Turtle Boy Gets a Wreath!

Worcester's own Turtle Boy statue gets decked out for the holidays! Wonder how that got there...?

Fresh From the Market

We have an amazing array of flowers this week for the holiday!

Gorgeous cymbidium, mokara, and aranda orchids, seen here with 'Mozart' callas.

Fresh dates on the stem! Yes, this is what they look like cut fresh from the palm trees. (Update - this morning, 1 day later, the dates were falling like hail on the floor. Sometimes you get a dud!)

And veritable buffet of green flowers and cool foliages!

In addition, we also have this week:

ginger - red and pink
James storeii orchids - yellow
olive branch tips with olives
blue hyacinth
'Black' dendrobium
amaryllis - many colors
psiticorum
pink nerine
sunflowers - 3 kinds!
purple lisianthus
orange and yellow kangaroo paw
dianthus
gerbera - hot pink and orange, Canada
fall painted eucalyptus
tuberose
white and antique green hydrangea
australian pine
'Ivanhoe' grevillea - California
broom corn
'Cobra' lily - Holland
XX Large kale - white, Holland
kale - purple, Holland
rosemary
amaranthus 'Yearning' - Holland
godetia - 3 colors, California
freesia - yellow, Holland
stock - lots of colors
coontie fern
matsumoto asters
orange euphorbia - Holland
aster novi belgii
rainbow aster
bird of paradise
campanula - pink and purple
hypericum
winterberry
leucodendron
peonies
phlox
poms - fall colors
roses - 'Circus' - orange, and 'Black Magic' - burgundy
spider mums -green
spray roses - 'Mambo' and 'Macarena'
'Jade' trachellium
acuba foliage
fall mums
aspidistra
monstera leaves
ti leaves

Almost a Wedding!

We did a fabulous renewal of vows ceremony and party this week - it had all the components of wedding, so we kept referring to the happy couple as the bride and groom even though they have been married for 25 years!

We decorated a chuppa in the chapel of Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester for the ceremony. We used lots of birds of paradise, which were used in the wedding in 1983, but gave them a more tropical look than the first time around.

The "bride" left her bouquet to our discretion so long as it coordinated with her copper gown and had birds of paradise, her favorite flower. This was one fun bouquet to make! Magenta anemones, purple dendrobium orchids, and orange roses tie in some of her gown's embellishments. And you'll notice some of the metal details...

...there was a bit of a metal theme...

...that showed up almost every where, although not in the maid of honor's bouquet which was simply elegant with 'Charley Brown' cymbidium orchids, 'Indian Sunset' roses, and dark brown ti leaves.

The "groom's" boutonniere was a section of bird of paradise and the groomsmen had 'Indian Sunset' roses. They also had gold and copper wire wrapped around the stems.

And my favorite part - I had nothing to do with! The 'groom' made the centerpieces! He owns a scrap metal business and everyone decided that it would be great fun and very appropriate for a silver anniversary, to incorporate as much of his metal as possible.

So he made these amazing metal blocks out of all different materials and finishes. We just added a floral accent, as the blocks were really show stoppers!

Thanksgiving Hours

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that we will be open next Monday of Thanksgiving week.

Our hours for 24 -29 November:
Monday 10-6
Tuesday 10-6
Wednesday 10-6
Thursday - CLOSED for turkey!
Friday 10-6
Saturday 9-2

FREE Christmas Wreaths!

So ever since reading Eloise at Christmastime as a child, I have had this fantasy of living in a city where the all the businesses were decked out with wreaths.

This year, instead of wishing it would happen, I have decided to make it happen! We would like to give wreaths away to Worcester MA businesses. A nice green wreath with a big fat red bow, FREE! All we ask is that you call the shop so we can save one for you and that you leave us your business card when you come pick it up.

