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Enter the kids club birthday card contest by July 15 for a chance to win a free flower delivery


It’s like sending a gift to yourself.
One lucky child between the ages of 5 and 12 will receive a flower delivery on his or her birthday by winning this year’s Connells Maple Lee Kids Club birthday card design contest.
The deadline for submissions is July 15. The winning design will grace the official e-card that all kids club members will receive in the coming year. (Here’s how to become a member.)
One way to enter the contest is to attend the June 29 kids club event, where everyone who participates also will have an opportunity to make a sundae out of carnations. Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Registration is required by contacting your nearest store.
The other way to enter the contest is by downloading the entry form and dropping it off at your nearest store.
You’ll see the 2018 winning design at the top of this post.
To everyone who enters the contest, we wish you good luck! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Connells Maple Lee Kids Club making sundaes on Saturday at June 29 event


Here’s the scoop on the Connells Maple Lee Kids Club event on June 29.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to create an ice cream sundae out of carnations and to enter the kids club birthday card design contest. Participants also will receive a balloon.
As the price of admission, children are asked to bring at least one nonperishable food item to contribute to the Connells Maple Lee Stems Hunger food drive to benefit the Neighborhood Services Food Pantry in Columbus.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
The other remaining 2019 kids club events are Aug. 17 and Nov. 2.

Garden roses are back and a popular option for weddings


Garden roses, which once were the everyday rose sold by local flower shops, are back in their uniquely big and fragrant ways.
Their large blooms and strong scent not only distinguish them from today’s standard roses but also make them an increasingly popular option for weddings and other special occasions.
This is how Alexandra Farms in Bogota, Colombia, the source for most of the garden roses that Connells Maple Lee buys, toasts its product: “Garden roses are to roses what champagne is to wine.”

BRED FOR PERFORMANCE

Decades ago, Connells Maple Lee and other florists grew their own garden roses. What today is known as a standard or modern rose didn’t exist.
By the 1970s, however, an oil embargo made it prohibitively expensive for Connells Maple Lee and other domestic florists to heat their greenhouses. Meanwhile, Bogota, by virtue of lying on a plateau near the equator, enjoyed warm days and cool nights – or near-perfect conditions for rose production. (Today, the major rose-producing nations are Colombia, Ecuador and Kenya.)
But as with many things in life, there was a trade-off: The farther away growers were from florists, the hardier that roses (and other flowers) had to be to withstand the added time and rigors involved with shipping.
So, a choice had to be made between flower bloom size and fragrance on the one hand and vase life (or how long a flower lasts once it is cut) on the other. Garden roses have twice as many petals as standard roses, which manifests as significantly bigger blooms than standard rose blooms.
“In many cases,” according to Alexandra Farms, “you couldn’t get a garden rose with a long vase life if you wanted it also to have many petals or fragrance, so [growers] moved toward standard roses. Rather than getting more beauty or fragrance in the varieties they grew, they got longer vase life. In short, [roses] lost some of their charisma in favor of performance.”
Famed rose breeder David Austin changed that by developing a garden rose genetic line specifically for the cut-flower market.
“Now, garden roses are bred for performance in addition to their charismatic qualities,” according to Alexandra Farms, “so you can have the best of both worlds.”
Meanwhile, improvements in post-harvesting techniques – from hydration methods to anti-ethylene treatments (ethylene gas can promote premature flower death) to better packaging – “have enabled us to grow more productively and ship our cut flowers around the world,” according to Alexandra Farms.
The grower said it has tested more than 1,500 varieties of garden roses for beauty but also for shelf and vase life.

ALTERNATIVE TO PEONIES

Garden roses are available in almost every color that exists for standard roses. True to their champagne reputation, garden roses cost more than standard roses, but they are a cost-effective alternative to peonies.
Garden roses are sometimes described as having “powder puff” petals that mirror those of peonies and make them a good substitute when peonies aren’t available.
Peonies require frozen soil – and therefore seasons, Alexandra Farms explained. The plants must freeze in the ground for months in order to sprout in the spring. Based on time of year and availability, peonies can be considerably more expensive than garden roses, which are available year-round.
But Alexandra Farms, which grows 61 varieties of garden roses in Colombia, noted that garden roses don’t have to be limited to weddings and other special events.
They “can be used for anything including home décor, vase work, etc.,” according to the grower. “The garden roses grown at Alexandra Farms were bred and selected for longevity, as well as beauty. They are hardy and work well for any use.”

