Sandy Springs Festival

Be sure to check out the Sandy Springs Festival this weekend! Here are the details for the event:

Hours - Saturday: 9:00 am to 7:00pm and Sunday: 11:00am to 5:00 pm

Where - Right near CityWalk

What - community fun! Don't miss the pet parade at 11:00 am on Saturday. And you can register early tomorrow morning for the Doug Kessler Lightning 10k.

Click here for more information.

[The picture on the right is from last year's festival.]

Some Pieces from Around the Web

Check out the links below for some of the items that I have bookmarked over the past few months. 

Flower Arrangements

• Summer Flower Arranging Tips for low vases from Apartment Therapy
• How To: Display Cut Flowers (10 Easy Ways) from Apartment Therapy
• Retro Vignettes of flower arrangements from Desire to Inspire
• Hodgepodge of single stem tulips in blue vases from Lovely Little Things

Vases

• Polka Dot and Stripes vases from {frolic!} 
• Sara Paloma Vases from {frolic!} 
• Postfossil's Torre Pot from happy mundane
• Easy Fabric Vase Covers from How about orange...

Miscellaneous

• Terrariums and Aquariums from Koko Studios (found via Apartment Therapy)
• 10 Best Succulents from Apartment Therapy

 

If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for the moment.

Georgia O'Keefe

Internet Blues

Sorry Folks for the lack of posting here. I have had intermittent Internet access. But I am back online here and will really get back to the regularly scheduled program. Today is a catch-up day, and the rest of the week we will be on a family vacation. So, we will be back next week! In honor of the Internet Blues - here is a blue arrangement using ranunculus and muscari from Martha Stewart. Click here for instructions on how to put it together.

Home from Vacation!

We have arrived home.  So, we will be back to our regularly scheduled program next week!  We had a wonderful trip and saw many exciting sights!  Here is one lotus flower picture that I took from our first stop in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  I love how they folded the flower petals!

Screen on the Green

If you haven't caught a Screen on the Green showing at Centennial Olympic Park yet, this week's movie, Chicago, would be a good start!

Screen on the Green starts at sunset in Centennial Olympic Park. and is free.  If you can't make it tonight, you have two more shots - E.T. (June 19th) and Footloose (June 26th).

Take Marta and make sure you follow the park rules: "Moviegoers are welcome to bring picnic baskets and food. No high-back chairs, glass, alcohol, grills or pets of any kind are permitted at the event." Click here for more details.

*We make up picnic baskets of all sorts of goodies that could help make your date extra special.  You could even add some fresh flowers.*

Memorial Day

Enjoy the long weekend and take some time to remember those who have died serving our country.

[image from Sister72]

Fields of Flowers

Check out these beautiful pictures of fields of Moss Phlox flowers in Hitsujiyama Park, in Chichibu, Japan.    Picture by Issei Kato.  Click here for more. (via Apartment Therapy)

Darwin's Garden - NY Botanical

Slipper Orchids

The New York Botanical Garden has an exhibit featuring Charles Darwin's study of plants and flowers.  The exhibit replicates Darwin's Down House experiments and his English gardens.   Studying flowers greatly influenced the development of Darwin's theory of evolution.  For a slide show by the New York Times about the exhibition, click here.  And here is the link for the article.

Dogwood Festival - New Location

Even though this year's Dogwood Festival is not at Piedmont Park, due to the drought, it is still a great opportunity to check out some artwork and hear some live music.  So take Marta down to Lenox Square this weekend and walk around a bit.  Hey, you can even do some shopping while your at it!

 

 

Lenox Square

3393 Peachtree Road N.E.
Atlanta  GA  30326

Friday, April 4, 12:00 - 9:00 PM
Saturday, April 5, 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Sunday, April 6, 12:00 - 6:00 PM

 

Click here for more information.

Have a great weekend!

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

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. 

Having Fun with Floral Arrangements

One of our designers, Don, loves to create floral arrangements for Imagym. Imagym, which is also located at CityWalk in Sandy Springs, is a kids play center that focuses on health and physical activity. Don gets really creative with these arrangements and uses all sorts of materials to make them fun and entertaining for the kids and the parents going to Imagym. Here are some of his creations:

Have a great weekend!

Colors for Springs

Even though it is cool outside, February is coming to a close.  It's a leap year, so we have one more day!  But it looks like March will start off with a warm, sunny day!  Spring is just around the corner for us in the South.  And spring brings softer, lighter colors.  According to Pantone, the color trend setters, pinks and purples are the colors for this coming season.  A dash of yellow, splash of blue, and a touch of gray round out the selections.  According to Pantone Color Institute's executive director, Leatrice Eiseman, the spring colors "reflect the cheerfulness of the season" and I would say that I have to agree. Here is the report, which was actually published last spring.  If you are interested in color trends for fall 2008, check them out here. 

Here are a few of the "hot" colors and some for this coming Spring and some flowers that closely match them:

Color - Spring Crocus  Flower - Hydrangea Photo via  KorayGokhan
Color - Rococco Red Flower - Gerbera Photo via  ginamig276
Color - Freesia Flower - Rose Photo via frascelly
Color - Cantaloupe Flower - Dahlia Photo via martineau

Recovery Day!

