Are Poinsettia Plants Really Poisonous To Children & Pets???

How often have you heard Poinsettias are deadly poisonous and claim the lives of children and pets every year? I hear this often when my customers are interested in purchasing a plant as a Christmas gift. Usually they say - What do you have besides poinsettias? My friend has pets (or children). This is a myth that has been so wide spread for decades that even some florists believe it to be true. Luckily for us and our pets, it's not true.
The origin of the myth dates back to 1919 when a 2 year old child of a US Army officer stationed in Hawaii passed away suddenly. It was believed that the child ingested poinsettia leaves. The American Society of Florists has looked into the matter extensively and says there was never any proof that poinsettia leaves were responsible for the child's death and has been determined hearsay. Since that non poinsettia death in 1919, there haven't been any real ones either. And no wonder, it would take a 50 lb child to ingest over 1.25 lbs of poinsettia bracts (500-600 leave) to exceed the experimental dose according to POISINDEX information services. (POISINDEX is the primary resource used by most poison control centers.) If a child or pet were to try to ingest the leaves they may end up with a tummy ache, mainly because they are ingesting something foreign into their digestive system. Though this is highly unlikely, as the taste is described as horrible.

Now that you know the truth, don't be afraid to fill your home with these beautiful Christmas plants!

Fall Festivals

For the last three years, our long time designer Marianne has donated her time and flowers for South Hills Elementary School and South Hills Christian Church's Fall Festival. The yearly festival raises money for the school's PTA as well as for the church. Children and families enjoy the food, bounce house, games and the book walk. Each year Marianne brings buckets and buckets of fresh flowers to the event and creates hand-tied bouquets. Each bouquet is unique with roses, poms, lilies, orchids and more. Everyone loves watching how they are made! Many people like to take them home, but a few enjoy giving them away. One young boy bought five bouquets and said he was giving them to each of his girlfriends! Marianne always has a great time at the festival and looks forward to it each year.

Scenic Fall Drives in Fort Worth, Texas

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is alive with the beautiful colors of the fall!  Everywhere you look, you’ll see gorgeous reds, browns, oranges, and yellows.  If you love looking at these fall colors and want to take a relaxing scenic drive in the DFW area, here are some of the best routes to take.

The Palo Pinto Mountains are a short drive from the Metro area, but they are absolutely stunning in the fall.  The acres of trees provide plenty of opportunities for pictures and for hiking.  Mineral Well State Park, located in the mountains, is a great place to camp out and relax.  Another park, Possum Kingdom State Park, is also near the area.  If you’re the adventuring type, bring a canoe and take a ride down the Brazos River!  Take a drive on Farm Road 4 or Highway 16 to see the fall foliage on the go.

Another nearby area to see fall foliage is around Tyler, Texas.  Tyler Sate Park is a quite nice this time of year.  You can also drive through Tyler’s tree-lined streets and visit the Tyler Rose Garden, although there may not be many roses in bloom this time of year. 

Take a drive up to the Cedar Ridge Preserve to get both a great view of fall foliage and a nice view of the Metro area.  It’s only about 20 minutes from Dallas.  With more than 600 acres and 10 miles of hiking trails, you’ll find a lot to see.  The preserve is at 755 feet above sea level, so you can look out and see pretty far.  A native plant nursery and butterfly garden are also options.

Finally, you can enjoy the fall foliage without ever leaving the city if you visit the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.  While it’s not a drive, definitely take the time to walk through the 66 acres of trees, gardens, and flowerbeds during this time of the year.


Fall Flowers Delivered in Fort Worth Texas

Go Horned Frogs! TCU Memorabilia from TCUFlorist

Here at TCUFlorist, we have a wide variety of different flowers, gift baskets, and other great items.  They’re perfect for sending to just about everyone for any occasion.  However, we’re more than just another florist—we’re a TCU florist, and we have many different products for students and fans of Texas Christian University.  We’ve got all your Horned Frogs merchandise, items for your sorority sisters, and great gift baskets for students.

Our cute little TCU frogs are great little gifts for fans of our sports teams. We also have larger concrete horned frogs for your gardens.  They’re the perfect garden gnome companions!

Another great garden accessory is our TCU stepping stone.  It’s shaped like the state of Texas with “TCU” done in purple in the middle. 

We have purses, clutches, and small handbags in TCU purple and in a variety of different styles.

If you’re thinking about adding balloons to a flower arrangement, we have some great TCU-themed ones, including a football shape.

Need something for your sorority sister?  We offer sorority crosses with the greet letters of your choice and jeweled trim done in the colors you request.  We’ve also got a Sorority Foursome flower arrangement that features four roses of any color in a rectangular glass vase.  A ribbon with your sorority letters completes this neat gift.  Our sorority ceramic mug is another great gift choice.

Of course, we have several TCU-themed flower arrangements, too.  We have a sorority tumbler featuring a great topiary design of fresh flowers.  We also have a purple and white arrangement and a student arrangement that comes in a dark purple vase.  We have a number of other arrangements featuring purple flowers that are also great for TCU family members.

