Ornamental

OK, the only outdoor space I have for growing things here in the city is a small 8' x 8' deck. Consequently, we never plant anything that's strictly ornamental. Everything needs to pull its weight in our small space so we go heavy on herbs and veggies, with the most ornamental thing being some opal basil.

Well, that all went out the window when I saw this gorgeous datura plant in the flower market last week!

I can't stand the double ruffle trumpet with the bright white interior and the purple exterior - OMG so beautiful!!!!

So now there's another pot crammed on the tiny deck, with something that is strictly there for beauty, a little eye candy. Sigh...I couldn't help myself! I'm week around the insanely pretty and purple...

Call it - orna-mental!

Greening the Mean Streets of Worcester - Guerrilla Gardening and the Turtle Boy

Today I am proud of my fellow Worcesterites. Today instead of whining, they said "Yes". Today instead of sitting on their behinds, they got up and did something.

My friend Claudia, lover of all things Worcester, and especially of all things Turtle Boy, helped organize and mobilize a group of people to weed Worcester's beloved, reviled, and ignored Turtle Boy statue.

As you can see from the picture above, there were more weeds than flowers with some of the weeds taller than the plantings. A truly sad sight, right in the middle of our downtown area.

This was the first casualty in the War Against Weeds - the Giant Dandelion. It was sacrificed as an example to the other weeds.

It was hot and humid but no one bailed out, we made a lot of progress.

It took 15 people 2 hours, that's 30 man hours - thank goodness we had such a good turnout, because the cliche about many hands making the work light is so true!!!

In the weeds!

OK, so we're pretty sure this is a weed, but we kept them anyhow because they were kind of pretty with white trumpet shaped blooms. Anyone know what it is???

I got to meet some people I only know virtually as well as some folks I had no prior acquaintance with at all. It was awesome to see so many come together to make one little corner of Worcester look respectable!

We were even serenaded with an original Turtle Boy song!!!!

Worcester's finest came and gave us a hand with hazardous waste disposal.

The mulch brigade!

The Turtle Boy could still use some help with additional weeding later in the summer, and a plan for more plants at some point, but right now getting out the weeds and putting down some mulch has made a great improvement!

Those of you who would like to know more about Turtle Boy, can check out his web site or find him on Facebook.

Whether you call it guerrilla gardening or civic pride, know that you can do it, you can make a difference on your street corner.

Today I am proud of my fellow Worcesterites.
Today was a good day!

Els Teunissen - Workshop, Art in Bloom

Took a workshop with the internationally famous floral designer Els Teunissen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Art in Bloom event. Signed up for this without being able to get any details on what we would be doing, so I was taking a chance.

I was pretty psyched when I saw the floral materials we would be using, above.

Then glass test tubes, bindwire (the new trendy paper covered wire), and a custom made wreath ring were distributed.

We wired on the test tubes. This was the least interesting and most tedious bit of the project. I don't think they planned on how long it would take some of the group to do this part, because the rest of the class was a little rushed.

Then we wove curly willow tips around the tubes followed by some mini callas, although these were super long for minis!

We had spiffy "Cherry Brandy" roses and red gerbera to add to the test tubes, and more woven materials in the form of ivy, flax leaves, and green amaranth.

Everyone had to scramble a bit at the end to get their wreath done before the museum kicked us out! Lots of variation from arrangement to arrangement as each person put their own spin on the concept.

What do you think, would you want to take a class like this?

More importantly - does anyone need a curly willow and test tube wreath frame?! Mine will probably be at the next Sprout yard sale - love the concept, but it's too much for apartment living!

Els Teunissen Demo at Art in Bloom

So far behind in my posting, that I'm not going to bother with text - just enjoy the pics!

Water and Your Bouquet

We sell a lot of cut flower bouquets and are asked almost daily - "How long can my flowers be out of water?"

Well, ideally, we'd really like them to go straight from the shop into a vase of water. There's no substitute for a big drink of H2O. Think of flowers like the fresh parsley you get at the grocery store - how sad will it look if you decided to just let it lie there on your kitchen counter without any water?

