Plants and Flowers

Recently we aspire to surround the life with natural materials whenever possible. And what can be closer to the nature, than alive plants? In the interior design they in an increasing frequency serve as the main decorative elements.

Already in the first half of the last century indoor plants became completely common phenomenon. Plants from distant tropical countries became the most popular among Europeans. Plants from tropical areas for the first time arrived to Europe in the XV century when travelers from Holland, England, Spain opened the new countries. That very way the majority of modern indoor plants came to the Old World.

To the East Europe decorative plants have got even later. Nevertheless greenhouses have proliferated very fast. Often they were located in wooden houses warmed with furnaces. There were grown overseas exotic plants and so-called delicate cultures - pomegranates, lemons, tangerines.

In rich houses of Europe greenhouses turned to the whole winter gardens. Usually greenhouses were located near to the big halls.

However, even those who did not dream of own greenhouse, - people of average estate, commoners – can do such pleasure to themselves and decorate a window even with one flower.

Such indoor plants, as palm trees, ficus, Chinese hibiscus, ceriman, pelargonium, various citron and many others have already been known in the XIX century. All of them have been brought from Oceania, Australia, Africa, India, China. Almost the same plants are loved by people now.

The foliage of some trees, bushes and plants in general is decorative. In the winter, especially in the morning, when you do not want to stand up from a bed and all around seems so cold, plants will help you to get warm. Collected in the autumn and dried in a book multi-colored maple leaves will effectively look on the curtains from grey, not bleached flax. You can sew with several accurate stitches these leaflets to curtains, and they will for certain warm your room, making it cozy and warm.

In a vase you may put dried cereals.
If you are bored from your chandelier, do not hasten to throw it out. Try to fix on a thread dry maple leaves. They should hang at a different height, there should not be too much of them, and such decoration should not impede movement through the room. At a light waft (it can be an open window) leaves start to whirl, and if touch each other, make light pleasant rustle. If leaves are fixed close enough to a chandelier, they will look very beautiful, when you turn on the light.

These small decorations will prolong summer in your house and will calm you.

There are standard rules - not to give bright, bright-red flowers to elderly and married women, not to give bouquets with odd amount of flowers, to select carefully color combinations in a bouquet.

If you make a bouquet, try, that it doesn’t look as an armful of flowers. Harmonious color combinations in a bouquet are: yellow - violet, red - green (leaves), orange - blue, yellow - red, dark blue - red, yellow - dark blue, violet - orange. White flowers will be nice with any others. Bouquets from plants of one color, but different shades are always very beautiful, for example, from roses - from dark-cherry up to light pink.

Bouquet is a very fragile and short-lived gift, therefore, if we want to make the pleasure longer, we should take into account the following: some kinds of flowers cannot be united, if you do not want them to lose freshness quickly.

First we will tell about the meaning of flower’s color and color of a wrapper and packing of a bouquet.

Pink color - love,
Bright red - ardent passion,
Green - hope,
Light blue - belief,
Dark blue - fidelity,
Dark yellow – guile and envy,
Light grey - poverty,
Dark grey - despair,
Light brown - grief,
Lilac - humility,
Violet - friendship,
Orange - pride and coquetry,
Gold - dignity,
Silver - immortality.

Thus, having packed a bouquet in a bright red paper, added to flower a few green branches and having tied up a paper with a dark grey ribbon, you have told the whole phrase about huge love.

Plants also since the most ancient times have served as symbols. Myrtle and orange flowers symbolize cleanliness and innocence of the bride; laurels crown winners and art workers; the oak wreath is devoted to the person of outstanding civil merits; olive and palm branches are symbols of the peace; a weeping willow and a cypress are both symbols of sorrow and grief.

Here are meanings value of some flowers:

Acacia yellow and white - platonic love.
Acacia pink - elegance.
Anemone - feebleness or illness.
Aster - grief.
Basil - hatred, disgust.
Periwinkle - delightful memoirs.
Hawthorn - hope.
Cornflower - delicacy, grace.
Heather - loneliness.
Trailing bindweed - meekness, humility.
Dwarf glorybind - coquetry.
Red carnation - ardent love, passion.
White carnation - grief.
Yellow carnation - contempt.
Dahlia - gratitude.
Hyacinth - an entertainment, joke.
Hydrangea - coldness.
Jasmin - courtesy.
Bellflower - garrulity.
Buttercup - date.
Lavender - mistrust.
Gillyflower - haste, irascibility.
Madonna lily - youth.
Poppy - consolation.
Daisy - innocence.
Mimosa - modesty, shyness.
Mint - ardent feelings.
Daffodil - egoism.
Marigold - grief.
Peony - shame.
Snowdrop - a consolation.
White rose - a bud - the heart which has experienced love yet.
White rose - a flower - silence.
Red rose - love, suffering from love.
Rose red and white - fire of heart (connected together).
Yellow rose - infidelity.
Violet - modesty.
Dogrose - poetry.

Much can be told about magic properties of flowers and grasses. Today in the West many work above returning of green magic secrets. Time has thoroughly hidden them in its layers and has deformed up to unrecognizability.

