Tag: tulips

Starbright’s Newest Section: Tulips!

We know it’s not spring yet at Starbright in NYC, but with the warming weather we can’t stop ourselves from dreaming about the blossoming days ahead of us. One of our favorite flowers this time of year is the tulip, and although today it is an ubiquitous bearer of early spring in New York City, it wasn’t so very long ago that tulips were the very definition of elite class and status in Europe.

380 years ago in Holland, everyone went crazy for tulips. New York City was still known as New Amsterdam in 1637, when a frenzy beset the Dutch over beautiful tulip bulbs. Known as “Tulip Mania”, this brief period in floral history is a fascinating story.

Starbright’s Tulips’ Kiss echoes the Dutch fancy of blocks of tulip colors.
Starbright’s Tulips’ Kiss echoes the Dutch fancy of blocks of tulip colors.

Tulips first reached the Dutch shores about 40 years earlier, when they were brought over from the Ottoman Empire. Delighted that the tulips could flourish in the harsher climate of the Low Countries, tulips grew quickly in popularity. This was a time in history when the rich, vibrant colors of tulips were absent from other flowers that adorned the Dutch landscape. As time went on, tulips became more and more coveted in Holland, with distinct variations being cultivated for their unique beauty.

Pricing for tulips in the mid-seventeenth century peaked in March of 1637, when prices reached over 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. While this craze did not migrate over to New York City — or New Amsterdam as it was known at the time — this moment in history is considered the first economic bubble in recorded history and created devastating financial circumstances for those who lost amid the tulip bulbs.

Starbright’s Fashionably Pink composition lets the vivid hues shine.
Starbright’s Fashionably Pink composition lets the vivid hues shine.

Today, many of the tulip variations that were cultivated during Tulip Mania no longer exist, yet Starbright is always overflowing with decadent tulip choices. With tulips being one of the most desired floral compositions this time of year, Starbright’s brilliant flower designers have created new and exciting ways to enjoy this classic beauty.

The grace of tulips can never be overstated and they are one of Starbright’s most adored flowers to enhance a setting in New York City through their striking subtlety. With vivid hues and elegant lines, tulips have come to symbolize many things, including paradise on earth, a perfect love or passion in NYC, and the beauty of life.

Starbright’s Pixie’s Promise combines luscious textures.
Starbright’s Pixie’s Promise combines luscious textures.

In honor of the artistic achievements by the Starbright staff in New York City, we are thrilled to announce that Starbright’s website now has a new Tulip section, dedicated to this storied bloom. With Starbright’s tulip selection freshly stocked from the Netherlands six times a week and delivered to us less than 24 hours after being cut, we would be honored to assist in crafting the perfect message for you out of these beautiful flowers. At Starbright, we know that sometimes sentiments can only be conveyed through flowers, and we are standing by to build your dreams into a stunning floral masterpiece.

Starbright Floral Design is a full-service florist located in Midtown NYC that has been brightening New York City for over two decades with flowers, plants and more.

It is our distinct pleasure to be of service to you in creating stunning floral compositions that will make you smile.

We are delighted to be able to carefully deliver each creation through our fleet of dedicated floral concierges in Manhattan, all of New York City and beyond.

In NYC, where anything is possible, we offer same-day delivery for our friends and clients to ensure that when want to send your wishes with flowers, orchids, plants and so much more, we are there to answer the call.

We invite you to visit us online or in our store, which you will find is bursting with flowers and delight in being of service to you. We would be thrilled to make your floral dreams come true!

Warm regards from all of us at Starbright, “The Official Florist of the City That Never Sleeps”.

Flowers, Festivals and Celebrations – It is what we do!

Starbright Floral Design

140 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001

The Language Of Flowers – Part 1

“I’ll Be The One Wearing A Red Carnation, Because I Find You Fascinating”: How Flowers Can Send Secret Messages

 

Flowers aren’t just beautiful blooms with pleasing scents – the variety of plants available has led to the use of flowers to send coded messages at many points throughout human history. The practice of sending flower messages is called floriography.  NYC flower lovers have been practicing floriography since before there was a flower market in NYC.  The messages may be seem subtle and cryptic but Valentine’s Day flowers in NYC by Starbright delivers the message loud and proud for all to see “I love you!”.

