Meeting Amy Stewart

What a way to usher in my 41st year than with an evening  at Cylburn Arboretum with Amy Stewart! For those of you don’t know, Amy Stewart is an amazing writing of books, blogs and all things gardening. On this night, she was at Cylburn to read from her most recent book, the Drunken Botanist. For me though, Amy is most known (and loved) for authoring the book: Flower Confidential.

Flower Confidential, which was published in 2007 played of pivotal role in our decision to start LoCoFlo. It was, and still is, one of the most comprehensive looks at the global cut flower industry. It came to me at the perfect time. I was working part time on a farm, meeting flower farmers, starting to try my hand at floral design and feeling restless in my day job. It sparked something in me, something that let me know that there was an opportunity within the cut flower industry for something different, something unique, something sustainable…something local.

So, while we were standing in line to meet Amy, Eric kept telling me not to burst out crying…which I almost did. I was just so excited! I wanted to tell her everything about LoCoFlo and how grateful I was and how because of her, we were really changing the industry in our little corner of the world. Instead, with a line of people behind me, I told her a little of everything in a hurried, jumbled, tear filled shpeal. She was gracious and excited to hear my story and hopefully didn’t think I was too much of a flower stalker! What I really wanted, was to sit on a little sofa and have a cocktail with her and talk about flowers.

The Drunken Botanist reading and discussion was awesome and super interesting for plant nerds, cocktail nerds  and normal people alike. I got to visit with friends (thanks Chesapeake Wine Company) drink yummy cocktails (thanks Rye) and enjoy my birthday in the best way possible!

Real Weddings: Nicole and Billy

Have you ever had this experience? You meet a client for the first time, totally hit it off, hug at the end of the meeting and wish you could be instant friends with them? That’s exactly how I felt when I met Nicole. Right off the bat, she let me know that her wedding was just about 6 weeks away and she had planned not to have flowers because she couldn’t come to terms with buying traditionally grown flowers that have been shipped from thousands of miles away. When our mutual friend Irene told her about LoCoFlo, she was so excited to find out that local flowers were an option in March.

Nicole was marrying a sweet, Irishman on St. Patrick’s day weekend. Her colors were green and white – with lots of texture and interest thrown in.

The bride was stunning!  (I’m a little teary just looking at the pictures!)

Her bouquet was filled with locally grown tulips, ranunculus, stock, early hellebores, paper whites, boxwood, mini pussy willow and succulents. It looked awesome and smelled glorious!

The boutonnieres were cool with little succulents, ranunculus buds, boxwood and mini-pussy willow.

    

The wedding took place in the beautiful Vollmer Center at Cylburn Arboretum. It was a beautiful spot for this late winter wedding.

     

Thanks to our growers-who tirelessly grown in the winter-despite the struggle with weather and heating greenhouse! Special thanks to Farmhouse Flowers, Lynn Vale Studios, Seaberry Farm and Plant Masters.

We’re so grateful to wonderful photographers like Heidi Roland Photography who make our work look great! Check her out on facebook too!! To see more photos from Nicole and Billy’s wedding, you can check out our flickr site.

Congratulations to Nicole and Billy! Wishing them much love and happiness in the future!

Terrarium Love at Cylburn Arboretum

On Sunday morning between flower deliveries, I headed over to Cylburn for an amazing morning of terrarium building. Tovah Martin, the author of The New Terrarium was on hand to teach and guide us.  I knew Tovah and I were kindred spirits when early on in her presentation she said “You think you’re here today to make a terrarium, you’re wrong. You’re here to change the world!”. Way to think big!

Tovah was an inspiring speaker who is intensely passionate about her work. She spoke of the positive impact terrariums can have on people that are experiencing nature deficit disorder (which is most of us, whether we know it or not!). She also was very clear that terrariums are an expression of your own creativity and artistic mojo (her words!).

After about an hour of instruction and history on terrariums, we got started.

We started with gravel and charcoal mixed together to encourage good drainage. Next came about 1-2 inches of African Violet potting soil. 

Then came the plants. There were mosses and begonias and all sorts of other goodies. One thing that Tovah said, that I thought was interesting was NOT to use succulents in terrariums. She said while you often see them in photos in terrariums, they don’t live very long and aren’t suitable for the terrarium’s environment.

I chose my plants, dug them good and then covered them with some moss and other found items like acorns, bark and twigs.

Finally, I gave it a little water and popped the top on. I’ll open it up in a few weeks to give it some air and a little more water. Other than that, it maintains itself.

Tovah was no nonsense in her message. She made the class take an oath to share what we learned with others. Be on the lookout for LoCoFlo terrarium making classes in 2012!