Prom Pop-Up Shop!

This Saturday, March 27, from 1-3, Sprout is having a Prom Pop-Up Shop where you can see the latest in prom flower fashions!

Discover your Prom Profile by taking our quiz and find out if you are The DIVA, The REBEL, The ROMANTIC, or The GYPSY. We can guide you through the looks that best fit your personal style.

We'll be having a drawing for free prom flowers, you'll get the chance to practice pinning on a boutonniere, and enjoy some sweets! We also invite you to meet the up-do team at 118 West Artistic Salon next door.

If you're really lucky, you might be able to land your hands on one of our Pop-Up Shop fliers which will land you a free boutonniere when you order his and her flowers together during the Pop-Up Shop!!!

Don't forget, pop in to the Prom Pop-Up Shop!

"Woo-ed" or Worcester Love

Here's a post for you that has nothing to do with flowers what so ever! But it's all about Worcester MA and I'm all for that. :-)

The Worcester Educational Development Foundation for Worcester's Public Schools is holding a fundraiser this week called Hearts for Arts in support of arts programing in the schools. You can see how that might be dear to my, ahem, heart.

Any how, they asked 50 artists (your truly included, who does not really think of herself as an artist, but just rather creative from time to time) to take a 16" x 16" x 2" wooden heart and go to town with it.

I started out with just the idea of the anatomical heart to one side. Got that carved out with no real idea of anything else in particular, but then in the shower (yes, you can get creative thoughts anywhere!) I had the idea of putting the heart in that Google map icon with the window saying "You are here." You know, you are here - in my heart!

I've got to say, that I don't think I've ever carved anything other than a bar of ivory soap as a kid, so this was a challenge, but the wood just felt like it had to be carved to me.

Then some red wood stain, and some oil stick highlights and I was in business!

I have a thing for maps, which is maybe why the Google map motif popped into my head, and a thing for Worcester, so collaging a map of Worcester was the next step. And since this is about hearts and love, it needed butterflies, because when you fall in love you should feel butterflies!!!

Upon close inspection, you can see some text about butterflies and hearts in there...

...as well as some spots marked out in Worcester which are special to me and Husband, because one can fall in love in and with a city. (Yes, I have to told him he has to make a bid on it! Mostly so I don't embarrass myself with a lack of bidders LOL!)

I've seen some of the other hearts, and let me tell you, they're amazing! All so different, all beautiful - I'm sure you will be able to find one to your liking to bid on. :-)

So lately this is where I have been, and will be, and I hope you will be at the silent auction supporting arts in Worcester's schools on Friday!!

PS The piece is called "Woo-ed"!

Sprout Love

My neighbor kids left me a love note in front of the shop again! Love them!!!

Corporate Party - Rhapsody in Blue & Green & Purple

We did a great party recently for one of my favorite corporate clients. They use this royal/ cobalt blue a lot as it's "their" color, so we're always trying to come up with new looks that work with blue.

For this event, we decided to pull in an turquoise napkin - hey, it is the Pantone color of 2010! Even a staid corporation needs to stay up with trends from time to time. :-)

The pale blue ceramic cube subtly ties into the analogous color harmony - blue hyacinths, gray green acacia foliage, baby green hydrangea, purple anemones, purple Florigene carnations (yes, I snuck in carnations, but these are the BEST carnations!),and my new favorite berry - blackberries!

I don't know how this will look on your monitors, but the color is pretty accurate on mine with the purples actually looking purple which doesn't usually happen. This brown eyed girl can be blue, if I do it like this!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do or Why Sprout is so Picky

I was not happy when the tulips I bought recently came packaged this way. Most of you are going, "Huh? Isn't that how tulips come?"

But those of you who are florists will see the barcodes on the wrappers and think - "I can't sell those."

I can't sell those because that's how consumers expect their supermarket flowers to come, barcoded and ready to scan at the checkout. I can not look like I sell supermarket flowers. In a lot of minds, supermarket flowers and florist flowers are essentially the same thing, and packaging like this doesn't help to make a distinction between the two. My business hinges on the fact that we are decidedly NOT the same.

I've also been having some quality issues with this same vendor. I've been doing a lot of reading on line and sharing with other florists and it seems like a lot of us have been currently experiencing quality issues for at least the past 6 months. The excuses on the vendor end abound - it's been cold in Florida, it's been rainy in California, there was a freeze in Ecuador, the economy is hurting, the trucks are behind. I get lots of ready apologies, and I have no problems getting credit on anything I return, but I don't want credit. I WANT GOOD FLOWERS!

