CSA 2014: Week 3

Week 3 of our CSA and we’re taking a break from HOT colors and going with a more muted, deep palette.  This weeks bouquets include:

• White Lisianthus (they look a little like a rose)
• Dark/almost black dahlias (or some of you may get purple)
• Wild Carrot/Daucus (looks like Queen Anne’s Lace but dark burgundy or light pink
• Mountain Mint
• Lemon Basil
• Blackberries (yup! blackberries)
• Scabiosa (little pincushion flowers)

Our lisianthus, dahlias, blackberries and daucus are from Capital Flower Growers.

The beautiful mountain mint came from our friend Bill Harlan of Belvedere Farm. We’re grateful to Nancy for delivering to us today!

Finally, the lemon basil and scabiosa come to you this week from Hillen Homestead. Located just 1.6 miles from our studio, Hillen Homestead is currently our only Baltimore City farmer.

Maya, her husband Max and their little one, farm on a small plot of land where rowhouses used to stand.

In their second year of growing, Hillen Homestead is getting the most out of their space! My favorite from so far are the scabiosa which you’ll see dotting your bouquet this week.

We’re grateful to Hillen Homestead and all of our growers for all of their hard work on our behalf!  They are so much more to us than just “suppliers” they are really a wonderful part of the LoCoFlo family! We couldn’t do what we do without them!

Enjoy your flowers this week! Be sure to change the water frequently and trim the bottoms every two days. Keep them out of direct sunlight to get the most life from them!

Spring Design Class at Local Color Flowers

On Sunday, we hosted our first design class in our new space! It was so much fun to have folks in the shop getting their hands on flowers!

We started out with snacks picked up from the Sunday market including pastries from Chez G and Infused Spreads, treats from the Mallow Bar and the most wonderful salted caramel brownies EVER- from Charm City Cook.

After snacks, I gave a brief over view of some design techniques that we use here at LoCoFlo. We usually start with a base-branches, foliage, herbs etc. Then we go to our focal flowers-our WOW flowers. Then finally-all the other bits and pieces the help an arrangement move. We talked a little about color palettes, orientation and scale. Then-I introduced the flowers. This week we had crabapple, sand cherry, wild mustard, red bud, lilies, tulips (in all different shapes and sizes), daffodils, anemones, gerbers, ranunculus and curly willow.

Of course we talked about the awesome local farms that contributed flowers to our class that day (Farmhouse Flowers, Plant Masters, Lynn Vale Studios, Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm and the brand new Castillo Flower Farm).

Once everyone picked their flowers-the creative magic began! Everyone made gorgeous spring arrangements in a variety of color palettes.  The arrangements turned out so beautiful!

Here are a couple examples!

Carling even took a little video!

We’re definitely looking forward to more classes in the future! Keep an eye out for a schedule of upcoming classes and events.  We hope to see you soon!

Real Weddings: Shauna and Brent

Shauna and Brent were married on a beautiful September day at one of my favorite venues: Historic London Town and Gardens.

Shauna carried a classic white bouquet made with locally grown dahlias and scented geranium. A beautiful, jeweled broach added a pop of color to the bouquet wrap.

The wedding colors were shades of orange, gold and green. The style of the wedding was rustic and natural. (My favorite colors and style!)

The guys boutonnieres were made of small succulents, orange gomphrena and a little splash of white statice.

Two lush ceremony arrangements were placed on the deck where the couple said their vows. The colors looked so vibrant against the blue of the sky and the Bay.

Sweet, pint sized mason jars filled with dahlias and zinnias hung from the ceremony chairs. A great added touch for the center aisle.

The reception tables were decorated with potted herbs, succulents and in this case, salad greens.

Even the cake got gussied up with flowers! Orange dahlias and zinnia added a great pop of color to this classic, beautiful white cake.

We’re so grateful to all of the growers that provided flowers for Shauna and Brent’s wedding including: Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm, Plant Masters and Wollam Gardens.

