Here are 4 ideas on how to add some fresh flowers to your Christmas table

Your flat is probably already decked out in all its festive glory, but how about the table?

If you’ve got all the family, or all your friends, assembling around your table, you’ll want to get that into tip-top shape; not just to impress them, but also to bring it all in line.

Fresh flowers are always the way to go, but we appreciate it might be hard to pick something festive, not to mention time is of the essence once December kicks off, and florists are always busy.

So we’ve teamed up with Bloom & Wild, the flower delivery company, to present four ideas on how to make your table stand out this Christmas.

And the best thing? Carefully wrapped so nothing gets squished, their flowers fit through the letterbox, leaving you with extra time to get all set up for Christmas.

1 Wreath’s the word

Probably one of the most popular Christmas accessories, wreaths are everywhere during the festive season.

As proven so often in Mainland Europe, where the tradition of advent wreaths is well and truly alive, taking them from the door to the table can easily spread some extra cheer.

Whether you go down the simple route and leave Bloom & Wild’s Fin as-is, or add some candles and turn it into a classic advent wreath, it’s a simple but elegant way to set your table.

As a bonus, you won’t need to

2 Keep it simple, but elegant

Let’s be honest, you can’t go wrong with sticking to your color scheme, and everyone loves a good bouquet.

Bloom & Wild’s the Madison comes in a simple cream and red color scheme, and the Gemma is a glorious, all-red combination of roses and rhodos roses, with hypericum berries, herbaceous rosemary and evergreen leucadendron for a contemporary twist.

For an even bolder choice, the Neve brings blood and dark red together, as the stand-out piece of the party.

And for a big table, or if you’re seriously pressed for space, the Posy Party is just the right size: five small bouquets, in festive colors, to scatter around.

3 Get a tiny tree

The only thing better than a Christmas tree, in our opinion, is to have two Christmas trees.

If, like us, you’re a Londoner or just reside in a small flat, Bloom & Wild’s tiny trees are the perfect size to fit in any room.

But you know what that also means?

They’re perfect for the table, especially if you don’t need to pass things across all too often.

Not to mention there’s nothing quite as eponymous with Christmas cheer as a small tree.

Whether you choose the George, the Drew or the Jack, they all come with a collapsible pot, so no fiddling around trying to find a stand, and a set of decorations, from fairy lights to jingle bells.

Which means, if you’re so inclined, you and your guests can decorate the tiny table tree together, for some festive, pre-dinner entertainment.

And for the beauty-crazy people in your family (or yourself – it’s the time of treats after all) the Birchtree comes with five luxury beauty treats, to take home afterwards.

4 Think outside the box

Even if your flat is decked in holly, candy canes and co, this doesn’t mean you can’t go wild on your table.

Why not go for a cheerful pink, like with the Alexa?

Or, if you’re more for the muted tones, a pastel pink-and-white number always looks classy and elegant.

Like the Harper, which is sure to level up your festive and leave friends and family a little green with envy.

For a more wintery atmosphere, the Scandi-inspired the Sadie – in soft pinks, creams and whites – or the colorful blush-tones of the Leila bring some Nordic charm to the table.

Seeing as it’s Christmas, we’re also giving one lucky reader the chance to win a full year’s worth of flowers.

The competition runs until 6 January and, sadly, is only open to UK residents, who must be aged 18 or over to take part.

All you need to do is pop your details into the form below, cross your fingers (or wish on Santa’s elves) – and if you’re lucky, you’ll receive a bouquet a month, through your letterbox.

Garden company launches glow-in-the-dark flowers for Halloween

Horticulture magazine Amateur Gardening pranked their readers in 2000 by running a story on luminous flowers, but the joke has now become a reality thanks to experts at a seed company.

The product has been created thanks to research done by horticulturists at Unwins, who created a special spray that would achieve the desired affect without damaging the plants.

The colourful bouquet includes five unusually coloured flowers as well as three creepy Chrysanthemums that glow in the dark when the lights go off.

Unwins added a touch of darkness with birch and oak leaves painted black to complete their unique Halloween product.

