Thursday, July 29, 2010

August Wedding Flowers...Before the Big Day

IMG_1173I went out to Bridge Farm Nursery today to pick up some flowers for this weekend and to visit with Mel (the farmer and owner of  the farm) and Eric (farm hand extraordinaire).  These guys are both awesome to work with. Bridge Farm Nursery is in Cockeysville (about a 5 minute drive from Wegmans).  It is a beautiful farm with annuals, perennials, lots of woody plants and loads of flowering trees.

In addition to picking up flowers for this week’s wedding (which will be coming soon in this week’s What’s Blooming), I wanted to check on some flowers for next week’s brides. Our brides are SO creative and eclectic and just plain cool. One bride next week, Marnie, is wearing a vintage Mexican wedding dress and wants flowers in deep and bright reds, yellows, purples and oranges. Another bride, Anna, is getting married at the American Visionary Arts Museum. Her colors are plum purple, orange and bright green.

As Mel and I walked around, I was so inspired by everything that was blooming.

IMG_1168Cool, green hydrangeas

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Orange Asclepias (with butterfly)

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Mel checks out the orange asclepias (with loads of butterflies)

IMG_1176 Deep red asclepias

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Velvety celosia in red, orange and pinkIMG_1178

What a great way to spend the  morning right? More to come-when we get these flowers next week and arrange them into fab bouquets and centerpieces for our brides. Check back to see!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Eat Local Food, Buy Local Flowers

IMG_1166 This is LoCoFlo’s second week selling locally grown cut flowers and locally grown plants at the Bon Appétit  to Go Cafe at SMC Campus Center at UMB. If you read this blog regularly or follow me on Twitter-you’ve probably heard alot about this new gig. Without boring you to death,  I wanted to give you an update on how things went our first week.

10 bouquets were sold as well as several potted plants and a couple of hanging baskets. Overall – a pretty good first week.

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This week, we’ve brought more bright, summer bunches as well as some really beautiful sunflowers you can buy on their own or as part of a bunch.

Stop by the Bon Appétit Cafe to Go on the 1st floor of the SMC Campus Center at 621 West Lombard to pick some up!

Special shout out to my old boss Dan who braved 100 degree temps on Friday and rush hour traffic in downtown Baltimore  to go to the Campus Center to buy a bunch of LoCoFlo’s flowers! It made my day for sure!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Real Weddings: Stephanie and Todd

Stephanie and Todd were married on a warm May day at Rockwood Manor in Potomac Maryland. What a beautiful, natural spot for a Spring wedding.

The bride carried a lush bouquet full of peonies, salvia, baptisia and solomon’s seal.

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The ceremony arrangements were full of bright pink peonies and baptisia as well. They also had a few stems of white stock which added a sweet/spicy perfume to the air. The arrangements complimented the rustic setting perfectly.

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The bride  made these beautiful paper magnolias which were fastened to the chairs during the ceremony.

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The table arrangements were made up of three different sized/shaped bud vases full of peonies, salvia and stock.

IMG_0850 Congratulations to Stephanie and Todd!  Thanks to the fabulous Maryland and Virginia farmers that supplied the flowers including Wollam Gardens, Farmhouse Flowers and Bridge Farm Nursery and Belvedere Farm. Special thanks to Lisa Jacobs for sharing the photos of the bride with me.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

What’s Blooming: 071710

Here’s a little bit of what’s blooming around Baltimore today! We’re getting ready to start selling mixed bouquets at the U of MD Baltimore Campus Center on Monday-so here’s a sneak peak at some of what you might see there!

IMG_1137Mixed color zinnias from Belvedere Farm

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Tansy from Belvedere Farm

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Solidago From Belvedere Farm

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Millet from Belvedere Farm

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Queen Anne’s Lace from Locust Point Flowers

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Gladiolas from Locust Point Flowers

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Plume Celosia from Locust Point Flowers

Friday, July 16, 2010

LoCoFlo Bouquets at U of MD Baltimore!

754 LoCoFlo is excited to begin work with Bon Appétit Management Company this coming Monday!  We’ll be setting up a flower stand at the Bon Appétit To Go Cafe at the University of Maryland Baltimore in the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center located at 621 West Lombard Street.

We’ll be selling beautiful mixed bunch flower bouquets made from Maryland grown cut flowers as well as locally grown potted flowers and plants. Come by and pick up flowers for your office, home or as a gift for someone special!

