How To Care For Your Tropical Dish Garden

Learn how to properly care for your tropical dish garden with this comprehensive guide. From watering to sunlight, we've got you covered.

If you have a dish garden, the general rule is to follow the guidelines for the plant that requires less water and less sunlight. We try to combine plants that require the same care so that your gift can have a healthy life.

For example, if all your plants in the dish garden are green foliage, it's more simple. But if you receive our Tropical Dish Garden, you will need to water the orchids and the rest of the plants differently. The orchids will be in an individual container so they don't get overwatered.

Generally, we combine orchids with other tropical plants or succulents. Don't be scared to water them because since the orchids are in an individual container, they won't get overwatered.

The two main guidelines are enough sunlight and enough water:

Light: Place your Tropical Dish Garden near a sunny window. At least 4-6 hours of indirect sunlight.

Tropical plants need a lot of sunlight for healthy development. If leaves start to scorch, they're receiving too much sunlight. If leaves start to yellow, bend, or look translucent, they need more sunlight.

Water: Add water every 7-14 days.

Your Tropical Dish Garden won't need as much water as often as your regular plants. Tropical plants like orchids and bromeliads, come from humid places where it doesn't rain as often. Succulents come from deserts where it is very dry. These tropical plants are designed to live without water for longer periods of time. That is why they're leaves are so thick, they keep water in them (kind of like camels) and if you add too much water, their roots rot fast, rotting the entire plant. Wait until their soil gets dry at least 1 inch under the surface to add more water.

How often? It will greatly depend on the plants' surroundings. Humidity takes a great place here because tropical plants absorb humidity and turn it into water! So really feel the soil before adding more water. If their leaves start to wilt and turn yellow, you're adding too much water. If their leaves start to burn on the ends, your plant needs more water.

Don't water at night if possible. Watering in the morning helps prevent disease.

How to know you're doing a good job? If your plants are thriving, their leaves will look shiny and crisp, if they're not happy their leaves will start to wilt and look opaque.

If you want to learn more about each individual plant, these are some of the plants we generally use. Plants are sorted in alphabetical order:

Bromeliad:

Flamingo or Anthurium:

Orchids:

Pink Wave:

Polka Dot:

Snake Plant or Sansevieria:

Succulents:

Every plant is different and as the days go by, if you pay attention, you can start to notice if the plant is happy or not where you placed it or if it needs water more frequently.

Now that we learned all these tips on how to care for your Tropical Dish Garden, I hope your plants start to thrive! Remember, no over-watering, and enough sunlight, those are the two main tips when taking care of tropical plants.

If you have any questions or need advice for a specific plant, let us know in the comments bellow and I'll do my best to help you.

Flowers And Their Most Common Meanings

What flowers should you give for each occasion?

If you have ever sent flowers, you probably realized the dilemma of choosing the right flower arrangement. "Will they like roses or would they prefer gerberas?", "Red or pink flowers?" are some of the questions you have probably asked yourself and they are the most common ones, especially knowing the immense variety of flowers and colors there exist, making it difficult to choose.

Maybe you are looking for a flower arrangement that means "I like you" but not that symbolizes "I love you" (so as not to put pressure on the relationship) or maybe you want to say, "Thank you" and what you end up choosing seems more like a birthday arrangement. Yes, it has happened to everyone at least once, and if it is somewhat difficult to know the flowers that the person likes, it becomes a little more difficult to choose a flower arrangement that transmits the right message.

In case you did not know yet, each flower expresses a different feeling or meaning, even the meaning of the flowers depends on their color, for example, a yellow rose means affection, but a red rose means love and beauty.

Here is a list of some Flowers and Flower's Most Common Meanings:

Amaryllis:

Splendid beauty

Anemone:

Anticipation

Anthurium:

Hospitality, Happiness and Abundance

Aster:

Patience

Birds of Paradise:

Joyfulness

Carnations:

Pride and beauty

Calla lily:

Beauty

Chrysanthemums:

Fidelity, joy, and long life

Daffodils:

Chivalry

Daisies:

Innocence

Gladiolus:

Strength of character

Hydrangea:

Romance, gratitude, grace, purity, and beauty. Its colors symbolize love, harmony, and sincere emotions.

Iris:

My compliments

Lilacs:

Youthful innocence

Orchids:

Love, luxury, beauty, and strength

Peony:

Bashful

Protea:

Change, transformation, and courage

Roses:

Love, concentration, balance, and passion

Ranunculus:

Radiant charm and attractiveness

Stargazer Lily:

Greetings

Sunflowers:

Pure thoughts

Tulips:

Declaration of love

Wax Flower:

Lasting love, patience, and enduring wealth

Furthermore, you can choose flowers by focusing on their color and what feelings you are trying to express. Emotion is subjective, therefore, each human being experiences emotions on different levels according to their experience of life and their way of being.

