THANK YOU Farmhouse Flowers

On Wednesday, we got a call from our friend Dave Dowling, from Farmhouse Flowers explaining to us, that after 20 years of growing flowers, he was closing his business. Dave’s nephew, who owned the land Dave farmed, had defaulted on a loan, and despite working hard to find a solution, the land was sold at auction this week. There was crying and…some more crying and sadness and worry and of course gratitude.

Farming is hard and often unpredictable-weather, land, money, staff. For many, the rewards are worth it. I’m reminded today, as I am most days, how important buying local is- not just as lip service to what some see as a trend—but as a way of building community-as a way of building a life.

Today, everyone at Local Color Flowers would like to thank Dave Dowling for the amazing contributions he has made to our industry, to our community and to our lives.

THANK YOU for supporting the idea of Local Color Flowers from the beginning. Back in 2008, it might have seemed crazy to think that a small floral design shop in Baltimore could sell 100% local flowers. But you listened, you encouraged, you taught, you believed.

THANK YOU for being a leader in the cut flower industry for the past 20 years. Your passion, commitment and expertise is evident in everything you do. From lobbying congress, sharing resources at the Maryland Cut Flower Growers meeting, leading tours of the farm, and being a true icon within the ASCFG.

THANK YOU  for growing our flowers. For the past 6 years we have been so fortunate to go to the farm, week after week after week to pick the most beautiful flowers four our clients. Flowers that got saved and cut just for us. Thank you for helping to start Capital Flower Growers, which, after many years of lobbying, finally brought Montgomery County and Virginia flowers right into Baltimore. Thank you for all the beauty you brought to so many people.

  

THANK YOU for texting, calling, emailing when we have problems, questions, sad news, exciting news, broken coolers,  some variety of flower we can’t identify and flower orders…always flower orders.

Most importantly, THANK YOU for the positive impact you’ve had on our lives so far. Your friendship and mentorship has helped to mold who we are as a business.

  

We love you Dave! We know that this is the beginning of a new chapter and we can’t wait to see what’s to come.

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!

LoCoFlo Presents: The “All-Local” Gift Basket!

This past week our good friend Chef Beej Flamholz asked if we could make up a small flower arrangement with some “Baltimore items” for a friend of his that was visiting Baltimore. Leave it to Beej to always be thinking how to incorporate local products into his personal AND professional life.

I was super excited to work on this project because for a while I  had been thinking about a “farmers market gift basket”.  This was  the perfect opportunity to try it out.

I first put together a great  quart sized mason jar of locally grown flowers in “Maryland” colors. I know, I was stretching it a little, but using the beautiful “red” hibiscus foliage from Lynnvale Studio was  a must. They looked great with false sunflowers, cosmos foliage and big, beautiful hydrangeas from Farmhouse Flowers.

Next I went down to one of my fave cupcakes places…Charm City Cupcakes in Mt Washington. I picked up two of their signature cupcakes-the Black Eyed Susan and the Pimlico.  They are both so good and a perfect addition to our basket.

Since it was Friday morning and there was no farmers market open close to me, I headed over to the Baltimore Food Co-Op in Remington. The co-op is open to the public  and is full of our favorite local products. For this gift basket we included Zeke’s coffee (Tell Tale Dark-of course), Old Bay Hummus from Wild Pea, delish cheddar from Trickling Springs Creamery, Basil vinegar from Infused Spreads, and more! Of course, we had to stick a City Paper in there to give the recipient a good taste of what Baltimore’s about!

Gift baskets like these perfect for gifts for any occasions. They are totally customizable depending what you love (baking, coffee, wine, bbq, gardening and more) and are a great way to show off where you live. Make your own or call us and we’ll create one for you!

Thanks Beej!

June’s “You Deserve A Bouquet Today” Contest Winner: Grandma Barb

Local Color Flowers has been celebrating every day people in Baltimore for over a year with our “You Deserve A Bouquet Today” contest. Each month we accept nominations from folks who write a small explanation as to why their nominee should win. We have happy, sad, funny and just plain weird nominations. We love them all!