Some florists right now are probably saying to themselves, great Cathy, why are you sharing the problems? No one wants to hear the problems, they make us all look bad. Well, I want you to continue to love and enjoy flowers. You have the world at your keyboard and I don't want you to pause and reconsider your options the next time you're thinking about buying flowers.

I want you all to know that quality matters to me, as I know it matters to you, so much so that I broke up with one of my vendors last week.

It was a sad moment for me, as this company was really there for me for nearly 10 years, especially in the beginning when I was buying 2 bunches of greens at a time. I always get good service and I enjoy the camaraderie of folks who have been doing this for far longer than I have. I hope things turn around for them and we can go back to working together to bring you great stuff.

But they have to make decisions that are right for their business.

And I have to make decisions that are right for mine.

So for the time being, we ask that you place your orders for anything custom a week in advance as I will be going to the Boston Flower Exchange on a different day of the week.

And please bear with me while we make some changes! It's for all of our good!

Masonic Funeral Flowers

Recently we had a request for a Masonic compass and square funeral arrangement. I have to say in my almost 20 years of doing flowers, I've never been asked to do a Masonic lodge arrangement. I was, however, aware of them and that there are styrofoam forms for these items - the compass & square, a broken wheel for the Rotary, Kiwanis symbols, etc. But this stuff, or set pieces as we call them, is very old school and not widely done any more.

I haven't been doing this long enough to see some of the really old school designs - but I've heard the tales of pieces like the "Gates of Heaven" or "Pearly Gates" which were large freestanding designs of gates completely made out of flowers or the "Empty Chair", a chair all covered in flowers. I'd love to get my hands of some photos of old funeral work, so if you have any links, please share!

Over the past couple of decades, the amount of flowers going to funerals in general has diminished dramatically. Part of this has to do with the rise of donations as an option for celebrating someone's life, but some of it has to do with a great reduction in the number of hours for wakes. When I started out, the typical funeral had 3 sets of calling hours - 2-4, 7-9, and 2-4 again the next day. Over time that became 2 sets of hours on one day, and then one set of hours, usually 5-8 or 4-7 o'clock.

Now, a lot of the wakes we see have calling hours for just one hour immediately preceding the funeral service. With the hours for viewing so limited, a lot of folks don't see the point of flowers for such a short time.

I can tell you though, that going to a wake or service that has no flowers can be a little cold. Flowers continue to bring comfort, even if not on the same scale as "back in the day".

Back to our Masonic flowers! I can tell you, I had quite a time securing a compass and square form! None of my vendors had one in stock. I knew I could make one if I had to, but this would add a lot of time to an already busy day.

After a couple calls to a few flower shops that have been in business forever, I finally found one who had a couple of these in their basement - whew!

My client requested blue and white and mentioned carnations. The old school way to do a piece like this would have been to cover the form in carnations, but we wanted to keep the clients requests in mind while updating the look. So I covered the form with black ti leaves and variegated New Zealand flax leaves and placed it in arrangement of blue and white flowers (including carnations!).

I think we succeeded, what do you think? Would you want flowers this specific and symbolic for you or your family?

Prom Flowers 2010

Besides the amazing bling of this crystal corsage wristlet and ring, we are also carrying these sweet Sterling silver 2010 charms that you can add to your prom flowers! Only $5 to add a lasting keepsake. :-D

Cocktail Party Flowers!

I know, I know, I have been totally slacking on the blog. I hope you all have been following on Facebook and Twitter, as that seems to be where I've been spending my limited time lately. More about my limited time later...

But for now - 2 fabulous cocktail party arrangements! The first one in cream and gold is "Something Bubbly".

And these cranberry toned flowers are "Cosmopolitan" - naturally! Just the thing for a birthday soiree, right?!

Monster Flower!

I don't think it will eat you...

Just have to share a quick pic I took at the Boston Flower Exchange yesterday. I have never seen a flower this large before, have you?! It's some kind of heliconia...I know it had the word Madagascar in the name, but I didn't have pen and paper handy to write it down.

Do you see the little orange blobby thing just under the rim of the bucket? That's a pin cushion protea - I put that there to give you some idea of the scale of this monster!

Speaking of scales - wish I had picked it up, I wonder how heavy it is. I can't even begin to think how I'd use this in a design!