Connells Maple Lee introduces fresh gathered bouquets


Do it yourself doesn’t mean you have to go it alone.
A case in point: Connells Maple Lee’s new fresh gathered bouquets.
Available in 13 different options (with the promise of more to come), the bouquets sell for $19.99 or $29.99 including delivery. They arrive in a brown craft paper sleeve tied with raffia, giving the package a “rustic, farmers market feel,” said Cheryl Brill, our chief operating officer.
The small ($19.99) version of the Tuscan bouquet, for instance, comprises mini green hydrangea, alstroemeria, daisy poms, viking poms, carnations, mini carnations, caspia, and tree fern. The larger ($29.99) version adds two roses to the mix.
Increasingly, flower buyers like to purchase loose bouquets they can arrange themselves, often using favorite containers, Brill said.

Hands-on

Yet customers can take comfort in knowing that each fresh gathered bouquet is professionally designed with complementary colors and textures (caspia and tree fern, for instance) in mind and then hand-assembled in our stores.
This removes some of the guesswork for customers while allowing them to be hands-on at home.
Brill said she took one of the bouquets home, trimmed the stems to the appropriate length, and dropped the bouquet into a vase.
“I couldn’t be happier with how that turned out,” she said. “And if customers can do that at home, I would think they’d be very happy with that, too.”
Many customers like to purchase for themselves. Of course, as with any other Connells Maple Lee product, the fresh gathered bouquets can be sent to someone as a gift.
While fresh gathered bouquets currently are available only in Connells Maple Lee’s market area, Brill delivered this tidbit: soon customers will have the opportunity to ship them almost anywhere in the United States.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Connells Maple Lee Kids Club celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with free event March 16 in all stores


They say that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.
While that may be a wee bit of an overstatement, this much is true: On March 16, all Connells Maple Lee Flowers & Gifts stores are celebrating the holiday with a free kids club event.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make an Irish Blessings arrangement, featuring a three-inch plant in a basket that can be decorated with green foil, satin ribbon and a glitter shamrock stick-in.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
The other 2019 kids club events are March 16, June 29, Aug. 17 and Nov. 2.

Connells Maple Lee Kids Club springs into new year with free event Jan. 12 in all stores


It’s a paradox of nature that just as winter begins, the amount of daylight slowly starts to increase.
In other words, spring is coming. It makes a special appearance at all Connells Maple Lee Flowers & Gifts stores on Jan. 12 for the first Connells Maple Lee Kids Club event of 2019.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make a spring arrangement in a bird’s nest container using daisy pom pons, leatherleaf fern, baby’s breath and spring plaid ribbon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
The other 2019 kids club events are March 16, June 29, Aug. 17 and Nov. 2.

Thank you for donating new children’s books to Bexley and Delaware County public libraries


Thank you to everyone who donated to “Bouquets for Books,” which this year collected 52 new children’s titles for Bexley Public Library and Delaware County District Library.
The book drive ran Oct. 28-Nov. 10. Anyone who donated a new children’s book was eligible to receive a free bouquet.
In its 11-year history, Bouquets for Books has collected more than 1,100 books for area public libraries.

Connells Maple Lee collecting cards and coloring pages Nov. 11-Dec. 4 for area military veterans


Connells Maple Lee will collect cards and coloring pages for area military veterans Nov. 11-Dec. 4 as part of the American Red Cross “Holidays for Heroes” program.
Cards may be dropped off at any one of Connells Maple Lee’s three area stores: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell.
Free coloring pages are available at the stores or can be downloaded here:
Christmas Tree
Santa
Ornament
Reindeer
Dreidel
Meanwhile, the Red Cross offers these guidelines for preparing cards:

  • Use generic salutations such as “Dear Veteran” as cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.
  • Include messages of support and thanks.
  • Sign your name to them.
  • Don’t include letters or other personal information (photos, addresses).
  • Refrain from choosing cards with glitter.

Connells Maple Lee Kids Club saluting veterans with Nov. 10 event


Red, white, blue and you!
For its final kids club event of 2018, the Connells Maple Lee Flowers & Gifts Kids Club is honoring the service of all U.S. military veterans.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to make a patriotic arrangement, featuring red and blue carnations and an American flag.
As the price of admission, participants are asked to bring a new children’s book for Bouquets for Books, Connells Maple Lee’s annual book drive to benefit area public libraries.
Participants also will receive a balloon and may decorate a coloring page for Connells Maple Lee’s annual Holidays for Heroes event, which honors veterans and active military members.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store: 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
 
 

Connells Maple Lee collecting new children’s books Oct. 28-Nov. 10 to benefit area public libraries


Give a new book, get a fresh bouquet.
That’s the simple proposition behind Connells Maple Lee Flowers and Gifts’ annual children’s book drive, which this year runs Oct. 28-Nov. 10.
The book drive benefits Bexley Public Library and Delaware County District Library.
For each new book, donors will receive a free bouquet, up to three per family per visit, while supplies last. Used books will not be accepted.
For library wish lists, please click here.
Connells Maple Lee (cmlflowers.com) has stores at 3014 E. Broad St., Bexley; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell.