# Are There Fresh Flowers In Your Home?



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

My Mom likes fresh flowers. Some of them are very strong in perfume. Others don't have any scent. I think they look pretty and impress a girl or two when my girl friends visit.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

My flowers are silk. They look nice. They even have an aroma. But I think that's from six months of dust.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

No but there is fresh stir fry.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I find them a bother: changing the water daily, otherwise it gets murky and slimy; the cost of buying them, as I don't have the funds available to simply toss into the garbage pail; where to put them, as I don't have a central table or suitable place, etc. I use essential oils and enjoy real plants outside, where I enjoy being on warm days.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Plants, but not cut flowers. 
I don´t get the cutting idea concept - though they are pretty.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Folks in my house have plant allergies. Never fresh flowers in the house.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Yes - of course, here's a picture:


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Nice painting there in red.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

We have an orchid and a lot of flower-less houseplants, but we don't usually have cut flowers in the house, though sometimes my mom will cut some from our yard (we have a lot of flowers in the yard) and put them in a vase or something.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Don't like anything from the outside invading my personal space. When it comes to decorating, I am a fan of minimalism.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

TurnaboutVox said:


> Yes - of course, here's a picture:


Not bad. Wouldn't pay $1,500 USD for it though.


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

Sometimes my partner brings flowers home. They end up in the bedroom. Elsewhere we have non-flowering plants, along with a couple of small window boxes we grow herbs in.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My wife loves the stuff, so there are plants and flowers all over the house. Sometimes they get in the way of my walking through the house.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

We used to have pot plants, but the cat kept eating the spider plants and the dogs knocked compost onto the carpet. Our pets are gone now, sadly, but laziness has taken over.
Flowers - I love them, but I don't buy them unless they are fairly cheap - or I bring some in from the garden. Most of the 'occasional fresh flowers' are brought by our supper guests, and very nice they are too:


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

Once in a while I get flowers from my hubby...Right now I have a bouquet of red roses. I love flowers and plants, so I have many pots with bigger or smaller plants. Some have flowers (like the desert rose). Some, unfortunately died, mostly because of infestation. 
I once made a big mistake as I picked up a cup sitting on the the desk, thought there was a little water remained, and I poured it over a ficus lirata, only to realize on the spot that it was Sprite. The plant was a big one, in a rather big pot. Guess what happened, the ficus died, and I could not save it. 
I know people and plants are quite different, still from that moment I started to consider any soda a poison.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Yup. Lots of them - pot plants all the time, cut flowers very often - generally from the garden but I also like buying Mrs Hermit flowers









although I have to be careful which flowers I buy - I remember one of the first flowers I bought her were chrysanthemums .... but in her country, these are only used for funerals whereas in Britain they are common cut flowers with (as far as I know) no significant meaning. Another time I bought a dozen red roses - only to be told that they should only be in odd numbers, not even numbers, otherwise they bring bad luck. 'taint easy!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Yup. Lots of them - pot plants all the time, cut flowers very often - generally from the garden but I also like buying Mrs Hermit flowers
> 
> View attachment 47057
> 
> ...


When I was younger, I once mixed a bouquet of white and red roses and was told that the combination symbolised death & was only used at funerals. I don't know if that still applies.


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

^^^ I'd never heard of that. I suppose it matters if you're giving the flowers as a gift and the person is all superstitious. But I think it's nonsense. I wouldn't be offended by such a mixed bouquet._ I am a man and I like receiving flowers._

As for the even numbers = unlucky - for the five years I was in Russia I'd a partner who told me about that...and about not shaking hands over a door step and not holding my hand over my eyes and talking about blindness and when going on a journey opening the door to leave but then sitting back down again to trick the bad spirits into leaving first and and and...


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

I have no fresh flowers in my home. I make them all behave.


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

Generally in Europe the number of flowers you get must be an odd number, as an even number is used for dead people. Here in Canada, if you buy already made bouquets, they always have an even number of flowers. In the beginning it was so weird for me, but as I am not at all superstitious, I gave up my custom and I enjoy any flowers in whatever even or odd number.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

This may be a European (or Scandinavian) adage, but since I am in sympathetic agreement with it....
_"A home is naked without a bloom and an animal in it."_

When I lived in Europe, I noticed a staggering differential in the costs of two things which are both priced at a premium in the states: cut flowers and candles (especially tapers.) Apart from showing what the hugely great profit margin is on these things in the states, it also seemed that Europeans very much considered both items as regularly needed and an essential part of the quality of everyday life.

