High End Florists

Flowers are gifted to individuals during wedding anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, Christmas, Mother's Day, and many other events. Florists have seen a rise in trend of the flower markets and their value, which has created a huge demand in the industry. This necessitates florists to employ their talent, skill, knowledge, and expertise fully to stay ahead. There are two categories of florists, local and international.

The sub-categories include florists who deal in the finest quality of flowers and are known as high-end florists. These florists provide additional services along with regular flower orders. They allow the customers to choose from gifts such as wine, Champaign, chocolates, and soft toys accompanying their regular order of bouquets and flowers.

High-end florists take the responsibility to serve the customers with the best of services. They have a well-coordinated network and are connected with numerous local florists around the town or city so that quick delivery is possible. High-end florists make sure that they maintain customer relations by delivering orders on time and allowing the customers to make their choice of flowers, gifts that they can personalize.

They also provide the customers with a variety of flowers to choose from, which include exotic flowers, designer flowers, exclusive flower baskets, and exquisite roses. Due to their exceptional services, many individuals prefer to book orders with high-end florists.

High-end florists also assist their clients in the process of selecting the right type of flowers depending on the occasion. The designing and arrangement of the flowers display excellent skills of the florists and orders are handled in a professional manner. High-end florists are usually very expensive, but the customer must make sure that they offer their clients with the best services, which is worth the money.

High-end florists have launched websites to further enhance their customer base by allowing them to compare prices and services offered, place orders, and even make payments online.



Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?High-End-Florists&id=428964

Best Online Florists

With the help of online florists you can easily convey your feelings to your loved ones. This is a beautiful medium to get your message crossways to the recipient. The aim is to give customers with best quality, best selection and absolute satisfaction guarantee on every single order, all around the world. You want to send gifts to your husband, wife, children, close friend, parents or anyone else, just take the help of these florists.

Celebrate special occasion with festive arrangement. Wish special person happy birthday. You can express your caring thoughts, gratitude, congratulation, wishes and other gestures with the special gift baskets. No gift is better than the unexpected bouquet of the red roses or teddy bear. Through cards you can make any day special of any one special. Express your appreciation or gratefulness to special person, relative, friend or colleague.

Flowers do have universal appeal. Message of cheer and love to all the loved ones make them feel special and different. Beautiful bouquets come with gorgeous lilies, stunning roses, tulips, marvelous snapdragons and much more.

Roses come in different colors and each color of the rose has its own importance. Red roses are a symbol of love. Whereas yellow signifies gratitude and friendship. White roses can be used to show sympathy. Roses can be artistically arranged in the elegant vases as well as baskets which let you share joy, peace, sorrow and love with friends and family. Best online florist Lucknow provide suitable online ordering system almost through out a day so as to serve the customers.

Ferns N Petals is a well reputed florist in India. Over the years it has been linked with excellent quality flowers as well as flowers arrangements. Buy and send fresh cut flowers to any corner of the world and pamper your loved ones with exquisite and exotic flower arrangements. We are the popular local Lucknow florist and guarantee to deliver your order to the recipient on the given time.




Source: http://www.articlefeeder.com/Business__Finance_and_Management/Best_Online_Florists.html

Online Wholesale Florists

Online wholesale florists offer an efficient and cost effective place to find some of the world's best bulk floral purchases for small or large retail florist shops, grocery stores, gift shops, and community groups. Even individuals can purchase from wholesale florists for weddings in small or large bulk as well as for fund raising organizations.

It is extraordinarily easy to browse, compare, purchase and receive bulk items through timely shipping by ordering online. Whether it is fresh cut flowers or potted plants, a huge selection of floral species can be found through many companies that specialize in shipping domestic and international flowers at cut rate prices to retail companies and organizations that can then turn a good profit.

Many companies that provide wholesale floristry products operate from different vantage points regarding sales targets and services. Some wholesale florists have developed a system that has business partnerships with international sources in places like South America.

Some South American gardens grow large amounts of greenery and floristry that is sold to wholesalers who in turn market the products to US retailers. Other growers in America sell their products to wholesalers in bulk for the same benefits. This provides a good financial arrangement for producers, wholesalers and retailers because of the many advantages to these partnerships.

Some of the advantages to this arrangement include marketing, credit lines, transportation, customer contacts, bulk sales, and inventory convenience. Growers who are in the business of harvesting flowers and plants in large amounts are not so much in the marketing business and need a distribution channel for their products.

