Calla Lily

[images from minette, tanakawho, and tanakawho]

Calla or arum lilies (Zantedescia aethiopica) are native flowers from southern Africa. These elegant flowers, with their sculptural shape, are commonly used in weddings. But they are beautiful for all sorts of occasions and work as a great focal point in floral arrangements. Calla lilies are available in shades of pink and cream, yellow, green, terracotta orange, and dark purple. They also come in a miniature size, mini calla lilies.

[images from tanakawho and robbie jim]

Care tips:

Calla lilies are delicate, so take care when transporting them. As with most flowers, start with a clean vase. Take your calla lilies, re-cut the stems, remove foliage that will be below the water line, and put flower food into the vase water. Once you have the flowers arranged, keep them away from direct sunlight and air vents. After a few days (2-3), change water, recut stems, and clean vase. Check your arrangement daily for dying blooms and foliage, remove immediately.

[image from phil wood]

For more information, Flowers and Plants UK

Branches

With the Atlanta Dogwood Festival coming next weekend and the National Cherry Blossom Festival starting this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to post some information about branches.  Seeing the flowers bloom on the trees is one of my favorite signs of spring!

Sunset Magazine recently posted an article about displaying blooming branches.  If you are taking the branches from a tree on your yard, clip them when the first buds open and make about an inch slit at the end of the stem.  Then, put the branches in a vase with some warm water with flower food.  The general rule is to use branches that are about twice the height of your container.  When you change the water, recut and reslit the ends.  Click here for more details and for some specific ideas for using magnolias, blooming fruit trees, flowering quince, and dogwoods!

[image from Sunset Magazine]

Vase Alternatives

Here are some more vase alternatives that I have stumbled upon over the past few weeks.

Tons of vessels can serve as vases, such as scientific beakers or test tubes in a test tube holder, Wellington boots, mason jars, or wine carafes. The other day, I saw a bunch of flowers nicely arranged in a plain white-coffee mug! Basically, you can use anything!

The important thing to remember is to use a small glass to hold the flowers for anything that is not watertight or waterproof. The picture below, from Better Home and Gardens, uses Chinese take-out boxes (via All Things for All Parties). I have also seen pictures displaying flowers in tea tins. Just get creative!

I love the idea of just wrapping something around a vase to give it another look. You can use ribbons, beads, paper, any type of material. We posted an idea a few weeks back that used placemats. Judith Blacklock from the UK has two great ideas posted on her website. Wrap some cloth around a vase and tie some twine around the cloth to get the look below.

Judith Blacklock Flower School in the UK

Or take a regular vase, a rubber band, and some sticky stuff, get some rhubarb and lily grass, and make a vase covering like the one below. Click here for complete instructions! You could use bamboo or pussy willow as alternative ideas.

Click here and here for some vase ideas that we posted in previous weeks.

update: I just saw a post by Silly Little Mischief that suggests using pitchers, sugar bowls, and teapots - check out her blog for some great pics!

Wedding Blogs

When planning my wedding back last year, I discovered a few wedding blogs that provided wonderful ideas and inspiration.  My three favorite wedding blogs are:

 

So, if you are in need of wedding inspiration, be sure to check them out!  Something old, something new has a great eye for accessories and bridesmaids gifts.  Style Me Pretty posts beautiful inspiration boards.    And Weddingbee is a community blog of brides going through the planning process, so you can follow them from ordering their wedding invitations to selecting their flowers!

Finally, I have had this bookmarked ever since I saw it and it is about time I posted it!  So here goes...

Back in January, Style Me Pretty featured a few posts on Parisian floral trends.  The guest blogger, Laura Dowling, had recently returned from Paris and reported back on some of the current trends.  In three gorgeous posts, Abby from Style Me Pretty, and Laura posted picture, after picture of amazing wedding flowers. 

In terms of bouquets, Laura summed up the trends, as follows:

"Overall, current bouquet trends run the entire spectrum from being highly structured bouquets with extraordinary detailing and flourishes – like the haute couture style – to being very natural and unstructured, as if the bouquet is coming from the field or garden and the flowers are springing up from the base.  The latter trend of an au natural style is the dominant trend in Paris, and is often juxtaposed against stark, modern backdrops, producing surprising and exciting effects."

Click here, here,and here to see the posts.  Here are some little slivers of what you will find!

The Twist

Matt from PlantTherapy (of Apartment Therapy) posted a wonderful guide on how to twist your tulip stems when making a tulip flower arrangement. The twist is a simple, modern touch that adds a beautiful and sophisticated element to your arrangement. With a little practice, I am sure you can master this design technique too!

Check out the tutorial here - it is complete with instructions and pictures to give you a good idea of what to do. A video from Martha Stewart also shows you how to twist tulips stems - they start talking about the twist around 5:30 minute mark. *I had already posted this link back in February with some more information about tulips.*

Gerbera Bouquets

For a bridal shower a few months back, we created monochromatic gerbera hand-tied bouquets.  The mini-bouquets were placed throughout the entire room.  I loved the bold, bright colors of the flowers. I think overall it was modern and simple.   Plus, with the gerberas, it looked super cute!  Check out a few of the arrangements.  We got lots of complements on them!