We will be back with you on Monday!  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend :)

If you have some time, check out the Orchid Daze Gargoyles & Grace exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Garden!  The exhibit runs through March 30th. 

 

 

 

 

Georgia O'Keeffe at the High Museum of Art

This Saturday, February 9th, the Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle exhibition will open at the High Museum of Art. The exhibition runs through May 4th. O'Keeffe is most famous for her large-scale and close-up floral pieces, and she is one of the United State's most important artists. Thirty works by O'Keeffe will be on display, including a series of her red canna floral imagery. If you have time in the upcoming months, make sure you check out the exhibit!

"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. we haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time."

-Georgia O'Keeffe

Take a look at her work here: artst.org; learn more about her here: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, PBS: American Masters; and check out the exhibition here: High Museum of Art

Southeastern Flower Show

The 2008 Southeastern Flower Show started earlier this week. It runs through the weekend, so you still have some time to check it out if you are in the area. Check out some photos from this year's show at Flickr - November80 posted a set of photos yesterday. I just love the colors in the "Bed of Roses" photo. I wonder how many flowers were used to create it - so cool!

[image from November80]

The theme this year focuses on gardening and watering tips for dealing with droughts. Lots of speakers, presentations, and book signings will go on throughout the show. Check here for the list of speakers. I think the Designers' Floral Fantasies Display could be especially interesting to see. And don't forget to bring the kids, because there will be lots for them to do and to learn at Family Frolic on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are the details for the show: Imagine That! 21st Annual Southeastern Flower Show runs until Sunday, February 3, 2008.

Where:
Georgia World Congress Center, Building A, 285 Andrew Young International Boulevard, NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30313 (Across from the CNN Center at Andrew Young International Boulevard and Marietta Street)

Hours:
10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday

Tickets:
$20 Adult Tickets at the Door
$12 Twilight Ticket (4:00 -8:00 p.m. Friday)
$35 Multiday Access Ticket
$6 Youth Ticket (grades 1-8)
$8 Student Ticket (grades 9 to graduate school, ID required)
Free Kindergarten and under

For more details, click here.

Exploring Color

Last week, we told you about the Read My Mood tool from the Flower Council of Holland. Well, I just spent part of my morning using another one of their tools - Colour Experience. While I am sure many of you are well versed in color theory, this is a great refresher course, and it is especially geared to floral design. The tool has three different sections - learn, quiz, and create.

[image from Claire L. Evans]

The learning section goes over color theory, meanings of different colors, complementary colors, and gradations. The quiz section is self-explanatory with five multiple choice questions dealing with colors and flowers. The create section is especially fun. Here, you can complete assignments geared to get you thinking about creating bouquets for specific types of people, using different color combinations. For example, assignment 5 is to "make a bouquet with warm tints for a hotel with a cosy ambience." With different colors of flowers, you fill in a 4x4 box grid with the colors you choose. When you are done, you can compare your results to the professionals from the Flower Council.

It is a pretty interesting site and could inspire some color fun and may help you work color into your designs and flower arrangements more effectively. Click here to check out the ColourExperience.

Happy New Year

We wish everyone a year full of good health and happiness! Thanks for helping to make 2007 a great year! We look forward to another year of providing you with high quality fresh flowers!

Yesterday, you may have seen coverage of the 119th Rose Parade as a part of the Tournament of Roses celebration. This year, the theme was a "Passport to the World's Celebrations." Following is a list of some of the most popular flowers used in creating the floats (via HGTV):

• Rose - of course, about 1.5 million roses were used this year
• Carnation - full, economical, and hardy
• Chrysanthemum - plush and velvety
• Gladiolus - big and dramatic (used to petal* floats)
• Gerbera daisy - unique and fun
• Strawflower - dried and long-lasting (sometimes put in a blender to make confetti)
• Orchid - beautiful and colorful
• Lily - big and showy
• Statice - thin, papery, and comes in a brilliant blue
  
• Anthurium - interesting and long-lasting

The links above will bring you to the picture of the type of flower; they are combined into one graphic below. All images from Flickr and linked to authors above.

All images from Flickr and linked to authors above.

*One of the techniques used to create the floats includes "petaling" where the designers take individual petals of the flowers to cover a sculpture on the float.

To see some great photos of the floats, check out this website: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~matsci/btf/Rose_Parade.html

In other bowl news - congrats to the Georgia Bulldogs for winning the Sugar Bowl!

Last chance to make a charitable donation...

As the end of the year approaches, consider making one last charitable donation to your favorite cause. Some online resources may point you in the right direction for finding the charity that does work you believe in and the money you donate goes directly towards completing that work. Charity Navigator is one great resource that evaluates charities that looks at the financial health of the organization.

Here are some of our favorite local nature-related charitable organizations (there are tons more out there!).

• Atlanta Botanical Gardens
• Georgia Conservancy
• Georgia Wildlife Federation
• Piedmont Conservancy

Just remember to keep a record of the donation, so that you can make it tax deductible!