic magic of flowers?  Well, part of it is the sender.  As stated above, flowers from your significant other are obviously going to carry more of a romantic meaning than those from others.  Flowers given on anniversaries and on Valentine’s Day (or any other day significant to your relationship) are also more magical and romantic.

The magic of flowers is that they make us happy and remind us that others care.  While romantic flowers may seem best to some people, overall, all given flowers are magical.

It’s difficult to stay cool in the oppressive summer heat, but you can do some things to help turn your patio into a nice, cool oasis.  That way, you can enjoy your beautiful backyard in the evenings while watching the stars come out or while enjoying a nice dinner with friends.

To create your cool patio oasis, you only need a few things.  The first is patio furniture.  You’ve got to have somewhere to sit, after all.  You don’t have to spend a lot on this patio furniture—you can get folding chairs fairly cheap at most stores.  However, if you plan on spending a lot of time on your patio, you may want to invest in a nicer, more comfortable set of chairs and perhaps a table as well.  You could also purchase a glider or even install a porch swing.

You also need some lighting.  While most homes have some kind of outdoor light above or near the patio, it’s often harsh lighting.  You may want to get some outdoor lanterns or even some torches to light.  Most torches double as insect repellant, which is handy.  Candles can also make for nice lighting.  If you have the budget for it, you may even want to invest in a small metal fire pit.  While the heat these fire pits produce may not be exactly welcome in the hot summer months, they do give you the chance to make tasty S’mores to snack on.

Some nice green plants can put the finishing touches on your cool oasis.  You may want to hang baskets of ivy or flowering plants like Moss Rose around the edge of your patio.  Flowering plants in pots can add some nice color, and the fragrance from these flowers is always welcome.  Of course, you can also add other small decorative touches such as bird feeders, wind chimes, and more.  It’s your patio oasis—make sure it reflects your sense of style!

Everyone gets in a dark mood from time to time.  Sometimes it’s a result of things going wrong.  Other times we just seem to wake up on the wrong side of the bed.  Whatever the reason, it’s always nice to get cheered up.  We can even cheer ourselves up, and one of the ways of doing this is with flower therapy!

What is flower therapy, you wonder.  Well, it has been shown through several scientific studies that flowers truly do make people happy.  Whether it’s something to do with the scent, the sight, or something else isn’t quite clear, but what is clear is that flowers can make us happy and get rid of that dark mood. 

Receiving flowers is the best form of flower therapy.  When you receive flowers, it’s often as a surprise.  A good, unexpected surprise like this can be all you need to change your bad day into a happy one.  But the power of flower therapy doesn’t end there.  Every time you see the arrangement, you’ll think of how happy it made you and how special you feel.  You’ll also think of the person who sent you the flowers, and that can increase your happiness, especially if they can from a significant other.

Sending flowers to yourself can also help cheer you up.  While you don’t get the surprise or that feeling of being special that comes from someone else sending flowers, you do get to enjoy the sight and scent of them.  Adding a bright arrangement to your desk at work or to your kitchen table can go a long way to making you feel happy, and that’s the result we’re looking for!

While a romantic picnic outdoors is certainly nice, sometimes the weather doesn’t permit it.  Other times, the bugs are just too much.  However, a nice alternative is an indoor picnic, especially for those who aren’t exactly the outdoors types.

Planning an indoor picnic is easy.  First, select the location.  You can push the furniture out of the way and use your living room or dining room floor, or you can spread your picnic blanket over your bed and use that.  Any indoor location works.  For the small and intimate, you can even have an indoor picnic in your laundry room or in a large closet.

Next, decide on the food.  Indoor picnics aren’t limited by cooler space or the transportation of food.  You can have hot, cooked food right from your own kitchen, or you can go with sandwiches or other traditional picnic foods.  Drink, too, is completely up to you—lemonade, water, soda, or something more romantic like champagne or wine.

That’s all you need.  Just pick a time, invite your significant other over, and enjoy your indoor picnic!

