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Bloom Battle: A Floral Design Competition for Budding Designers and Flower Enthusiasts

We're so excited to announce LoCoFlo's first ever Amateur Floral Design Competition! If you've ever taken a class at Local Color Flowers or you love dabbling in design at home, this is the perfect opportunity to show off your skills and creativity.

Here How it Works! 

Competition Dates: This is a two day extravaganza!

Friday night, April 1st - Our studio will be opened to competitors between the hours of 7PM and 9PM. During this time contestants will design their centerpieces. These centerpieces will be held in our cooler overnight and set out for display and judging the following morning.

Saturday morning, April 2nd - To coincide with the Waverly Farmers Market on Saturday morning, we will have our doors open to the public between 9AM and Noon. All arrangements will be out on display for the public and judges to vote on. Our celebrity judges will vote between 11AM and Noon. Winners will be announced at Noon!

How to enter

There is a $75 entry fee. Please sign up online through our website. There are only 15 spots available so don't delay!

Supplies and Vessels

All supplies (clippers/water) and flowers necessary to create a show stopping centerpiece will be provided by Local Color Flowers.

Local Color Flowers encourages contestants to bring their own vases. Contestants are also welcome to purchase a vase from Local Color Flowers on Friday, April 1st for $5.00. We'll have a big selection of shapes and sizes.

Size parameters: If you are bringing your own vase, it can be any height but should not have an opening larger than 5 inches wide. If you have questions or need examples, please email irene@locoflo.com with an image of the vase you intend to use along with it's dimensions.

What Can You WIN?

1st Place: $150 Gift Card for the Food Market in Hampden, a LoCoFlo tee shirt AND a free class at Local Color Flowers.

2nd Place: Locoflo $100 Gift Card to Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point AND a LoCoFlo Wnter Beanie

3rd Place: A $75 LoCoFlo Gift card  AND a LoCoFlo Winter Beanie

Best Use of Color: LoCoFlo Hoodie AND a color wheel!

Peoples Choice: Clippers just like the Pro's use and one of our favorite floral design reads

Instagram Famous: $50 Gift Card to Local Color Flowers AND a LoCoFlo Winter Beanie

The Rules

* All centerpieces must be created at Local Color Flowers' Studio on Friday night, April 1st between the hours on 7PM and 9PM. - No exceptions.

* All centerpieces must be created using the flowers/foliage/branches provided by Local Color Flowers. The use of other flowers gathered from outside the studio whether forged or bought is not permitted.

* The use of floral foam or Oasis is prohibited.

*Amateurs only please! If you do floral design as your job, this one isn't for you.

* Local Color Flowers encourages contestants to bring their own vases. Contestants are also welcome to purchase a vase from Local Color Flowers on Friday, April 1st for $5.00.If you have questions about your vessel, please email irene@locoflo.com with an image of the vase you intend to use along with it's dimensions. 

How To Win

Winner of our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes along with our Best Use of Color Winner will be determined by our celebrity judges. (To be announced soon!)

The People's Choice Winner will be determined by Baltimoreans that stop by the shop Saturday morning between 9 and noon!

The Instagram Famous winner will be determined by how much love they get on IG! LoCoFlo will post it's top 3 favorite arrangements for online voting!

All winners will be announced Saturday, April 2 at noon!

Snapdragons: The Joy of Designing with Local Flowers

On Wednesday afternoon, I  drove out to Hendrick's to pick up flowers. Hendrick's is 87 miles from our studio in Pennsylvania. That might sound like a long way to drive to pick up flowers every week during the winter. It's not. Especially when you think that most flowers sold in the US travel thousands of miles to get to the end user. And truth be told, it's one of the best parts of my job to pull up to Hendrick's shop and see what Sue Ellen has waiting for us!

This week I ordered anemones, sweet william, heirloom carnations, daffodils, mums, freesia and snapdragons. Snaps are one of the few flowers we have almost every week of the year for design. Flowers by Bauers just north of us in Jarretsville, grows snaps, hydroponically, year round. In the dead of winter, when most of what we have is greens and branches, we can count of Matt, of Flowers by Bauers to hook us up with his candy colored blooms. 

This week, while we got some snaps from Matt, on Monday, his supply was low because of Valentine's Day, so I ordered a couple hundred stems from Hendricks too. Just seeing them bunched together, made me happy. As I was carrying them to the cooler back at the shop, I happened to smell them. I don't know what made me do it. I guess it's just our habit to smell any flowers if they are close to us, even if we know they don't have any fragrance. But wait...are snaps fragrant? I didn't think they were. But these ones I was holding smelled sweet. Like candy. I thought maybe the freesia scent had migrated to them temporarily since they were next to each other in the car. I smelled again. It certainly seemed like they were fragrant. I emailed Sue Ellen, the grower of the snaps, later that night, asking about the scent. Her reply "Yes, our snaps do smell.  They smell like grape bubble Yum". She also mentioned that the most fragrant ones are Maryland Lavender. The other fragrant ones are Plum blossom and Overture pink.

