CSA 2014: Week 1!

It’s our first week of the CSA and we’re so excited!

For those of you who are CSA members, this week’s CSA bouquet is filled with peonies, larkspur, snapdragons and bells of Ireland.

Your snaps were grown in Jarrettsville by our friend Matt Bauer of Flowers by Bauer's.

The larkspur and peonies were grown by our friends  Rick and Wenfei Uva from Seaberry Farm out on the eastern shore.

The Bells of Ireland were grown by Capital Flower Growers, a collaborative effort by Wollam Gardens and Greenstone Fields.

From left to right, the flowers are Bells of Ireland, larkspur, peonies, and snapdragons.

Since everything is TALL this week, if you’re going to display your bouquet as it’s currently arranged, choose a tall vase that will allow your flowers to show off all of their blooms!

Since this is our first week for flowers I thought I’d share some tips about how to keep your flowers looking fresh for as long as possible.

1. Replenish the water daily. Change the entire vase of water every 2 days.
2. Trim the ends of your stems before your put them in the vase and each time you change the water.
3. Keep your flowers out of heat and direct sunlight.
4. Be sure the vase you are using is CLEAN.

Each flower has a unique vase life (how long it will live in the vase). Your flowers will be happier and live longer if you follow these tips!

Hope you enjoy these early summer blooms! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #locoflocsa if you share photos on social media.

If you are reading this post and still want to sign up for the CSA, there is still time. Sign up on our website today! (the price will be prorated!)

See you next time!

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 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!