Fresh flowers in the house

I really don't like chrysanthemums, as was mentioned they are funerial.

I didn't mind them until I read D H Lawrence's short story The Odour of Chrysanthemums. It's about a funeral!

I've written before about how much I enjoy having flowers in the house. I usually buy them myself, but occasionally and without prompting the Wonderful Man lives up to his name and treats me to something a bit special. I love scented flowers, but the smell of hyacinths and lilies are a bit overpowering for me: freesias, stocks and scented roses from the garden are a joy, but any cut flowers will do - there's such an amazing variety.

Yes love flowers and buy most weeks DH only buys for birthdays and anniversary which is conveniently valentines as well! My DD also buys herself flowers

I love fresh flowers to in the house can't have certain ones because of my asthma but love carnations 2 for 5 pounds at morrisons and they last lovely colours to. Feel flowers brighten a room

I love fresh flowers in the house. I don't have any because we've just come back from holiday so that's put me in mind to buy some when I'm out tomorrow. Thank you.

Friend's cat ate crocus in her garden and was very ill, had to be taken to the vet. Grandson mistook daffodil leaved for spring onions and was sick.

Tend not to have fresh flowers / plants in the house as the cat eats them ! I'm always worried certain varieties may be poisonous.

I don't always have flowers in the house but I have them as often as possible. I have some lilies at the moment for the first time in years, because we no longer have a cat. Though I'd rather have our cat than lilies.

After clearing away the Christmas decorations, the first thing I do is go and buy some daffodils for the house. I usually pot up some daffs and hyacinths for the house too, ready for the post-Xmas period.

I do buy fresh flowers occasionally as a treat but avoid those that look artificially brightly dyed or are in a bunch of clashing colours. I like single colours or similar shades. Best of all I love if someone buys me flowers, then I don't mind what colour they are. Sadly, a very rare occurrence these days!

I love alstromeria, lovely colours and they last for ages. I buy some every week, my one special treat. There are vases of flowers all over the house, even in the bathroom. Can't abide chrysanthemums, they make me think of funerals and the leaves go brown and crinkly before the flowers. This year I grew several rows of gladioli in the veg garden where I can cut bunches without spoiling the look of a flower border. Re growing things in Veg Trugs, I've found it very successful for both flowers and vegetables. I mix them up in each trug so that they are both pretty and useful--for the first time , I've had had fantastic carrots with no damage from carrot fly.

I love the Lillies too, and odly enough they are something I am not allergic too even though they are so highly sensitive. I used to have cats though and never had them at that time. Alstomeria are beautiful and one of my fave flowers.

I once promised myself that if I ever got to the stage in life where I could afford it the two luxuries I would allow myself at home would be 1) fresh flowers always in the house and 2) clean sheets on the bed every day as I just adore getting into a freshly made bed!! Thanks to low cost supermarket flowers in winter, and now growing my own flowers on the allotment I now have the first luxury (have literally just finished arranging two vases of brightly coloured dahlias). Some how though I don't think the clean sheets on the bed every day will ever be achieved, as I can't be bothered to do it myself and a daily home help would be exorbitant...unless the premium bonds come up trumps, you never know!!!

So yes Grannknot I'm definitely with you on the flowers. I don't have a daughter, but perhaps I can influence my 20 month old granddaughter over the coming years.

Adore all fresh flowers and flowering indoor plants BUT please remember that all varieties of the Lily family (and several other species well listed on Google) are extremely toxic to cats - all parts of the plant but especially if they rub against the stamens and then lick the pollen off their fur. Apparently fatal and no known antidote.
Lived "cat-free" for two years and enjoyed the perfume of lilies both indoor and out, but then was seduced by a large-eyed beautiful tabby demanding re-homing, so had to dig out all lilies. As she sometimes nibble plant leaves I have had to check the poison list and ban certain other plants from windowsills and tables.
Strangely , Alstromeria are not true lilies and cat-friendly.

I'm another one who loves fresh flowers in the house. When I was younger I could never bring myself to buy some for me but always bought for others. Older and wiser I've no such hesitation these days and the old boy sometimes brings some home as a surprise.....It's only taken 40+ years for him to realise how much I like them

Granjura I do that too, snipping their stalks - a florist once told me to change the water every day and snip a bit off and that will make the, last longer. If I won the lottery I'd have fresh flowers in every room all the time - bliss.
I don't like chrysanthemums or "garage carnations" or those weird, dyed ones.

I love to have flowers in the house too. Sometimes I pick from the Garden, but I don't like to rob it. We have an Aldi nearby and I find their flowers are reasonably priced, and they do seem to keep well. I have to be careful what I buy as I am allergic to many, but usually manage to find something

I must be an oddity as I do not like cut flowers in a vase. I grow lots of flowering plants and prefer them.

My daughter sent me a huge bunch of flowers once and it must have cost her a fortune. They were awful. Some of the flowers were dying when they arrived.

Oh that's a good tip granjura I grow a lot of various types of mint in boxes so will give it a try. I love to have my big doors open but hate the flies.

Always have a big bouquet of mixed mints (melissa, garden min, pineapple mint, apple mint and spearmint by the kitchen door - to stop flies coming in. In fact- will go and replace now. Excuse me.

A few fresh flowers in a vase with some lovely fresh herbs...mint/camomile/lemon balm/lavendar gives a room a delicious smell, especially if you have a windy dog/husband.

My favourite are anemones, but I remember street flower sellers when I was young and they used to sell black sweet smelling violets, reading this thread and the thread on grandmothers reminded me of them, not seen them for years anyone else remember them? Or even grow them?

I love flowers and do buy them for myself most weeks. It cheers me up seeing them. Usually buy them for Lidl or Tesco and only spend a couple of £'s

For their 60th wedding anniversary my FIL bought fresh flowers for MIL weekly for life - sweetie.

We don't have anywhere to actually put flowers. I don't seem to have any shelves so the only place is the floor, which I think is better for flowers anyway, because you are looking at them from the top. Problem: visiting toddlers. Any other suggestions (hang them from the ceiling?)

My mother loves having flowers near the hearth which is the direction she sits looking for 7/8ths of the day. She always has a super display. Her favourites are carnations (a generation thing perhaps?)

Our hearth is either far too hot in the winter, or not a point of focus during the summer months, with the settees turned away from it, facing through the patio doors out into the garden.

I didn't realise there was a skill to arranging flowers - although professionals really do do amazing things. But a bunch of flowers in a vase - pimped with some greenery from the garden - heck, even I can manage that. Rules we learned at school: The proportion of the visible length of the flowers to the height of the vase should not be more than 1:2, don't mix too many colours.

Lots of the old rules have gone by the board, though - these days you can have flowers even shorter than the vase - with their heads below the rim, provided it's a glass vase. Ikebana-like, you can have a small bunch of short flowers and one long one sticking out.

Whatever next?

Don't like: Gerbera.

Actually, I don't like glass vases either, it seems indecent to see the bare stems going all slimy in the water.

when I get cut flowers I put them in a vase and sit them on the table. They usually stay there for about three months or so when I get round to binning them. They are dried flowers by then. I have asked my family not to give me flowers now other than a small bunch of Freesias which have a lovely smell, though I'll probably leave them to dry out too before I throw them out!