Wait what? I've been using snaps most weeks for the last 9 years and never experienced or never noticed them having a scent. I googled them and found a blog post that described them as have a "stuffing scent". A  sweet scent but not one given off spontaneously in the air. Which i think means you have to smell them...to smell them.

So, if snaps smell great and come in loads of great colors, why don't we see them in designs more? Where are the snapdragons on Instagram? Why aren't brides pinning pictures of snapdragons?

I think it's because when conventional designers choose flowers for their designs, flowers that are shipped in from all over the world, they choose flowers like peonies, garden roses, orchids, japanese ranunculus and other "popular" flowers regardless of their growing season. They don't HAVE to choose flowers like snaps. So, for the most part, they don't. Don't get me wrong, I like those flowers too (sort of). But sourcing locally, is different. It means we use what's available seasonably in our community. That means, that we use alot of snaps. And sure, sometimes they're too pointy or too flimsy or too tall...but mostly they are beautiful and underrated. And they were grown by people we know. And they tell the story of our region and the farmers that grow them. And they are grown with care. And...now...we know they smell like grape bubble yum.

A bride commented on one of our photos recently saying "i love snaps now because you included them in my wedding flowers". That's our goal right? To introduce people to local flowers that they may not have known before and help them to fall in love. What's better than that? 

Here are some of my favorite designs with locally grown snaps!

Photo by Sarah Culver Photography

Celebrating Love this Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is on it's way! Since love is too big to celebrate on just one day, we've got whole week of events planned.

Start off your celebration with Valentine's Day Paper Cutting Class with our friend Annie Howe! Make the perfect Valentine for your special someone using the easy paper cutting techniques Annie shares in class. Class is Thursday, February 4th from 7-9pm at Local Color Flowers.

Locally grown flowers are the perfect gift for Valentine's Day. Forget shipped in roses from the west coast or South America. Choose a uniquely beautiful, locally grown and designed arrangement from Local Color Flowers. We have lots of options for all of your V-Day needs. Order early and often! 

If you want to try your hand at making your own holiday arrangement, we've got just the thing for you... Valentine's Day Open Studio! This is not a formal design class. Rather, our V-Day Open Studio Session is an opportunity for self directed design...with a little help from our designers. (Adults only please). We'll provide everything you need to make a beautiful arrangement. Bring your friends, a bottle of wine and your creativity! Open Studio takes place Friday, February 12 from 6:30-8:30. 

Finally, is our Valentine's Day Pop-Up Market! You definitely want to be here for this! Order your V-day flowers in advance and pick them up at our Studio on Saturday, February 13th from 9am-noon. While you're there, pick up some amazing local gifts! Organic chocolates from our friends at Pure Chocolates by Jinji, organic beauty and skin products from Priya Means Love, amazingly delish snacks from Kinderhook Snacks and more! Be sure to come by!

Special thanks to Drift Lab for the beautiful dyed fabric in our V-day photos! Thanks to Stacy Bauer Photography for taking our V-Day photos! 

2016 Book Club List!

Our 2016 Book Club list is finally out!

• Monday February 15, 2016 State of Wonder by Ann Patchet
• Monday April 18, 2016 American Primitive by Mary Oliver
• Monday, June 20, 2016 Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
• Monday August 22, 2016 Lab Girl Hope Jahren
• Monday November 14, 2016 Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

The LoCoFlo Bookclub is a drop in club that all are welcome to attend (adults only please). It's held at our studio and always begins at 7pm. Attendees are encouraged to bring a snack or drink to share. Help us spread the word to flower and reading enthusiasts!

Summer Bouquets and Lavender Shortbread: Week 3 of LoCoFlo’s Flower CSA

July is here! We are in the thick of summer and the flowers are loving the heat!

 

This week’s bouquet is filled with:

• Monarda from Talmar
• Daucus and statice from Butterbee Farm
• Lisianthus, spearmint  and viburnum from Wollam Gardens
• Calla lilies and snapdragons from Flowers by Bauers

Since this is our first week of the season for Monarda- we thought we’d tell you a little of what we learned about it.

Mondarda is also referred to as bee balm, horsemint, oswego tea, and bergamot. You can make it into a tea (it has a mildly citrus taste) as well as dry it and use it for potpourri.  Be sure to pull a stem out of your arrangement to check out the square stems!

