Flowers to Improve Your Life

Flowers can only add to your quality of life, at least that's the perception by more and more people. A ranking based on a survey by Society of American Florists put flowers in the 7th place among the top ten luxury items people buy. What is more interesting is that more and more people are buying non-essential items, and a larger portion of incomes are spent on what people want rather than need. Of course this is probably only true for the developed world.

The results support a common perception that purchases of luxury items, like flowers are based on emotions rather than need. For someone like me, it's the aesthetics of a floral arrangement that is appealing. However, I am not sure the purchase of flowers always based on desire. I am sure some people feel they absolutely need to send flowers on Valentine's day or Mother's day, lest they be considered unloving.

I would like to gauge what my readers feel about this matter. What are your top luxury purchases usually? Why do you tend to buy flowers? Do you think it is a necessity or a passing desire?

Eat yourself to good health with chocolates

Whenever I work on any chocolate related content in our website, I get a craving for dark chocolate. So I end up often purchasing a bar of dark chocolate. In fact, I am craving chocolates as I write this paragraph! Imagine my surprise when found out that dark chocolate is in fact a healthy food item? According to two studies in well-known journals, dark chocolate, and only dark chocolate is good for you. It has been shown to lower blood pressure, it contains antioxidants, and it contains compounds called flavoniods that improve the functioning of blood vessels. And for you, my dear reader, I suggest you visit our chocolates section. We recently began carrying a great selection of Quebec dark chocolates made by our Chocolatier Chocolats Privilège and also small box of Belgian chocolates that contain dark chocolates. The Quebec dark chocolates come in at least three varieties. Visit our chocolates section to find out more. And, for about the benefits of dark chocolate, read these two articles from WebMD.

• Dark Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate
• A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Montreal Orchid Show, October 21-22, 2006

We’re big orchid fans here at The Flower Pot. So when Eastern Canada Orchid Society held their annual orchid show at the Days Inn Hotel in Downtown Montreal this weekend, we had to be there and show off Joanne Laroche’s work. The result was an arrangement that won the first prize this year! This was The Flower Pot’s 5th entry to this show.

The show is one of two annual orchid shows in Montreal. It was held between October 21 and 22, bringing together hobbyists, Orchid societies, and florists from everywhere in Quebec and other parts of Canada to have their plants judged and displayed to the public. This year there were 14 entries by Montreal florists. The criteria for judgding includes overall appearance, balance, workmanship, details, unity, and proper base of arrangement. Our winning arrangement was made with large green cymbidium orchids, striped Arachnis (spider) orchids, Quebec bamboo, and offshoots of spider plants.

Visitors came to admire the plants, orchidophiles traded growing secrets, some photographed, and others came to buy orchids. One particular orchid plant, a Stanhopea Wardii attracted a lot of attention from growers and visitors. A few of them stood in front of the plant, unwilling to move. The fascination was with the eight dangling buds of this plant, which are supposed to open up and 'give birth' at a very particular time. Unlike other orchids, these orchids last only four to five days.

For those looking to buy orchids, this was a great opportunity. Besides being able to choose from a large selection of orchids, they had the chance to speak directly to the grower and get detailed care instructions. Vendors, who are a little reluctant to part with their “babies”, welcomed the enthusiasm and interest of the visitors. Here are some pictures for you to get a glimpse of the show.

Visitor trying to get the Stanhopea orchid buds to open up.













Orchid plant in display.












Fascination with the unusual Stanhopea orchid.












Visitor taking a picture of orchids.













Other orchids on display.

A lineup of popular orchids.

For more information about this orchid show, visit the website of the Eastern Canada Orchid Society.

Atwater Market of Montreal

In Montreal no one has to limit their daily shopping to large format grocery chains. Thanks to its French heritage, the city has a tradition of shopping in public markets. One can expect to find farmer fresh produce, large varieties of cheeses, meats, baked goods, and more in these markets. Of course, what's available is dependent on the season. Maybe not best for The Flower Pot, they also carry tons of flowers and plants.

Arguably, the most famous one is the historic Atwater Market close to the Lachine Canal. This farmers market has almost everything! Best of all, its surrounded by non-public markets such as a large super market, pharmacy, & gift shop. So, one trip to this market area, and you can be covered for a while.

Fortunately, I live close to the Atwater market. Some weekends you might find me buying exotic fruits I can barely name, eating sushi at the Sushi Shop, or trying out ethnic food you can't find anywhere else in Montreal.

The Flower Pot also keeps in touch with its Montreal base by carrying items from the Atwater market. If you visit TheFlowerPot.com's Food and Fruits section, it contains gift packages with fresh food items from the Atwater Market. Before we open each day, we pick fresh items from the Atwater market so that its ready when someone orders one of the packages.

To learn more about this market and other public markets in Montreal, visit the following sites.

• Farmer's Markets in Montreal by Montrealfood.com
• Les marchés publics de Montréal (Public Markets of Montreal)
• List of Montreal Farmer's Markets by MontrealPlus.ca
  

Fair Trading in Montreal

There is a strong effort these days by social activists around the world to bring in products that are traded in a more equitable manner. Part of the drive includes small businesses like The Flower Pot that take small steps towards promoting fair trade products. My employer, The Flower Pot, is slowly getting more involved in this process. However, there are several reasons this is slow. First, there is no truly centralized way to control the labeling of fair trade products, so it is difficult to ascertain what kind of sustainability efforts go behind our floral products. Second, products that have been targeted by the fair trade movement are often heavily traded food products, especially beverages like coffee and tea. So in my opinion the concept of fair trade flowers is quite young. The Flower Pot discovered that it is difficult to find fair trade whosalers of floral products. As was mentioned in a past blog, The Flower Pot offers a selection of flowers certified by Florverde. The Florverde label is applied to the growers focusing on social and environmental issues. To expand efforts for fair trade, The Flower Pot is on the lookout for more wholesalers of fair trade products in Montreal.

In my opinion, The Flower Pot is already part of a more local effort towards a fair trading system. Fortunately, many of our non-floral products are locally made Quebec products. They are brought to you directly from small to mid-size producers and farmers. For instance, we get orchids from local growers, carry products from Montreal’s Atwater Market where farmers sell directly, and even carry handcrafted art made in Quebec acquired directly from the artist.

I would like your opinion on the need for fair trade. Do you think it makes sense for small businesses like The Flower Pot to drive towards fair trade products? How much do you care about the origins of something you buy?

Also, if you’re someone involved in fair trade practices in Montreal, please get in touch! I’d like to know ways The Flower Pot can become more involved with fair trade.

To leave you, here are a few definitions of fair trade yielded by Google. Also, visit équiterre, promoters of fair trade in Montreal.