Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Real Weddings: Katie and Tom

Katie and Tom were married at the end of October at the beautiful Elkridge Furnace Inn. This beautiful couple was a joy to work with. Not only did they have a great style they also had some great ideas for their flowers. Tom wanted to use toad lilies if they were available for both the boutonnières and the cake. Katie’s mom was going to bring us magnolia leaves and dried crepe myrtle from their home in Georgia for us to use in the centerpieces.  It was these personal touches that made the flowers so special.

Katie carried a bouquet of white dahlias ringed with magnolia leaves. The stems of the bouquet were wrapped with a tartan plaid which looked great with the deep green of the magnolia.

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The girls carried bouquets filled with vibrant fuchsia dahlias  mixed with magnolia leaves.

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The centerpieces were made in low, rectangular, glass vase filled with dahlias, dried crepe myrtle and magnolia leaves.

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This cake table and cake was one of my favorites of last year.  Dahlias, dahlia petals and toad lilies covered the table and cake.

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Thanks to Wollam Gardens and Locust Point Flowers (and Katie’s mom) for the beautiful flowers and greens.  Special thanks to Brian Slanger Photography for the beautiful photos.

Congratulations to Katie and Tom! Wishing you all the happiness in the world!

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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Win 2 Free Tickets to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival

This year, the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival is coming to the Timonium Fair Grounds on the weekend of April 29, 30 and May 1. I have to say-I’ve never been to this festival but can’t wait to check it out! The artists and craftspeople look amazing!  I’m definitely going to be checking out the papermaking demonstration by Cyndi Mylynne.

So…the amazing people at the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival have given us two tickets to give out to one of our lucky readers!  All you have to do is be the first to email me (ellen@locoflo.com) letting me know (1) thing you love about LoCoFlo’s blog. It’s that easy!  Ready….GO!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

DIY: Basic Succulent Boutonniere

For all of you DIY’ers out there, boutonnieres seem to be a challenge.  Here’s some tips on making a simple, succulent boutonniere.  You can do it!

Start with some nice sized “chicks”.  These are the side growths of the hens and chicks succulents you can get at your local garden center. Try to get a little bit of the root on there for added support.

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Since mine were pretty dirty and had a lot of soil still attached to them, I dipped them gently in some warm water. Be careful when handling them because the “petals” can come off easily and give you an uneven look.

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Once clean, you’ll want to add some floral wire to the base of the succulent to give it support. I use a pretty light gage wire and go in from opposite sides of the root.

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Once wired, you can wrap the stem in floral tape.

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Now you can add your rosemary (in this case) or another herb, green flower, berry…or whatever you think will look great with this little succulent.

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Just tape them together with a small piece of floral tape.

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Once they’re all put together, wrap them up in whatever you like-ribbon and raffia are two of our favorites.

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Try it! I’d love to see pictures of your creations!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Flower Farming Starts and Finishes

One the the things I love about LoCoFlo is our close connection and relationships with the farmers we work with. On any given DSC_0509week, I see and talk with the growers more than I do my friends and family.  This is a business that requires regular contact by phone, email,fax and visits to the farm and farmers markets. It’s easy to become…friends.

This past week I was excited to meet and spend time with Talmar Garden’s newest employee: Brindley Fisher. Brindley will be my regular contact at Talmar for ordering flowers. Ordering flowers from local growers is different than calling up a wholesaler or emailing an online distributor and making an order. One call or click and your done. Not so in our world.  Brindley will be the person who lets me know what’s growing each week. It’ll be Brindley that walks me around the greenhouses, hoop houses and fields to show me what will be available in the coming weeks. It’ll be her that emails me, texts me, calls me to let me know how many lisianthus are blooming, in what shades and what the stem lengths are.  It’s farmers like Brindley at Talmar that provide the beautiful flowers, herbs and greens for our weddings and events. They make our work possible.  I’m excited by Brindley’s  enthusiasm for her work-and for the human connections that come as a result of the work. I’m looking forward to working with her this year.

DSC_0434I was also saddened this week to find out that one of my favorite growers has decided to stop growing flowers and leave “the business” all together. After some health problems slowed him down last season, he decided, after much consideration, to stop growing. I’m sad for so many reasons. This is a man so full of information about flowers that was ALWAYS so generous with his time to walk me around the farm and TEACH me. I have learned so much from him. I’ve shared coffee with him, made crafts at his house and cut flowers in the field with him. He has been a huge supporter of LoCoFlo and while I know that won’t change, I’m saddened to lose that weekly, sometimes daily connection with him. 

As we start our 4th year, I want to say how grateful I am to all of the growers we work with. Grateful for the beautiful flowers they provide. Grateful for everything they teach me (and they are teaching me all the time). Grateful for their support of LoCoFlo. Grateful for the relationships we have built. Grateful to call them my friends.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Local Inspiration at Green Mondays!

The Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance has been hosting Green Monday networking events for a few years now. I usually try to go since there is usually great food, great conversation and lots of great people to meet.

atwater_logo_lrgThis month was no exception. Folks gathered on the 2nd floor of Atwater’s Catonsville store/restaurant. If you haven’t been, you should check it out. It’s a beautiful sunny space with a gigantic common table in the middle of the room (made from ceiling rafters of the old Dad’s Cookie plant across the street) Dinner was a delish soup/salad/dessert combo served in Atwater’s Tiffan Boxes.  (very cool!)

As people finished eating, guest speaker Ned Atwater told the group about the history/future of Atwater’s. What started out as a bread and butter business (literally) has turned into several restaurants focused on local, sustainable delicious food and exceptional service.

Listening to Ned talk about his passions, his business, his employees, his failures and his aspirations was truly inspiring.  It reassured me that a small business like LoCoFlo can be sustainable, even in a seasonal market. That we don’t have to do everything on our “to do” list today-but we should aspire to bigger, more sustainable goals. That our commitment to the local community is important-and in fact, is one of the keys to our success.

I went home Monday night feeling proud-proud of LoCoFlo, proud of Atwater’s, proud of Baltimore and excited to get back to work!