I’m really excited about this new partnership.  Bon Appétit is a socially conscious company specializing in the use of local, sustainable and organic products in their cafes and in their catering work. Working with folks with similar values and similar goals is really rewarding. It’s the type of community partnership that we have been developing since LoCoFlo began.

Please spread the word-forward this post, tell your friends, post this on facebook and twitter…we are starting small-but I’m hoping to sell out this first week! If you get down to the stand (they’re open M-F from 7am-6pm) drop me a line and let me know what you think…and be sure to pick up a bouquet of flowers.

Special thanks to Belvedere Farm and Locust Point Flowers for providing the flowers for the bouquets! Thanks to Wendy Hickok for this beautiful photo!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Real Weddings: Lianne and Timm

Lianne and Timm were married on the windiest day ever! It was a beautiful, sunny, cool May day at Irvine Nature Center but the wind was CRAZY! But hey…what can you do. This couple took it all in stride. They were both super relaxed, excited and enjoying themselves with their friends and family.

The bride looked so beautiful in a lacy, vintage dress. Her bouquet was mad up of herbs, solomon’s seal, succulents, gerber daisies and bachelor buttons.

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The boutonnieres were simple but fit perfectly with the venue and the style of the wedding: A little sprig of rosemary with a little hen and chicks succulent. It as wrapped in raffia.

108The bridesmaids wore a beautiful shade of blue that matched perfectly whit the bachelor buttons in the bouquet. The bouquet was also filled with snap dragons, gerber daisies, solomon’s seal and scented geranium. 737

And then…there were the tables…Each table had a different arrangement to create a picnic feeling. The arrangements were made in tin cans, galvanized tin buckets, mason jars, wine carafes and more.

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This little can was filled with just one, perfect, orange ranunculus.

749 This mason jar was full of herbs and bright yellow poppies!

752 754 This tall arrangement was full of vibrant blue delphinium and surrounded by orange poppies, yellow gerber daisies and blue bachelor buttons.

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Thanks to Wollam Gardens and Farmhouse Flowers for growing such beautiful flowers! Thanks to Marina for helping to arrange and Carla for helping to deliver. Special thanks to Wendy Hickok who took these amazing photos.  To see more photos from Lianne and Timm’s wedding, you can check out the LoCoFlo Flickr site or Wendy’s blog.

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Congratulations to Lianne and Timm!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

What’s Blooming: 070110

As July begins, here’s a look at some of the flowers blooming around Maryland today.

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Lisianthus from Farmhouse Flowers in all sorts of pinks, purples and whites. IMG_1106 Blue hydrangeas from Farmhouse Flowers.

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Awesome blueish thistle…I’m still looking for the name of it…but it’s going to make great boutonnieres.

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Zinnias from Belvedere Farm.

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Pink and Yellow Yarrow from Belvedere Farm.

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Salvia from Talmar.

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Purple Statice from Talmar.

Thank you Maryland growers!

Weekend 062610: A Sneak Peak at the Flowers

LoCoFlo has had the privilege of working on some really amazing weddings and events these past few weeks. Last weekend we worked on three weddings and a super fun garden party.

Friday night was Amanda and Orion’s wedding at the Cloisters. I couldn’t help but wish I was going to their wedding. It was a beautiful, summer Friday night, everything looked beautiful…

IMG_1003 The bouquet and Entryway centerpiece were both so lush and full of pinks, lavenders and greens.

IMG_1009 Saturday, we delivered these amazingly bright, vibrant summer arrangements for a garden party in Towson.

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Later on Saturday, I delivered flowers to Hampden for a wedding that took place on the front lawn of a rowhome on Beech Ave. It was the perfect Baltimore wedding!

IMG_1032Finally, on Sunday, a lovely bride and her parents came to pick up bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages for a late afternoon wedding at Gertrude’s. The boutonnieres were really cute and the bride loved them!

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Thanks to Jen and Marina for helping with the flowers this weekend. Thanks of course to the farmers who provided us with these beautiful flowers: Bridge Farm Nursery, Belvedere Farm, Talmar, Locust Point Flowers, Baltimore’s Hoop Village and Farmhouse Flowers!

Two weddings this weekend and then a day off! I’ll be catching up on blogging for sure – so check back for more!