Our friends at Butterbee Farm grew A LOT of  lavender this year so we picked some out at the farm last week and used it for some sweet tasting lavender shortbread cookies. We thought we’d share the recipe with you since they were so good!

Happy July!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh (local)
• lavender
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh (local) mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the lavender, mint and lemon zest. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt; mix into the batter until well blended. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten to about 1inch thick. Refrigerate until firm, about 1hour.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Cookie stamps will work well on these too. Place on cookie sheets.
• Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, just until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Spikey, Sticky, Sweet and Hot: LoCoFlo CSA Week 2!

It’s June 24th and it’s our 2nd CSA pick up day! While it has cooled off slightly (it’s only going to be 84 degrees today) it has been in the high 90’s for the last few days. With the heat, comes summer flowers. We’re past the transition flowers from our last pick-up like larkspur and bupluerum and we’re on to a new variety of flowers, fruit and foliage.

Today, our bunches are filled with:

• Blueberries from Greenstone Fields
• Snapdragons from Butterbee Farm
• Borage from Butterbee Farm
• Thistle from Seaberry Farm
• Hydrangea Foliage from Wollam Gardens
• Queen Anne’s Lace From Seaberry Farm
• Sunflowers from Capital Flower Growers

Since this is the first year we’re using Borage, we thought we’d tell you a little about it. If you’re looking for it in your bouquet, it looks like this!

Butterbee Farm loaded us up with a couple hundred stems in the last few weeks. Borage is also called Starflower and is actually an herb. The leaves are edible and Laura Beth from Butterbee Farm said it tastes like cucumber but Irene and I tasted it today and…it was a little gross to eat. Try it for yourself and see.

We also added thistle to our bouquets this week. We love the color but not the spikes!

Back by popular demand this week is another cold drink concocted by Eric to keep our CSA members refreshed while they pick up their flowers. This week Lemon Basil-ade! Hillen Homestead provided us with Lemon Basil this week that Eric turned into a simple syrup. He added it to lemon and water…and voilà!

In each of our blog posts on the CSA, we’ll share some things we heard people say while they were visiting. Today our best quote came from Andy: “The flowers last week were beautiful. My girlfriend just hugged the bouquet when I brought it home.

Thanks to all our CSA members, thanks to our growers and thanks to Irene for putting our bouquets together today!

Be sure to check the hashtag #locoflocsa on twitter, instagram and facebook to see more photos from the CSA. There is still time to join if you’re interested. Check out the sign-up form on our website.

Our next pick up date is Wednesday, July 8 from 4:30-7pm. See you then!

Flower Farming in Baltimore City with Hillen Homestead

A few Sundays ago, when we had no weddings on the schedule, Eric and I spent some time over at Hillen Homestead helping our friend Maya do some planting. The phrase “many hands make light work” was so true on this beautiful afternoon in Baltimore.

Here's Eric planting dusty miller! 

New friends and neighbors came out to lend a hand! 

Gardener and past LoCoFlo bride Jen came to plant and water the new perennials.

It was great to chat about all the new offerings Hillen Homestead is going to have this year! 

We're so lucky to be able to work with Maya and Max and their little ones. Since the farm is just 1 mile from our studio, we get to see them often. We're grateful for their hard work, dedication to Baltimore, beautiful flowers and friends. 

Earth Day at Butterbee Farm

Last Wednesday, Team LoCoFlo spent the morning volunteering at Butterbee Farm for Earth Day.

 

Laura Beth and Jascha, the wonderful farmers and Butterbee, made it super fun by planning “Farm Olympics”. Teams competed in three competitive rounds: precision planting, speed weeding and feats of brawn.

Carling and Irene were “Team Age Advantaged” since they are MUCH younger and more able bodied than their old, decrepit bosses.

Eric and I competed together and frankly didn’t do as we could have due to Eric’s laying around on the job.

Jascha worked with our new friend Lydia, a brand new flower farmer out in Chestertown.

We were judged by Laura Beth, Jascha and Maya Kosok, farmer extraordinaire from Hillen Homestead (and mom to our two littlest farm helpers).

It was a sunny day for planting chamomile, weeding beds and moving rocks. More than that, it was time well spent with our team and our friends. Working in the dirt, sharing a meal, taking pictures, laughing a lot…the most fun! It’s exciting to think that we’ll be using that chamomile in bouquets in just a few short months!

Everything we do at LoCoFlo depends on our amazing growers. Volunteering at the farm is just a small way for us to let them know that we are super grateful to them for all they do! Thank you Butterbee Farm and Hillen Homestead! You make Buying Local so much fun!

