Spring is Here!

When I think of Spring flowers, I think of ranunculus and anemones and poppies and eventually peonies. There are so many showy favorites that bloom in the Spring that it’s easy to over look on the poster child of spring…the daffodil.

These double daffodils from John at Locust Point are so perfect for the start of Spring.  They are big, bright, ruffely and they make people so happy! .Happy Spring everyone! If you want to celebrate with locally grown flowers email us today!

Design Classes at Butterbee Farm!

We are beyond excited to announce an upcoming collaboration with our friends at Butterbee Farm! This summer, Local Color Flowers will be offering two design classes AT Butterbee Farm in Pikesville. What could be more fun…visiting a flower farm, meeting the farmer, cutting and choosing your own flower  and learning to create beautiful designs with those flowers!

Our first class will be our Mid-Summer Head Wreath Class on Saturday, July 26 at 11am. Attendees will choose blooms and foliage and learn to create whimsical, natural head wreaths and other floral hair pieces. Everyone will get to take their head wreath home! (thanks to Readyluck for the gorgeous head wreath photo)

Our second class will be our Down on the Farm Summer Centerpiece Class. The farm will be in full swing in August and all our attendees will choose blooms, herbs, and foliage to create a beautiful centerpiece to take home.

Sign up today! Happy Summer!

Baltimore’s Best Local Flower CSA!

Summer is around the corner and Local Color Flowers local flower CSA will be starting in just two weeks! We’re so excited for this year’s CSA! Here’s how it works. Sign up today and pay $250 for 10 beautiful local flower bouquets over the next 5 months!

Pick-ups are at Local Color Flowers studio located in Charles Village at 3100 Brentwood Ave between 4:30-7pm.   Pick up dates are: Jun. 4, 18; Jul. 9, 23; Aug. 6, 20; Sep. 3, 17; Oct. 1, 15 2014.

This year, we’re excited to add a new feature to the CSA! Each week after you pick up your wrapped bouquet, you can check out our blog for a new post all about the flowers in your bouquet, the farmers that grew them and how to arrange them when you get home. We can’t wait to share this with you!

We’re also offering a short, one hour CSA “design” class that will give you tips about how to care for your CSA flowers when you bring them home. The class will take place Wednesday, May 28, 2014 from 6-7pom. Sign up today!

We’re so excited to see you all for the first pick up on June 4th!

Coming Soon! Slowflowers.com: A Resource for All Lovers of Local Flowers

Several times a week we get emails or calls asking: “is there someone like Local Color Flowers in ____________ (insert the name of any city in the country)?” It’s clear that people love the idea of sending locally grown, beautiful flowers to their loved ones but don’t know how to do it if they are out of town!

Soon, there will be a solution! Debra Prinzing, famous for her writing (the 50 Mile Bouquet and many more books and articles) her advocacy and her Slow Flowers Podcast is taking on the challenge with gusto.

Slowflowers.com will be an online directory to help you find florists, studio designers, wedding and event planners, supermarket flower departments and flower farmers who are committed to American grown flowers. You’ll be able to search by City State or Zip code to find a florist that fits your needs.

The first step to getting the site up and running is a crowd sourcing campaign. Local Color Flowers is proud to support this effort and hope you will too! Check out the campaign today!

We’re keep you posted on Debra’s efforts!

The Holidays are Coming to LoCoFlo!

It’s November. We’re just about finished with weddings for the season. Know what that means? It’s holiday time!! This is our first year in our new space and we are SO excited for everything that we’ve got planned!

For those of you who want DIY your holiday centerpieces, holiday wreaths or holiday gifts, Local Color Flowers has some super fun design classes for you.

• Terrific Terrariums! Our next terrarium class is Saturday, November 16th at 10:30. Sign up today!
• Thanksgiving Centerpiece Class! Want to wow your guests with homemade centerpiece filled with locally grown flowers, foliage, succulent, berries, dried elements and more? Sign up for our Thanksgiving Centerpiece class!
• Wreath Making Class! Who needs a generic, grocery store wreath? Not you! Come make your own, personalized wreath filled with locally sourced greens, dried goodies and more!
• Holiday Terrariums! Our holiday terrarium class will include designing a holiday themed terrarium AND a holiday ornament!
• Christmas Centerpiece Class! Like our class at Thanksgiving, you’ll feel just like Martha when you wow your guests with homemade centerpiece filled with locally grown flowers, foliage, succulent, berries, dried elements and more!

No time  for DIY? Local Color Flowers has LOADS of centerpieces, wreaths, holiday gifts and more available NOW on our website. Order today! 