Some people say romance is dead.  But is it really?  Perhaps it’s not dead but it has simply changed form.  However, if you bring back the lost art of romance as it once was, you’ll find that you can impress your significant other like nothing else.

The first part of the lost art of romance is to set the mood.  Today, many people simply cook up a quick meal or order in, but if you truly want to impress your significant other, you’ll need to pay attention to the details.  How many people turn down the lights and eat by candle light any more?  Set the table with some tapers and put some tea lights around the room.  You may even want to play a CD of piano music or other romantic music, but remember to keep the volume down fairly low so that it doesn’t interfere with talking.

Flowers, too, are an important part of setting the mood and showing off your romantic side.  Buy her a nice bouquet of her favorite flowers or set them on the table to surprise her.  Remember, though, that you’ll want to move them off the table so that there’s nothing between the two of you that would impede talking.  During dinner, you want to be able to see each other.

If you go out, be sure to hold doors for her and, if at a restaurant, pull out her chair.  These small touches of chivalry may be lost on some women, but others will truly appreciate the extra lengths you’re going to.  Just be sure she’s going to appreciate them—if you know your girlfriend or wife isn’t into these types of things (some women aren’t), then don’t do them.

Romance may be something of a lost art in today’s break-neck speed lifestyle, but if you slow down and do a little work, you’ll find that you can bring it back and truly make an impression.

Summer is the perfect time for outdoor entertaining.  Whether you’re just having a few friends over or hosting an outdoor party for your entire family, getting out of the house and enjoying an evening outside can be a great change of pace.  Of course, you do have to do a little planning before hosting an evening outdoors, and that includes decorating.

Since you’re going to be outdoors, why not take advantage of the décor already there?  Setting up your table near your beautiful flower beds or garden can be a great way to bring in the greens and other bright colors.  For your table, cut a few fresh blooms from these flowers and place them in a vase.  Alternatively, you can order a nice arrangement that compliments the colors of your garden and flowers.

You can also bring the summer flower décor indoors.  If your guests will need to go through your home to get to your event, place a few vases of summer flowers around your home.  If they’re coming in through a gate, you can put a small table near the entrance with summer flowers on it.  If you need to put a sign up directing guests to the back yard, you could attach a few flowers to it or put several pots of flowers around it.

By letting your summer flowers spread out from the table, you’ll be creating an overall motif that will really impress your guests and show off both your gardening and your decorating skills.

Is your anniversary coming up?  Whether it’s your first or your fiftieth, you want to have a great time celebrating your love and your marriage.  There are a number of different things you can do in Kansas City on your anniversary, and here are just a few ideas for the perfect evening.

Recreate your first date.  If you had your first date in Kansas City, why not do your best to recreate it?  Go back to the same restaurant or repeat the same events.  If you went to a concert, try to find another great concert to attend.  If the restaurant you went to is no longer in business, try to find a similar one.  It may not be possible to completely recreate the event, but you can get close.

Alternatively, plan your anniversary date as a stay-at-home event.  Order out, though, so you don’t have to spend time in the kitchen.  Once you’ve got your food delivered, you can have a picnic on the living room floor complete with wine or champagne, appetizers, dinner, and a great dessert.  A romantic, candle-lit dinner on the patio or balcony is also a great idea.

Another idea is to take an evening stroll through one of Kansas City’s parks or downtown areas.  Just walking together talking can be a great way to reconnect and reaffirm your relationship.  Just ambling through a park with no particular destination or direction can be very romantic, especially if you stop to kiss under the stars.

Of course, you’ve got to pay attention to details, no matter what you plan on your anniversary.  Be sure to have a chilled bottle of wine or champagne on hand, have some chocolates or dessert to enjoy after the date, and don’t forget the flowers.  Anniversary flowers are the perfect way to start off your date!

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, this is the time of year that many of us start to think about our moms and what we’ve learned from them.  Few people impact our lives as much as our mothers do.  While each mother teaches her children her own lessons, there are a number of things that just about everyone learns from mom.