Flowers and Candles are at such a premium in the states that for most people, they are obtained a but a handful of times a year for 'special' dates and occasions.

In Europe, often, the edge of the concert stage has a perimeter of garlanded greens and flowers, or rows of bouquets: the concert soloists, male or female, are routinely presented with one or more large bouquets when taking their after performance bows. Go into many homes, even the more modest, and there is a vase with at least one bloom, and candlesticks with tapers in them.

In Holland, male and female, most people even of college-age already have a small collection of vases, and men are sometimes presented with flowers as a gift on their birthday by their male friends. Dinner guests routinely arrive with a bouquet for their host. Flowers and candles are affordable to all, and consumed by most everybody on a regular basis. (Flower growing, importing and exporting _is_ a huge Dutch industry.)

In the states, it would be an odd occasion and rare for a man to receive flowers on any occasion other than his funeral (the odd floral wreath-arrangement as a prize in a contest the only exception I can think of.)


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Gardening is an important hobby of mine. Thus, I have many pots of flowering and foliage plants . Studies seem to indicate that having a plant in typically closed spaces where one spends a lot of time inside (the office being a notable example) is very beneficial. It brings 'life' inside and It probably keeps the air cleaner too.

There are many interesting foliage plants with all sorts of pinks, purples, blues, reds, oranges and yellows such as Ajuga reptans hybrids, Alternanthera ficoidea, Anoectochilus, Begonia rex, Cissus discolor, Codiaeum variegatum, Cordyline terminalis, Episcia, Heuchera americana, Hypoestes phyllostachya, Lepanthes calodictyon, Oxalis Triangularis, Plectranthus, Strobilanthes dyerianus...

An entire 'bed' made out of coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides cultivars):







(picture borrowed from here)


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

mirepoix;693010
As for the even numbers = unlucky - for the five years I was in Russia I'd a partner who told me about that...and about not shaking hands over a door step and not holding my hand over my eyes and talking about blindness and when going on a journey opening the door to leave but then sitting back down again to trick the bad spirits into leaving first and and and...[/QUOTE said:


> oh yes! Mrs H isn't russian, but she also holds to these .... and many others, some of which are useful .... eg a man cannot buy shoes for a woman (or it means she will walk away from him). That one has saved me a lot of money :lol:


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I have always been a bit bemused by this habit of cutting off the sexual organs of plants and displaying them in your house, or even worse, giving them to a romantic interest. Just what exactly are you trying to say? Almost as creepy as Hannibal Lecter... 

Cut flowers also strike me as kind of sad, sitting there in stale water, slowly dying, their natural biological purpose thwarted. 

I prefer live plants.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

brianvds said:


> I have always been a bit bemused by this habit of cutting off the sexual organs of plants and displaying them in your house, or even worse, giving them to a romantic interest. Just what exactly are you trying to say? Almost as creepy as Hannibal Lecter...


Most plants, the flowers are the reproductive organs 



brianvds said:


> Cut flowers also strike me as kind of sad, sitting there in stale water, slowly dying, their natural biological purpose thwarted.
> 
> I prefer live plants.


"Ladies of the evening", world round, it seems, have an abhorrence of cut flowers, symbolizing "Beauty cut down in its prime."

However, for a healthy plant, cutting a lot of the buds (and dead-heading spent blooms before they go full cycle) not only leaves the ones remaining on the plant healthier flowers, but literally keeps the plant from going to seed, i.e. it makes for more continual healthy blooms, and staves off the plant's reaching it's ultimate goal, to reproduce and then die.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Interesting Poll*

Now this is an interesting poll because I have no idea what is going to win.

And because of that I voted.


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2014)

I agree with arpeggio. So yes, I do like baked beans.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

What type of "flowers" are we talking about, hahahahaha. I have fresh flowers but they don't sit in a vase


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> Now this is an interesting poll because I have no idea what is going to win.
> 
> And because of that I voted.


