Cy-Fair Lifestyles and Homes magazine Feb 2010: Move Her With Incredible Tulips, Flowers that Shimmy and Shake

In the Dog House

Sometimes you can’t avoid the dog house. When you’re in one, pulling out the tulips or roses is probably a good idea. When the aim is to apologize, only cut flowers will do. Potted plants have many uses —saying you’re sorry isn’t one of them. What does matter is quantity. One perfect flower won’t do. Give her a bunch. A big bunch.

Special Occasion

Is this an occasion for a blooming plant or cut flowers? Here’s how to figure that out.

Consider the attributes of each. Potted flowers are easy and self-contained, more casual. They require little fuss. Fuss, on the other hand, is part of the whole gestalt of cut flowers. Is this a time for her to enjoy fussing with your flowers, or will she be really busy, love the flowers, but be grateful to just stick them on a table for now?

Potted flowers range from little offerings in the supermarket, to sophisticated combination plantings at garden centers or florists. Those little potted flowers can answer for a surprisingly diverse set of situations.

They don’t pollute, they’re non-fattening, they carry no religious or political baggage and there’s no need for a vase.

If the occasion is special enough, take it upon yourself to slip the plant’s plastic nursery pot into a special pottery container or basket. Even potted bulbs don ’t last forever. The container that encloses the floral gift becomes a keepsake remembrance of the occasion.

Buds on a Budget

The key to buying satisfying and successful buds on a budget is realizing that it really is the thought that counts. It ’s the flowers not the dollars. Show that you’ve put a bit of thought into the idea, and you can keep the number of buds you need to fork out for at an affordable level.

Thoughtful gifts that involve a bit of effort on your part are key to making buds on a budget work. Buy one perfect flower or maybe two. There ’s no rule about how many flowers it takes to make a gift feel special. One or two wisely-chosen stems can be just as cool a gift as two dozen if your presentation is charming.

Here’s the secret to this approach:

•choose a flower with character

(a lily, a tulip, a rose),

•think up a nifty way to present it,

•add a sweet note,

•have some fun with it: be confident

and enthusiastic.

She’ll be thrilled if you are. Don’t spoil things by saying, “I couldn’t afford a dozen.”

Using containers you already have is another good way to stretch a gift budget. By not spending money on a new container, you can put more moola into flowers or dinner.

Look around your place or head straight to mom’s or grandma’s as they are invaluable sources of outstanding castoffs. Anything that holds water can serve as a vase. Actual vases, of course, are superb in this role. A pitcher is also perfect. So are coffee mugs, drinking glasses, beer steins and broad-based glass or plastic containers of all sorts.

You can also consider more unusual inexpensive containers. The best

finds are found cruising the aisles of hardware stores, vintage shops, junk shops, thrift stores, flea markets and import shops. Painted wooden boxes and baskets are intriguing, as are old boots and high heeled shoes.

Go nuts. Get a whole bunch of flowers and fill a whole bunch of jars or vases. Think abundance, not expense. Then sneak around and put your floral arrangements in a variety of unexpected places. Two or three surprises are not enough. Make some easy to find, some not. This gift isn ’t about pricey floral arrangements. You’re doing surprise and excitement starring your hand-made floral vignettes.

Be bold. Have fun. The only person you need to impress is your lady friend, who will love all the effort you took to make her smile. You will win points for this. So take heart. Even when the budget numbers are gloomy, you can still pull a tulip, if only one single, incredible tulip, out of the hat and brighten up that special night, just for her.

Cut tulips are edging up on roses as a Valentine’s favorite. This is good news for guys, as February is when cut tulips are at peak availability and affordability. This Valentine ’s Day, rather than the usual dozen red roses, give her cheerful, colorful—and moveable—tulips instead. Unlike other cut flowers, tulips keep growing taller after being cut, plus their phototropic qualities make them curve toward light, while gravity tugs them down, making tulips seem to dance. Once arranged, they are likely to rearrange themselves.

Www.savedbythebud.com, a site designed to provide “clueless guys” with all they need to know concerning women and flowers, also offers tips on getting out of the dog house, when to buy cut flowers and when a flowering plant would be more appropriate, how to buy on a budget and still be romantic, ways to arrange cut flowers and more.