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Unlike a nice dinner or a special moment, preserving a memory is as easy as drying your flowers and pressing that timeless rose for posterity.

Drying and pressing flowers creates another opportunity for enjoyment in decorative crafts, precious gifts and tasteful decorations.

The process for drying flowers usually takes a couple of weeks, provided that conditions are at their best. Hanging flowers upside down in a warm, dark and dry environment will prevent the blooms from rotting while the place void of light will retain the colors.

Before inverting your flowers, remove extraneous leaves and put the blooms in small bunches held together by rubber bands, string or yarn.

The flowers should start to feel dry to the touch after two or three days. Check on them using the same time interval.

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden full of blooms, when you pick them makes a difference when the goal is to have dried flowers. Pick them first thing in the morning when the dew is gone. Also, if picked just previous to fully blooming, some flowers will open more while simultaneously drying.

A dark, sealed container makes for a good repository for the dried flowers until they’re ready to use.

Pressing flowers is another easy process to preserve and further utilize nature’s beauty and bounty.

Start by placing flowers on top of a layer of cardboard, newspaper and tissue paper. Be sure none of the flowers are touching or hang out of the tissue paper.

Lay pieces of tissue, newspaper and cardboard on top of the flowers until all the blossoms are under wraps. Top off the stack with a telephone book, brick or stone.

Your flowers should be ready in two to four weeks.

The summer days will be sweeter knowing that you’ve turned beautiful flowers into a lasting memory.

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Long held as a symbol of strength and endurance, the oak seems a worthy object to compare to our fathers.

In advance of Father’s Day, the two share qualities admired by many.

Nations have chosen oaks to symbolize their countries for their longevity. Oak branches adorn the coat of arms for Estonia while the oak is the national tree for the United States, Bulgaria, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and Serbia.

Oak leaves are important symbols in the armed forces, as any officer will tell you. A major or lieutenant commander earns a gold oak leaf while a lieutenant colonel or commander gets a silver oak leaf. Also, oak leaves, acorns and sprigs comprise different arrangements for each branch of the service.

The oak is an important tree, providing housing, food, and protection for birds and animals. Many different species of oak trees can be found all over.

Just like the oak, fathers also provide housing, food and protection, not for birds and animals but for their children and spouses.

For many men, the strength and longevity of the oak is something to which they aspire. Just as oaks need to be strong and majestic, fathers -- along with wives – need to withstand the storms of life and thrive and grow for the sake of the family.

Like acorns under an oaks canopy, a father must watch as its vulnerable offspring learn to put down roots and thrive on their own.

In his epic work Self Reliance, writer Ralph Waldo Emerson artfully captured the comparison between a father and an oak and subsequently, a parent and a child.

“Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion?,” Emerson wrote. “Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being?”

For those who understand the strength and longevity of a father, an oak stands as a symbol familiar and fully alive, no matter what the age of the child.

Honor your father with a floral arrangement from Embark Floral that can be shipped anywhere in the world. Call us at 713-468-2440 or go to www.embarkfloral.com

Link: http://www.embarkservices.com/blog/blogs/

Initially held as a remembrance for fallen Union soldiers, Memorial Day has since been embraced by a nation to honor all Americans making the ultimate sacrifice.

In Waterloo, N.Y., a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff.

Due to bad feelings leftover from the Civil War, many Southern states initially refused to observe the day, which was first known as Decoration Day.

The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in 1866 was approximately 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition kept at many national cemeteries.

Columbus, Miss., held its own observance in 1866. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves of Union soldiers, women who came to honor Confederate dead placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

The holiday was first referred to as Memorial Day in 1882 but became more common until after World War II. The United States government named it Memorial Day in 1967 and made it a federal holiday in 1971.

Families and friends of fallen service members take part in a remembrance scheduled for 3 p.m. locally. The American flag usually flies at half-staff from dawn until noon.

Due to John McCrae’s immortal poem, Flanders Fields, the poppy endures as a tribute to those who have given their lives for freedom. The custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.

This Memorial Day, honor the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country with flowers of gratitude. You can show your appreciation with patriotic bouquets of red, white and blue flowers.

Call Embark Floral to send flowers anywhere through Teleflora at 713-468-2440 or at www.embarkfloral.com.

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Mom’s been there for you on every birthday and every big milestone in your life.

For all the messes that she’s cleaned up, mom deserves more than just hugs and a brunch that dad pays for. Think about what she really enjoys and come up with an appropriate gift.

Since 1914, Mother’s Day has been recognized in the United States. Anna Jarvis started calling Mother’s Day the second Sunday in May beginning in 1907 to honor her mother, who had died two years earlier. President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional resolution establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

According to her obituary in the New York Times, after this country accepted her idea, the West Virginia native turned her efforts to other lands, and at one time it was estimated that 43 foreign countries observed the day.

Her successful campaign for Mother’s Day paved the way for jewelry, candy and flowers to be given to mothers everywhere.

Still, there are many other opportunities to make history with mom.

For a career-oriented mom, dad and kids can help out by doing the small things like cooking her homemade dinner or doing all the things that she’s told you to do but never have done.

A mom with a green thumb would probably appreciate a new set of gloves, even though she might say she can get another year out of that old pair.

Send love anywhere with Teleflora and Embark Floral. Please call us at 713-462-3261 or order online at EmbarkFloral.com. We ship anywhere!

Link: http://www.embarkfloral.com

While Easter has passed and the baskets have been put away, the Easter Lilies can continue to live on in your garden as a symbol of the season.

Once the lilies have finished flowering, place the potted plants in a sunny location. Continue to water thoroughly as needed, and add one teaspoon of slow-release Osmocote fertilizer every six weeks. The pots can be moved to a sunny location outdoors after the danger of frost has passed.

To plant your Easter Lilies outside, prepare a well-drained garden bed in a sunny location with rich, organic matter. Use a well-drained planting mix, or a mix of one part soil, one part peat moss and one part perlite.

Good drainage is the key for success with lilies. To ensure adequate drainage, raise the garden bed by adding good soil to the top of the bed, thus obtaining a deeper topsoil and a rise to the planting area.

Plant the Easter Lily bulbs three inches below ground level, and mound up an additional three inches of topsoil over the bulb. Plant bulbs at least 12 to 18 inches apart in a hole sufficiently deep so that the bulbs can be placed in it with the roots spread out and down, as they naturally grow.

Spread the roots and work the prepared soil in around the bulbs and the roots, leaving no air pockets. Water in immediately and thoroughly after planting. Try not to allow the soil to heave or shift after planting.

As the original plants begin to die back, cut the stems back to the soil surface. New growth will soon emerge.

The Easter Lilies, which were forced to bloom under controlled greenhouse conditions in March, bloom naturally in the summer. You may be rewarded with a second bloom later this summer, but most likely you will have to wait until next June or July to see your Easter Lilies bloom again.

Another planting tip to consider is that lilies like their roots in shade and their heads in the sun. Mulching helps conserve moisture in between waterings, keeps the soil cool and loose, and provides a fluffy, nutritious medium for the stem roots.

Or, a more attractive alternative would be to plant a "living mulch," or a low ground cover of shallow-rooted, complementary annuals or perennials. The stately Easter Lilies rising above lacy violas or primulas is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also sound gardening.

The Easter Lily bulbs are surprisingly hardy even in cold climates. Just be sure to provide winter protection by mulching the ground with a thick, generous layer of straw, pine needles, leaves, ground corncob, pieces of boxes or bags.

Carefully remove the mulch in the spring to allow new shoots to come up, as your Easter Lilies will keep on giving beauty, grace and fragrance in years to come.