adventures in design

Springtime is in the air

Ahh, Spring. Rain. Sun. Some more rain. Crazy temperatures. Tennessee in springtime is an event all of its own: and I can't help it, I love every single minute of it!

At the studio, I've been blessed to have a ton of gorgeous flowers come in for me to play with. I added a new photo gallery-- Everyday flowers--- that showcases some pretty spring arrangements with the flowers I currently have available. Things like gorgeous lilac, daffodils, iris... such pretty things. A few of my favorite creations:

Pink Gerbera daisy, sunny yellow daffodils, a bright green spider mum, and iris in a low vase: how sweet spring is!


Miss Saigon Iris, rannunculus, yellow lilies, and snapdragons: it's just so bright & cheerful

Valentines Week: The Red Rose & Supply and Demand

Long celebrated as the most popular bloom of the Valentine's Holiday, the red rose symbolizes passionate love-- and is by far the most-requested and delivered on Valentine's Day. Much to the chagrin of the buyers of these Valentine's love emissaries, many wonder why the cost of roses are so high during the Valentine's season. Some people think that it's because floral designers like to inflate the prices because it's the time of year that they can-- but it's really not that way at all. In fact, it's all about supply and demand.

Simply put, for rose growers, all the production of other roses (other than shades of red and pink) are scaled back as the Valentine-shaded bloom production is ramped up.  You'd think the way this happens is by planting more rose bushes and just growing more roses, but actually-- the way it's done is in scaling back the roses that are available for the months prior to Valentines by pruning the bushes. The growers have less product to sell in these months, and so once Valentines rolls around and demand is very high for roses, they have to increase their prices.

A field of Red Roses. Photo Courtesy Mayesh

In the days leading up to Valentines, more workers than ever are needed to cut and prepare the beautiful blossoms, and then there's the added transportation fees and shipping costs. After it's all said & done, the flowers that your local florist receives are truly a babied and beloved bunch grown especially for this love-holiday, and there is a heftier price tag on them than ever before. After all-- imagine, despite the warmer temperatures we've been having the past few days, it is the middle of winter, and it's not like you've got roses growing in your backyard right now, right? If you do, you're lucky!

A lovely arrangement of red roses & ti leaves

After the roses arrive at their destination, they have the be prepped and conditioned for their maximum beauty. You want to get them nice and beautiful, fresh and smelling delicious-- and that means a lot of TLC! Then your designer will take your flowers to the next level and make them look amazing.

I love the work of Vancouver-Canada based Hilary Miles. She's a real inspiration to me, and I love her hand tied bouquets perfect for anyone's sweethearts. She did this particular arrangement for last year's mother's day, but I still just love the color combo and how fresh and pretty it is-- a great alternative to the red rose

Lush pink peony and red rose bouquet by Hilary Miles

Paula Pryke is another floral genius whose work I greatly admire and follow. Her Valentine's bouquets feature beautiful "knots" of roses:

 
Red Barracca, ruby red roses and berries with a lovely wrap, hand tied by Paula Pryke

I can't wait to post some of my Valentines designs for you to see and enjoy!

In Full Bloom: Tulips

Tulips are hands down one of my favorite flowers. Tulips are a perennial bulb flower, and according to the Oxford English Dictionary (I can't help it. I love the OED), it's original source is from Turkey, not Holland, as most people like to think. It's origins in the Western world was the 16th century. It's name refers to it's bell-shaped head, and while the flower can tolerate colder climates, it's most noted for it's lovely appearance in spring.

Tulips come in a wide variety of colors. When we think of tulips, we usually think of the more standard-fare six-petal multicolored tulips that pop up in gardens at spring. These are lovely, of course, if not slightly ordinary next to some of their more...exotic...brothers & sisters:

Take, for example, the double- petaled (12 instead of six) tulips that more resemble a peony than a tulip:

Source: Rose Cottage Plants

The color on this tulip-- named "Black Hero" -- is just splendid. A rich, deep eggplant that is sure to take your breath away. Can you imagine it in a bouquet? I can!

I love a flower with unique texture. Ruffly fringed tulips are a personal favorite of mine, I just ooh and ahh all day over them. They add the look of fabric to a flower-- and the heavenly scent of a tulip that you just simply can't resist. Divine!: From Rose Cottage:

"Cummins" mauve-pink tulip

Delightful "Happy Hour" tulip

The Parrot tulip has brightly colored petals that are twisted or curled. They are dramatic and come in a variety of vibrant colors, from a purply "blue" to some gorgeous bi-colors:

The Texas- Gold Parrot Tulip has a hint of black

Rembrandt tulips-- named after the famous painter-- were representative of the tulips that were popular during the so called "tulip mania" of the mid sixteenth century to early seventeenth century in Holland. These color markings were actually caused by a virus that damaged the bulbs, so the original "Rembrandt's" aren't sold commercially any longer. However, there are some substitutes, like the Sorbet tulip:

While there are several other varieties of tulips out there, I'd like to talk about one more today-- one that is dramatic and beautiful. It's the Viridiflora tulip. It's name is from the latin "viridis", meaning green, and "flora" meaning flower, and is known for it's cool color contrast of having a green streak somewhere in its petal:

The beautiful contrast of green and yellow is lovely in this Hummingbird tulip


I love the drama of the Golden Artist Tulip

Versatile, beautiful, and unique, the tulip is a beauitiful early to late spring blossom that brings a lot of history and character to any floral arrangement.

In Full Bloom: Amaryllis

A beautiful in-season bloom is the flower we normally call the lovely Amaryllis, sometimes called the "Belladonna Lilly." The flower that we know as Amaryllis isn't really Amaryllis at all, it's actually the Hippeastrum! True Amaryllis, or "Resurrection Lilly" usually makes its appearance right around Easter. But for the purpose of this blog, we're going to talk about the flower we usually recognize as the Amaryllis, the beautiful Hippeastrum:

Amaryllis is a bulb flower with tropical origins. The stems are hollow, meaning that they are easilly collapsible without suppport, and they need to be infused with water when placed into a vase or vessel. Each stem produces 2-4 blooms, with blooms that last for 3-5 days. The cooler the room (optimal temperature is 65 degrees) the longer the bloom will last)

 
This four-bloom Amaryllis creates a strong visual statement

Amaryllis' long stem and top-heavy flower make it an ideal choice for a impact-oriented arrangement (come back to see the feature arrangement on Monday's blog from my Holiday table), or as clustered in a pretty vase (from Domino):

Amaryllis, pointsettia, and tulips are partnered in this pretty tabletop arrangement

Amaryllis can be incorporated into a bouquet for a full and beautiful flower with very mild scent. This bouquet-- found on Instyle Wedding's Site features Eucharist Lillies, White Amaryllis, and Lamb's Ear:

Anyway that you style it, the Amaryllis is a beautiful, breathtaking bloom with a lot of impact and grace.