Thanks to Jascha Owens at Butterbee for some of the sweet pics!

Go Local this Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and Local Color Flowers is so excited! We’re gearing up for loads of fun here at the shop and out in the community.

We’ll be offering beautiful arrangements made with locally grown flowers  for delivery in Baltimore City or for pick up at our studio Saturday morning from 9am-12 during our Mother’s Day Pop Up Shop! Order early! You don’t want to end up at the grocery store on Mother’s Day morning with the other late comers!

Did I mention we’re having a Mother’s Day Pop Up Shop at the studio on Saturday, May 9 from 9am-noon? We are! We’ll have the doors open and we’ll be selling wrapped bouquets, flower themed gifts, shares to our local flower CSA and gift certificates! Best to order your flowers in advance and pick them up during the pop-up to make sure you get what you want. We’ll likely sell out! We’ve also invited some of our fave Baltimore vendors to come by and sell their goodies as well! You’ll definitely want to pick up treats from our friends at Kinderhook Snacks, plants from Butterbee Farm, pots made by Irene and beautiful artwork by Bmore Papercuts. Stay tuned for more vendor announcements soon!

Think all that sounds fun? There’s more! Irene will be out at Becket Hitch in Greenspring Station for their Mother’s Day pop-up. She’ll be selling wrapped bouquets filled with locally grown flowers that you can grab on the go. Joining her at Becket Hitch is our good friend Charm City Cook selling the BEST brownies ever made! Go check them out!

 

Whew! It’s going to be a busy, fun, Mother’s Day week! We can’t wait to see you!

Spring is Here!

When I think of Spring flowers, I think of ranunculus and anemones and poppies and eventually peonies. There are so many showy favorites that bloom in the Spring that it’s easy to over look on the poster child of spring…the daffodil.

These double daffodils from John at Locust Point are so perfect for the start of Spring.  They are big, bright, ruffely and they make people so happy! .Happy Spring everyone! If you want to celebrate with locally grown flowers email us today!

Open Studio Session at Local Color Flowers

By Carling A. W. Elder
Learning a new skill can be intimidating, time-consuming, and expensive – all things we don’t want floral design to be! We love local flowers (all the flowers at Local Color Flowers are sourced within 100 miles of Baltimore), and want everyone to have access to them! A few months ago, as our team at LoCoFlo was brainstorming about new ways to give more people more access to local flowers, and we came up with the idea of Open Studio.

The concept/dream/ end goal of Open Studio is to facilitate a space where people can come together and experiment with floral design at their own pace. As a supplement to our formal design classes, which are perfect for the beginner student , Open Studio is aimed at the intermediate floral designer who wants to hone their skills and practice ‘til they make perfect.

We will instruct you individually as needed. It’s kind of like a yoga class where you can either ask the teacher to adjust your poses, or tell them to keep their hands off! Chose out your favorite flowers from our selection of locally grown flowers and your favorite vase from our collection. Make a floral design you actually like (instead of buying a premade one from the grocery store) and take it home or give as a gift!

We know you like to kick back at the end of a long day. We do too! However, we can only go to the bar so many nights a week… That’s why it’s great to try an activity like Open Studio! It’s laidback, educational and FUN! Bring a friend, bring vino, bring snacks – we’ll pump up the jams and maybe even show you a few dance moves. Since there’s no formal instruction at Open Studio, it’s the perfect place to chat, chill, or just zone out while designing. It’s a happy place. You make it what you want.

Fun With Local Color Flowers at Butterbee Farm this Season

We’re so excited to be partnering with our friends at Butterbee Farm again this season to offer some really cool, unique classes for families, farmers and designers alike.

Our first class at the farm will be a Family Floral Crown Class on Monday, June 29th from 11-12:30. This class is perfect for teams of one adult and one child working together.  Adults and kids will have an opportunity to tour the farm, cut their own flowers, make beautiful floral crowns with their cuttings and have their photos taken in their creations.  How fun to spend the morning with your favorite young person at a beautiful flower farm just minutes from the city.

Our next class is going to be a highlight of our summer for sure! Butterbee Farm and Local Color Flowers are teaming up to offer Blooms and Bouquets on Monday, July 13th.  This is a perfect, one-day class for farmer florists and folks that are interested learning more about flower farming and design. Students will start the day at Butterbee Farm learning all about cultivation, favorite varieties and harvesting. The amazing Dave Dowling will be on hand for a Q and A about all things flowers! After lunch, students will travel to Local Color Flowers studio to learn to make a hand tied bridal bouquet as well as see demonstrations by Team LoCoFlo making boutonnieres, corsages, head crowns and more. The day will end with a discussion of marketing and sales of locally grown flowers.

