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Flower of the Month Chrysanthemum

The flower of the month of November is the Chrysanthemum. There are hundreds of species of chrysanthemums, from the button mum to the daisy we love them all.  Here is a little history about this versatile flower.


Chrysanthemums can trace there history all the way back to 15th century (BC) in China.  It started as a flowering herb, but now it's so much more.  The Chrysanthemum even became the "official seal" of the emperor of Japan in the 8th century.  The original color was golden, now it has so many different shades, shapes, and variations.


Chrysanthemum blooms are divided into 13 different bloom forms by the US National Chrysanthemum Society, Inc., which is in keeping with the international classification system. The bloom forms are defined by the way in which the ray and disk florets are arranged.

Chrysanthemum blooms are composed of many individual flowers (florets), each one capable of producing a seed. The disk florets are in the center of the bloom head, and the ray florets are on the perimeter. The ray florets are considered imperfect flowers, as they only possess the female productive organs, while the disk florets are considered perfect flowers as they possess both male and female reproductive organs.

Irregular Incurve: These are the giants of the chrysanthemum world. Quite often disbudded to create a single giant bloom (ogiku), the disk florets are completely concealed, while the ray florets curve inwardly to conceal the disk and also hang down to create a 'skirt'.

Reflex: The disk florets are concealed and the ray florets reflex outwards to create a mop like appearance.

Regular Incurve: Similar to the irregular incurves, only usually smaller blooms, with nearly perfect globular form. Disk florets are completely concealed. They used to be called 'Chinese'.

Decorative: Similar to reflex blooms without the mop like appearance. Disk florets are completely concealed, ray florets usually don't radiate at more than a 90 degree angle to the stem.

Intermediate Incurve: These blooms are in-between the Irregular and Regular incurves in both size and form. They usually have broader florets and a more loosely composed bloom. Again, the disk florets are completely concealed.

Pompon: *Note the spelling, it is not pompom. The blooms are fully double, of small size, and almost completely globular in form.

Single/Semi-Double: These blooms have completely exposed disk florets, with between 1 and 7 rows of ray florets, usually radiating at not more than a 90 degree angle to the stem.

Anemone: The disk florets are prominently featured, quite often raised and overshadowing the ray florets.

Spoon: The disk florets are visible and the long tubular ray florets are spatulate.

Quill: The disk florets are completely concealed, and the ray florets are tube like.

Spider: The disk florets are completely concealed, and the ray florets are tube like with hooked or barbed ends, hanging loosely around the stem.

Brush & Thistle: The disk florets may be visible. The ray florets are often tube like, and project all around the flower head, or project parallel to the stem.

Exotic: These blooms defy classification as they possess the attributes of more than one of the other twelve bloom types.

Thank you Wikipedia for this information.

We use Chrysanthemums in our work just about every day.  They add color, texture, and they last for a long time.  We even have a "sunshine bouquet" that is made up of chrysanthemums and it sells for just $4.99. 

Here are a few things we have made using chrysanthemums, you can see the variation in not only the color but the textures as well.

Convey Your Sympathy

When our client called and said that they needed a sympathy arrangement for an outdoor lover we were inspired.  Sheryl selected the fish, the rod, and the rocks.  The wicker basket reminds us of a fisherman's basket, and the cattails add to the "riverside" look.  The bass looks like it is jumping right out of the water and onto the shore.  

Sympathy arrangements do not have to be bland, they can be tastefully creative.  When you are looking for something to express your loved one we can help you find inspiration too.  We have used golf clubs, pictures, playing cards, quilting squares, and even looms. 

We honestly feel that personalized tributes provide great comfort to the family.  Looking at this arrangement the family had fond memories of their loved one and his love for the outdoors. 

We would be honored to help you pay respects to someone in your life.  Just let us know what they enjoyed, bring in memories, or let us help you find the perfect item from our shop.  

Extended Holiday Hours

It's that time again!  Time to start thinking about Holiday shopping.