Wholesale florists provide a perfect venue with marketing strategies designed to move products to the retail market through seamless transportation plans and optimum marketing strategies. This takes the pressure off overseas growers as well as growers based across the United States who would otherwise have to attempt to market their items to the thousands of retailers across the country.

Good marketing by online wholesale florists connects the producer with the retailer for a perfect financial marriage. Lines of credit are also provided for retailers that many producers cannot offer from overseas venues. Another plus is the fact that wholesale florists can break up bulk products and parcel them out into smaller amounts that are ordered by certain retail buyers.

Large gardens in America and overseas are not equipped to handle this assignment and deal only in large shipping orders that generally go to wholesalers. Customer contact is also an important function that wholesalers are able to maintain as the middle man between growers and sellers.

The product convenience that is provided by the florist middle men offer a huge plus to overseas as well as distant US productions by transporting floristry closer to retail stores. This makes it easy for buyers to visit warehouses and marketing facilities in order to make first hand inspections of products before purchase.

Another type of online wholesale florists are those that have devised business connections with a network of florist shops and other flower speciality shops around the country in order to be able to provide florist deliveries and quality arrangements to customers at cut rate prices. Many companies offer cheap pricing and free delivery on quality flowers through cost effective methods of marketing and delivery through their network of suppliers and shops.

Companies such as these can boast large inventories of products based on a compilation of network stores worldwide and provide consumers with unparalleled, guaranteed service. The floristry business can be pleasant as well as financially lucrative for many wholesale florists who deal with the beauty of nature that cheers many people on many occasions. The Scripture verse that states "...unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wonderous works declare."

(Psalm 75:1) is especially obvious when dealing with garden beauty indoor or outside. Many online wholesale florists offer galleries to display their flowers and plants from many different markets both home and abroad. The beauty of international flowers can be spectacular from orchids to roses that are harvested from tropical gardens overseas.

There are many more services that online wholesale florists offer retail buyers including information on the hottest selling floral items, how to present certain floristry products and where the trends in the floral business is moving. It is also advantageous for many retail buyers to belong to wholesale associations as well as to attend conventions that feature other information relevant to the florist industry.

Conventions offer the opportunity to visit with suppliers, to interact with other business owners about the best business practices, and to pick up other important tips. There are many Internet sources that offer further information regarding the whole sale flower business that may be of help to anyone who is interested in retail, wholesale or production opportunities.



Source: http://www.christianet.com/flowers/wholesaleflorists.htm

Peek-a-Boo

From this hand bouquet of 3 pink gerberas peeks a furry little bear in cunning yet adorable innocence.

Lester Love

I'm only a boy, but I promise to bring you so much joy. Let Lester, a cream colored bear with irresistible eyes, deliver this lovely message to your special girl.

Everlasting Peace

We know that it's very difficult to find the right gestures or words that may convey how sorry we are for the family of the loss. In that case, you can send this condolence stand with fresh and artificial white flowers.

Tasty Treats

A tasty selection of gourmet treats to make your Mid Autumn festival merrier. A basket is brimming with luscious goodies and treats for your whole family.

Token of Love

This occasion calls for special token of love. Say it with chocolates this time round and make it a memorable gift

Attraction in Singapore During Mid Autumn Festival

In Chinese moon cake festival, chinatown is a place that you should not miss if you are in Singapore during the mooncake festival month. Every year during this mid autumn festival, China town will be dominated with flowers and beautiful lanterns through out the street.

There will be cultures performance and verities of moon cakes of different brands for sale. You can taste the sample of different moon cakes before you decide which to buy. Also remember to take a stroll at the Mid Autumn Bazaar beside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and grab one of the many incredible festive products such as the Chinese red lanterns, Chinese paintings, Chinese gowns (cheongsams), sweetened dates and traditional handicrafts to take home as souvenirs.

You would also like to buy some moon cake from some of the famous brand like Da Dong Restaurant moon cake which is known for its handmade snowskin mooncake with single yolk in lotus paste and Tong Heng Oriental Pastry which is known for its baked mooncake with mixed nuts and baked mooncake with double yolk in lotus paste.



