Terrariums Part 1: Bits of Nature Under Glass

I’ve been wanting to try to make terrariums for a while. This weekend I assembled everything I would need to start some simple, fun terrariums. First, I picked out some vases/vessels that I thought might work. The only real requirement for a terrarium vessel is that it be glass. It can have a lid or no lid-both work.

I didn’t realize when I chose them that most of these vessels are pretty small. So Part 1 of my terrarium adventure was making SMALL terrariums.  Large terrariums will come next.

I bought most of my materials (sand, charcoal, soil, stones) at Valley View Farms in Hunt Valley. In addition to the purchased materials, I foraged for material (bark, pine cones, moss, twigs, rocks) in the yard, in my neighborhood on my evening walk and on this weekend’s bike ride.

The plants (air plants, succulents, ice plant, begonias came from Valley View, Breidenbaugh Farm, Plant Masters and from my yard.

So…this was my first terrarium. I loved it because it was made in a traditional “fish bowl”vase  filled with two types of sand, several kinds of stone and one lovely/lush succulent. Simple but very cool!  

This was my fave! I feel like a Killers song should be playing in the background!

This one would look great on a mantle with candles and other potted pieces.

This is a woodland scene inspired by our bike ride/hike through Robert E Lee park today. The cube is filled with blackened charcoal and sand and is planted with several types of moss.

I got this vase at Ikea years ago and it was always to skinny to use for much. This is a great little spot of nature to put on a window sill or office desk.

I had to use at least one Ball jar. This was a short, squat one filled with charcoal, moss and bark.

This was the last terrarium of the day. It was in a sideways spice jar filled with sand, bark, stones and moss.

I’m really excited about these terrariums because I think they are going to be great for centerpieces, home or office decor or for gifts. They’re customizable and require little to no watering. What could better? Who wants one?

New Growers for LoCoFlo

This has been a great week for LoCoFlo! On Wednesday, I went  to Annapolis to the Mid Atlantic Growers meeting. This group of growers meets in the winter (November, January and February) to discuss best practices, share upcoming flower orders, listen to speakers, get trained on new techniques-and mostly just TALK about growing flowers.

Somehow…I get to go to these meetings even though I’m not a grower…which is AWESOME!  I learn so much in these meetings about new flower varieties, new design techniques and more. I also get to meet new growers that are close enough to Baltimore to sell to LoCoFlo.

This month, I especially enjoyed meeting and talking with  Madgie from M and M Plants in Montgomery County and Suzanne Montie from Red Chimney Flower Farm in Bowie.  I’m excited to have set up a phone meeting for next week with Wenfei Uva of Seaberry Farm.  I was also encouraged to hear about some young growers buying land and trying to make the transition from regular job to flower grower. The more people growing flowers locally the more options we have for our clients. So keep growing! Finally, through the magic of Facebook, I got connected to Plant Masters in Montgomery County. Check out their Facebook page to see beautiful photos of their locally grown flowers.

I’m so excited for 2011-to visit new farms and buy from new growers!

Real Weddings: Annie and Josh

Annie and Josh are a wonderful, socially conscious couple that we had the privilege of working with this summer. I loved getting to know them through our in person meetings and their TWEETS leading up the wedding! Annie and Josh  had fun, creative, eco-friendly ideas for their wedding party flowers and centerpieces.

Annie’s bouquet was made up of hydrangeas, lisianthus and mountain mint.

  It was wrapped in beautiful, antique lace provided by the bride.

The ceremony pieces were modern and unique and filled with hydrangeas, gladiolas, hanging amaranthus and lisanthus.

In addition to using locally grown flowers for the ceremony and bouquets, the couple wanted to incorporate locally grown fruit and veggies into their centerpieces. Annie and Josh provided an eclectic mix of glass bowls, urns, and stands for us to fill with locally grown fruits and veggies.

Orange and green tomatoes with an orange dahliaNectarines and yellow tomatoes with white zinnias Yellow plums with pink zinnias Donut peaches with pink dahlias.

 

Patty pan squash with pink zinnias.

I have to say, I think these were some of my favorite centerpieces! The colors were so vibrant, each table looked unique and all of the fruit and veggies were donated to the Capital Area Food Bank at the end of the evening! What could be better!

Thanks to our flower and produce growers who provided the flowers, fruits and veggies for this wedding including: Belvedere Farm, Locust Point Flowers, Reid’s Orchard and Breidenbaugh Farm. Thanks to Classic Creations Photography for the photos of the couple. To see more photos from Annie and Josh’s wedding, check out LoCoFlo’s Flickr site.

Thanks to Annie and Josh for letting us play a small part in their special day. We wish you all the best!

Fruity Options for Wedding Centerpieces

LoCoFlo loves using the best locally grown, seasonal flowers for our clients special events. But flowers aren’t the only thing that go into these creations. We often use berries, foliage, fruits, veggies and more to add color and texture to our designs.

