Go Local this Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and Local Color Flowers is so excited! We’re gearing up for loads of fun here at the shop and out in the community.

We’ll be offering beautiful arrangements made with locally grown flowers  for delivery in Baltimore City or for pick up at our studio Saturday morning from 9am-12 during our Mother’s Day Pop Up Shop! Order early! You don’t want to end up at the grocery store on Mother’s Day morning with the other late comers!

Did I mention we’re having a Mother’s Day Pop Up Shop at the studio on Saturday, May 9 from 9am-noon? We are! We’ll have the doors open and we’ll be selling wrapped bouquets, flower themed gifts, shares to our local flower CSA and gift certificates! Best to order your flowers in advance and pick them up during the pop-up to make sure you get what you want. We’ll likely sell out! We’ve also invited some of our fave Baltimore vendors to come by and sell their goodies as well! You’ll definitely want to pick up treats from our friends at Kinderhook Snacks, plants from Butterbee Farm, pots made by Irene and beautiful artwork by Bmore Papercuts. Stay tuned for more vendor announcements soon!

Think all that sounds fun? There’s more! Irene will be out at Becket Hitch in Greenspring Station for their Mother’s Day pop-up. She’ll be selling wrapped bouquets filled with locally grown flowers that you can grab on the go. Joining her at Becket Hitch is our good friend Charm City Cook selling the BEST brownies ever made! Go check them out!

 

Whew! It’s going to be a busy, fun, Mother’s Day week! We can’t wait to see you!

Buy Local for Valentine’s Day Bmore!

We’re so excited for Valentine’s Day this year! After last year’s V-Day blizzard, we are looking forward to sunny skies this year! (here’s hoping anyway!)

This year we are excited to be offering wrapped bouquets, small, medium and large arrangements, local gift baskets, gift certificates and CSA subscriptions. Whew! so many great options!

I know a lot people are curious about what kind of local flowers could possibly be available in February. There are SO many beautiful flowers and branches available! We’ll be using willows, flowering branches, evergreens,  tulips, snapdragons, paper whites, calla lilies, anemones, sweet william, lilies, carnations and more! We’ll be sourcing flowers for Valentine’s Day from plantmasters in Montgomery County, Wollam Gardens in Virginia, Seaberry Farm on the Eastern Shore, Hendricks Flowers in Lititz PA Locust Point Flowers in Elkton and Flowers by Bauers in Baltimore County.

We will be offering delivery on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you’d prefer to come pick your flowers up, we’ll be offering pick ups on Friday between 10-6 and Saturday between 9-4pm. PLEASE order ahead and schedule a time for pick up. We cannot guarantee we’ll have extra flowers for walk-ins without pre-orders.

We’re super excited to tell you about our V-Day partnerships this year! On Valentine’s Day, from 9-1pm (or until we sell out), Irene will be over at Dooby’s in Mt Vernon selling wrapped bouquets.  Be sure to get there early for Dooby’s delish breakfast and some beautiful local blooms!

Over at the LoCoFlo studio we’ll be having a One Stop V-Day Pop-Up Shop with our friends from Pure Chocolate by Jinji. Pick up your (pre-ordered) locally grown flowers and organic chocolates all in one spot! We’ll be opening at 9am. Jinji will be at the studio until noon.

Buy Local this V-day Bmore! Looking forward to seeing you on the LOVEliest day of the year!

Home Décor For the Holidays

Getting our home ready for the holidays is such a special treat. Unpacking all of our beloved decorations and displaying them part of the holiday ritual in many homes.  Local Color Flowers and Once Upon A  Table: Vintage China for Hire is happy to share some of our favorite holiday home décor ideas with you this season. Special thanks to Stacy Bauer Photography for these amazing photos!

Our favorite way to welcome guests into our home is with a welcoming wreath.  A wreath on your door is the first sign that Christmas has arrived. This wreath is in tones of blues and silvers to represent the cold of winter.  It’s filled with locally grown evergreens, dried flowers and pine cones.