They carried out a trial that found the luminous spray, which is usually used for fabrics, does not affect the quality, or shelf life, of the leaves or petals.

James Oakey, the head of horticulture at Unwins, said: "We created this spooky bouquet of flowers especially for Halloween.

"They are perfect for the upcoming celebrations, particularly because the Chrysanthemums light up in a spooky green colour in the dark.

"Their shape makes them look like spiders, they've gone down really well with children.

"Their glow also illuminates the unusual shapes of the flowers around them."

He added: "We made sure that the spray did absolutely no damage to the plants before bringing them to the market.

"I have had a glow-in-the-dark bouquet at my house for two weeks and it's still looking fresh."

The plant does not need any special treatment after purchase and can be maintained in the same way as any other bouquet of flowers.

Unwins are offering the product as a Halloween special and will only be sending out one shipment, just before October 31.

The bouquet is currently being sold through the company's website for £25.

5 Flowers You Can Grow In Spring To Get Your Garden Blooming

Just about every plant flowers in spring, which is why there’s no better time to get out and plant some flowers in your garden.

There are so many different flowers you can grow, but these five can be grown just about anywhere and with ease.

They’re sure to brighten up your garden in next to no time!

1. Sunflowers

You can’t help but love sunflowers. Whether you want to grow tall sunflowers with massive flowering heads or a small variety for your garden, they’ll thrive and colour up your garden throughout spring. They’re easy for you to grow from seeds, and if you want to keep them growing and flowering, trying planting them every two to four weeks between August and January. Try to plant them around 25cam apart in well drained soil with full sun. They’ll attract insects and native birds to your gardens, and you can watch them move their flowering heads to follow the sun throughout the day.

2. Hydrangea

Whether you want to grow them in large pots, tubs or your garden beds, hydrangeas will flower in a range of colours for you. The flowers of hydrangeas reflect the pH level of your soil so depending on your pH level you could end up with purple, blue or pink flowers. Your hydrangeas will flower from later in spring through until autumn, but that depends on the climate you’re in. They will grow from cuttings if you know someone who has them already, and they’re frost hardy. Just make sure you grow them with some protection from the sun and wind, and water them well in dry and hot weather.

3.Hibiscus

These flamboyant flowers can be grown in many ways in your garden. Whether it’s in a pot in your courtyard, around your pool or as part of a hedge in your garden, all hibiscus needs is full sun and well-drained soil to thrive. They’ll flower in a range of colours from winter to summer, and grow in just about every part of Australia. If you live in a colder area, try growing a frost resistant variety in case you have a burst of unseasonal cold weather. As the weather gets warmer, make sure you add some mulch to the hibiscus to stop the soil around the plant from drying out.

4. Daylily

With their colourful flowers, daylilies are a popular addition to any garden at this time of year. Daylily flowers will keep your garden blooming from spring through to autumn, although each flower only usually lasts a day. Daylilies are hardy, drought, frost and wind tolerant and will thrive in most gardens if they’re well fed, mulched and planted in full sun.

5. Vireya

These shrub-like flowers grow year around, although they flower less in summer months. You can grow them in a range of shades from pinks and reds to white, yellow and orange. While the vireya flowers can be grown across the country, they are susceptible to frost – so you should try to keep them protected from any unexpected bursts of cold weather. When planting your vireyas, make sure they have some shade and a free-draining soil with some compost. They will grow happily in pots if you only have a courtyard or small area.

Alys Fowler: The Wonders Of Leaf Mould

If you look up Anna Dennis, you’ll find she’s described as a “delectable soprano”. I’d like to add that she is also rather good at making compost. She made the best compost I’ve seen all year, albeit unwittingly.

Being a delectable soprano (she’s one of my oldest friends and I’m not going to let delectable go lightly), she spends a lot of time wandering the globe singing delectably (OK, I’ve finished now). Her garden has to be able to look after itself, and it was doing a fine job when I went to visit. Perhaps too good a job: the jasmine was taking over one half while the ivy was enjoying the other. A fuchsia was trying hard to nestle between them for a little light, and the decking? Well, it was there somewhere. It felt a little overwhelming, not somewhere she visited often despite the sun.

