Well, roxsy, thanks for asking and here is the answer as far as I know it. The numbers on the side are the people who have asked/answered been given by others (Q&A) plus visited the site the most. You give a flower by clicking on it. When it is orange (on my monitor) I can just click on it and it will turn gray, that means I have given you a flower.
"Cuteembroidery.com is conducting testing at this time. Flowers will be used to provide new and additional benefits to users of Cuteembroidery.com." They seem to be a good thing to be collecting because my bouquet surely does smell good and look pretty. As for how you get them, you get one each day (once every 24 hour period) that you visit the site. We can now get them from others on this area of the site, and also in response to questions and answers and Cudo's for projects. And that's the short answer! I'm sending you one now. ;)

roxsy, thank for being bold enough to ask the question and thank you jrob for knowing enought to answer it over and over, again. Flowers for you both. HaHa! loretta