Heavenly Wedding Flowers: The Aura of Your Flora

Wedding flowers can be pricey and complicated. But the tradition goes back centuries, and so do some floral selection methods. Luckily there's a newer approach.

(PRWEB) October 28, 2005 -- There was once a time when the term “picking flowers” connoted an idyllic schoolgirl in braids, gathering violets on a mountainside. These days, picking flowers is not so stress-free, especially when it comes to weddings flowers.

Currently, the average bride spends between $1500-$2000 on wedding flowers. Inflated floral spending reflects a general hike in wedding budgets, while putting increased pressure on the bride to choose the perfect flowers. Higher flower costs compound with the age of wedding customization, wherein a bride feels compelled to choose bridal blooms that are not only beautiful and fragrant, but uniquely them. But how does a bride decide what flowers best reflect her personality?

Bridal advertising websites are rising to the challenge to answer this question with new, personalized approaches to flower selection. Some sites give you a character quiz, and then attempt to match your petals to your personality. Others pair your wedding “style” with the perfect bouquet. Still others use your personal color palette to select the ideal wedding flowers for you.

And one unique approach to wedding blooms-appropriate here in the Halloween season-features customized flowers with a cosmic twist. On Brides.com’s “Heavenly Blooms” page, the bride’s zodiac sign is channeled to conjure up her perfect bridal bouquet. Sound farfetched? Maybe not. In many cultures, astrology is used to aid in wedding planning. In ancient China, astrological symbols were used to determine the wedding date. In Hindu weddings, astrological compatibility is still used to evaluate a potential wedding match. In fact, from the tossing of the bouquet to the sprinkling of the rice, most wedding traditions are steeped in superstitious traditions of some kind.

However far-out the philosophy, the site is pretty straightforward. To find their star-ordained bouquet, brides simply navigate the swirling circle of zodiac symbols to click on their horoscope sign. In the center of the circle, the bride’s astrology- based bouquet will appear. The method to the magic? Brides.com’s savvy bouquet-maker uses characteristic traits from each zodiac sign to help determine what type of flora fits the bride’s aura.

From orchids for Aries to tulips for Libras, Brides.com’s new take on flower arrangements forgoes the florist and goes straight to the stars. How long until the wedding planner is replaced by the psychic?

Lucky Bamboo -- Part Two

Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese philosophy for creating harmonious environments, is quickly becoming recognized in the West as a tool for addressing some of our most difficult problems. Bamboo is considered a lucky plant in Feng shui. The Lucky Bamboo symbolizes wood which brings the energy of vitality, strength and growth into your environment. When choosing a Lucky Bamboo plant for your home or office, cosider the feng shui symbolism represented by the number of stalks in your plant.

• One (1) stalk of Lucky Bamboo: One is the number of the North and keeping a Lucky Bamboo arrangement here symbolizes various types of Good Fortune, including longevity, protection, and support, staying power, and wealth luck.
• Three (3) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: Bring Fu (Happiness), Lu (Wealth) and Soh (Longevity).
• Five (5) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: Represent the five different parts of life from which wealth spurs.
• Six (6) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: In the Chinese language, sounds like "Luck" in Chinese, bringing prosperity and favorable conditions.
• Seven (7) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: Good health.
  
• Eight (8) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: In the Chinese spoken language sounds like "Fah" which means to grow, thrive.
• Nine (9) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: The number nine is considered by many to be the ultimate Lucky Number in Feng Shui. This number is always representative of the fullness of heaven and earth. The number nine is a very powerful number representing culmination and completion.
• Ten (10) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: Complete and perfect.
• Twenty-one (21) stalks of Lucky Bamboo: Twenty-one stalks of Lucky Bamboo is considered to represent very powerful all purpose blessing.
  

Lucky Bamboo

My Lucky Bamboo was down on it's luck, and not looking so green as when it first arrived at my house. It was using all it's energy to repair itself rather than to bring me luck. So I decided to do some research on how to keep my Lucky Bamboo
happy and healthy.

I learned that Lucky Bamboo -- botanical name: Dracaena -- is NOT bamboo at all. Rather, it is a member of the lily family and grows in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and Africa.

My Lucky Bamboo had been sitting by a sunny kitchen window. Sunny kitchen windows don't exactly mimic a dark tropical rainforest environment. My Lucky Bamboo was probably getting too much sun.

So what do the experts say about caring for your Lucky Bamboo?
Most sources say that Lucky Bamboo prefers plenty of indirect sunlight and room temperatures at 65-80 degrees.

Place stems in a contaier with 1-3 inches of very clean, non-chloronated, non-distilled water. Add small stones or pebbles to keep water line no more than three inches high. Add more water about once a week or as your see evaporation. Change the water at least once a month.

Your Lucky Bamboo may benefit from adding a mild liquid houseplant fertalizer to the water. Just don't over fertalize. Since growth can be controlled by feeding, small amounts of fertilizer will keep the plant at a manageable size.

Care for your Lucky Bamboo, and, according to Feng Shui experts, it will bring natural elements of water, fire, earth, wood and metal into balance within the environment. The addition of a red ribbon tied around the stalks is believed to fire the positive flow of energy or chi in a room.

There is a significance to the number of stalks in your Lucky Bamboo arrangement. Stay tuned for more info.

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Feng Shui Kit