 

Can’t you just feel it? Walking in from the cold to a warm and cozy home filled with your friends and family .  Mantles are a wonderful focal point in any home that has one.  Take care to give it some extra attention during the holidays by adding some of your favorite seasonal decorations.  Here we have a trio of wooden trees from Hannah's Ideas in Wood, milk glass votives, vintage Santa sled from Once Upon a Table and some natural elements foraged from the yard.

 

There are lots of ways to use natural elements in decoration. These natural placemats were easy to make and add a bit of the outdoors to you celebration. 

It’s likely the bar will be a gathering spot this holiday season. Don’t forget to dress it up with flowers, fancy glasses and sweet holiday décor.

 

Don't forget to add a little holiday cheer to the powder room.  Pair your favorite soap with a few of your favorite flowers.  Our friends at Plant Masters are multi-talented.  Not only to they grow flowers year round, they also make soups in a rainbow of colors and fragrances.  The pretty celadon colored soup dish is from  Once Upon a Table Vintage.  

Sharing a meal with folks you love is one of the best parts of the holiday. Candles and garland are a simple, beautiful way to decorate your table. Of course, this is the time of year to bring out the fancy china.  This burgundy banded china from Once Upon a Table is a perfect addition to any holiday table.

Once the decorating is complete, it’s time to celebrate! Hoping you and your loved ones have a happy holiday! Much love from everyone at Local Color Flowers, Once Upon a Table and Stacy Bauer Photography!

To see more photos of our Holiday Décor photoshoot, click here!

The Holly and The Ivy: The Original Holiday Décor

By Irene Donnelly

During the recent wreath making classes hosted by Local Color Flowers, I noticed that the holly hardly ever gets used.  Of all the evergreens we pre-cut and offer to students, the holly is rarely touched.  It must be the thorns that deters them.  Students tend to lean toward magnolia, cedars, firs and berries but as folklore has it, the most commonly used holiday decorations were holly and ivy.

Bringing holly and ivy indoors dates back to the 4th century when Pagan people would celebrate the winter solstice or the “return of the sun”.  It was considered bad luck to bring these evergreens indoors before the solstice (December 21st/22nd) and equally bad luck to leave them up past the twelfth day of Christmas, (January 6th, also known as Epiphany).  The hardiness of both plants was believed to ward of evil spirits and protect the household through the winter, as well as provide homes for faeries and spirits wishing to escape the cold.  These greens would give people hope and reassurance that Spring would eventually return.

According to folklore it was said that whichever plant, holly or ivy, made it’s way into the home first would predict whether the husband or the wife would run the household the following year.   Holly having associations with masculinity and ivy with femininity.  In Roman times wreaths of holly and ivy were given to newlyweds as a token of good will and good luck for the future.

As Christianity spread through Europe, pagan traditions were reluctantly incorporated along side Christian celebrations.  The ancient symbolism of both holly and ivy were altered to conform to new Christian beliefs so that people could continue to deck their halls without being damned.  While holly formerly symbolized  “protection and good will” it began to take on new meanings.  The leaves and berries would symbolize the crown of thrones worn by Jesus and the drops of blood that was spilt.  Ivy on the other hand held it’s original symbolism as representing “eternal life”. 

As time when on, holly and ivy remained the predominate evergreens in holiday decor throughout Europe and the New World. Every establishment from churches, houses, bars and schools would be decorated.  The tradition of trimming interiors grew to decorating front doors and streets.  Cards and wrapping paper use holly and ivy as a symbol of the season and there are a number of carols that incorporate the plants into their lyrics.  In fact, holly was the favored decoration for celebrating Christmas until the 1800’s when “Prince Albert popularized the Christmas Tree”.

All symbolism and tradition aside, the only green plants around my home right now are holly and ivy.  Even though I am a nut for symbolism, I think it is possible that people just used what was available, abundant and beautiful in December to decorate their homes.  I can’t think of another time of year where people emphatically decorate their homes with plants.  I guess their is some magic to it after all.