We’re also offering gift certificates that can be used for flowers, our 2014 CSA, subscriptions and classes. A perfect gift for the flower enthusiast or locavore in your life!

Local Color Flowers is so excited to announce our first holiday pop-up market- Maker’s Alley!

This is going to be such a fun event and the perfect place to purchase unique holiday gifts! Our AWESOME vendors include Rat Czar, Priya Means Love, Two Back Flats, Charm City Cook, Snark Machine, Highway to Hill, Kinderhook Snacks, and Byrdie!

Be sure to buy local this holiday season! See you soon!

2013 CSA…Success! Looking Ahead to 2014!

One of our goals here at Local Color Flowers is to help more people enjoy locally grown flowers on a regular basis. Finding locally grown flowers at the grocery store isn’t always easy and in some communities, it’s nearly impossible. The thought behind our 2013 Flower CSA was to connect urban folks with flower farmers so that they could experience flowers throughout the seasons.

As with any new project, we weren’t sure what to expect. The plan was to provide mixed bouquets twice  a month for 5 months. Each bouquet would have a tag describing the types of flowers that were in the bouquet and what farms they came from . We started with peonies in early June and finished up in October with some of the most beautiful dahlias I’ve ever seen.  We partnered with JHU’s Space Telescope Science Institute to have a drop of location at Hopkins main campus. We also let people pick up their bouquets at our studio.

Well, the CSA turned out to be SO MUCH FUN! Members were so excited to see what each new bouquet would include and we were excited to tell them all about the farms, farmers and flowers.

“ My wife and I were absolutely delighted with the flowers we received as part of the CSA this year!! We loved the variety of flowers and the arrangements you put together.”

                                                                    - Steve

“the csa was a bright spot in my summer!”

                                                                    -John

Since we liked it so much, we’re excited to announce that sign up is now open for the 2014 Local Flower CSA! If you sign up before the end of the year, you get a 10% discount (great holiday gift!). All the details can be found on our website.  We’ll be adding a couple new/fun features to the CSA this year. Each week we have a bouquet pick up, we’ll do a blog post about the bouquet, where the flowers came from, who grew them and more. Also, at the start of the season, we’ll offer a discounted design class for all CSA members to help them make the most of their bouquets throughout the season.  So much fun to look forward to!

Market Bouquets for Your Retail Store!

Interested in offering fresh, seasonal, and local bouquets to your customers? Local Color Flowers makes it easy with our beautiful Market Bouquets, available for  retail locations.

Local Color Flower’s Market Bouquets consist of a mix of seasonal flowers and foliage, artfully arranged and packaged for retail. Each Market Bouquet comes presented in paper and tissue for beautiful gifting and easy transportation. All Market Bouquets are made from 100% locally grown flowers and come with an elegant tag explaining where the flowers were grown and cared for.

Each week’s Market Bouquets will be unique and slightly different reflecting the season’s availability. Market Bouquets can be picked up weekly at Local Color Flower’s studio at 3100 Brentwood Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218, or delivered to your establishment. Market Bouquets are delivered in water, and look stunning displayed in our French Flower Cans, (available for purchase or rental) or your own display buckets.

Chesapeake Wine Company is currently selling Market Bouquets and it’s a great fit with their focus on local products. They have a great display near the cash register making it easy for folks to grab a bouquet at check out.

“We love having fresh, local flowers for our customers to buy when they come in to pick up their supplies for the weekend. It truly offers the convenience of one stop shopping. People look forward each week to the new creations and seasonal flowers offered by Local Color Flowers"!” –Debbie Jones and Mitchel Pressman, Owners, Chesapeake Wine Company

To learn more about Local Color Flower’s Market Bouquets, gives us a call at 410-262-1494 or email me at ellen@locoflo.com.

Special thanks to Jennifer McMenamin Photography for these awesome photos!

Flowers from Baltimore’s own Hillen Homestead

Maya Kosok is the farmer behind Hillen Homestead.  Hillen Homestead is a vacant lot Maya adopted from the city to grow flowers, fruit and berries. This sweet little farm is less than 2 miles from LoCoFlo’s studio!

I first met Maya last winter in her role as founder of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore City. We got together to see if we could encourage urban farmers to grow flowers.  Since our meeting 6 months ago, LoCoFlo’s been fortunate to be able to buy flowers, herbs, veggies and wheat grass from several Farm Alliance members including Butterbee Farm, Whitelock Community Farm, and Boone Street Farm.

We’re excited to now be buying from Maya and Hillen Homestead as well. Our first purchase was for asclepias, ageratum and some gorgeous scabiosa. I used the scabiosa immediately as a perfect accent to some arrangements we provided for the Zoo last week.