Source: http://www.best-singapore-guide.com/mooncake-festival.html

Mooncake Festival in Sabah

In Sabah, many Chinese celebrate the Mooncake Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival. as the name suggests, this festival involves eating mooncakes and kids playing with lanterns. This festival is also, and correctly called the Mid Autumn Festival. Celebrated when the moon is at its fullest, on the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calender. This normally falls on September or October.

Because mooncakes are the traditional food during this festival, it came to be called Chinese moon cake festival. This also makes it more commercial, with the sales of mooncakes and lanterns. Still, it does not take anything away from hanging out with family and friends, and celebrating the tradition.

Traditionally, this makes the end of the harvesting season in China. In the old days, it is a welcome break where you can sit and enjoy a gorgeous view of the moon, and the kids can have some fun with the neighbors.

Paper Lanterns and All

When I was a kid, we use to play with paper lanterns with a lighted candle inside. This is just about the only time we can play with fire, so you can imagine how much fun we had, and many a lantern went up in flames.

These days, they came up with plastic lanterns that runs on batteries, including some with really annoying sounds. But as a parent, it makes life easier, and you can always choose one with just the lights. This being the first lantern festival my angelic girl remembers, she had a lot of fun with her lantern.


Source: http://aboutsabah.com/living-here/mooncake-festival-in-sabah/

Mid Autumn Festival - Summary

Mid Autumn Festival, or Mooncake Festival and Lantern Festival in some South East Asian countries, is one of the most important festivals in Chinese tradition. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

Amongst the many legends and tales regarding the Chinese moon cake festival, Chang Er's Moon Escapade is the most widely known story. Here are some that we've heard from our parents and teachers when we were little.

Chang Er's Moon Escapade

It was believed that long ago in ancient China, there were 10 suns in the sky that caused no river flowing and no crops growing. Hou Yi, a legendary hero who had incredible strength and great archery skill, shot down 9 of the hot burning suns. The remaining sun was ordered to rise and set daily, to benefit human being.

Hou Yi, became the leader of the nation, and married Chang Er - who was believed to be a great beauty. However, Hou Yi became a violent leader and was cruel to his people. He then obtained an elixir that was promised to give him eternity life. Chang Er, with a heart of gold, worried that the elixir was going to make the public suffer eternally, had decided to get rid of the elixir.

However, her stealing act was caught red-handed by Hou Yi. Out of a panic, she swallowed the elixir and found herself starting to float in the air, whilst running away from Hou Yi's hunt. Chang Er continued to fly higher and higher, till she reached the moon, and spent the rest of her eternal life on the cold, lonely moon.

Another version of the twist was, Hou Yi's follower Feng Meng had tried to make Chang Er surrender the elixir in Hou Yi?s absense. Refused to do so, she swallowed it and escaped to the moon. There are, of course, many other versions of the fairy tale, but these are the two that are most often told.

The poem titled 'Chang Er', written by Tang Dynasty Poet Li ShangYin, is one of the most popular poems written about the legend. Here is a translation that's closest to its orihinal meaning.


Source: http://www.knowingfood.com/story/midautumn.html

"When the Moon is Full, Mankind is one!"

In China and throughout many Asian countries people celebrate the Harvest Moon on the 15th day of the eighth month of their lunar calendar. The date in the Western calendar changes annually. This year, the Chinese moon cake festival falls on Wednesday, September 22, 2010.

The Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) is a day of family reunions much like a Western Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance. During the Mooncake Festival, children are delighted to stay up past midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours as families take to the streets to moon-gaze.

It is also a romantic night for lovers, who sit holding hands on hilltops, riverbanks and park benches, captivated by the brightest moon of the year!

The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty in 618 A.D., and as with many celebrations in China there are ancient legends closely associated with it.

In Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, it's sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival, (not to be confused with a similar celebration during the Chinese New Year), but whatever name it goes by, the centuries-old festival remains a beloved annual ritual celebrating an abundance of food and family.


Source: http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/harvest-moon-festival.htm

Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, feasting and moon gazing, putting pomelo rinds on one's head, carrying brightly lit lanterns, and most of all, eating the traditional food of this festival, mooncakes, and there is a wide array to choose from.
Celebration with Mooncakes

While baked goods are a common feature at most Chinese moon cake festival celebrations, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival. One type of traditional mooncake is filled with lotus seed paste. Around the size of a human palm, these mooncakes are quite filling and meant to be sliced diagonally in quarters and passed around.

