Flower Power

No matter what your neighbors might say about you, if your flowers aren't their perkiest, you could try talking to them.  

Paying attention, every day, to outdoor and indoor plants helps keep them alive. So says Feldis Florist owner Tim Feldis, who notes that a little care and attention goes a long way toward keeping plants and flowers healthy.  

"People laugh about people talking to plants," Feldis said. "If you wait for a plant to be wilted before you water it, it's already damaged."

There's an added benefit to taking care of plants and flowers and gardening, says Feldis, owner of Feldis Florist on Seventh Street in Garden City and another Feldis shop in Merrick.

"Taking two minutes out of your day to commune with nature, it's a good thing," Feldis says. "Plants slow you down."

Feldis Florist store manager Mary Smith says the business sees many loyal customers who come in for custom planters, giftware, window décor and help finding the right floral arrangement for a specific site and occasion.

Some clients bring in their own containers, be it a cherished vase or Waterford bowl, and Smith will custom arrange flowers in it. There is a current trend toward rounder more compact arrangements in bubble bowls and chunky cube containers and less emphasis on the tall and skinny arrangements of the past, Smith says.

Across town, the owner of Treemendous Florist on Nassau Boulevard, Suzie Williamson, advises customers to get those freshly purchased flowers into water within an hour of buying. While the water tubes might provide some relief for flowers temporarily, in the recent high temperatures Garden City has experienced the water quickly disappears. Once dried, the stem is almost cauterized.

Roses "lose the ability to suck the water," Williamson says. She also suggests using a knife rather than scissor to cut stems, and slice on an angle rather than a sawing motion to prolong a flower's life.

In addition to its arrangements and plants, Treemendous Florist specializes in wreaths and has designed and shipped hundreds all over the country and parts of the world, says Williamson.

"A wreath is welcoming," she says.

Williamson, who has been at the store for two decades, appreciates the Garden City clientele, who she describes as creative, and in search of the unique, and talented.

"They have good taste, they have a good eye for balance and contour, and they give me creative license," she says.

As for that old wives tale of adding a penny or aspirin to a vase of fresh flowers, it actually does help, because it drops the pH levels and can inhibit bacteria from growing, says Feldis. The fresh food packet that comes with the flowers does that job and more, like food for the plants. Water, of course, should be changed frequently to keep the flowers around longer.  

"Everybody loves flowers," says Feldis. "It's such an easy way to change somebody's day."