Special thanks to Nathaniel and Rissa from Balance Photography for these beautiful photos. I can’t  tell you what a joy it is to work with this super talented couple.

Finally, congratulations to Shauna and Brent. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness.

Real Weddings: Katie and Matt

I absolutely loved everything about Katie and Matt’s wedding. From the night I met Katie and her mom and grandmom, I knew we were going to hit it off. We spent a lovely, rainy evening in Beth Bailey’s office talking about all things flowers! Katie wanted a natural, color, beautiful palette for her wedding flowers. She also wanted to use her grandmom’s antique jars and bottles for the centerpieces. LOVED IT!

A few weeks before the wedding we all met at the Mt Washington Farmers Market and looked at some of Belvedere Farm’s beautiful flowers. We picked some really great zinnias, dahlias, hydrangeas and other treats.

Then the ordering and pick-ups started! The growers are used to getting my emails listing the flowers I need for that week. However, I don’t think they were prepared for my note requesting 1200 zinnias for one wedding!  How fun!

Katie and Matt were married at the Antrim in Taneytown. This garden was such an amazing spot for a wedding.

The bride carried a bouquet filled with white zinnias, lisianthus, dahlias, tuberose and alliums with splashes of green from the mint and sedum.

The bridesmaids carried colorful bouquets of zinnias. Perfect for this end of summer day.

I loved these pretty hangers we used for the center aisle at the ceremony.

The centerpieces were made in over 100 jars and apothecary bottles owned by Katie’s grandmom. I always love using vessels that hold meaning to the couple.

  We decorated the cake with some pretty lisianthus and sedum.

Thanks to ALL of our growers! We bought from almost everyone for this fab wedding!

Special thanks to Amy Ling Photography for providing us with these beautiful photos!  To see some more photos from Katie and Matt’s wedding, check out our flickr site.

Congratulations to Katie and Matt! Thanks for choosing Local Color Flowers. We had a blast working with you! Wishing you much love and happiness in the years to come.

Real Wedding: Ikumi and Chris

At the end of June, I worked on charming wedding here in Baltimore. Ikumi and Chris were married on a beautiful June evening at Gramercy Mansion. When I met with Ikumi to talk about flowers she mentioned wanting shades of purple for her bouquet.  This was an exciting challenge to me because I couldn’t wrap my head around monochrome purple.  Purple means something different to everyone. When asking the growers for purple that week, the shades were all so different.

At first, I tried to leave out the phlox and balloon flowers that looked more blue against the bee balm. I liked how it looked, but it looked a little …boring. I added in the more bluish purples, with the green mountain mint and I think it really made it alot for interesting and really beautiful.

Ikumi and Chris had small dinner reception at the Charleston, one of my favorite restaurants in Baltimore.  I loved the centerpieces we made for the dinner tables because the included Bells of Ireland. Everyone loves Bells of Ireland for their bright green color and weird suction cup “petals”. Locally, Bells of Ireland are only available for a few weeks in June,  so I try to use them as much as possible.

Thanks to Talmar and Belvedere Farm for providing us with these beautiful flowers!

Special thanks to Heather Coburn Photography for the fab pictures of Ikumi and Chris.

Congratulations to Ikumi and Chris! Wishing them much happiness in the years to come!

Real Weddings: Leslie and Michael

I love clients that love flowers! Leslie was a joy to work with leading up to the wedding day. She was super excited about the flowers – and so was I…which is the perfect combination!

Leslie looked stunning at her wedding. She carried a garden style bouquet filled with dahlias, lisianthus, salvia, beauty berries, eucalyptus, lavender and mint.

We lined the center aisle with these overflowing chair hangers. They were filled with mint, lavender, eucalyptus, tuberrose, ageratum and dahlias. They were perfect for adding great, natural fragrance to the ceremony.