Various religions in their own way interpreted symbolics of flowers, binding them to the gods, myths and legends. Becoming sacred, flowers got new, uncharacteristic for them properties, losing true ones.

As the human civilization separated from nature more and more, people ceased to understand its cryptography, deprived it with its independence. As a result plants and flowers started to speak about what they actually did not speak earlier during ancient times.

European peoples have rich language of flowers and colors. In Russia in the beginning of last century women widely used this language – as a symbolical language of love, pinning them dresses and hats. Then it was possible to buy everywhere a booklet with the list of flowers and their meanings.

Ficus and Dieffenbachia also have some antibacterial properties. They clear air of the rooms of toxins; therefore their place is in premises which windows face a noisy motorway or a factory. These plants like sunny places, but not direct sun beams. Dieffenbachia likes intensive watering. Ficus, on the contrary, in autumn and in winter quite often sheds the leaves because of an excessive watering. Therefore skilled flower growers advise not to water plants, but only spray leaves.

Laurel is a small evergreen undershrub, which sends off substances which kill viruses and bacteria. This plant will be useful for, suffering cardiovascular diseases and intestinal colic. It is light-requiring and grows well only in a sunny places. The plant can be easily shaped, usually it is given the spherical form.

One more group of useful plants is cactuses, especially those with long needles. These plants not only kill microbes, but also reduce harmful ionization of air, protecting us from electromagnetic radiation. The best place for these plants is near to the TV and computer monitors. For normal growth they need warm and light place.

With the help of flowers you can also increases air moisture. Flowers which need a lot of moisture, usually return it through leaves. These are violets, cyclamens and ferns.

House plants not only create cosines, but also are of benefit. They clear air in rooms from toxic substances sent off by plastic coverings, varnishes, glue, washing-up liquids, synthetic pitches, raise humidity of air, kill bacteria and reduce electromagnetic radiation. Therefore if you want to live in a clean apartment, get some plants, it is only needed to choose correctly.

The champion among plants is chlorophytum. Several such plants will be enough to absorb formaldehyde sent off by thermal protection from synthetic materials in average sized apartment. It has also significant bactericidal effect. Experts have found out, that for 24 hours this flower almost completely clears air of harmful microorganisms. This plant is undemanding, though needs rich watering in summer. It is interesting, that its cleaning properties amplify appreciably if to put activated charcoal in a flowerpot.

Other widespread plant which evolves biologically active substances killing staphylococcus and streptococci is a room geranium. This flower is recommended to be kept in a bedroom. Inhaling these useful compounds, the person calms down, that is very important at stresses and sleeplessness. The geranium is distributed all over the world, and it is not surprising: the plant is undemanding, propagates easily, and pleases an eye with beautiful flowers. The plant is light-requiring, in spring and summer demands plentiful watering.

Prairie is meadow, where flowering perennials and grasses grow together. Prairie landscapes are peculiar to mid-western regions of North America, but nowadays very little natural prairie remains. Restoration projects, which are conducted in many regions help to some extent to improve the situation. You can also create a piece of a wild flower garden.
If you want to replace a strip of lawn or a flowerbed in your backyard with wild flowers, you will need full sun area.
Choosing plants, the easiest way is to grow young container plants, which bloom much sooner than a meadow from seed.
Wild flower seeds for prairie plantings can be easily bought and will cheaper for a large project.
But you should bear in mind that many of the prairie perennials need about three seasons to reach blooming size, if growing from seeds.

Hydrangea will be a colorful and undemanding shrub in your summer garden. This one may be the best summer-blooming plant for you.
It is bright, colorful and easy to grow and care for, it is not affected by pests or diseases, and it blooms for a long weeks.
Most big leaf hydrangeas bloom on the previous season’s branches, which means that the stems usually die back to the ground, so they will produce flowers only warm regions.
Two more complicated cultivars - Endless Summer and ‘Blushing Bride’: can be frown in gardeners in more chilly areas.
Both cultivars bloom on both previous and new growth. You can create more flowers by deadheading and pruning back flowering stems. The only other care demanded is to prune out winter-destroyed stems in early spring.
The fallowing advice will help you in hydrangea successful growing. These flowering shrubs grow best in part-shade and prefer a wet, woodsy soil enriched with bog moss and leaf mold. Do not forget to water them well throughout the whole growing season.

The notion “climbing roses” is a little bit deceptive, because roses actually don’t climb that way the true vines do. They are just rose varieties with long, arching stalks that can grow about 10 feet tall.
These flowering plants may grow into big shrubs, hooking with their thorns into anything they can manage: a fence or any tree. But you can direct them to climb by tying the canes to a support post or latticed trellis. The gardener should wear long sleeves and leather gloves to protect from the thorns.
Canadian rose breeders have developed hardy shrub roses named after famous explorers. From the “Explorer” roses some are good climbers for sunny pspots: ‘John Cabot’ with its fragrant red double flowers, ‘Martin Frobisher’ with fragrant light pink flowers, and ‘William Baffin’, with deep pink, double flowers that have no scent.