How I Became a Floral Enthusiast

When I was growing up, I was always collecting groups of things: stickers, stamps, unsharpened pencils with cool designs, and as always - random items from outside like rocks, dried flowers, acorns for good luck. I was quiet but observant of my surroundings. I remember being fascinated by the way trees and shrubs grew, especially ones that arched or grew in a crooked, grotesque way.



I was a bookworm so of course I checked out books about flowers, plants, and even went through a phase of reading landscape books and sketching my own landscape designs. We had a children's anthology series called Childcraft - The How and Why Series. One of the books in the series, The Green Kingdom, was a favorite of mine. The book had this cool game called the tree-path game where you had to follow a path and identify the plant pictured in order to select the correct path to get to the end of the game.



What really influenced my interest in flowers and plants was my mom who loved gardening. I always tagged along with her to my two favorite places as a kid: the local hardware store and the garden shop. I can't remember a time where we didn't have an abundant amount of flowers and plants in our yard especially during the summertime. For "Way Back Wednesday", I decided to post some older photos of my mom when she lived in London during the 1970's. The first photo was taken in London, the second photo was taken during a trip to France with my aunty (my dad's sister), and the last photo is a vintage selfie that my dad took when he and my mom were dating.



Some people think their parents have no influence in how they turn out whatsoever. I beg to differ. I really don't think I would be as passionate for flowers and plants if it had not been for my mom's love for gardening (thanks Mom!).

Sugar and spice and everything nice

An old family friend had a beautiful baby girl recently. I asked this person's sister what colors she liked and I was told yellow, green, and brown. Hmm. I could not find black dahlias or chocolate cosmos, but I did find a maroon colored peony and worked around that flower. For yellows I used protea and bupleurum. For greens I used veronica, thistle, and eucalyptus. I added red colored laceflower to compliment the peony and added brunia for contrast. I also cut some clematis buds and salvia leaves from my mom's garden for texture as well as light green hellebores foliage. I used a copper colored vessel and a few feathers (not pictured)to finish the arrangement. Starting with this arrangement I included instructions and tips on how to care for the arrangement plus the flowers and foliage sourced (since people keep asking!).

More prom pictures

Below are Sydney and her date wearing the corsage and boutonniere that I made for their high school prom. Sydney and her friend Carly (not shown in this picture but her corsage is in a previous post) were my guinea pigs. I made a size adjustable wire bracelet versus using elastic.

Flowers for the kids' teachers and kangaroo paw

I love putting together and giving flowers to people. It makes them smile which makes me happy! Today was my daughter's birthday so along with cupcakes for her class, I made a couple of small arrangements for her teacher as well as for my son's teacher. Peony was the centerpiece flower used with gerbera daisies, dianthus, daisies, and small chrysanthemums. I also used lily buds. I like them even though the buds aren't even open yet, love the shape and love using them as greenery.





I also found out the name of that cool red flower I found at the grocery store the other day: kangaroo paw!


Photo from Better Homes and Gardens

Carnations

Carnations have a bad reputation for being a cheap filler flower from the grocery store. I think they're really pretty especially the old world variety. Here I have them arranged with white peonies, roses, Gerbera daisies, snapdragons, black pussy willow, this cool red flower I found the other day, and petunias and joey from my garden.

Lighting

Lighting makes such a big difference with the presentation of arrangements. Below is the same floral arrangement in different lighting:





My friend suggested the Foldio by Photojojo. The Foldio is a pop-up studio (even includes lighting!). I may need to purchase one for myself!



Buy the Foldio at the Photojojo Store!

Tussie-mussies

Last weekend was crazy busy with prom and Mother's Day. I put together these smaller arrangements as gifts to family and thought it would be great to offer as an option when ordering. Tussie-mussies are $15. I can work with you as far as color, etc. Please message me if interested!

Prom

I made a couple of corsages for two girls plus boutonnieres for their dates. The flowers are glued and wired to a size adjustable wire bracelet versus using the elastic which they liked. My idea was to take a regular corsage and make the corsage look like jewelry or wearable art. Just need to make a few minor adjustments to the size of the flowers used next time but overall I am happy with this design. Will use it going forward!

Mother's Day Arrangements

I like the idea of mixing opposites so I found anthurium which is a tropical plant and used it with more traditional flowers like hydrangea and roses. The results were spectacular!





Here is another example of mixing tropical flowers with traditional flowers, orchids with hydrangea.