 

Leslie collected an eclectic assortment of glassware for us to use for the table centerpieces. They ranged from a vessel that looked like a disco ball to a vintage measure cup. While each table had the same types of flowers, they were each unique as a result of the beautiful selection of vessels.

 

We had such fun working on Leslie and Michael’s wedding. Thanks to the great folks at the Josephine Baker Parks Center and to Chris at Ridgewells Catering for making set-up so easy!

Thanks to our amazing growers for always working with us to get just the right selection of flowers for each individual client! Flowers this week were provided by Wollam Gardens, Locust Point Flowers, Talmar, Farmhouse Flowers and Belvedere Farm.

Thanks to Erika Freber Photography for these beautiful photos!

Special thanks to Leslie and Michael for choosing Local Color Flowers! Wishing you much love and happiness in the years to come.

Real Weddings: Tracie and Kevin

Tracie and Kevin were married last fall at the beautiful Steppingstone Museum in Havre De Grace. This historic, natural setting was perfect for an October wedding.

The bride’s bouquet was filled with fuchsia dahlias, chartreuse zinnias, plumed celosia and little pops of deep brown millet. It was wrapped in raffia to give it a very natural look.

 

This creative bride decided to do the centerpieces herself. They turned out great! Ball jars are so versatile and can be used in so many different ways. This one was filled with shiny glass gems, a pillar candle and a richly colored brown ribbon. Placed on top of a circular mirror, the centerpieces added color, texture and light to the tables. Love them!

 

Thanks to Michael Temchine for the flower photos and thanks to Locust Point Flowers and Belvedere  Farm for the beautiful flowers!

Congratulations to Tracie and Kevin!

Real Weddings: Karen and Brad

LoCoFlo loved working with Karen and Brad. When I first met this great couple, Karen told me she used Janell and Eric’s wedding flowers as inspiration for choosing her flower colors. I loved all the vibrant colors-greens, oranges, yellows; the textures-succulents, herbs, flowers, greens and and the sweet scent of tuberose and mint.

Karen and Brad were married at the beautiful Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace Maryland. It’s a beautiful spot, one block from the water with a charming garden where the couple was married. Karen looked just beautiful walking down the aisle with her ADORABLE son!

Every detail, including this stunning white dahlia (with a little orange asclepias peeking out) was just perfect.

Karen also chose…unique…boutonnieres for the guys-which I LOVED! yup…that’s a hairy ball boutonniere!

And check out this luscious cake!

 

Thanks to our wonderful growers including Belvedere Farm, Bridge Farm Nursery and Locust Point Flowers! Thanks to Jonathan Hanson for the beautiful photos.

Congratulations to Karen and Brad! A wonderful couple who deserve all the love and happiness in the world!

Real Weddings: Jayme and Merissa

I met Jayme and Merissa at the Cloisters Open House last February. They seemed excited about local flowers and about LoCoFlo’s style. A few months later we got together for coffee and discussed their ideas for flowers and decor. These ladies has wonderfully creative ideas that I was super excited to be a part of .

Jayme and Merissa were married at the Cloisters on a warm October afternoon. We used a plethora of orange and white dahlias for the bouquets. They matched perfectly with the wedding party’s dresses and Converse sneakers!

 

The centerpieces were some of my favorites of the year. Low, white footed bowls filled with orange and white dahlias, locally grown apples, millet, broom corn, hairy balls (that’s what they’re called!) scented geranium and nandina berries.

 

The wedding and reception was full of great details showcasing the couples creativeness and their love for each other.

 

Thanks to all of the growers that helped make this wedding so special-Wollam Gardens, Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm, Bridge Farm Nursery, Reid’s Orchard and Breidenbaugh Farms.

Special thanks to LoCoFlo designer Jen Bryant who put the centerpieces together!

Thanks to Lovestruck Photography for the amazing pictures!

Congratulations to Jayme and Merissa! Wishing you much love and happiness! And thanks for repurposing the centerpiece apples into a delish treat of spiced apples! They were awesome!