In a couple of weeks I will defiantly celebrate the return of the Sun and longer days by decorating my home with a tree, a wreath and perhaps some garland.  I’ll fold in a little Christianity and a whisper of Santa Claus and I’ll be sure to make it all disappear by January 6th.  I hope to find more people reaching for holly and ivy in our upcoming  holiday centerpieces class and open studio sessions!  Now to get rid of those pumpkins. ;)

2014 CSA AWESOMENESS!

This year’s local flower CSA at Local Color Flowers was seriously awesome! If you aren’t familiar with our CSA, here’s how it worked. Over the course of 5 months (June through October) CSA members came over to our studio twice a month to pick up a wrapped bouquet of locally grown flowers and foliage.  Each bouquet included a tag telling members what is included in the bouquet and what farms the flowers came from. Most weeks, members were also treated to snacks incorporating locally grown flowers and produce.

Steve H. seen here with his CSA bouquet!

Sweet William Shortbread and Basil Limeade made by LoCoFlo designer Carling Elder

Loved these little friends who were always interested in learning about flowers!

We always envisioned creating a space for people to come together to chit chat, laugh, eat and learn. This season felt like we had accomplished that.

If you’d like to see more photos from the CSA, check out our Facebook page.

We’re looking ahead to 2015 already! If you’re interested in signing up for the CSA, check out the registration page on our website. This year we’re offering a HALF share for $150 and a FULL share for $300.  This is a great holiday gift for anyone who loves flowers (and who doesn’t love flowers!!)

Hope to see you next year at Local Color Flowers!

Local Love for Valentine’s Day!

Love is the flower that is never out of season.

-Anonymous

Valentine’s Day! The day to say I LOVE YOU to the people that mean the most to you! One way to say I LOVE  YOU is with flowers…beautiful, locally grown, flowers!

At Local Color Flowers, 100% of our flowers, foliage, and branches are grown on farms within 110 miles of Baltimore. We don’t offer roses shipped from South America, or orchids flown in from the tropics. We offer the best of what our region has to offer on the date you order!

Despite the cold weather this year, we’re so excited to be offering Valentine’s Day arrangements filled with tulips, paperwhites, anemones, snapdragons, stock, lilies, pussy willows, curly willows, quince, succulents, foliage and lots of other surprises!

Check our order page for details. We’re offering single arrangements, wrapped bouquets, local gift baskets, subscriptions, our local flower CSA and gift certificates for upcoming design classes.

Delivery is available in Baltimore City and pick-ups at our studio in Charles Village will be available from 8am-7pm! Order early!

Email us at ellen@locoflo.com with any questions!

Making Holiday Centerpieces Easy and Fun!

Our last design class of 2013 was a Holiday Centerpiece class just a few days before Christmas! The class was filled with both beginners who were designing with flowers for the first time and some more experienced students who had come to our classes in the past. We were also thrilled to have Balance Photography at the class taking pictures of all of our student’s work!

Everyone was excited about the amazing local flowers and foliage we had to use for the class. I know a lot of folks think that there aren’t flowers available in the winter in our region. Not so! We had tulips, calla lilies, lilies, snap dragons and ageratum.

We also had lots evergreen foliage, berries, branches and pinecones.

Each student’s arrangement was unique and reflected their style and personalities!

 

Thanks to all our growers for such a wonderful selection of goodies to work with! Farmhouse Flowers, Flowers by Bauers, Locust Point Flowers, LynnVale Studios and Seaberry Farm!

Thanks to Balance Photography for all the amazing photos! to see all the photos from our class, click HERE! You can also check out some of our student photos on Instagram  and twitter using #locofloclass

Thanks to everyone who came out to our class! Hope you had wonderful holiday!

Our 2014 class schedule will be out soon! Be sure to follow us on Facebook for an update!

Make Tribe’s Make It Merry

By Carling A.W. Elder

By Almost exactly one month ago, I had the pleasure of attending perhaps one of my most favorite holiday events of 2013. Make it Merry, hosted by the lovely ladies of Make Tribe, was an incredible night of crafting, chatting, friending, and learning at Artifact Coffee in Clipper Mill. The event was a collective effort of Make Tribe and eight other talented vendors including Priya Means Love, Almanac Industries, C. Connor Rasmussen and the Bar at Woodberry Kitchen, Karson Butler Events, Laura Hooper Calligraphy, Esther & Harper, Hex Ferments, and yours truly, Local Color Flowers.

