Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Black Ankle Vineyard Photo Shoot: Part 1: Before the Dress!

A few months ago Nathaniel and Rissa from Balance Photography invited LoCoFlo to be part of a photo shoot to document the amazing recycling, re-tooling and remaking of a 80’s wedding dress. The object, was to demonstrate that green weddings don’t have to be crunchy, hippy, informal type of events. They CAN be…but they can also be amazingly elegant, modern and luxurious!

Of course, I jumped at the chance to be part of this event! Photo shoot at one of the most beautiful spots in Maryland-Black Ankle Vineyard…photos by ridiculously talented photographers-Balance Photography…and getting to showcase Maryland grown flowers…it was perfect!

So…here are the first batch of MY pictures from the shoot.

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After several days of of 100 degree weather, today was perfect. 70 degrees and sunny at Black Ankle Vineyard this morning when I arrived for the shoot.

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Jen and I made three bouquets-because we weren’t sure which would look best with the dress. One was mostly white with splashes of purple. The one in the center was all white. The third one was mostly purple with splashes of white. We loved all of them-but wanted to leave it up to the photographers once they tried them with the dress.

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The flowers came from Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm and Talmar.

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Here’s the chosen bouquet with an arrangement that I made for the folks at Black Ankle.

Stay tuned for more! The model…the dress… and all of the other great folks I met at the shoot!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

What’s Blooming: 062410

Here’s a little (there’s lots more now that it’s so warm!) of what’s blooming around Maryland today, June 24, 2010

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Lilies from Belvedere Farm

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Gomphrena from Belvedere Farm

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Bill and Meghan at Belvedere Farm’s flower stand at the Mt Washington Farmers Market.

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Beautiful lisianthus from Talmar. First of the year!

IMG_0978 Gooseneck Loosestrife from Locust Point Flowers

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Back: Orange Asclepias   Front: Gooseneck Loosestrife, variegated Weigelia, White Phlox from Bridge Farm Nursery

There are also gerbers and snaps from Farmhouse Flowers!

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You know it’s summer when it’s time for Zinnias! This beautiful mixed color zinnia came from  the Safe Healing Foundation at Baltimore’s Hoop Village in Clifton Park!!!

More to come next week!

Weekend 06-19-10: A Sneak Peak at the Flowers

Last weekend was BUSY! We had a two wonderful weddings and then made some great summer arrangements for our friends at Jordan Faye Contemporary and BE.

Here’s a look at some of what we made last weekend.

IMG_0925 Centerpieces for a wedding in Fells Point at Meli made up of Annabelle Hydrangeas, lilies, campanula, dahlias, butterfly weed, lavender and Mountain Mint.

IMG_0923 Arrangements for Jordan Faye Contemporary and BE made up of beautiful summer flowers including sunflowers, callas, bells of Ireland, dahlias, feverfew, yarrow and mountain mint.

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Vegan cake made by Sticky Fingers decorated with dahlias, callas, yarrow, sunflowers, feverfew and bells of Ireland.

IMG_0934 Big, beautiful arrangement full of hydrangeas, sunflowers, campanula, bells of Ireland, dahlias, yarrow and crazy white veronica sticking out the top! I love these!

IMG_0936 One of my fave centerpieces full of hydrangeas, snaps, dahlias, yarrow, feverfew, Queen Anne’s Lace, mountain mint and rose scented geranium.

Thanks to Belvedere Farm, Bridge Farm Nursery, Locust Point Flowers, Talmar and Wollam Gardens for these awesome flowers.

Thanks to Jen, Marina and Tiffany for all of your design/delivery help last weekend!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

What’s Blooming: 061710

I’ve been meaning to start a series of regular posts about what’s blooming on a certain date. So today is the first one! This is not a all inclusive list of what’s available locally today, it’s just a sampling of some of the flowers I picked up today!

IMG_0888 Butterfly Weed from Bridge Farm Nursery

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Hydrangeas from Bridge Farm Nursery

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Dahlias from Locust Point Flowers

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Fever Few from Talmar Farm

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Sunflowers from Wollam Gardens

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Cottage Yarrow From Belvedere Farm

IMG_0910 Campanula from Wollam Gardens

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Queen Anne’s Lace from Wollam Gardens

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Real Weddings: Meghan and Chris

Meghan and Chris were married on a beautiful April afternoon. Their wedding ceremony took place at the chapel at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore. What a beautiful, romantic spot for a wedding.

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The bride’s bouquet was made up of mini white and yellow calla lilies from Farmhouse Flowers and white and yellow tulips from Van Dyke Brothers Farms.

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The groom wore a simple, elegant calla lily on his lapel.