This explains their rather steep price (around $5.00 in Canada) and its high calories. The salty yolk in the middle, which is found in “traditional” mooncakes (different varieties and flavours have sprung up in recent years) represents the full moon, and is an acquired taste.

While mooncake took up to four weeks to make in the past, technology has speeded up the process considerably. Today, mooncakes may be filled with everything from dates, nuts, and fruit to Chinese sausages. More exotic creations include green tea mooncakes, and ping pei or snowskin mooncakes, a Southeast Asian variation made with cooked glutinous rice flour.


Source: http://www.suite101.com/content/red-azuki-bean-mooncake-recipe-a155519

The Mid-Autumn Festival 22th Oct,2010

The Mid Autumn Festival or Festival moon cakes (Trung Thu) is also known as the Moon Festival, and is a popular Chinese celebration dating back over 3,000 years to China’s Zhou Dynasty. The Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. Cakes usually have at least one dried, salted egg yolk and come with fillings of coconut, yellow or green bean, lotus seed or minced pork. All are sweet.

The Mid Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children.

The Vietnamese version of this holiday is said to have originated in the 8th century, during the reign of Emperor Minh-Hoang. Legend says that the Emperor took his Empress, Duong Quy Phi, to a lake where he read a poem that he had composed to her by the light of the moon.

Source : http://www.sunshine-beach.com/news/the-mid-autumn-festival-2010/

4 Origins of Mid Autumn Festival

1. Nanjing

A much-told story about the beginning of the Mid autumn Festival celebration comes from Niuzhu (a place in ancient Nanjing). As early as 1,600 years ago, Nanjing which was called Jianye served as capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. On a Mid-autumn night when Xie Shangyue, the governor of Niuzhu, was boating on a river he met Yuan Hong, a poor, frustrated but gifted scholar who had to earn his living by renting boats. Admiring his ability, Xie made friend with him and Yuan had a rise to fame with the help of Xie. Later on, having heard of the story, many refined scholars from all over the country followed suit to boat in the river, climb up the towers, and watch the moon. Famous poets like Li Bai and Ou Yangzhan were all touched by the story, and then wrote numbers of poems about it. Because of this, the tradition of watching the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival gradually came into being.

2. Season and Climate

The Mid-Autumn day is the very moment of rice maturity. And at that day farmers will worship the local God of land, whose birthday is exactly on that day. Mid-Autumn day is possibly an old tradition of telling the coming of autumn. In terms of the seasons in a year, the Mid-Autumn day can be named as “Harvest Day”, when the crops sowed in the spring can be reaped. Since ancient times, people would drink, dance, and sing on that day, celebrating the harvest. This scene can be found in the Books of Odes (the earliest collection of poems in ancient China).

According to the previous descriptions, the ancient emperors had the tradition of worshiping the moon, yet the day was initially on the day of Autumn Equinox, and not on the Mid-Autumn day. However, the Autumn Equinox is not a fixed day and there may or may not be a full moon on that day. Therefore, the day for worshipping the moon was accepted as a convention on the Mid-Autumn day, when the moon is in its fullest.

Meanwhile, it’s proven by scientific research that the inclination of the earth and the sun will gradually increase in autumn, thus the cool air up in the sky will fade away while the northwest wind is still very weak. In this way, the moisture is removed and the air in the sky would become pure and clean. So the moon would appear to be relatively fuller and bigger. And this would be the best time to appreciate the beauty of the moon.

3. Moon Cake

The tradition of eating mooncake on this festival has a long history in China, yet there are different versions of statements about its origin.

The most common version is that during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Taizong ordered his ablest general Li Jing to go for a battle against the Turkic clan in north ancient China to suppress their frequent invasions. The 15th day of the 8th month was exactly the day for the general’s triumphant return. In order to celebrate his victory, fireworks were set off and music was played in and out of Chang’an City (the capital of the Tang dynasty), and citizens were happily enjoying a riotous night together with warriors. At that time, a business man, coming from the Tubo Kingdom (the ancient name for Tibet), presented Taizong with a kind of round cakes to celebrate Tang’s victory. Taizong gladly received the magnificently-decorated boxes and took the multi-colored round cakes out of the boxes and handed them out to his officials and generals. From then on, the tradition of eating round moon-cakes on the Festival moon cakes was formed.