June’s nominees were no different. This month’s winner is Grandma Barb! Barb’s daughter Emily nominated her to win writing:

“I am nominating my mother, who really deserves a bouquet today! After working three days a week as a physical therapist, she spends her other two weekdays watching my 10 month old daughter so I can go to work. She is truly an all-star who keeps our family together. Please vote for Grandma Barb!”

Barb received a bouquet of locally grown sunflowers, lisianthus, lilies and asters from Farmhouse Flowers. From the picture, it looks like she liked them!

Congratulations to Grandma Barb! Thanks for being a super mom and grandmom!

Do you have someone you’d like to nominate to win free flowers? All you have to do is submit a short write up about why your nominee should win. We’ll post the submissions for voting and if your nominee has the most votes..they win!

Real Weddings: Melissa and Eric

After the craziness of last week (biggest wedding of the year, record heat, power outages), it was a treat to receive some beautiful photos of Melissa and Eric’s late Spring wedding  from Urban Row Photography. Just looking at these photos make me happy!

Melissa was a great bride to work with. We created a classic styled bouquet for her to carry. It was pretty naturally shaped with a lot of texture and shades of “white”. We used peonies (that had a little pink tint), ivory calla lilies, viburnum, gooseneck loosestrife, silvery dusty miller, some pretty oregano and some green poppy pods.

Her girls carried beautiful, brightly colored bouquets filled with peonies, a few early season dahlias, phlox, campanula, astilbe, larkspur and rosemary. They looked awesome with chocolate brown dresses.

Thanks to our growers for these beautiful flowers including Wollam Gardens, Lynn Vale Studio and Farmhouse Flowers!

We’re grateful to Urban Row Photography for these amazing photos. To see more photos from Melissa and Eric’s wedding, check out Urban Row Photography’s BLOG!

Special thanks to Melissa and Eric for allowing LoCoFlo to be a small part of their most special day! Wishing them all the happiness in the world!

Real Weddings: Rachel and Daniel

Our first wedding of the season took place on March 18th at the Howard County Conservancy. Who would have guessed that Rachel and Daniel would have such an unseasonable warm, beautiful day on which to get married?

The bride and her bridesmaids carried bouquets filled with tulips, ranunculus and snapdragons. Green splashes of eucalyptus and rosemary added to the natural, rustic feel.

The barn at the Conservancy was beautiful for the couple’s ceremony.

For the reception, the couple collected an eclectic mix of milk bottles and mason jars and we filled them with Spring blooms including tulips, ranunculus, daffodils, iris and forsythia.

Thanks to Farmhouse Flowers and Plantmasters for these early season beauties!

Special thanks to Sarah Culver Photography for these beautiful photos! To see more from photos Rachel and Daniel’s Wedding check out our flickr site and Sarah Culver’s blog.

Congratulations to Rachel and Daniel! Thank you for your commitment to buying local for your wedding. Wishing you much joy and happiness in the future!

Winter Vacation LoCoFlo Style

I would like to say that last week I escaped the cold of Baltimore and ran away to Florida. I did in fact visit Florida, but apparently it was almost the same temperature as Baltimore!  Heading to Florida was a great change of pace before weddings begin again. Eric and I visited my in-laws for a few days and then drove to the Keys for some R and R.

Of course, no vacation is complete without getting some flower time in. On a recommendation from one of our 2012 brides, we headed to Bahia Honda State Park for hiking. They had a pretty great nature trail by the beach with signage for all of the flowers and foliage along the way.

These weren’t marked-which makes me think they were probably weeds of some sort-but I loved them. I named them hairy beans.

On Friday, we headed down to Key West to meet up Dave Dowling of Farmhouse Flowers. I guess everyone was trying to get a vacation in before the season gets going! It was super fun to hang out in Key West.

We checked out the southern-most tip of the US, visited Ernest Hemingway’s house and did a little street shopping.

We talked flowers and did a little planning for 2012…but we took time out for Key Lime Pie too!

I’m super grateful that I had some time to get away this winter, but I can’t lie…I was really excited to come home and start working on Valentine’s Day, wedding planning and some other surprises we have in store for LoCoFlo in 2012!

Locally Grown December Flowers

We here in the mid-Atlantic states are so lucky to have access to locally grown cut flowers year round! This year for our holiday centerpieces we used a great mix of tulips, ornamental cabbage, dusty miller, eucalyptus, winterberry and evergreens. (I loved these!)