After a little chop to the rambunctious vines, it was time to find the decking. There it was, under the old leaves – perfect compost. Well, leaf mould, to be precise: the jasmine and tough old ivy leaves had rotted down to something so soft and lovely, it felt like butter. With no tools to scoop it up, I gathered it between my fingers. I’m not ashamed to say I find the act of plunging my hands into good earth as sensuous as any other pleasure I know. Whether it’s unearthing some well-made compost or sinking my hands into that decking cover, I feel the same tingling euphoria.

Gary Snyder, the American poet and environmentalist, wrote, “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.” Benign neglect produces perfect leaf mould; let that be the lesson. Even when the garden looks unkempt and uncared for, below the surface magic is happening.

I scooped up all the lovely dark leaf mould and top-dressed the odd assortment of pots. Then I took all our prunings and said thank you to plants by stuffing them around their feet to rot down. If you don’t own a compost bin, there is always somewhere you can hide garden prunings – at the base of an overgrown shrub or in a dark corner where no one will ever sit. Chop them up as small as you can, and they will become fresh mulch, quickly utilised by the worms and buried below.

After we’d swept the decks clean and admired our pruning skills, we wandered off around the town to find something to put in the pots. They needed to be tough subjects, and with no garden centre to visit our pickings were slim. We found a creeping rosemary, a sedum and lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), all drought-tolerant and capable of coping in thin soils. The additional leaf mould will help lock moisture into the soil and keep them happy. The trick with pots that won’t be watered often is to go as big as you can; tiny pots dry out. The following morning, Anna admitted she couldn’t wait to go out and see her garden – and that is all you can ask for, right?

Aphrodisiac Virus Makes Plants Super-attractive To Bumblebees

Going viral is a good thing. Viral infections can help some plants attract more pollinators and produce more seeds, essentially boosting – rather than hurting – their evolutionary fitness, a new study has found.

Plants are known to emit volatile chemicals that deter herbivores or attract pollinators or seed dispersers. Some viruses can change those volatiles to attract insects, such as aphids, that damage plants but help transmit the virus between them.

Now, a team of researchers lead by John Carr from the University of Cambridge has shown in greenhouse experiments that a cucumber mosaic virus can change the types and amounts of chemicals emitted by an infected tomato plant, so that it attracts more bumblebees to pollinate it. As a result, the plants in their experiments produced more seeds.

Without pollination, the virus affected the plants negatively, decreasing their seed production, compared with non-infected plants. But when bumblebees were present, it had the opposite effect.

When the researchers then modelled what would happen under natural conditions, they found that such viruses could indeed enhance plant attractiveness to pollinators enough to make up for loss of fitness due to infection.

This means that the benefits of the virus could outweigh the drawbacks, allowing genes for susceptibility to persist in plant populations.

“To my knowledge, this is the first evidence that virus infection can make plants more attractive to pollinators,” says Carr.

The team can’t yet say how or why this process initially evolved. But they think that this is a case of mutualism, useful for all involved, including the bumblebees.

“Viruses reprogram plant metabolism and we can speculate that by chance this resulted in some beneficial changes for bees,” says Carr.

Infection protection

Although viruses can cause disease and crop losses in cultivated plants, “there is a growing realisation among plant virologists that in the wild, virus infection may be beneficial,” says Carr.

For example, his team has previously found that a protein made by the cucumber mosaic virus made infected Arabidopsis plants resistant to drought.

“The ability of cucumber mosaic virus to induce drought tolerance enhances the survival of its host and therefore of the virus itself during periods of environmental stress,” says Carr. “Indeed, under drought conditions, resistant plants may be at a disadvantage compared with infected ones.”

Carr thinks that this phenomenon could now be exploited to boost pollination of crops. “We can learn from the effects of the virus on pollinators,” he says. “Understanding how these volatile chemicals attract bees could be used to increase crop yields.”

John Walsh from the University of Warwick, UK, is intrigued by the findings. “This is the first evidence of this phenomenon. Such interactions, brought about by co-evolution between the three species – plant, insect and virus – are likely to be very important and need further research.”