Selection is not inherited?

I am trying to insert a background image in one of my sidebars. This image shows up in Dreamweaver in the design view but when I preview my site in either Safari or Firefox there is nothing there.
Dreamweaver has been giving me the message that the "selection is not inherited" and so it might not show up.
I can't figure out what exactly I am doing wrong especially since the image shows up in Dreamweaver. Text and background color appear, just not the image.
My image is located in the images folder in the site- url(../images/flower.jpg)
Any help is appreciated!

It was not in a separate folder. The issue is fixed now, I don't remember exactly what I did...I think maybe there was a color assigned somewhere in the style sheet that was covering up the image.
Thanks anyways!