For larger buffet pieces we added white lilies, white snaps and red twig dogwood.

Thanks to Farmhouse Flowers and Plant Masters for the beautiful flowers. Special thanks to all those folks who ordered holiday flowers this year. Happy New Year!

Local Wreath Making in Maryland and Virginia

Last week I took a couple of road trips to some of my favorite farms to learn how to make holiday wreaths.

Dave Dowling of Farmhouse Flowers showed me the basic technique for creating green wreath bases. We went out and walked around the farm picking boxwood, leland cyprus, holly and some  pretty spruce.

We started by clamping bunches of greens on to a metal wreath base using a wreath making “clamper”. It took me a little while to get the hang of it. It wasn’t hard, but you had to make sure your bunches were the same size each time so the wreath didn’t look uneven and weird.

Once we had the base done, we added some dried flowers, pine cones and berries.

   

At LynnVale Farm, I learned the art of decorating “fancy” wreaths. These wreaths were no joke! They were so beautiful and filled with all sorts of goodies.

We used winterberry, pine cones, ornamental peppers, apples, dusty miller, dried flowers and more! 

I was totally inspired by first attempt at wreath making. I’m excited to try some next year. I’m thinking some B-more themed designs as well as some “fancy” wreaths with treats from the Sunday market. Can’t wait!

Farmhouse Flowers Tour with the ASCFG

On Wednesday, as part of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers conference, I got to go on a tour of Farmhouse Flowers in Brookeville, Maryland. Granted, I do make it out there most weeks to pick up flowers, but this was a different experience all together.

First, there were probably 150 flower farmers there. It was so fun (and educational) to walk the farm with so many talented, passionate growers. Everyone loved comparing notes on how, when and where to plant a LONG list of annuals, perennials and woodies. There was also alot of design discussion-which I loved.

Next, since I wasn’t there for “business” (picking up flowers), I was able to take my time there, instead of rushing on to my next pick-up. It was kind of hilarious listening to Dave’s stories and his business tips. I was also able to tour all the greenhouses, hoophouses and fields. Of course, I was keeping my eyes open for what will be available in a few weeks for Thanksgiving as well as what will be coming this Winter and Spring.

It was really a great way to spend an afternoon!

Day 1 at the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Grower Conference

So, I’m finally here! When I agreed to speak at this year’s conference for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, it was months and months away. But sure enough, weddings are over for the season and here I am in Reston Virginia spending a few days with some pretty amazing people.

When I first arrived, I headed straight to the Design Competition room. This was an ordinary hotel conference room filled to bursting with flowers that growers brought with them from all over the country…flowers I’ve never seen and all kinds of things I wish we had more access too locally like artichokes and safflower.  

The idea for the Design Competition is that everyone uses the flowers to create a design of their choice. This year, the theme was “Raising the Jar” and all of the designs were made in Mason Jars. It was a great time visiting with friends from Farmhouse Flowers, Love n’ Fresh Flowers and M and M Plants. It was also really inspiring to see everyone’s designs.

So here is my submission. What do you think? No real flowers. Mostly grasses and foliage but I still thought the colors and textures were so pretty.

After the design competition, I headed over to the welcome reception where there was a lively discussion about the future of the flower industry and the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

Today I’m looking forward to a full day of conference sessions, seeing some of our growers like Bob Wollam of Wollam Gardens and meeting new people!

French Farm Inspired Photo Shoot!

Over the summer, I was so fortunate to be part of a totally amazing, creative, gorgeous photo shoot with lovely ladies from Jill Andrews Gowns and the uber-talented team of Lindsay and Shane from Readyluck!

The flowers we created for this shoot were very simple and natural. They added color to a mostly neutral palette.

The bouquets were made up of larkspur, baptisia and some wild weeds.

The tablescape was so much fun to create and it looked stunning with the fading sun.

The first centerpiece was a simple jar of late blooming lilacs.

The second arrangement was filled with larkspur, lilacs, allium and wild greens.

 

Thanks to Talmar, Plant Masters and Farmhouse Flowers for these beautiful blooms!

To see more from our French farm inspired shoot, check out 100 Layer Cake’s blog post and  LoCoFlo’s flickr site.