I added bleeding heart and light green hellebores used as foliage to this arrangement. I cut both from my mom's garden.



This arrangement had a purple color scheme. The recipient was not into flowers so I decided to use kale with this arrangement. I wanted to use artichokes, but I could not find smaller artichokes (with the purple hue).

Custom arrangements

I worked on a few custom arrangements before Mother's Day. This person wanted something for her office since it is spring. I put something together for her with mostly pink hues. That tulip I found is gorgeous!



The customer for this second order wanted a red color scheme for his girlfriend. Instead of the typical red roses you find in the grocery store, I used a couple of nicer varieties, Wanderer which has a lovely dark red color and Adonis which has an eye-catching, rich, red tone. I also used orange lilies, a black dahlia, deep purple ranunculus, maroon tulips, and jatropha (coral plant). I should have asked how long they been together because this customer was not expecting something this "fancy." He had only been on a few dates with his girlfriend so a couple of roses would have suffice. Now she will be expecting a wedding ring!



This arrangement was for one of my favorite people, Ciesther Delacruz of DCPG. She wanted to treat herself, plus her money plant died so she needed something pretty to replace it temporarily. I used white clematis (courtesy of Tina from Merrifield Garden Center), as the main focal point as well as black dahlia and jatropha for interest and texture.



Everybody was happy with their orders and I was happy with the results!

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Audrey Hepburn's 85th birthday! #childrenshour #jamesgarner #classy #googledoodles #spring

Leftovers and Graduation Annoucements

Leftover calla lilies and spray roses from last weekend along with graduation announcement samples. Eucalyptus makes everything look good.

Variegated pilea and lady's slipper orchid

I am attempting to grow this variegated pilea with pink foliage. I never have any luck with plants meant for bonsai so hopefully this works out! I like the way the plant is already growing, slightly arched on one side. I am also trying to revive a lady's slipper orchid I bought on sale at Merrifield. I love the shape of this orchid. They're great for terrariums, a unique flower to add for an arrangement or boutonniere.

New books for my collection

I wanted to share a couple of books I will be adding to my collection. First is The Flower Recipe Book by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo of Studio Choo. This is a great and inspirational book for ideas on how to arrange seasonal flowers.



Ngoc Minh Ngo's book, Bringing Nature Home: Floral Arrangements Inspired by Nature is a gorgeous, beautifully illustrated tome. The book shows innovative ways to arrange flowers year round for both beginners and professionals alike.



From Bringing Nature Home: Floral Arrangements Inspired by Nature

Flowering quince

I love flowering quince. These branches are from Wollam Gardens. This patch of branches were unruly which made my heart skip a beat. I love when branches or even the way a stem grows is not perfect. It makes for an interesting arrangement. This is why I like freshly cut flowers and plants from outside versus a greenhouse. Plants tend to grow differently and grow in interesting ways when growing in their natural environments.

Flashback: My Wedding!

Picture taken circa 2006 by DCPG. This was probably the first time I actually put together bouquets and boutonnieres - for my wedding! I snagged orange and purple flowers from Norfolk Wholesale and clipped some flowers from my mom's garden the following morning, and arranged everything that morning before heading to the Pagoda Garden. My kind of wedding!

Experiment with larger container and reviving hydrangeas

Experimented with a larger container. I used a large glass terrarium so it has multiple uses. I picked up most of these flowers from Trader Joe's including the hydrangeas, spider gerbera, roses, and dark purple ranunculus. The lavender and white freesia as well as the seeded eucalyptus are from Merrifield Garden Center and the greenery is from Wegman's.





Unfortunately I forgot to prep the hydrangeas with alum so two of the hydrangea blooms were wilted in the morning.



Hydrangeas are fussy flowers and here is a way to revive wilted blooms. Boil water. While the water is boiling cut the stem at an angle (preferably with a knife). Once the water boils, pour into container and immediately put the stem in the water. Cover the hydrangea with a paper towel to protect from the steam. I let the stem soak for an hour. Before returning to the original container, I also soaked the blooms in cool water for a few seconds and dried the excess water. Above: This morning before leaving for work. Below: This evening after work.



Hydrangeas absorb a good amount of water so make sure you check your container as you may need to refill with water.

More plants

I went to Merrifield Garden Center again to look at plants. I wish I had a bigger yard so I can grow all these plants!

Double columbine.



Pieris. Love these for wedding bouquets.



Persimmon blossoms.