This year, we had several opportunities to use fruit from Reid’s Orchard in Pennsylvania. Mr. Reid has the most amazing fruits and vegetables (for both eating and designing). I especially love shopping at his stand because I get to visit with two of my favorite farmers-Katie and Anna Maunz!

In August, we created centerpieces for a wedding in Virginia with over 100 pounds of produce from Reid’s. These centerpieces were definitely a conversation starter-both amongst the multicultural staff at the hotel and the guests! 

For the couple’s sweetheart table!

All of the produce from this wedding was donated to the DC Food Bank at the end of the night!

Just a few weeks ago, we used some great green apples in these lush fall centerpieces for a wedding at the cloisters. (These apples made their way back to me  this week as a gift of spiced apples from the couple!)

What would a Fall wedding season be without a seasonally inspired centerpiece of gourds, pumpkins, apples and pears.

Besides using herbs for boutonnieres and bouquets, we often add sprigs of herbs to the place settings to add a little color and fragrance to the table.

 

Fruits and veggies also made their way to favor tables as well. Here are two examples of LoCoFLo brides that had us set up a Locally Grown Farm Stand full of local produce and reusable grocery bags for their guests could  take home with them.

For sure, LoCoFlo gets to work on some of the coolest, most progressive, creative, socially conscious, beautiful weddings around!

Thanks to Reid’s Orchard, Breidenbaugh Farms, Martin’s Farm and Pahl’s farm for the beautiful produce and herbs!

August 15, 2010: A Sneak Peak at the Flowers

Three weddings in the last three days!  This weeks weddings were so much fun-so unique, so creative and so colorful!

Our first wedding of the weekend was Shelley and Bynum’s wedding at the Howard County Conservancy. Shelley wanted a super colorful, seasonal bouquet.  We filled Shelley’s bouquet with orange zinnias, dahlias and coxcomb, pink zinnias, dahlias and celosia, yellow zinnias, purple gomphrena and a little splash of mountain mint.

Our second wedding of the weekend was Megan and Lee’s Baltimore themed wedding in Fells Point.  I LOVED her cake and cake topper!

Our last wedding of the weekend was Annie and Josh’s wedding down in Arlington. Annie and Josh are a really wonderful couple who wanted their centerpieces to be full of local fruits and veggies that they were going to donate to the DC Food Bank at the end of the night. Over 120 pound of local fruits (from Reid Orchards) and veggies (from Breidenbaugh Farms) were used in these beautiful centerpieces.

(tomatoes…in case you were wondering)

(plums…with zinnias)

(a martini glass for the bride and groom’s sweetheart table with zebra tomatoes, gomphrena, white statice and salvia)

Thanks to all of our growers and suppliers this week including Belvedere Farm, Bridge Farm Nursery, Locust Point Flowers, Talmar, Reid’s Orchards and Breidenbaugh Farm.

Thanks to to all of the LoCoFlo designers, deliverers and helpers. LoCoFlo loves you!

Real Weddings: Julie and Jordan

I met Julie at the end of February at the Mid Atlantic Green Wedding Showcase at the University of Maryland.  She told me she was getting married at Woodend Sanctuary on May 1 and hadn’t yet chosen a florist. I was  excited about working with her both because I LOVE Woodend Sanctuary and because I thought Julie’s vision for the flowers would work perfectly in that setting.

Julie wanted the flowers to feel like they had just been picked from an English cottage garden. The colors were dusty pink, white, green and BLUE. As I’m sure you’ve heard me say before-blue is not a color found a lot in nature. While I promised to try for blue-we decided on lavender as a back-up. It turns out, with the weather so strange this year (i think i heard one of the growers say that we are two weeks ahead of a “normal” schedule because of the very warm weather we had early in the spring) there was loads of blue available.

The bride’s bouquet was made up of blue and lavender delphinium and blue bachelor buttons from Wollam Gardens and pink and white snap dragons from Farmhouse Flowers. I think LoCoFlo designer Jen Bryant did a great job of capturing the style and feel the bride was going for.

These little corsages were made of pink sweet william, a bachelor button (which the bride’s dad swore was a blue spray painted dandelion and a spring or rosemary.

The table arrangements  were a collection of tin pots overflowing with color and scent. Some little buckets of English Thyme and Lobelia from Breidenbaugh Farm were partnered with larger buckets of  snapdragons, delphinium, stock, sweet peas, white viburnum and bachelor buttons.

 

The ceremony arrangements were in tall tin buckets and filled with delphinium and viburnum.

Thanks so much to Artemas Photography for these wonderful pictures. To see more check out our flickr site and Artemas’ blog!

Congratulations to Julie and Jordan! Wishing you much love and joy as you begin your life together!