But sometimes you're driving 3 hours to New York state and you really want to bring Sprout flowers with you, or you'll be sitting at your niece's dance recital for 2 hours with flowers in your lap, well what then?

Water tubes are bulky, awkward, not every flower stem fits them, and they'll leak if you lie them down across your car or theater seat.

I recently ran across a product that's new to me (see picture above). It's a special water absorbing foam that you wrap around the stem ends, and then that is covered with a plastic bag to keep the moisture in. Sure it's like a glorified version of you mother's classic wet paper towels and baggie, but it's a neater presentation.

What do you think? Should I get this for the shop?! You can't use this for overnight, really, get those flowers to a vase! But it would be good for some occasions.

And here's the thing - would you pay extra for this? It's not cheap enough to absorb the cost, we'd have to charge extra for it. Not a lot, maybe $2.00 tops. You might be thinking for a couple bucks I should really roll it into the price of the flowers, except not everyone will want or need this product and I don't believe those who don't need it should subsidise the cost for those who do. I really don't want to raise the price of the flowers. I like to keep my cut flower prices fair.

Would you still go for it if you had to pay extra for it?

Wrist Cuff

Did some experimenting the other day............and made this floral wrist cuff.



A whole lot of wire, beads, bear grass, sea star fern and some delicate ornithagalum arabicum blossoms. I'm so happy with how it came out - it may be my new signature thing to wear!

I like to wear fresh flowers out, especially to business events - it's a nice way to say "florist" without having to say it, and it's a great ice breaker for conversation as I'm very, very shy.

What do you think? Would you wear something like this out in public?!

Art in Bloom 2010 - Museum of Fine Arts Boston

This year at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Art in Bloom event, I not only went to a demo, but also took a workshop, so I had only a minimal amount of time to go through the galleries and because of that this post is not going to be as comprehensive as last year's - but I hope you'll still enjoy!

First picture above -
"Chicago" - New Meadows Garden Club of Topsfield, Topsfield MA

Below, not a piece with an artwork, but a display in the cafe, by Floral Jewels, Boxford MA.

Are you loving it as much as I am now that you see the detail?! I wonder how they kept their pasta from going limp in wet floral foam????

"Young Sheperdess" - Belmont Garden Club, Belmont MA

"Peacock" - Andover Garden Club, Andover MA

"Reclining Nude" - Acton Garden Club, Acton MA

'Venus" - Chicatabot Garden Club, Dover MA

Detail of "Venus" - love the black lotus pods tucked for depth and texture!

"Falling Gladiator" - Wellesley Garden Study Club, Wellesley MA

I like that this arrangement is not a literal interpretation of the gladiator - "Oh look, there's his bent arm, here's his leg." It's more of a setting for him. And the best part is the use of, what else - gladiolas! The flower with the sword shaped leaves, named for gladiators. Also, the sword shaped leaves from sanseveiria are a great reference to the gladiator's job. :-)

"Fruit and Jug" - Country Garden Club of Weston, Weston MA

This is what I would call a more literal interpretation, but it's a great one!

Not a good photo, but check out the bowl balanced on a glass cube filled with stones, the paveed begonia leaves up front, and those colored blocks of floral foam - great reference to cubism!

"Aristide Bruant in His Cabaret" - Spade and Trowel Garden Club, Andover MA

Notice in this detail that the flowers that looked black in the first photo, are really purple. And not only that, they are carnations! I don't know how anyone can turn up their nose at carnations when you can get ones like these from Florigene. Yes, genetically altered flowers! Looks like gene splicing might be the only way to get a blue carnation or blue rose and I believe these carnations are one step in reaching that goal.

Public piece by Twig of Boston MA.

Pretty cool structurally! Wonder how many times they had to refill all those water tubes over 4 or 5 days...!

"The Rich Soil Down There" - Evening Garden Club of Plymouth, Plymouth MA

This might be my favorite out of the works I managed to see in my quick trip around a few parts of the museum. How simple, how graphic. Plates, flowers, stand.

Love it!

Sorry I didn't have time to bring you more sights from the Museum of Fine Arts this year, but it's just as well, look how long it took for me to get this post up!