4. Wuyan

One of the legends behind this festival tells the story of a plain girl named Wuyan, who was from Qi; an ancient nation in China. Wuyan was chosen for the Emperor’s palace because of her outstanding morality but she never attracted the attention of the Emperor due to her appearance.

However, as a youngster Wuyan had worshipped the Moon and this gave her special powers so that on the night of the 15th of August, when she met the emperor in the moonlight, he saw her as beautiful and fell in love with her immediately. Wuyan later married the Emperor and became the queen of Qi, and from this moment on the tradition of worshipping the Moon on the 15th of August began.

However, young Chinese ladies to also worship the Moon for another reason – in the hope that they can become as beautiful as Chang’e, a girl who, according to Chinese legend, lives in the moon.

Source : http://www.chinatravel.com/facts/chinese-festivals/traditional-chinese-festival/Middle-Autumn-Festival.htm#1

Mid Autumn Festival

Mid-autumn Moon Festival is on the 15th day of the eigth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The comming Moon Festival will be October 5, 1998.

On the night of Festival moon cakes, traditional Chinese families and their friends gather together and watch the moon and celebrate this holiday. It is said that on this day the moon is fullest and most brilliant. Chinese all around the world consume millions of Moon Cakes during this time.

Mooncake
The varieties of moon cakes are numerous. One can easily find at least a dozen different types. In substance, the traditional Moon Cake is a baked pastry filled with lotus seed paste and a salted egg yolk in the center. Modern inspirations and the cost of lotus seed paste have lead to the creation of many different types of fillings. Winter melon paste, red bean paste, mung bean paste, mixed nuts, dried fruits, and even ham are used to add variety to Moon Cakes? The cakes are about 3 inches squared. The price for each cake runs from $2.50 to about $6.00. Most Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asia markets or bakeries have them. You may still be able to buy some at discounted prices after the holiday.

Legend of Mid Autumn Festival
As in most ethnic holidays, there are legends to honor. The most popular legend for this holiday is traced to the year 2000 B.C. This is the story of Hou Yih, an officer of the imperial guards.

One day, ten suns suddenly appeared in the sky. The emperor, greatly perturbed and fearful that this occurrence presaged some great evil to his people, ordered Hou Yih, an expert archer, to shoot nine of the suns out of the sky. The great skills with which Hou Yih accomplished this feat impressed the Goddess of the Western Heaven.

Since Hou Yih was also a talented architect, the Goddess commissioned him to build her a palace made of multicolored jade. His work so pleased the Goddess that she rewarded him with the possibility of everlasting life. She gave him the elixir of immortality in the form of a pill. He was not to swallow the pill until he had undergone a year of prayer and fasting. Hou took the pill home and hid it.

Hou’s wife was a divinely beautiful woman named Chang Oh. One day she discovered the hidden pill and she swallowed it. The resulting punishment was immediate and Chang Oh found herself airborne, bound for eternal banishment on the moon. As she soared upwards, her husband, Hou Yih, desperately tried to follow but was swept back to earth by a typhoon. Chang Oh’s divine beauty enhanced the brilliance of the moon with her own radiance. Now, Chinese people gather each Moon Festival to admire her.

Source : http://www.orientalfood.com/culture/festival/moonFestival.shtml

Places to Celebrate the Festival

China's Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunisolar month (somewhere in the period early September to early August). The festival is the second most important festival after the Spring Festival to Chinese people.

Every year, when the festival moon cakes comes people go home from every corner of the country and the world to meet their family and have dinner with them. The festival is the second most important festival to the Spring Festival to Chinese people. Every year, when the festival comes people go home from every corner of the world to meet their family and have dinner with them.


Top Places to Celebrate the Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a family celebration and usually many outdoor activities are arranged especially for the event. On the evening of a Mid-Autumn Festival, families stay up late and get together eating mooncake and gazing at the moon.

If you want to take part, invite a few friends and check out places to celebrate the festival in the following cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, to celebrate the festival. China Highlights' Mid-Autumn Festival tours allow you to have a authentic Chinese festival as the Chinese people do.


Source: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/mid-autumn-festival.htm

The Moon Festival

The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) falls on September 22nd in the year 2010. What is the Moon festival? Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie."

Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky.

The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of Festival moon cakes.


Source: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/mooncake/a/moonfestival.htm