Greening the Mean Streets of Worcester

Corner of Franklin and Harding Streets - happy accident or deliberate design? Either way, it puts a smile on my face!

Where in Worcester have you spotted someone making an effort at street beautification?

Horti-Couture - Flower Inspired Dior Gowns

I know this has been reposted all over the place, but I can't resist!

The House of Dior just had a runway show featuring looks inspired by flowers - what's not to LOVE?!!!

Pretty pansy...

...passionflower?

A tulip, a poppy, a frittilary???

The cellophane millinary work suggests hot house blooms...

...or flower shop wrapping...

Designer John Galliano, chief gardener of all of these blooming lovelies, was quoted as saying "I'm having a floral moment."

Flora fabulousness!!!

Floral Spheres, Balls, Discs - AIFD Symposium

So, the AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers) Symposium - wow! It's a lot to absorb and I didn't even attend all of the presentations!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the AIFD Symposium it's an annual event where floral designers from around the world come together to delight and entertain other florists with their talents. It's as close as the floral world comes to Fashion Week! Good stuff.

I took hundreds of photos and in going through them, I thought it might be interesting to see if there were any themes in common. I found a few, so I thought I would show you my photos organized around some of the trends I saw, rather than by presentation or designer.

Hope you approve!

Today's subject - floral spheres, discs, ball, orbs, all kinds of round shapes! Virtually every presentation had something that fit into this category. I think as designers we enjoy playing around within the limits of the specific, seeing how we can take a form as basic as a ball and push it and create a new way of appreciating it.

First up, a pair of discs, contrasting the opaque with the transparent.


Spheres of romantic roses paired with one of rustic twigs.


Smooth discs playing backup to highly textured ones.


Bisected and carved ball covered in foliage, petals, and gems.


Wire highlighted orbs.


The strong ball shape of the giant allium stands on its own.


Variation on the bridal pomander - the grasses started out wrapped up and around the flower ball, like a cage, and then they were released to form the flowing cascade below the ball of flowers. Runway dramatics!


A collection of balls in an assortment of earthy textures.


And a disc formed from circles!

What do you think, is this a good way to sort through the Symposium?

Amazing Papers - C.C. Lowell

This is a shameless plug for my friends at the Worcester art supply store, C.C. Lowell! They are a local independent store and one of the founders of Worcester Local First.

And now - they have more amazing decorative papers than ever! I can hardly stand it, I'm such a hoarder of paper - it's dangerous for me to go in there now. They have two large walls completely covered with the most beautiful stuff.

I'm already thinking about how I'm going to work this into my floral designs - if you see something here that you like, you better go get it now, before I snatch it up!

Cost of Wedding Flowers - Centerpieces

From time to time I like to price out centerpieces for you that have been featured in bridal publications in order to enlighten and entertain you.

Well, the recent issue of Boston Magazine's Weddings has done it for you! They also have a nice feature, in the mag - not on line, with bridal bouquets listing the prices in the description. Good to see a bridal publication sharing the DL on what the flowers they feature will cost you.

Behold - the $1500 centerpiece!

What do you think? Over the top? Worth every penny? If money were no object, would you put $1500 centerpieces on your tables?!

Provincetown Planters

Made a quick weekend trip to Provincetown MA with Husband in June. The Cape Cod climate is milder than here in central Mass, so all the plants are a little further along than they are here. Every cottage, every shop has a little planting of one kind or another and it's such a treat to stroll and take all the beauty in, like these casual, blowsy window boxes above. Do they say Cape Cod or what?!

I love, love, love this! The soft mounds of of lobelia and the spikey contrast up top....and the colors - sea and sky!!!

Aqua, cobalt, violet-blue - could you get away with this intense color combo at your house? You can't be too colorful in P'town!

I know absolutely nothing about aquatic gardening, but I think these little floating lettuce like things are really sweet. Something very restful about water...

Sometimes you need a little fauna with your flora.

Sometimes your flower box doesn't have to hold flowers at all! I love the simple beachy modernity of this display, the whites and grays, the rough and the shiny.

Haven't we all picked up a "nice" rock at the beach to keep in our pocket?

And, nothing wrong with classic red geraniums with your bagels and lox, coffee, and Sunday paper. :-)

What's growing in your planters and window boxes?!

AIFD - American Institute of Floral Design Symposium

Hey there my friends! I hope you've missed me on my little summer break. :-)

Before I left, I told you that part of my vacation was a working vacation because I was spending it at the AIFD (American Institute of Floral Design) 2010 Symposium.

Always inspiring, this event is basically fashion week for florists! With non-stop floral design shows given the over the top multimedia extravaganza treatment, it's easy to walk away overwhelmed. But with some time, lots of photos, editing, and polishing, I think I've taken away plenty for us to talk about over the next few weeks.

Here are a few shots to whet your appetites!

Sprout Hits the Road!

Sprout will be on vacation until July 13th! There will be plenty of flower stuff to look forward to and write about as I will be spending part of my vacation as a "working" vacation by going to the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) symposium in Boston.

I know, you're thinking to yourselves,"Working - ha!. How could flowers possibly be work?" Well, any time you're trying to keep up with the latest trends, learn a new technique, dig for inspiration, test a new product, or just generally educate yourself about your field - even if that field is filled with flowers - well, yes, that's work.

Also, apologies for the slower pace of recent blog posts. I have lots of pictures clogging up my camera, but my computer is dying (evil thing) and I haven't been able to download or upload any pics, and really, what's a flower blog without pictures?

Hope to rectify that in the not too distant future!

In the mean time, you keep your eyes open for flowers as will I, and we'll talk again really soon.

Cheers! :-)