References to flower codes go back as far as the Ancient Greeks, but very little is known about what the codes actually were – chances are the codes were passed on orally, their meaning transferred from one illiterate message-sender to another by word of mouth. Romans, Egyptians and Persians also used flower-codes to send messages, but just like the Greeks we know little about the codes themselves.

The Victorian-era world was obsessed with flowers – and Victorian-era England was obsessed with the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, in the early half of the 18th century, was going wild for tulips – and had started using tulips to send very complex notes, with colors standing in for words and arrangement standing in for grammar. As England’s interest in botany grew, so did interest in the more dramatic side of flower history.

Lady Mary Morley Montagu is the woman credited with bringing flower codes to the British court. From 1716-1718 Lady Mary lived in the Ottoman Empire with her husband Lord Edward Montagu, British ambassador to the Ottoman Court. She wrote wildly-detailed letters back home to friends in London, capturing Ottoman life with a deeply revealing lens. Her letters detailed many mysteries – bath houses, women’s rights and flower codes. The flower codes captured Georgian-Victorian era attentions – by 1809, Joseph Hammer-Pugstall’s Dictionnaire du Language des Fleurs would present the formal code used by nobles across Europe, driving further adoption (and further dictionaries!) There were literally hundreds of dictionaries about – we found one digitized on archive.org. Let’s take a look inside for some ideas to personalize your Valentine’s Day floral gifts!

Flower power
Flowers in NYC from Starbright Floral Design

Calla Lily – Magnificent Beauty – It’s clear how these flowers got their symbolic meaning, they’re simply magnificent!

Yellow Tulips – Hopeless Love – These are the perfect gift for your partner-in-life – sometimes, “hopeless” can be a good thing. If these are for you check out Solar Flair.

Amaryllis – Pride, Timidity, Splendid Beauty – These are a great gift for someone who likes to grow flowers inside their New York City apartment. Uptown, downtown, East Side, West Side – these flowers will do great anywhere. Starbright offers these blooms in both arrangements and potted. Check out this post for tips on taking care of an amaryllis plant in NYC.

Red Roses – Pure and Lovely – Note that these meanings are typically intended for lovers…if you’re giving roses to a family member, according to this book, it’s best to go with white (which means “innocence”) or bouquet of mixed colors. No matter the color, size, or shape – roses in NYC are a Valentine’s Day favorite. Check out this post for a look at the value of roses through history.

Dwarf Sunflower – Adoration – They must’ve chosen this one because the lil’ guys are so adorable! These guys are available in summer and fall, but they’re such a favorite that we wanted to include them anyway.

Next week we’ll take a look at some of the floriography traditions from Asian cultures!

 

Starbright Logo

 

Looking for flowers in New York City? Visit our Event Gallery for inspiration. Or see our daily selection at Starbrightnyc.com.

 

Spring has Sprung-Springtime Flowers in NYC by Starbright Floral Design NYC

Visit our website for amazing tulip choices!
Tulips are at that peak of their season. The Dutch varieties come in amazing colors!

New Yorkers it is time to rejoice. Spring flowers are here to whisk away the winter blues. Bright colored blossoms a plenty.  A plethora of flowers to choose from. Where do I start?  A good place would be with perhaps the most symbolic and popular images of spring; the Dutch Tulip.

Originally a wildflower growing in Central Asia, the Tulip was introduced in Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century.  Colors, textures and shapes never seen before contributed to the Tulip’s meteoric rise in popularity amongst Europe’s elite.

Today they are commercially available all year long but their vibrancy and quality are peaking in springtime.

Starbright is fortunate to be situated in New York’s Flower Market making every variety and color Tulip available to our clientele.  Let Starbright Floral NYC help liberate those spring smiles from the winter blues with flower delivery in NYC.  Choose from a vast array of springtime NYC flowers from Starbright’s Springtime Collection.

For pictures follow this link.  Click here for another blog entry on Dutch Tulips!

This scribe is brought to you by Starbright Floral Design, NYC, Voted NYC’s “Best” florist.  Along the way we try to find and write about the fun side of flowers.  Starbright NYC delivers flowers all over the world for the endless romantics everywhere.