 

Gerbera Daisy

The Gerbera Daisy, also commonly called gerber daisy, originates from all over the world - South America, Africa, Madagascar, and tropical Asia. It is one of the world's most popular flowers being the fifth most popular cut flower. Roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, and tulips rank above gerbera daisies.

 

[image from Drawings of Light  - Paul]

These are beautiful flowers.  They can be bold, bright, and colorful or soft and romantic.  Gerberas come in SO many colors - pinks, reds, purples, oranges, yellows, and whites!  The size of the flower can make a great statement with just a few stems.  Yet, mini gerbers are cute and dainty!

 

[images from Fovea Centralis and asilva]

Gerberas can last a long time, if you change the water and cut the stems every few days.  Also, don't forget to use flower food in your vase. 

Gerberas can be used in bud vases, in larger vases with other flowers or on their own, or even as a dress! Check out this dress made of over 2,000 Gerberas for a fashion show in Milan - via Florist de Kwakel BV

Lastly, here is a e-how video on how to make a "hand-tie" (hand-tie is in quotes, because she actually uses bouquet holder) Gerbera bouquet.

For more information, check out the following websites:

Wikipedia: Gerbera

 UK Flowers and Plants Association

[image from amishah]

Easter Centerpieces

Here are a few more centerpiece ideas for your Easter table. I love the use of the wheat grass in the middle left picture - it is so simple! And again, we see the blown out egg as a vase in the bottom left picture. Click on each of the pictures for more details about each of the arrangement.

[photos via better homes and gardens; top: left and right; middle: left and right; bottom: left and right]

Again, Happy Easter! We hope you enjoy your time with your loved ones. If you are decorating Easter eggs, check out this article from Better Home and Gardens for some beautiful ideas!

Making it Big - Floral Design Episode

The Style Network's Making it Big series is showing an episode focused on floral event design. I have not seen the episode yet, but I watched the clip on their website. It looks like it could be entertaining and could provide some tips on floral designing. If you have sometime over the weekend, check it out! Three different designers are given two hours to create the floral decor for a high-class dinner party. The winner will get the chance to work with Preston Bailey!

Click here for a preview. It first aired last night, but should be showing as a re-run over the weekend.

via Teleflora's Flower Blog

Easter Flowers

Easter is just a few days away!  This was our store display from last year, which I just stumbled upon - so, I thought I would share it!  I love the green grass bunnies and the bright tissue paper pompoms from this display.  I will try to get some pictures up from this year's window, but no guarantees.

For some home decorating inspiration, here are some pictures of Easter arrangements from Martha Stewart.  I love the use of the egg cups and cake platters in the first picture - another creative way to use home objects as vases. 

[images from martha stewart online,  left and right]

These pictures use homemade vases - the first one is made from an ostrich egg!  Click on the links below for the instructions on how to make each one. 

  [images from martha stewart online (left and right) and here are the instructions (left and right) on how to make vases]

Spring is Here!

Happy Spring!  I love spring and everything it represents - sunny days, blooming  flowers, longer days, and new beginnings.  The light pastel colors of spring and the warmer weather are welcome changes!  Here are some beautiful floral pictures from flickr to celebrate the coming of spring!

[image from WTL]

[image from mikelens and noel zia lee]

[image from annia316]

[images from MR+G and zed.cat]

 

[image from tagon]

Green Wedding Flower Inspiration

I LOVE green!  I especially love green and white for a wedding color combination.  Other combinations that work are green and brown, green and pink, green and purple, and green and aqua.  If you choose a green focused color pallet, you can use succulents, which last long after the wedding is over.  Here are just SOME ideas for using green flowers for your wedding or event!

[pictures via brides.com]

 

[pictures via theknot.com]

 

 

[pictures via theknot.com, instyle weddings, and brides.com; click on each one to go the the original]

 

And check out this recently posted wedding at Brooklyn Bride, for even more inspiration - part I and part II!

Bouquets to Art

In San Francisco this week, the de Young Museum is featuring "Bouquets to Art,"  which is a fundraiser for the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.  This annual event features around 150 floral arrangements from outstanding floral designers in the local area.  The floral designers are challenged to make floral arrangements that depict the artwork in the gallery. 

 

[picture from San Francisco Gate]

Click here for more information.  And click here for some more pictures from last year's event. 

Bells-of-Ireland

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I thought Bells-of-Ireland, Moluccella laevis, would make for a great flower of the week.  These unique green, bell-like calyxes are densely packed along the tall stems.  Tiny white flowers with a gentle fragrance bloom within each of the green "bells" of the flower.  The flower originates from Turkey and Syria, not Ireland, and belongs to the mint family.  The link to Ireland comes from the color and its symbol of good luck. 

[picture via jurek d]

Here are two flower arrangements we made using Bells of Ireland:

Click here and here or more information, and for a song about Bells of Ireland from NPR, click here.