Have an Inexpensive 4th of July Party

Throw a Fun and Inexpensive Independence Day Party

We as a nation spend billions of dollars on 4th of July parties. You don’t have to spend lots of money to have a wonderful party.

Food

Make it a BYOB most people don’t mind bringing drinks or snacks.

Have a potluck dinner. This will make a lot less work for you and create an interesting and diverse menu.

Make some simple deserts, such as blueberries and strawberries in cream. Not only is this delicious but patriotic in color as well.

Decorations

Get dollar store balloons and decorations they are just as good as those from more expensive stores.

You do not have to go crazy with decorations, no one will think less of you if you have plain plastic cups instead on specific 4th of July themed ones.

Entertainment

Use Pandora or Spotify to create some playlists.

Flowers and Plants associated with Christmas – by Avas Flowers

What are the most popular Christmas plants and/or flowers. There are basically six, they are as follows, in no particular order.

Christmas Cactus
This plant is also known as the orchid cactus and blooms around Christmas time. There are a number of other cactus plants that are marketed as “Christmas Cactus”.

Poinsettia
The Mexican poinsettia know as the “Christmas Flower” is used in many holiday decorations in North America. Its bright red color and its Christmastime blooming both make it a perfect fit for the holiday season.

Christmas Rose
This plant is recognized as a Christmas Flowers in many parts of the world. Also know as the “winter rose” it is originally from tropical Asia and blooms during the winter.

Holly
This plant is a traditional Christmas plant in many European countries. It is commonly used in wreaths that are hung from doors.

Mistletoe
This is often hung from ceilings. A modern tradition is to exchange kisses while standing under the mistletoe.

Ivy
This plant often is strung as garland and is also popular in the European Christmas tradition.

The Christmas Tree – Avas Flowers

A Christmas tree is a tradition during the holiday season for many in the United States. How did the decorated evergreen become a symbol of Christmastime. The Christmas tree developed in early modern Germany with roots back to the 16th century. In the early 18th century the custom of the decorated tree became common in the towns of the upper Rhineland but had not yet become common in rural areas. Originally the Christmas tree was taken as a Protestant custom and did not spread to the Catholic areas of Germany. Slowly in the middle 1800’s the custom became more widespread throughout Germany and began to become a symbol of German culture especially with emigrants overseas. In the early 19th century the custom became popular with the nobility of Europe and spread to royal courts as far away as Russia.

The custom started to become popular in England soon after Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert. What spurred the growth of the custom in England was a illustration in The Illustrated London News of the royal family standing around a decorated tree. Facsimiles of this illustration soon showed up in the United States and by the 1870’s putting up a Christmas tree had become a common occurrence in the United States. In 1965 a TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas helped spread the popular culture of the tree.

Origins of Thanksgiving – Presented by Avas Flowers

Its the beginning of November and Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I wondered what are the origins of this holiday. Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated mostly in the United States and Canada (though on different days) though several other countries around the world celebrate similar holidays. The origin of this holiday has its roots in religious and cultural traditions but has also long been celebrated in a secular way also.

Prayers and special thanksgiving ceremonies are a common occurrence in almost all religions after the harvest. The holiday as celebrated in North America is rooted in the English traditions from the Protestant Reformation and in harvest festivals. The roots of the modern Thanksgiving holiday is commonly attribute to a 1621 celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts, though this is poorly documented. The practice of an annual harvest festival did not become a regular New England affair until the late 1660’s. The first official national day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed by George Washington as President of the United States for November 26, 1789. The date of Thanksgiving varied in date and state until the time of President Lincoln. Lincoln proclaimed that the last Thursday in November as the date for a national day of Thanksgiving, however it was not recognized by the former states of the Confederacy until the end of the Reconstruction era in the 1870’s. On December 26, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date from the last Thursday to the fourth Thursday in November.

The Humble Pumpkin – Musings by Avas Flowers

Pumpkins are a traditional fall food. It is a type of squash with a roundish shape and a smooth ribbed skin with a distinctive deep orange color. This squash is native to North America and the oldest evidence to its existence dates back to between 7700 to 5500 BC. The average pumpkin usually averages between 8 and 20 pounds be certain varieties can weigh almost a ton.

The pumpkin is a popularly grow plant in the United States. Over 1.5 billion pounds of it are grown each year. The top pumpkin growing states are Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and California. Pumpkins have many uses in cooking, probably the most famous is pumpkin pie a traditional fall and Thanksgiving dessert. They are used in many other baking endeavors such as pumpkin bread, muffins and other delights. The are used are the main ingredient in soups and bake and served like other plants in the squash family. Even its seeds are roasted and used as a healthy snack food. A quick browse on the internet can obtain many more recipes for this versatile food.

Pumpkins have many other uses. A familiar one is the carving of jack-o-lanterns a traditional item of Halloween. There are many pumpkin carving competitions throughout the United States and some of the carvings are truly amazing. There are even pumpkin growing competitions where the aim is to grow the largest pumpkins. They can grow pumpkins to the enormous size of over 1,800 pounds! Probably the weirdest use of pumpkins is the growing sport of “pumpkin chucking” where contestants create various mechanical devices to hurl a pumpkin through the air for the longest distance.