What if you have a son attending TCU?  He might not care for flowers.  How about junk food?  You know he would love some chips and candy!  Send him one of our junk food baskets.  It’s full of great snacks for those all-night study sessions.

These are just a few of our great TCU merchandise.  Stop by the store or look online to see all our great TCU products for the Fort Worth Texas area.

1,000 Facebook Fans!

At the beginning of the summer, I was challenged to bring our Facebook Fan base to 1000 fans. At that time, we had around 460. Once we were able to reach our goal, we would throw a party for all our fans. Well, I am thrilled to say WE DID IT!!! Our party was September 30th and we had great turn out. Customers were impressed by our updated showroom and the new gift items that we are now carrying, especially the purple Flamingos and TCU accessories. Garland Geeslin, our good friend and owner of Sassy Hot Dogs, parked right outside. He served up some great food and created quite a buzz. Along with the hot dogs and burgers, we had hors d'oeurves, wine, beer and pie! Each customer received a free gerbera daisy and a lucky few found a gift card tied to it. Our Grand Prizes were a $100 gift card and a FREE design lesson. Congratulations to all our winners! We had so much fun putting together a great party and reaching our goal. Thank you to all our loyal Facebook Fans. I am really looking forward to the next party!
Check out our before and after pictures of the showroom!

The Sunny Sunflower

The sunflower has a bright, cheery face (and tasty seeds).  In addition to being beautiful, the sunflower is also a very important agricultural crop in the northern part of North Dakota and the panhandle of Texas.  But where did the sunflower originate, and why do we love it so much?  Here’s a bit of history about the sunflower.

The sunflower, or Helianthus Annuus as it’s scientifically called, is native to North America, but it was actually commercialized in Russia.  After being cultivated as a crop flower, it was reintroduced to the U.S.  However, Native Americans had been growing domesticated sunflowers for years.  They started cultivating the flower in what is now New Mexico and Arizona back in 3000 BC.  In fact, some evidence shows that they may have grew sunflowers before they grew corn!  The seeds of the sunflower were ground into flour, plus it can be mixed with other vegetables for different tastes.  The seeds, of course, were eaten as snacks.

In addition to eating, the sunflower was also used for a few other things.  It can be made into purple dye for different decorative purposes.  Some parts of the sunflower can also be used as medications for snakebites and other ailments. 

When the Spanish explorers came to the area, they found the sunflower fascinating, and they took it back to Europe in the 1500s.  There, it was developed as both decorative and medicinal.  Peter the Great was especially fond of the flower.  Eventually, the Russians were growing more than two million acres of sunflowers!  By 1880, these new sunflowers were re-introduced to the U.S. 

Now that sunflowers are grown around the world, they’ve become very popular.  Many people love seeing their big, yellow faces in the morning.  Here are a few interesting facts about the sunflower:

The cultivated sunflower has one head, but wild sunflowers can have up to 20 or more.

Sunflower oil has more Vitamin E in it than any other vegetable oil.

Most sunflowers grown for commercial use in the United States are grown in eight states—California, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota.

The largest producer of sunflowers is Russia, although Argentina, China, India, Turkey, and South Africa also grow a large amount of the flower.

Kansas is called the Sunflower State because of the many wild sunflowers that grow there.  In fact, it’s actually considered a weed by some!

Many great artists have painted sunflowers, including Picasso and Van Gogh.

The tallest sunflower on record was grown in the Netherlands and stood over 25 feet!  A sunflower in Michigan holds the record for the most heads on one plant—it had 837.

Summer Flowers, plus Blog Readers get a Discount!

Summer may be coming to an end, but summer flowers are still blooming!  Here at TCU Florist, we have a number of different summer flowers in stock.  There’s no better solution for turning someone’s day around than to send them a bright, cheery, vibrant bouquet of summer flowers.  Here are just a few different options we have available:

Sunflowers!  Nothing is as bright or as cheery as big, yellow sunflowers.  We have a great arrangement of beautiful blooms in a small clear vase.  These sunny sunflowers can help anyone who is feeling a little down.

How about daisies?  Daisies are also very happy little flowers.  They have a very different look than sunflowers.  A nice arrangement of daisies with other flowers, like yellow roses, makes a nice mixture. 

How about something colorful?  Orange roses, Asiatic lilies, and carnations are bright and colorful.  An arrangement of these bright flowers can turn a dull room into a happy, energetic place.
Did you just send your daughter away to college?  Why not send her an arrangement of bright gerberas?  These charismatic flowers come in pink, red, orange, and yellow.  They’re simple, pretty, and colorful, and they’ll turn any dorm room into a paradise.

If you need some help selecting and sending any of these great summer flowers to your friends and loved ones, TCU Florist can help.  We have a huge variety of different flowers available, and our designers have years of experience in creating outstanding, unique arrangements to match any occasion.  Plus, just for reading this blog, you can get $10 off your next order!  Just visit our shop and use promotion code BL8.  There’s no minimum order, and the discount applies to all of our arrangements!  Visit our shop and find the perfect flowers for the special people in your life.