On Saturday, July 25th we’ll be offering an Adult version of our floral head crown class at the farm. Last year’s class was so much fun we can’t wait to do it again!

Our final class of the season at the farm will be our hugely popular Pressed Flower class on Saturday, September 19th. Students will tour the farm, pick flowers for pressing, make their own flower press and learn how to use their pressed flowers for arts and crafts projects.

Space in all of these classes are limited, so if you’re interested in joining, please sign up soon. We can’t wait to see you!

For questions about any of our classes, please email Ellen at ellen@locoflo.com

When Winter Won’t Be Stopped

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of winter days that our growers spend wrapped up in quilts in front of the fire (or space heater) pouring over seed catalogs and crop plans and farm video games. (sorry, I had to out you Butterbee Farm!).

But not this week. In order to have early Spring flowers, growers have been working around the clock in SUB ZERO temps to keep their tender plants warm. Ranunculus, stock, tulips, anemones and more are some of the many early Spring flowers we depend on for weddings and events now through peony season in mid-May.

Extreme wind and bitter cold temps are wreaking havoc on hoop houses and greenhouses across our region.

Here’s a look at one of the end walls of one of Wollam Gardens hoop houses yesterday.

Here’s a shot of tiny ranunculus plants getting a little extra warmth from these twinkle lights at Greenstone Fields.

Our growers have been hard at work to ensure all of our Spring clients have beautiful, locally sourced flowers. Keeping all the cracks filled is key! Our friend Barb Lamborne, Flower Farmer at Greenstone Fields, is seen below working in negative double digit wind chills trying to reinforce the hoop house.

Using locally grown flowers is a super personal, extremely special way of doing business. Each flower is grown with so much love and care. There are no more dedicated folks than our flower farmers! THANK YOU to all of the hard working farmers in our region. We’re so grateful for you!

Buy Local for Valentine’s Day Bmore!

We’re so excited for Valentine’s Day this year! After last year’s V-Day blizzard, we are looking forward to sunny skies this year! (here’s hoping anyway!)

This year we are excited to be offering wrapped bouquets, small, medium and large arrangements, local gift baskets, gift certificates and CSA subscriptions. Whew! so many great options!

I know a lot people are curious about what kind of local flowers could possibly be available in February. There are SO many beautiful flowers and branches available! We’ll be using willows, flowering branches, evergreens,  tulips, snapdragons, paper whites, calla lilies, anemones, sweet william, lilies, carnations and more! We’ll be sourcing flowers for Valentine’s Day from plantmasters in Montgomery County, Wollam Gardens in Virginia, Seaberry Farm on the Eastern Shore, Hendricks Flowers in Lititz PA Locust Point Flowers in Elkton and Flowers by Bauers in Baltimore County.

We will be offering delivery on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you’d prefer to come pick your flowers up, we’ll be offering pick ups on Friday between 10-6 and Saturday between 9-4pm. PLEASE order ahead and schedule a time for pick up. We cannot guarantee we’ll have extra flowers for walk-ins without pre-orders.

We’re super excited to tell you about our V-Day partnerships this year! On Valentine’s Day, from 9-1pm (or until we sell out), Irene will be over at Dooby’s in Mt Vernon selling wrapped bouquets.  Be sure to get there early for Dooby’s delish breakfast and some beautiful local blooms!

Over at the LoCoFlo studio we’ll be having a One Stop V-Day Pop-Up Shop with our friends from Pure Chocolate by Jinji. Pick up your (pre-ordered) locally grown flowers and organic chocolates all in one spot! We’ll be opening at 9am. Jinji will be at the studio until noon.

Buy Local this V-day Bmore! Looking forward to seeing you on the LOVEliest day of the year!

You Deserve a Bouquet Today: Charlotte Keniston and Pigtown Food for Thought

Baltimore’s Open Society Institute (OSI) fellows are always inspiring. Charlotte Keniston is one of the 2014  fellows.  Her story caught our eye because of the amazing work she’s doing in the Pigtown neighborhood in Baltimore. A past Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, Charlotte wanted to bring fresh, healthy food to her community in Pigtown.  Pigtown had long been a food dessert, devoid of opportunities to buy healthy food.

She helped start Pigtown Food for Thought in 2012 to bring food farming to her urban neighborhood. But Charlotte wasn’t just focused on food and farming. She and the folks at Pigtown Food For Thought also introduced eating and cooking together programs to bring their neighbors together around healthy food.

Food justice work in Baltimore with a concentration on community building is exciting and innovative and we wanted to say THANK YOU! Great work Charlotte! You Deserve a Bouquet Today!