Sample for Sara

We are working on samples for Sara's wedding in late June.  This is the first idea we came up with - white and blue hydrangeas, Finesse and vendela roses, orange jaguar mokara orchids and dusty miller leaves and berries.  The second picture shows how the piece looked on the specular linens they chose.

AIFD Southern conference

This past weekend I was honored to be asked to be part of a stage presentation at the AIFD Southern chapter conference in Charlottesville.  I talked about woven elements as part of floral design and refined my woven dome piece as one of the works I talked about.   I put the dome in a large low cylinder vase and surrounded the dome with small rocks to enhance the idea of a river bed - a river of ranuculus surrounded by a dry river bed.   

I am in love with these pieces - for me they are a great leap into a new form of flower arranging and so true to everything creative that I love - these pieces echo my woven work and my love of color changes across arrangements.   

Here are two more takes on this woven armature - the one from the previous post with the white phals - one with fabulous poppies in various sherbert colors and the other with the most subtle colors of french ranuculus.

I hope to keep this armature fresh for some time and try types of new flowers with it....stay posted.

Potomac Floral Competition

Yesterday was the annual open house at my wholesaler - Potomac Floral.  I entered the competition and was determined to display a simple piece with no styling.  I love to style tables but thought that this piece could stand on its own without a lot of frou frou and votives and other stuff.  I love this piece - worked on weaving the varigated lirope for a few hours and draped the white phals over the dome.  I think it was a strong piece and was very happy with it.  As usual, there were people who loved it and people who did not - that is always the risk of these shows.  But this competition helped me push this type of design a little further down the road. 

Flowers for Claire

Claire's husband called with an order for flowers for her - something cheerful and spring like.  I found the most wonderful coral pink peony tulips and built the arrangement from there.  Dekora roses, Girly spray roses and dark purple callas and cones to create some interest. 

Peony tulips

I make a weekly arrangement for Holton and have a lot of fun trying new things.  Occasionally I like simple single flower arrangements - this type of arrangement really showcases the particular flower.  This week I found some beautiful yellow peony tulips - they open up to a multi petal display and are quite nice.  I cut the tulips fairly short since they will grow a bit in water and used the unbruised leaves as a backdrop for this asymmetrical arrangement.

Delivery sights

Today I drove all over the metro area making deliveries.  When I passed this bottle tree in Takoma Park I did a double take and had to take a picture on the way back.  So cute - I would like to do this at my house.  Colorful and fun all year long and in front of the cutest house.

Maybe the last orchid arrangements for a while

Today we made and delivered 16 of these little orchid arrangements as thank yous to all the ladies who helped with the Holton auction.  91 miles and 5 1/2 hours later we still have 7 to deliver tomorrow....

We made the larger arrangement for the head of the auction committee. 

Orchid arrangement with some variations

This little arrangement is a variation of the orchid piece I made last week - it is a slightly smaller scale with fuschia dendrobiums,  one baby green hydrangea and some varigated flax leaves placed asymmetrically.  I also used a twist of flat fuschia wire to decorate the vase.

Landon reception

Last night here was a reception over at Landon.  It was a cold night and they were expecting a huge crowd so they opened up the house as well as a heated tent.  The linens had a tropical vibe and maybe that helped everyone think about the warm spring that is coming.....soon we hope.

Anyway, the other night I was at Homegoods - the absolutely best source for interesting containers (other than estate and yard sales).  They had some pieces that really worked with the linens and I tried some new things.  Orchids with grevillia greens and burgandy galax for the cab tables, and bound callas in two different types containers.