One of our goals this year was to help develop  and buy from more Baltimore City flower growers.  We’re super excited to add Hillen Homestead to our family of growers!

Weekly Flower CSA at Local Color Flowers

Get in on the fun! Local Color Flowers is offering an awesome, local flower CSA this summer!

Here’s how it works. You’ll sign up for our Flower CSA online or by phone at 410-262-1494 and make a onetime payment of $200. Then on ten different Wednesday evenings throughout the summer and early fall (dates listed below) you’ll stop by our studio from 4:30-7 PM and pickup a gorgeous, seasonal bouquet . The flowers and foliage in your bouquet will always be locally grown and we’ll even tell you which farms each flower came from so you know you that you really are supporting your local community.

Your bouquet will be wrapped up in pretty paper, but we won’t be supplying vases.  If you’d like to keep your flowers hydrated on the ride home, you’re welcome to bring your own vase or bucket. If you forget, mason jars will be available for $2.

Since we know you’re busy, we will send you an email reminder every other week so you don’t forget to pickup your flowers. Because you will have already paid for your CSA flowers at the beginning of the season, your pickups will be quick and easy. In no time at all, you’ll be cruising with your local blooms and a smile on your face. You’ll probably even get home in time to catch the O’s game.

What’s not to love?

Local Color Flowers 2013 CSA Dates:

June 5^th

June 19^th

July 3^rd

July 17^th

August 7^th

August 21^st

September 4^th

September 18^th

October 2^nd

October 13^th

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!

Just Like I Imagined

For years, I imagined LoCoFlo having a home of it’s own where we could have plenty of fabulous space to work. I day dreamed about space to have consultations and pop-up markets and open houses and design classes.

Well, this weekend, it was just like I imagined. Friday, Carling, Irene, Laura Beth and I worked on a variety of fun projects including 2 weddings, arrangements for Kale A Rama, Lululemon, Apothecary Wellness and…the BGE guy (yes-the bge guy came to read the meter and ordered flowers to take home at the end of the day!).

(thanks to our friends at Balance Photography for photos of our kale arrangements!)

Saturday, we opened up the garage door while the Waverly Market was in full swing and sold herb and succulent gardens.

We also chit chatted with lots of friends and neighbors who stopped by to see what was inside “that green striped building”.

Finally today, we hosted our first design class in our new space! It was so much fun welcoming folks in to try their hand at floral design.

All of the arrangements turned out so beautifully! Here’s one example of a finished arrangement.

Spending the weekend working is pretty awesome when this is the kind of work you get to do!

Buy Local This Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching! Be sure to pass by those grocery store roses and choose a beautiful  floral arrangement filled with locally grown flowers that your Valentine will love!

Choose from a $40 or a $70 arrangement filled with locally grown tulips, foliage and pussy willows. Each of these arrangements can be made in a mason jar, milk glass vase, garden vase or birch vase.

Maybe you want to give you sweetheart a little more local love this year. Choose our All Local Gift Basket for $100 which includes our $40 floral arrangement together with some of our favorite local treats!

Finally, for the gift that keeps on giving, you can choose a Local Color Flowers flower subscription which will provide a seasonal, monthly or weekly arrangement to your Valentine. This is a great way to experience the best our region has to offer throughout the year. Contact us for more information.

We’ll be delivering on Valentine’s Day in the Baltimore City area or you can pick up your arrangement at our studio in Charles Village between 11am and 6pm.

To place an order (earlier is better!) use our online order form or call (410-262-1494) or email (ellen@locoflo.com) us!

First Wedding of 2010

Today was LoCoFlo’s first wedding of the year! Thankfully it was NOT snowing! Since it was so early in the season and since our Maryland growers have had such a hard time with the snow, we had to reach beyond our normal set of growers to a new (new to us) farmer in Southern New Jersey. Van Dyke Brothers farm is 111 miles from Baltimore and they have beautiful flowers! Dave Dowling of Farmhouse Flowers supplied the beautiful curly willow and pussy willow for the large arrangements.

It felt a little strange working on flowers again after such a long break (mid November). It took my fingers a little while to get used to taping again and wrapping…but pretty soon it started to feel normal.

The bouquet turned out great! Tulips, anemones, ranunculus and viburnum. Beautiful greens and whites to remind me that Spring is not far away!

The bride was totally relaxed when I arrived and was looking forward to a casual lunch with her sister before the ceremony.

I am really excited about LoCoFlo this year! We are working with great designers, growers, venues, photographers and most of all clients! Stay tuned for updates on our exciting year ahead.