Flowers And More

A flower is the bloom or blossom of a flowering plant. The real purpose of the flower is to allow the male and female flowers get together so their will be the production of seeds and then guess what. Next year the seeds that fall to the ground often come up and then you guessed it we have new flowers and the cycle gets started all over again.

But flowers have long been admired by humans and are even used by some people as food. The process of having flowers at a funeral got started to hide the smell of death and as time went by people just kept bringing and sending them to funerals. And now it is a huge industry.

But the main purpose of flowers is reproduction and pollination is very important for flowers. And bees play a major part in spreading pollen from one flower to another insuring that the flower has seeds and that the process continues for another year. And there are some plants like the bee orchid that have evolved to look like a female bee to attract male bees to pollinate them and ensure that they will be around next year. And there is evidence that flowers have existed on earth for at least 130 million years so flowers have come up with all kinds of ways through the years to make sure they get pollinated and produce seeds for next year.

Did you know that the rose has over 100 varieties and it comes in a wide variety of colors. Roses are propagated by grafting or root cuttings. Keep in mind that roses require at least five hours of direct sunlight during the growing season. Once a frost comes the roses go dormant and sleep over the winter until they come out and bloom again next year.

Today you can find miniature roses in all different varieties and colors. Most are in the 6" to 24" range as far as size goes and you will find some really colorful beautiful miniature roses. But now I'm going to tell you a secret about miniature roses. They need to go dormant in order to produce the roses you seek. You need to mulch the miniature rose well with straw and let it set outside for 4 months during the coldest part of the winter. In really cold climates you will need to let your miniature roses go dormant in a basement or utility room to prevent them from freezing completely out. And yes even in your cool basement or utility room mulch them. In most of the south they should be heavily mulched and placed outside during the coldest months. When you bring them in they will come alive and produce beautiful miniature roses for you.

It is interesting to note that this works great with a Christmas Cactus to only with it you just want to place it in a cool dark place for about 3 months and then bring it back out into a well lighted warm room in your house about a month before Christmas for a beautiful blooming Christmas Cactus.