Starting November 1st we will have extended Holiday hours.  We feel that it is important to be open when you need us.

Monday - Friday   8:30 - 6:00

Saturday             9:00 - 3:00

Stop in and see us at 1215 E. Pershing Road for all of your Holiday gift giving occasions. 

Wedding Choices

There are so many choices for brides today.  Some brides want to go the DIY route, others want to have every detail handled by professionals.  At The Secret Garden we have something to fit every brides idea of a perfect wedding.

Choice One ~ Full Service Wedding.  From creating your bouquets, to setting up the flowers at the reception we will take care of it all.  For brides with hectic schedules this may just be the way to go.  We will handle all of the details and you can enjoy every second of your big day.  You can preview some of our work here.

Choice Two ~ The Budget Friendly Bride.  Want to have beautiful flowers for your wedding but you are working on a limited budget?  This is the option for you.  We have packages that include, Roses, Gerbera Daisies, and even Fresh Seasonal Flowers.  You choose the color we do the rest.  You can see some of our packages here.

Choice Three ~ DIY Bride.  You want to create the wedding of your dreams all by yourself.  We are here for all of your floral needs.  The Secret Garden offers bulk pricing on all of our flowers, and discount prices on all floral supplies.  If you would like to learn more about our DIY option click here.

Choice Four ~ DIY Hybrid.  Sometimes our brides want to make the reception pieces but like for us to handle the bouquets and boutonnieres.  We are more then happy to assist with your wedding anyway you need.  You can even purchase your DIY flowers at bulk, and have us take care of the rest. 

Whatever you choose we hope that you will allow us to be part of your big day.  If you would like to schedule your consultation simply fill out this form and we can get started.

Introducing Our Free Reminder Service

Have you ever forgotten a birthday or an anniversary.  Let us help keep you from doing that again.  Introducing "My Special Dates".  

How it works ~ 

• Click on this link and give them your special dates.  Don't worry about the floral code, it's covered in the link.  
• You can set up reminders for as many occasions as you would like.  It will even remind you when holidays are coming up.  
• Then you tell them when you would like to be reminded, a few days before, day of, or however you would like.  
• Then you tell them how you want to be reminded.  By Phone, Text, or email.  
• Let My Special Dates do the rest.

When you sign up for email or text alerts they will even include a link to our website for easy ordering.   And you will receive an offer code good for 10% off your purchase just for signing up!

The best part ~ It's FREE.  Free to sign up, free to use, and free from worries.  

Don't let an important date slip through your fingertips, sign up today!

Spooktacular Pets

Calling all proud pet owners!  Enter your pooch or cat in our "Spooktacular Pets" contest.  Simply email us a picture of your pet all decked out for Halloween.  We will post it to Facebook and our fans will be the judges.  The winner will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to PetSmart.

Contest Starts October 15th and runs until October 25th.  We will then make a Facebook album off all of the pets for judging.  You will be emailed a link to the album for easy access.  Ask your friends, family, and fellow pet lovers to come vote for your pet.  Judging will end on October 30th.  The winner will be announced on October 31st.

To enter email us your pets picture to customercare@secretgardendecatur.com

Include your name & phone number in the email.

Good Luck & Have Fun!

Two Great October Holidays

Did you know that October has two opportunities to tell others how you feel?  Well it sure does.  We have Sweetest Day on October 15th and Boss's Day on October 16th (observed Monday the 17th).  So here is a little more about these upcoming Holidays.

Sweetest Day ~ According to Holiday Insights : "When: Third Saturday in October

Now here is a day dedicated just for your sweetie. It exists as an opportunity for you to recognize that sweet and special someone. It doesn’t matter who that person is, or what their relation to you. They just have to be "sweet" in order to get a little recognition.

Herbert Birch Kingston, a Cleveland, Ohio philanthropist and candy company employee started Sweetest Day. He wanted to bring happiness to orphans, shut-ins and under-privileged. His intent was to show these people that they were not forgotten.  In 1922, he started this holiday by giving candy and small gifts. He often used movie stars to distribute the gifts.