Sunflowers – Presented By Avas Flowers

The Sunflower (Helianthus annus) is a native annual plant to the Americas. It has a large flowering head and its name evolved from its shape and color. Sunflower seeds were introduced into Europe during the sixteenth century where they along with sunflower oil became widely used in cooking.

Sunflowers have a long history, it is generally believed that they were first domesticated around 5,000 years ago. They were used by many indigenous Americans, including the Aztecs and Incas as symbols of their sun gods.

Besides their use a decorative and beautiful flowers, sunflowers have many other commercial uses. Their seeds, roasted or raw, seasoned or unseasoned are sold as a healthy snack food. Their seeds can also be used to create sunflower butter. One of the main uses of the seeds however is in the production of sunflower oil which is widely used in cooking and even as an ingredient in bio-diesel. The cake left over from the processing of the seeds is even used for animal feed. Avas Flowers celebrates this beautiful and useful plant.

The Jack-o’-lantern

A Jack-o’-lantern is not just a carved pumpkin but can also be a turnip or beet. They are chiefly associated with Halloween, and named after the strange lights that flicker over peat bogs, named will-o’-the-wisp or jack-o’-lanterns. Typically the the top is cut off and the inside hollowed out. Then the image, usually a scary face of some kind is carved out and the lid replaced. In America the pumpkin is used almost exclusively while in Britain turnips and beets are used.

Jack-o’-lanterns were carved in the 19th in parts of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland and were carved in grotesque faces to represent spirits and goblins. In the 20th century this practice spread to other parts of England. The carved pumpkin made its first recorded Halloween appearance in the United States in 1866. Why is it called a Jack-o’-lantern. It is based on numerous stories in which a character named Jack outwitted the devil and imprisoned him in some way. In return for his release the devil promised not to take Jack’s soul, so when Jack died he did not go to hell but was not good enough for heaven either. Jack had no place to go, the devil gave him a burning ember that would never go out, so Jack carved out a turnip and put the ember in it. Now he wanders endlessly seeking rest and was called Jack of the Lantern.

Today pumpkins are carved into all sorts of wondrous patterns and their are many competitions.

The Mighty Corpse Flower

One of the strangest and largest flowers in the world is Amorphaphallus Titanum better known as the corpse flower. The flower can reach over 8 ft in height. It emits an odor that is similar to that of rotting meat, hence its name. It also generates heat which along with its smell attracts its chief pollinators, the dung and carrion beetles as well as corpse flies. The plant is native to Sumatra, Indonesia but is grown in botanical gardens around the world.

The plant does not have an annual or even a regular blooming cycle. The plant only blooms when it has stored enough energy. This can take a few years or over a decade depending on conditions. Recently one of these giants bloomed at the US Botanical Gardens Conservatory in July 2013. It attracted large audiences over 130,000 people saw it live and over 650,000 viewed it via the live web stream.

Whats your Birth Flowers – Presented by Avas Flowers

Each month the year has a birth flower associated with it. Avas Flowers presents you with a list of those flowers along with a brief description of their symbolism.

January
The Snowdrop is this month’s flower. It is generally accepted to mean purity, love and fascination.

February
Primrose is February’s flower, symbolizing modesty, virtue and distinction.

March
Meaning rebirth, vanity and unrequited love this month’s flower is the Daffodil.

April
Daisies and Peonies are the birth flowers for this month. The accepted meaning for these flowers are loyal love, innocence, gratitude and healing.

May
May brings us Hawthorn and Lilies of the Valley symbolizing humility, happiness and sweetness.

June
The rose and the Honeysuckle are this months flowers expressing love, gratitude and appreciation.

July
This month bring the Water Lily and Delphinium. These symbolize sweetness, joyfulness and fickleness.

August
Poppies and Gladiolus are the flowers of August. They represent moral integrity.

September
Morning Glories and Asters are this months flowers. Symbolizing magic, love and daintiness.

October
October brings us Marigolds and Calendulas which represent grief and grace.

November
The Chrysanthemum is Novembers flower, their meaning is cheerfulness, friendship and abundance.

December
The last month of the year’s flowers are Holly and Narcissus, symbolizing sweetness and self-esteem.

Make Cut Flowers Last Longer – Presented By Avas Flowers

Avas Flowers offers you some basic techniques to make your cut flowers last longer.

1. Pick your flowers in the early morning or evening with buds just starting to open.

2. Cut stems at the desired length on a diagonal to increase the area for water uptake.

3. Put the cut stems immediately into a basket of tepid water. This is to prevent the cut end from sealing. A sealed end means the flower cannot take up water.

4. Before putting flowers into a vase remove any leaves that would be underwater when put in vase.

5. Transfer the flowers to vase filled with lukewarm water to a height of halfway up the stems.

6. Add some additives to the water, if you don’t have professional flower food these common household items are an alternative. One teaspoon of sugar for food and one quarter teaspoon of bleach to inhibit bacterial growth. However, the most important thing to do is to change the water every two days.

7. Keep the flowers out of direct sunlight and away from fruit. Fruit emits ethylene gas which will promote wilting.

We at Avas Flowers hope that these simple tips will help you enjoy your cut flowers for a longer period.