Wreaths will be available for pick up from November 28 - December 6. (see shop hours and phone number above) In this "down" economy, we'd like to infect everyone with a little holiday cheer and good will and make this city the sparkling place of my childhood imagination!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

The signs that herald Christmas are many, but the one that always puts a smile on my face is the arrival of Christmas greens, wreaths, and roping in the Boston Flower Exchange!

When you work with flowers every day, one of the things that you rarely take notice of is the fragrance - your nose is just overloaded and doesn't really notice the general flower smell that's all around you. But when something different arrives - like winter pines - the scent stands out and is a real pleasure! I love the smell of Christmas!

Fresh from the Market

Bright red ilex winterberries are in! These look fabulous in fall bouquets as well as for Christmas decorating, indoors and out. They're around in November till they get frozen and icy or the birds eat them, whichever comes first!

We also have some nice looking red twig dogwood. Looks really terrific in outdoor planters filled with evergreens; gives you some color contrast against the greys and whites of winter.

In addition, we also have this week:

Port Orford cedar
purple dendrobium orchids
oncidium orchids
kale in white and purple
hybrid pink lily
'Yelloween' lily
safflower - looks kind of like an orange thistle
yarrow
'Jade' trachellium
rose 'Indian Sunset'
cremons and large mums in fall colors
spring asters
Carolina sapphire juniper
burgundy amaranthus
aster novi belgii
astilbe
campanula - purple
gerbera - orange and a pink, Canada
sunflowers
magnolia foliage
ginger - red and pink this week
bird of paradise
fall poms
red hypericum berries
rust kangaroo paws
liatris - Peru
broom corn
millet - California
green wheat - California
lysimachia
papyrus - France
pernettya berry - looks like cranberries on the branch
aranda orchids
calla 'Red Sox' - New Zealand
pincushion protea - orange
ornithagalum arabicum
dracena stalks
lisianthus - purple white two tone

How Long Will My Flowers Last?

How long will your flowers last? These phalaenopsis orchids were 15 days old when I took this photo yesterday. You may recognize them from the post on our Worcester Art Museum wedding a couple weeks ago. I removed a couple blossoms last week and a couple more yesterday but they're still going! Not a cheap flower at $20+ per stem, but they're stunning with no more than a single leaf accent and a good value when they last over two weeks. :-)

Look for some posts in the not too distant future on how to make your flowers last (although I have to say I don't think I did anything special here except to buy flowers of good quality)!

Flowers as Big as your Head!

We all know that my assistant Francoise is a petite fleur, but she does have a head of normal size. What's not normal is the size of this hydrangea blossom! WOW! Not an inexpensive flower, but it does the work of at least 4 regular sized hydrangea.

Sometimes size does matter. ;-)

Fresh from the Market

Red 'Spiderman' grevillea this week! Fun foliage and flowers from Australia!

I also picked up some orange kangaroo paws - notice how the closed blossoms resemble their namesake. :-)

In addition, we also have:

psiticorum
cherry red asters
oncidium orchids
dendrobium orchids - purple
kale - purple and white
purple snapdragon
bronze and butterscotch mums
'Athos' poms
orange freesia - fresh and fuity!
aranda orchids - orange
mokara orchids - burgundy
bells of ireland
stock
cymbidium orchids - brown, really good price this week!
volkerfrieden delphinium
purple hybrid delphinium
'High and Magic' rose - orange yellow two tone
red ginger
birds of paradise
'Jester' leucodendron
another nameless type of leucodendron - yellow and branchy
yellow pincushion protea
iris
hypericum berries
white hydrangea
blue hydrangea
antique burgundy/green hydrangea
fall poms
plum mini callas

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

Time to start thinking about your holiday table! We've worked up a few sample centerpiece ideas for you to consider.

If your table is not very large or is loaded with food, our Harvest Round might be a good choice for you.

The Autumn Oblong works well on a large table or if you are serving your food from a buffet or sideboard.

Is your table packed with food? Or do you like to decorate in more of a table-scape? Then our Fall Mini Cube Collection would work for you!