Starbright Floral Design is the “Official Florist of the City that Never Sleeps” and most of the time we deliver flowers, love, passion and hope everywhere in Manhattan and worldwide.

Give us a call, visit our website or pop on in!  We would love to meet you….

Passionately yours,

The Official Florist

Starbright Floral Design

Located in the heart of New York City’s Historic Flower District

150 West 28th Street, Studio 201.

T. 800.520. 8999

Web: www. starflor.com

E-commerce portal: www.starbrightnyc.com

Tulips: The First Money Bubble!

Investors beware! Tulip bulbs crash!
A tulip, known as "the Viceroy", displayed in a 1637 Dutch catalog. Its bulb cost between 3000 and 4200 florins depending on size. A skilled craftsman at the time earned about 300 florins a year.

Do you know a stockbroker or financial professional that has suffered losses recently?  Cheer him up with some tulips! Here is the story and why things no matter how bad they seem can always be worse…

As we celebrate the end of tulip season for yet another magnificent year… I share with you a story about this amazing flower that is sure to surprise you.  The financial bubble that came about was caused by tulip bulbs.  It took place way before the bubble in the stock market, the housing market or any other bubble and subsequent bubble that you may know of.

It was tulip mania or tulpomanie to the Dutch.  This was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble).

The term “tulip mania” is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble.

The event was popularized in 1841 by the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, written by British journalist Charles Mackay. According to Mackay, at one point 12 acres (5 ha) of land were offered for a Semper augustus bulb. Mackay claims that many such investors were ruined by the fall in prices, and Dutch commerce suffered a severe shock. Mackay’s book is a classic that is widely reprinted today, his account is contested.

Research on the tulip mania is difficult because of the limited data from the 1630s—much of which comes from biased and anti-speculative sources. Although these explanations are not generally accepted, some modern economists have proposed rational explanations, rather than a speculative mania, for the rise and fall in prices. For example, other flowers, such as the hyacinth, also had high prices on the flower’s introduction, which then fell dramatically. The high prices may also have been driven by expectations of a parliamentary decree that contracts could be voided for a small cost—thus lowering the risk to buyers.

All we want is tulips in a vase to enjoy them all season long!  They still grow in Holland.  Today tulips are a harmless flower that brings much joy and  is considered by many the first sign of springtime.  They are commercially available as cut flowers from September to May.  In the off-months you can get them, but the quality is not great and they are pricier than at their peak season (March, April and May).

All of us at Starbright love tulips…

This post is brought to you by Starbright Floral Design (www.starflor.com).  Sometimes we like to bring out “the fun side of flowers” by injecting some humor into our scribes.  We truly hope you enjoy our reads and get to see flowers from a little bit of a different perspective.  We sure do.

When you have some time, please visit our website and tell us what you think of the work that we do.  If you would like to order a gift for someone, you can visit our e-commerce portal we always recommend Designer’s Choice as a great option to take the guess work out of ordering flowers for a friend, a loved one or a parent. We deliver flowers on a same day basis (open seven days a week) in the United States.  Worldwide delivery is available  (except war zones, jungles, desserts and merchant marine vessels in the open sea) within 48 hours.

We would love to hear from you!  An alternative to our website is to call us (800.520.8999) or you may visit us at 150 West 28th Street (Second Floor).  We are in the heart of New York City’s Historic Flower District.  Pop on in! We would love to meet you!

Starbright Floral Design – The Official Florist of the City that Never Sleeps.

“Flowers, Festivals & Celebrations… It is what we do!”

Winter Tulips Are In Season! A Preview of Spring To Come!

Spring colored tulips are here...

Every color of the spring rainbow is in season!  A little bit of springtime in the middle of a cold winter day… Smiles are always in season!  Visit our website at http://www.starflor.com or call us at 800.520.8999.  We have millions of ways to make your loved one smile!  We would love to hear from you and thrilled to brighten someones day!

Tulip season has begun and tulip colors are now at their peak.  Just imagine a color and there is a tulip in that tone!

The Starbright page on Facebook is waiting for you to become a fan!

%d bloggers like this: