Experimenting with Flowers: The November 2015 Maryland Cut Flower Growers Meeting

by Carling Adele Wyncoll Elder

Brrr! It’s really getting cold here in Maryland (and everywhere else in the USA), which means that flower-growing season is starting to slow down for many of our flower growers. Or, at least it’s slowed down enough for them to get together and start strategizing for next year!

This morning, I had the pleasure of attending the meeting of the Maryland Cut Flower Growers. Walker Marsh, a brand new flower grower and friend, accompanied me from Baltimore, and I loved hearing about his plans for his farm The Flower Factory that he’ll start this coming year as we drove. I was also excited for Walker to meet many of the seasoned growers at the meeting and for him to pick their brains! The pool of flower farming knowledge that these Maryland flower growers possess is wide and deep, and an amazing resource for anyone who wants to learn about flowers. These growers are also friendly and extremely giving of their expertise, so I knew Walker was in for a treat!

As Walker commented on the ride home, the meeting was very “chill” and “actually useful”, a statement that I completely agree with! During the course of the meeting, we went around the room, and each flower grower shared useful tips and techniques that had worked, or hadn’t worked for them during 2014. Dave Dowling of Ednie Flower Bulbs explained how to use Limelight Hydrangea stems instead of Rebar to stake down a hoop house cover (they won’t destroy your tiller!). Eileen Stoner of Stoney Acres, demonstrated how to soak and split Norway spruce pinecones in half for use in Christmas wreaths.

Laura Beth Resnick of Butterbee Farm told of her success using a solar powered fence baited with peanut butter to keep deer out of her flowerbeds. All this information, and much more, was shared via a relaxed and natural conversation, with many interruptions for questions and comments, and of course laughter!

As Leon Carrier of Plant Masters stated, “we are constantly experimenting with cut flowers.” As all these flower growers have experienced, and I myself as a designer have experienced, there’s always more to learn about flowers, and more ways to improve growing, or designing with them. That’s why there is such a value in these meetings where we all get together, and help each other out by sharing what we know. Because when your life revolves around “experimenting with flowers” it’s nice to know there’s a bunch of smart and awesome flower growers out there who’ve got your back!

CSA 2014 : Week 2

The hot weather had arrived just in time for the longest day of year!

This week’s CSA bouquets are filled with

• Purple Campanula (bell like flowers)
• Dahlias (red in this photo, some people got orange or pink)
• Yellow Yarrow (be sure to smell this one! it’s got a really unique scent!)
• Orange Asclepius (this is one of my favorite Summer flowers)
• Sunflowers
• Safflower (the green “flowers”. They are still in the bud stage which we love. It may bloom orange).

Last week we met Capital Flower Growers and Seaberry Farm on the blog. The provided some of your flowers this week too.

The campanula, yarrow, dahlias and sunflowers came from Capital Flower Growers and the Safflower came from Seaberry Farm.

This week your Asclepius came from our friends at Plant Masters down in Gaithersburg.

Husband and wife farmers, Carol and Leon Carrier have been farming for over 30 years. They grow flowers and plants and can be found at The Montgomery Farm Women's Cooperative Market year 'round and The Olney Farm Market (Sun 9-1 @ MGH grounds 5/9-11/7) and The Potomac Farmer's Market (Falls & Democracy,Thurs. 2-6)

Leon and Carol are always so generous with their flower knowledge. We love working with them!

Now that the weather is getting hot, be sure to keep your flowers in a cool spot out of direct sunlight. Keep them filled with water (add water every day) and change the water every other day.

Enjoy the flowers! Happy Summer!

Real Weddings: Danielle and Chuck

I have so much to say about Danielle and Chuck’s wedding…one blog post might not be enough!

Chef Beej Flamholz emailed me about a year and a half ago and asked me if I would be interested in working on a wedding with him. He said the clients would be a good fit for us. I met Claudia, the bride’s mom a few months later when we met for the first time to discuss the flowers. Claudia and I hit it off immediately!  Her daughter Danielle was in medical school so she was going to be coordinating the flowers in her place. They wanted multi-colored, vibrant flowers that looked “wildflowry” and natural. They also wanted to help collect antique bottles and jars that would be used for the centerpieces.

As the year of planning progressed, the vision for the flowers became more clear. They wanted a rustically decorated chuppah, a mix of potted and cut flowers and one of my favorite elements of the wedding-a Farm Stand!

As the wedding day approached, our whole team was bursting with excitement. By this time I had met Danielle and Chuck and Danielle’s uber-creative sister Nicole and I was so excited to create a beautiful wedding for them.