Honesty—No one seems to be able to catch us in a lie like our mothers.  They always seem to know when we’re bending the truth, whether it’s just a little white lie or a major whopper.  Learning honesty is very important, and moms make it a priority to teach this lesson to us.

Cleanliness—“Clean your room!”  How many of us heard this on a weekly basis?  Moms struggle hard to teach their children how to keep their rooms clean.  Failing to learn to clean up after ourselves can result in keeping a messy home later in life, and no one wants that.

Time management—How many times did you want to watch television or hang out with your friends instead of doing homework?  Moms teach us to prioritize, a skill that is invaluable later in life, especially at work.  While doing homework before playing isn’t fun, but it pays off later when you know to put that important business project ahead of going out.

Good judgment—Moms have, on occasion, told us that our friends are bad influences or that we shouldn’t make a certain decision.  While we often ignore them at the time (to our determent, usually), we later look back and see that they were correct.  Learning to correctly judge a situation can often be a lifesaver. 

Show your appreciation—If someone does you a favor, tell them thank you.  Showing appreciation for those who care for you and help you out not only makes you new friends but it also strengths the relationships you already have.  Of course, the first person you should show appreciation to is your mother for teaching you all of these life skills.  Send her flowers this Mother’s Day and randomly throughout the year to remind her that you love and appreciate all she’s done for you!

People send flowers for many reasons: sympathy, to say thanks, and to show how much a person is loved.  Another great reason to send someone flowers is to celebrate.  Flowers can be a great way to celebrate a birthday, a promotion, a job well done, or just to celebrate being friends.  But why is sending flowers a great way of celebrating?  There are several reasons.

One reason is that flowers make people happy.  It has been shown that seeing and smelling fresh flowers have a positive effect on people’s emotions.  Sending someone flowers to celebrate does more than just show that you are celebrating their success with them—it has a lasting effect.  They will see the flowers for the next week or so and smile each time they do. 

Celebrating with flowers is also a good option when the recipient either has just about everything you can think to get them or doesn’t want a lot of clutter in their home.  Flowers are always appreciated, and after they have faded, they leave behind only the container they came in.  A person can keep this vase or other container to reuse, or they can pass it on to someone else (perhaps with some fresh flowers from their garden).  Either way, flower containers generally take up very little space.

Some people simply prefer to get flowers than other gifts.  This is sometimes especially true if they live in a small apartment or are elderly and live in an assisted living center.  Sometimes, these places seem rather tiny, dark, and maybe even a little depressing.  For the elderly in a care facility, this can be especially true.  Flowers are a great way of brightening up a place and bringing in a bit of fresh air and color.  Never underestimate how powerful a bright bouquet of flowers is.  As mentioned above, since flowers last a week or more, your gift will be appreciated for several days.

It’s no secret that people get depressed during the bland winter months.  There’s actually a name for it—Seasonal Affective Disorder.  This is a diagnosed type of depression that affects many people, and the cause is unknown, although some speculation has to do with various hormones and the change in the amount of sunlight.  Even if you don’t have this issue, a lot of people get the winter blues.  However, there’s one great way of adding a bit of cheer to the dull winter months and giving you a bit of a pick me up: get a nice arrangement of colorful spring flowers!

With spring right around the corner, there’s no better time than to bring some gorgeous flowers into your home.  Sunflowers, lilies, daisies, irises, carnations, mums, chrysanthemums…the list goes on and on.  All of these brightly colored flowers will have you in a better mood in just a few minutes.  You can place them in the center of your table to bring a touch of spring to your dining room or put them on an end table in your living room so you can enjoy them while you relax. 

You might not think that flowers would make that much difference in your mood, but studies have actually shown that they do.  A study done by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, showed that flowers actually can trigger positive emotions.  It wasn’t just a short-term effect, either; participants in the study found themselves feeling less anxious and depressed days after receiving flowers.  This effect was felt by people of all ages, and those who received flowers were more likely to want to have contact with others.  Next time you start to feel the need to withdraw from the cold, wintry world, order yourself an arrangement of spring flowers.  They will brighten up your home and your mood in no time.