Benefits of the Stand Mixer

boftsmrYou have never come by a better mixer than the stand mixer. There are so many things about it that makes it the best for you any time and any day. It is very easy to use and also very easy to maintain. You do not also need to empty your bank account to buy it. There are several brands around and they can all be bought at very considerate price. Just check them out today and you will never regret it. Every dime spent on it will prove to …

Blue Flowers Are The Best

EVERYBODY LOVES BLUE. Blue skies, blue eyes (at least in Nordic and Anglo-Saxon countries), candor, innocence, all such connotations. Blue flowers are in such demand, are such certain sellers, that the nurserypeople have to stretch the meaning of the word to its snapping point. More than half the flowers described in seed lists and plant catalogs as blue are some shade of mauve or purple. Truly blue flowers are few.

Yet many gardeners insist on having a blue border. Gertrude Jekyll, writing at the turn of the century, was

Orange Flowers Underrated

marigA widespread bias against orange prompts writers to resort to such euphemisms as flame, tangerine, and apricot. Yet there’s an inconsistency here. Marigolds are popular annuals, and marigolds serve up great gobs of orange. Sophisticates prefer Zinnia angustifolia, which is dainty of flower and leaf but still unabashedly orange. And which of us hasn’t admired butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in a green meadow, or California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) on a grassy hillside? It isn’t the color itself that offends but the way in which it is used.

Orange does need

Preserve Fresh Cut Flowers Easily

Make summer flowers last. Our guide to easy drying methods.

The Basics

* When you dry flowers is key; cut garden blossoms at their color peak, in the midday sun. If you’re not preserving them immediately, place in a vase of cool water, in a dark location. Before drying, remove leaves.

* When sending florist or garden flowers to be freeze-dried, enjoy them for 2 to 3 days, then ship overnight. (You don’t want to dry tightly closed buds, or blooms past their prime.) Wrap stems in damp paper towels,

Delphiniums Are A Finicky, But Beautiful Flower

Where Delphiniums are concerned, good taste flies out the window,” essayist and devoted gardener Eleanor Perenyi conceded in 1981 in Green Thoughts (Vintage Books; $12, paperback). Flaunting “all the sapphires and azures of a Chartres window,” the flower-packed spires of the giant hybrids sometimes reach seven feet. Unfortunately, these rulers of the delphinium race, as Mrs. Perenyi calls them, are lately frowned upon by those who see no place for such gaudy showmanship in today’s more “natural” landscapes. Surely the plants’ outrageous colors (including newly available pinks, reds, and yellows,

The Web Changed Flower Delivery Forever

“I still wonder if the flowers were wet because the stems were damp or my palms were so sweaty,” said Jim McCann, president of 1-800-Flowers. “But from then on, I knew flowers would be an important part of my life.” Mr. McCann was referring to his first date with Margarite, and the relatively circuitous route he took to becoming the first name in flowers in the on-line world.

1800Mr. McCann, who was keynoting at last week’s Internet Commerce Show in New York, is certainly not your typical E-commerce guru. The