Danielle looked so beautiful and happy on her wedding day, I actually cried when I saw her!  She carried a naturally shaped bouquet filled with peonies, ranunculus, astilbe, dusty miller and a mix of herbs. Since Danielle was flexible with the colors of her bouquet (she wanted soft colors and shapes to compliment her dress) we were really able to get creative with what was growing locally that week.

The ceremony took place on the first floor of AVAM. The bride’s uncle built the chuppah and our talented team of designers decorated it with kousa dogwood, mock orange, peonies and curly willow. We also draped the bride’s granddad’s prayer shawl over the top of the chuppah. It was a beautiful, sacred place for Chuck and Danielle to get married.

After the ceremony guests enjoyed a beautiful farm to table dinner from Chef’s Expressions and Chef Beej Flamholz. I’m not just saying this-the tables looked AMAZING! I seriously cried when they were all decorated and ready for guests to arrive (I cried a lot at this wedding). Each detail came together perfectly-the vintage glass, the barn wood boxes, the apothecary jars…it was a perfectly miss/matched collection that looked wonderful together.

Long farm tables mixed with round tables added to the visual interest in the room.

 

And then…there was the Farm Stand! In lieu of a traditional favor table, we created an authentic Baltimore Farm Stand for Chuck and Danielle’s guests to “shop” at the wedding was over.

We filled the stand with uniquely Baltimore treats!

 

Lucy and Amelia black eyed susan seed bombs were a big hit as were individual packs of Zeke’s coffee and jams by Infused Spreads.

Nick’s Brand Backfire spices went fast as did the local strawberries, honey and McCutcheon sodas.

 

It was a great way to celebrate a couple who wanted to highlight the local goodness Maryland has to offer.

I was exhausted, but so joyful when this wedding was complete. I felt so proud to be part of this amazing team, so honored to be part of Danielle and Chuck’s wedding.

This was truly a team effort! Thanks to LoCoFlo’s amazing team of designers, farmers market/thrift store shoppers and venue setter-uppers! Thanks to to the growers who provided thousands of stems of locally grown flowers for this wedding including Seaberry Farm, LynnVale Studio, Wollam Gardens, Farmhouse Flowers and Plantmasters.

Thanks to the super-talented Beej Flamholz for pulling everything thing together. Beej is an amazing chef and his planning skills are to be commended.

Thanks to Eli Turner Photography for these spectacular photos…which…as you can probably guess…made me teary-eyed when I saw them. To see more photos from Danielle and Chuck’s wedding, you can check out Eli’s blog and our flickr page.

Finally, special thanks to Chuck and Danielle and their families. You were truly a joy to work with!  Congratulations!

Real Weddings: Shauna and Brent

Shauna and Brent were married on a beautiful September day at one of my favorite venues: Historic London Town and Gardens.

Shauna carried a classic white bouquet made with locally grown dahlias and scented geranium. A beautiful, jeweled broach added a pop of color to the bouquet wrap.

The wedding colors were shades of orange, gold and green. The style of the wedding was rustic and natural. (My favorite colors and style!)

The guys boutonnieres were made of small succulents, orange gomphrena and a little splash of white statice.

Two lush ceremony arrangements were placed on the deck where the couple said their vows. The colors looked so vibrant against the blue of the sky and the Bay.

Sweet, pint sized mason jars filled with dahlias and zinnias hung from the ceremony chairs. A great added touch for the center aisle.

The reception tables were decorated with potted herbs, succulents and in this case, salad greens.

Even the cake got gussied up with flowers! Orange dahlias and zinnia added a great pop of color to this classic, beautiful white cake.

We’re so grateful to all of the growers that provided flowers for Shauna and Brent’s wedding including: Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm, Plant Masters and Wollam Gardens.

Special thanks to Nathaniel and Rissa from Balance Photography for these beautiful photos. I can’t  tell you what a joy it is to work with this super talented couple.

Finally, congratulations to Shauna and Brent. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness.

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!

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!

Real Weddings: Jodie and Roddy

This Fall, I was excited to be able to work with Jodie and Roddy on their wedding flowers. Their style and creativity were inspiring. They both were excited to use succulents throughout the wedding and we had loads of options from Plant Masters to work with.

Jodie carried a bouquet filled dahlias, succulents, herbs and a variety of greens. It was a beautiful, natural look for October.

Jodie also added succulents to her hair for a creative, natural touch.

The centerpieces at the Pete Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park had a botany theme.

 

We used test tubes and chemistry beakers as the “vases”. We filled them with hydrangeas, herbs, dahlias and sweet smelling tuberose.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Thanks to Wollam Gardens, Locust Point Flowers and Plant Masters for the beautiful flowers.

Thanks to Carl Gunhouse for sharing a few of his gorgeous photos with us.

Congratulations to Jodie and Roddy! Wishing them a lifetime of happiness together!

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.