I don't find the poll interesting, but I did vote as I'm practicing for the next set of political elections.


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## Lovemylute (Jul 17, 2014)

I voted "rarely," which is the reality, but I wish I could say "Always!" I love fresh flowers, and I'd bring some home every day: a) if I could afford to buy them, or b) if the neighbours weren't so picky about people chopping up their plants!


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

has anyone been to this pub?


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

clara s said:


> has anyone been to this pub?


No, but it looks like it might be worth checking out next time I'm in west London. Fullers is a classic London brewery.



> The Churchill Arms was built way back in 1750, making it one of the older, more historic pubs in London.
> 
> In the 1800s, Winston Churchill's Grandparents were regular visitors - which eventually led to the naming of the pub after World War 2. Step inside today and you'll find plenty of Churchill memorabilia hanging from the walls.
> 
> ...


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

a Chelsea flower London winner too?

great pub

and with Churchill's own scent in it

what fresh flowers can do huh?


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2014)

Not lately: I've managed not to **** off my wife for a while.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

ArtMusic said:


> My Mom likes fresh flowers. Some of them are very strong in perfume. Others don't have any scent. I think they look pretty and impress a girl or two when my girl friends visit.


Kind of off-topic but just curious. How many girlfriends do you have? And do they often visit you at the same time? I'm not much of a flower person but if this is the case, I might look into this.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Kontrapunctus said:


> Not lately: I've managed not to **** off my wife for a while.


A few years ago, we were in a large Polish city coming back from dining with friends and I noticed that there was a flower stall still open after midnight. I asked Mrs Hermit why this was and she said there was always a demand for flowers at all hours of the day and night from husbands who had upset their wives and needed an instant apology. I'm still not sure if she was joking or not


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Dustin said:


> Kind of off-topic but just curious. How many girlfriends do you have? And do they often visit you at the same time? I'm not much of a flower person but if this is the case, I might look into this.


girl friend and girlfriend??? - the latter is closer, the former keeps their distance :lol:


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2014)

Headphone Hermit said:


> A few years ago, we were in a large Polish city coming back from dining with friends and I noticed that there was a flower stall still open after midnight. I asked Mrs Hermit why this was and she said there was always a demand for flowers at all hours of the day and night from husbands who had upset their wives and needed an instant apology. I'm still not sure if she was joking or not


Something tells me she wasn't! I do surprise my wife with flowers on occasion for no other reason to let her know I love her and am thinking about her.


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

Fresh flowers in our home? Oh yeah, we have fresh flowers right now...courtesy of some guy who my girlfriend - aka 'Jezebel McGams' - is working with at the moment. He presented them to her after work. Huh.









But I don't care. They look like mutant cabbages to me. Or maybe _Triffids_.

(Note the missed focus due to shaking caused by a combo of uncontrollable rage, green-eyed jealousy, and needing to go to the toilet).


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

^^ 
Indeed, those are 'ornamental cabbages', if you keep them in water there's a chance they'll take root. You can eat them too but the taste is incredibly bitter.


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

^^^^ Interesting... Thanks for that!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

No fresh flowers; only a fresh Shorkie.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Now you are definitely not getting an invite to Hermit Towers - Mrs Hermit would LOVE to put ribbons in the hair of such a little doggie! 

I'd rather you brought a bottle of wine or a couple of CDs to share, please!


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I love fresh cut flowers, but one of my cats always tries to eat them. If my husband or mom send me flowers they usually have them delivered at work and unless it's close to the weekend, I keep them at my desk to enjoy


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

No, my house is in too much disrepair for flowers. It would be like spraying perfume on garbage! Sure, it'll smell a bit better, but it's still garbage!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Sonata said:


> I love fresh cut flowers, but one of my cats always tries to eat them. If my husband or mom send me flowers they usually have them delivered at work and unless it's close to the weekend, I keep them at my desk to enjoy


I've heard tell that if you sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on bird seed before you put it in the bird feeders then squirrels won't touch it - don't think for a moment that I'd suggest it for a cat :devil:


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