As Christmas tunes wafted through the beautifully decorated Artifact Coffee, guests were split into groups of ten. The groups of ten then circled the room and completed a holiday craft at each vendor’s station. While they crafted, guests sipped seasonal cocktails and chatted with each other, happily making new friends, or reacquainting with old ones.  By the end of the night, each guest had made many different crafts including cocktail bitters, a leather bracelet, a coffee body scrub, paper bows, and a holiday swag. Needless to say, the wire baskets holding each guest’s creations were overflowing!

I’m always finding myself in awe of how we can all be given the exact same materials, and yet create something so unique, and so undisputably, ours. Swags are a perfect example of this. Ellen and I came to the event loaded with all varieties of evergreens, including cedar, white pine, juniper, and holly. We also brought tons of decorations such as shiny jingle bells, bright Christmas ornaments, gold and silver pinecones, and sparkly and natural colored ribbons for everyone to use. 

Once a group of ten guests had gathered around our station, I began instruction. Swags are fairly easy to make, but can still be a bit intimidating. After basic instructions, I was more than happy to see each guest attack making a swag with excitement and creativity! As a result, each swag turned out beautiful and unique as a gorgeous decoration for a front door, or a lovely gift to give.

 

At the end of the night, each guest left Make it Merry with a brimming basket of completed crafts. These crafts were a beautiful reflection of each guest’s own taste and personality; as well as a mini reflection of the vendor who dreamt of the project.

This combination of camaraderie, crafts, and collaboration made Make it Merry a wonderful event, and the perfect way to kickoff the holiday season! Many thanks to Make Tribe for including Local Color Flowers!  Check out more photos and video of the Make it Merry Event!

Be sure to stay tuned Make Tribe’s social media sites (Facebook and integral), and maketribe.com to be in the know when they announce their events for 2014!

Decking the Halls…LoCoFlo Style

December is here, weddings are over for the year and we are in full holiday mode!

We’ve got so much fun stuff happening over the next few weeks!

This Saturday is our last wreath making class! There are currently still spots available!

We’re also offering a holiday terrarium class on Sunday, December 15 at 11am. I’m super excited for this class because our terrariums are going to take on a holiday twist! Picture a little winter wonderland…with succulents…under glass!

Finally, we’re offering two holiday centerpiece classes on December 23rd (10am and 7pm). This is a great way to bring some of your crafty, DIY love to the dinner table on Christmas! Sign up today!

If you don’t want to MAKE your holiday goodies (we can’t all be Martha!), you can come out to Makers Alley on December 14th from 10am-2pm at Local Color Flowers! We’ve got amazing local vendors including Rat Czar, Priya Means Love, Snark Machine, Charm City Cook, Highway to Hill, Byrdie, Kinderhook Snacks, Two Back Flats and of course…Local Color Flowers.  They’ll be ready to sell you some awesome holiday gifts for everyone on your list!

 

Finally, we’ve got loads of holiday offerings to decorate your home and to share with others! Check out our holiday page for more details on how to order! Our CSA and other holiday gifts have been featured in Baltimore Magazine’s Holiday Guide, the City Paper’s Holiday Guide and Cool Progeny’s Holiday Guide!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

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!

Upcoming Design Classes at Local Color Flowers

We’ve finally got our class schedule up for the 2nd half of 2013! Taking a design class at Local Color Flowers is a super fun way to get creative and learn about floral design, green design practices,  locally grown flowers and the farmers that grow them. 

We’ve got seasonal classes, terrarium making classes, wreath making classes and more!

Come with a friends or make some new ones. Everyone gets to take home their creation at the end of class.

Sign up today!

Summer Bouquet - flowers that love the heat
Farmer's Market Centerpiece - you can't get more local

Terrific Terrariums - Baltimore meets Portlandia
Pump up your Pumpkin - a great pumpkin design Charlie Brown

Thanksgiving Centerpiece - make a pilgrimage to our studio for this festive class
Wreath Making - locoflo style

Holiday Terrarium - a twist on the Terrarium class
Holiday Centerpiece - even Martha would be jealous

For additional information, email Ellen at ellen@locoflo.com

Hope to see you at LoCoFlo soon!