The popularity of this holiday quickly spread. Today, is celebrated with loved ones and friends."  

So what do you get someone for sweetest day.  Well sweets are always nice, you can find some of ours here.  Also flowers are always appreciated.

Boss's Day ~ According to Time & Date.com: 

The concept of National Boss Day began in 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski, then an employee at State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois, registered the holiday with the United States Chamber of Commerce. She designated October 16 as the special day because it was her father's birthday. Haroski's purpose was to designate a day to show appreciation for her boss and other bosses. She also hoped to improve the relationship between employees and supervisors.

Four years later in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day. The event’s popularity is growing outside the United States and is now also observed in countries such as Australia, India, and South Africa.

So what does the boss want?  How about a nice dish garden for their desk?  A bouquet of fresh flowers, or flowers in a coffee mug would be ideal.  

Visit our website for more great gift giving ideas. 

Thank you Decatur

When we got the call this year from Edward Jones to assist them in collecting food for the WSOY Food Drive we said, "absolutely, how can we help."  The bags were dropped off at the store and we went to work.  We wanted something that would thank the community for their help, and to collect at least 100 pounds of food.  I had read about a great idea in a florist magazine and the plan was put into place. After several calls to wholesalers to insure we would have enough roses to go around, the plan was in motion.  We went live with our 2+10=12 event on Monday the 26th of September.  


Then we sent out press releases to the local media.  We received a phone call from Brian Byers on Tuesday morning and he stopped in to discuss it with us.  He offered to help spread the word, and we agreed to run some advertisements on his show to help get the word out.  Now we were cooking.  


When all was said and done we had collected 210 pounds of food (100 pounds over our goal), and we had sold over 900 roses!!!  


We extend a heartfelt Thank YOU to all of you who came and donated food.  We had people coming in with bags of food instead of just 2 cans.  We were so excited to see the boxes fill up.  It was amazing to see the amount of food we collected. 


Next year we plan to do it all over again!  We can't wait to start planning our 2nd annual event.  

Pumpkin Bumpkin Our Fresh Flower Pumpkin

It's that time again!  Time for pumpkin carving and our favorite arrangement of the season!  Our live pumpkin is prepared right here in the shop.  We select the perfect pumpkins, clean them, and then add beautiful fresh flowers.  These are perfect for fall gift giving.  


This year our pumpkin is called, "Pumpkin Bumpkin".  It was named by our Facebook friends in one of our contests.  


It holds, Carnations, Mums, and fall leaves.  When the flowers start to fade it will be time to dispose of the pumpkin.  Now how neat is that, a gift to enjoy and no mess of cleaning the pumpkin yourself!  


We have a limited amount of pumpkins each year so it's best to order early.  Here is a link to our pumpkin on our website for easy ordering.  

October Flower of The Month Marigold

Marigolds have a special place in my heart.  When I was growing up my Grandma had a lovely path of marigolds all along her sidewalk.  Every fall when they would go to seed, we would pick them all and store them to plant in the spring.  This was one of my favorite things to do with my Grandma.  We would talk and laugh while we picked the seeds.  So this month I was excited to see that the Marigold was the flower of the month.

Marigolds have four species:

African (Tagets erecta)

Triploids Hybrid (Tagetes erecta with Tagetes Patula)

Single (Tagetes Tenuifolia)

French (Tagetes Patula)

Marigolds come in so many colors they are sure to brighten any flower bed.  You can find them in yellows, oranges, red, maroon, and cream.  They make a great edger, like my Grandma used to do, or you can plant entire beds of them.  They grow great in pots too so you can plant them and give them as a fall gift.  

As the buds start to fade, pinch them off and save the seeds for the next year.  They like moist, well drained, soil.  They grow best in a sunny area so avoid planting them under trees or in shaded areas.