Been invited over for dinner? Need a little hostess gift? This Box of Bounty would be a perfect fit - just the right size for kitchen table or coffee table and your hosts don't have to neglect the turkey to get the flowers in water since they're all arranged!

Tower Hill Flower Show

My assistant, Francoise, and I snuck off to Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston yesterday to see award winning designer Julie Lapham give a demonstration. We're always interested in learning new tricks and trends, but I was also looking at this with an eye towards how to set up and give a demonstration.

I'm doing a demonstration at the Worcester Art Museum's Flora in Winter 2009, and while I've been to many floral demonstrations and given some as well, I've never done any away from my own location, so it was good for me to take some notes on how to give a good presentation.

I'm hoping WAM sells lots of tickets and I don't want to disappoint anyone!

The Tower Hill flower show's theme is fashion, and with categories like "The Catwalk", "Absolutely Armani", "Filene's Basement", and "Salvatore Ferragamo" there was plenty for inspiration and interpretation!

The miniature categories were amazing! I loved this one that used maple tree seed pods.

And can you believe this shoe is covered in plant materials?! It's a good thing they only did single shoes because I could see someone walking off in these if there was a pair!

The show runs through November 9th, so hurry up and get your floral fashion on!

Fresh from the Market

Some fun fall textures this week in the form of orange asclepias which is in the milkweed family...

...and hypericum berries, which you will also know as St. John's Wort. I can attest to its power to make you happy, but only as taken visually, not internally! ;-)

In addition, we also have:

orange psiticorum
monstera leaves - 2 sizes
purple dendrobium orchids
James storeii orchids - burgundy
tuberose
orange banksia
birds of paradise
antique blue hydrangea - monster blossoms!
pink campanula
gerbera - Canada, pink candy cane stripe and orange
kangaroo paw - yellow and rust
curly pine - Australia
red ginger
light green spider mums
'Ivanhoe' grevillea - California
two tone pink godetia
red and brown hypericum berries
anthurium - red, yellow, orange
oncidium orchids
bronze and butterscotch standard mums
peach stock - California, nice spicy fragrance
sunflowers
snapdragon - local, purple
mini callas - purple, extra tall
roses - 'High & Magic', an orange two tone
kale - purple and white
bells of Ireland
liatris
fall poms
purple waxflower
blue iris
purple spring asters
'Star Fighter' lily

Worcester Art Museum Wedding - Part 2, Reception

Our bride and groom made full use of the Worcester Art Museum for their reception. Cocktails and music were on the ground floor of the Renaissance Court.

The upstairs balcony over looking the Renaissance Court was set for dinner. Centerpieces were tall vases filled with stones and 5 foot tall curly willow branches with brown cymbidium orchids.

Lots of candles, also set in stones, filled the museum with a glow that was well suited to the period style architecture.

A three tiered chocolate cake by Peppers Catering. Mmmmm...!

Hors d'oeuvre display also by Peppers...

...and the dinner menu sounded positively yummy!

This wedding was a phenomenal amount of work, but in the end I have to say it was my favorite one in recent memory!

Worcester Art Museum Wedding - Part 1, Bouquets

This week's bride and groom were from Manhattan, and were looking for something modern, with a little edge, especially for the maid of honor.

We gave her a bouquet of 'Mocca' amaryllis, hypericum berries, 'Leonidas' and 'Camel' roses, scabiosa pods, and berzelia which was nestled in a swirl of silver wire with pheasant feathers shooting out the side.

To complement, we gave the flower girls pomanders, also with the flowers in a silver nest. More 'Camel' roses, brown mini cymbidium orchids, and hypericum berries.

The bride wanted something modern and clean to go with her dress which was making a big statement.

While the flowers were simple - phalaenopsis orchids sprays and callas - they were bold and breathtaking!

If Husband and I ever decide to have a third wedding, I might have to design it around a bouquet like this! This is truly my favorite bouquet right now!