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The ladies in the wedding party looked stunning in blue while the guys looked pretty awesome in their tuxes.

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Congratulations to Meghan and Chris! Wishing you many years of joy and happiness.

To see more photos from Meghan and Chris’ wedding including more flower photos and photos from the ceremony and reception, check out this great blog post by photographer Melissa Barrick! Big thanks to Melissa for taking such beautiful photos!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Tooting LoCoFlo’s Horn!

IMG_0858 What’s the old saying? “Don’t hide your light under a bushel”? Believe me, I’m all about letting LoCoFlo’s light shine-but I have to say, I was humbled recently when I checked out LoCoFlo’s reviews on Wedding Wire. If you haven’t heard about Wedding Wire, it’s a website that loads of brides use to help them find a vendor. If you haven’t used it, definitely check it out! I signed up to have a vendor profile on there last year-although I wasn’t sure if any our brides would use it.

Sure enough-I checked it the other day-and we had 4 reviews! That might not seem like alot-compared to some other vendors…but I was so excited. Plus, the reviews were awesome!

I guess I’m sharing these because I am so proud of the work we do. I’m so proud of the beautiful flowers the growers produce and the community we are building…and I’m so proud to be able be a part of so many wonderful people’s lives!

Go LoCoFlo!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Farm City Author Novella Carpenter Visits Baltimore!

CarpenterNovellacPaigeGreen-296x300 On Wednesday night, some friends and I shared a delish Turkish meal at Cazbar in downtown Baltimore and then walked over to the Enoch Pratt Free Library to listen to Farm City author Novella Carpenter speak. Novella was here as part of Baltimore Green Week’s Sustainable Speakers Series.

I had been looking forward to seeing her ever since I read Farm City back in the spring. As I mentioned in a past post, I wasn’t keen on her at first. But after reading the book, I felt unexpected respect for her-for the most unexpected reason-her raising and slaughtering animals. I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years now-mostly for ethical reasons. I often recognize  a disconnect with people about where their food (meat) comes from. So I appreciated, in a sort of mixed up way, Novella’s direct connection to her animals and food.

I digress. The auditorium was full of urban farmers, AmeriCorps members, parents with kids, Master Gardeners and more.  It was great to see so many like minded people in one place. The first question Novella asked when she started speaking was “How many people are growing their own food?” Almost every hand shot up! Way to go Baltimore!

Novella talked for over an hour. She was both hilarious and more than a little whacky. She recounted the same history that’s in the book-along with pictures-of how she became an Urban Farmer. Questions and answers revealed  techniques for beekeeping, rat trapping and goat milking. Not your average Baltimore Wednesday night for sure. Or maybe it was. Maybe that’s what I love about Baltimore: the unexpected quirkiness waiting for you if you just take time to find it.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Love of Summer Markets

Yarrow Sometimes "Buying Local” is super easy. You roll out of bed on Saturday morning, head to your favorite neighborhood farmer’s market, fill up on goodies and return home in under an hour.

For LoCoFlo, the logistics of buying locally vary with the season. In the winter and early spring we primarily buy from Farmhouse Flowers and Wollam Gardens. These two farms, in Brookeville Maryland and Jeffersonton Virginia, respectively, are some of the only local growers growing in heated greenhouses. Luckily they are fabulous farms with loads of variety in the late winter and early spring. (I LOVE THEM!) I also often buy from Van Dyke Brothers Farm in Southern New Jersey when it’s cold because they grow TONS of tulips in greenhouses.

Little by little though, as the weather gets warmer in late spring, I’m able to use some of the more local of the local growers.  It still means  have to drive to Fallston or Cockeysville-but it’s not nearly as…time consuming…as driving to Montgomery County and then straight to the Penn Quarter Market in DC.

But once June hits…I’m psyched!

Last week the Tuesday night market in Lauraville started. It’s a great little market that feels more like a block party with your old friends and neighbors than a farmer’s market. The best part about it is that John and Debbie McKeown of Locust Point Flowers are there! YAY! Tuesday night flower pick up less than 3 miles from my house!

John and Debbie at Lauraville

This week marks the start of the Wednesday market at the Mount Washington Whole Foods. Best part of this market…Bill Harlan and Belvedere Farm is there! YAY! Wednesday night flower pick up less than 3 miles from my house!

DSC_0501 Bells of Ireland from Belvedere Farm

The list goes on! Locust Point Flowers at the Thursday morning market in Towson and the Saturday market in Towson , Talmar and Pahl’s Farm at the new Wednesday market at Timonium

Like I said…my flower life gets so much easier (and busier) between June and October. It’s awesome!

Please go out and support these farms and farmers. Find a market close to you and treat yourself to beautiful, locally grown cut flowers! Do it!