March 1, 2025

The Bloom Central flower delivery of the month for March in University Park is the All Things Bright Bouquet

The All Things Bright Bouquet from Bloom Central is just perfect for brightening up any space with its lavender roses. Typically this arrangement is selected to convey sympathy but it really is perfect for anyone that needs a little boost.

One cannot help but feel uplifted by the charm of these lovely blooms. Each flower has been carefully selected to complement one another, resulting in a beautiful harmonious blend.

Not only does this bouquet look amazing, it also smells heavenly. The sweet fragrance emanating from the fresh blossoms fills the room with an enchanting aroma that instantly soothes the senses.

What makes this arrangement even more special is how long-lasting it is. These flowers are hand selected and expertly arranged to ensure their longevity so they can be enjoyed for days on end. Plus, they come delivered in a stylish vase which adds an extra touch of elegance.

The thing with zinnias ... and I'm not just talking about the zinnia elegans variety but the whole genus of these disk-shaped wonders with their improbable geometries of color. There's this moment when you're standing at the florist counter or maybe in your own garden, scissors poised, and you have to make a choice about what goes in the vase, what gets to participate in the temporary sculpture that will sit on your dining room table or office desk. And zinnias, man, they're basically begging for the spotlight. They come in colors that don't even seem evolutionarily justified: screaming magentas, sulfur yellows, salmon pinks that look artificially manufactured but aren't. The zinnia is a native Mexican plant that somehow became this democratic flower, available to anyone who wants a splash of wildness in their orderly arrangements.

Consider the standard rose bouquet. Nice, certainly, tried and true, conventional, safe. Now add three or four zinnias to that same arrangement and suddenly you've got something that commands attention, something that makes people pause in their everyday movements through your space and actually look. The zinnia refuses uniformity. Each bloom is a fractal wonderland of tiny florets, hundreds of them, arranged in patterns that would make a mathematician weep with joy. The centers of zinnias are these incredible spiraling cones of geometric precision, surrounded by rings of petals that can be singles, doubles, or these crazy cactus-style ones that look like they're having some kind of botanical identity crisis.

What most people don't realize about zinnias is their almost supernatural ability to last. Cut flowers are dying things, we all know this, part of their poetry is their impermanence. But zinnias hold out against the inevitable longer than seems reasonable. Two weeks in a vase and they're still there, still vibrant, still holding their shape while other flowers have long since surrendered to entropy. You can actually watch other flowers in the arrangement wilt and fade while the zinnias maintain their structural integrity with this almost willful stubbornness.

There's something profoundly American about them, these flowers that Thomas Jefferson himself grew at Monticello. They're survivors, adaptable to drought conditions, resistant to most diseases, blooming from midsummer until frost kills them. The zinnia doesn't need coddling or special conditions. It's not pretentious. It's the opposite of those hothouse orchids that demand perfect humidity and filtered light. The zinnia is workmanlike, showing up day after day with its bold colors and sturdy stems.

And the variety ... you can get zinnias as small as a quarter or as large as a dessert plate. You can get them in every color except true blue (a limitation they share with most flowers, to be fair). They mix well with everything: dahlias, black-eyed Susans, daisies, sunflowers, cosmos. They're the friendly extroverts of the flower world, getting along with everyone while still maintaining their distinct personality. In an arrangement, they provide both structure and whimsy, both foundation and flourish. The zinnia is both reliable and surprising, a paradox that blooms.