Analyze your special moment, look inside yourself, and find the colors that are closest to the feeling you are trying to express.

These are some of the most common psychological meanings of colors:

Black:

Night, elegance. While there are not many black flowers, you can choose this color for the vase of your arrangement or some accenting details.

Green:

Ecology, health, hope. Choose this color to wish for a speedy recovery.

Orange:

Joy, creativity, success. Exuberance and excitement. Orange flowers make for the perfect vibrant bouquet to inspire and delight. Ideal for celebrating the graduation of a family member or to wish success to someone in their new venture or new job.

Pink:

Graceful elegance yet sweet and sentimental. Pink flowers are a classic symbol of beauty and have become the universal all-purpose gifting color. No matter the occasion, you can say it with a pink flower.

Purple:

Purple flowers have a celestial oar to them, often used to express love at first sight. With a reputation for being magical, purple flowers reveal creativity, openness and infinite possibility.

Red:

Love, passion, adrenaline. This is the typical color of love, to celebrate your anniversary or for a special date. When romance calls, there’s no better way to answer than with a dozen roses.

White:

Purity, goodness. Remembrance and reverence, convey respect, pay homage to new beginnings, and expresses hope for the future. Ideal for weddings, christenings, birth of babies, and to remember a loved one at their funeral.

Yellow:

Energy, glow, bright. Ideal for celebrating happy moments of life such as birthdays or graduations, lift spirits and send a general wish of well-being.

Which of these colors and flowers represent better the occasion you want to celebrate? If there is any arrangement that you like from our wide selection and you want to change the color of the flowers, call us so we can personalize it together!

Did you already know these meanings? Is any of them wrong or do you know a different one? Let us know in the comments below.

Tips for Deflating Mylar Balloons and Extending Their Float Time

Learn how to properly deflate Mylar balloons and keep mylar and latex helium-inflated balloons floating for longer. Follow these simple tips and enjoy extended balloon fun!

Balloon bouquets are a great and unique way to send a message. They are great for birthdays or as get-well gifts. They provide special colors and fun to your occasions.

Did you know that helium evaporates quickly inside latex balloons and that’s why sometimes after a few hours your balloons don’t float anymore?

Latex balloons are thinner than mylar balloons and they don’t hold helium very well. That’s why we treat our latex balloons with hi-float, a liquid plastic solution that, once it dries inside a balloon, it forms a coating that holds in helium.

Have you noticed that when you buy a mylar balloon and go out during winter, the balloon starts losing height rapidly or it shrinks but when you come back inside into a warmer room it comes back up? This is because helium contracts in chilly weather and expands in hot weathers. If you get them into a hot car they might even explode because of higher temperatures; run the air conditioner first before doing this.

For How Long Can Latex Helium-Inflated Balloons Float For

If used indoors, hi-float treated latex balloons might last around 2 days, same as mylar balloons. On the contrary, non-treated latex balloons will last around 2 to 8 hours depending on weather conditions.

For maximum float life, keep helium-inflated balloons indoors in a heated or air-conditioned location between 72 and 80 F. Exposure to sunlight or high humidity will dramatically shorten floating times. In hot weather, run the air-conditioner; in chilly weather, run the heater.

How To Deflate Mylar Balloons

Mylar balloons contain a plastic valve inside of them that keeps the air from coming out when they’re inflated. This valve makes it sometimes extremely hard to deflate a mylar balloon.

So, if for some reason you decide you want to keep your mylar balloon and try to deflate it, grab a piece of wire of about half the size of the balloon and softly insert it where you would inflate it. What the wire will do is to create a gap in the valve by opening it without ruining it and letting the air come out.

Now, you have to be patient and very gentle. An effective way of doing it faster and without hurting the balloon is to place a pillow or something as big as the balloon (if it’s too heavy it might blow up the balloon, it has to be something light) on top of it and just let the air come out. If the balloon is not that big, in a couple of hours it will be flat, and you will be able to fold it and put it away safe until the next time you need it!

5 Steps To Deflate A Mylar Balloon In Pictures

Find your balloon's valve

How a balloon's valve looks

Find a long wire

Insert the wire in the valve

Place something on top

Do you know any other facts about balloons? If you do, let us know in the comments below.

If you want to send a balloon bouquet in Gaithersburg, click here and you’ll be redirected to our website where you will find a selection of fun ideas to send today.