When Winter Won’t Be Stopped

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of winter days that our growers spend wrapped up in quilts in front of the fire (or space heater) pouring over seed catalogs and crop plans and farm video games. (sorry, I had to out you Butterbee Farm!).

But not this week. In order to have early Spring flowers, growers have been working around the clock in SUB ZERO temps to keep their tender plants warm. Ranunculus, stock, tulips, anemones and more are some of the many early Spring flowers we depend on for weddings and events now through peony season in mid-May.

Extreme wind and bitter cold temps are wreaking havoc on hoop houses and greenhouses across our region.

Here’s a look at one of the end walls of one of Wollam Gardens hoop houses yesterday.

Here’s a shot of tiny ranunculus plants getting a little extra warmth from these twinkle lights at Greenstone Fields.

Our growers have been hard at work to ensure all of our Spring clients have beautiful, locally sourced flowers. Keeping all the cracks filled is key! Our friend Barb Lamborne, Flower Farmer at Greenstone Fields, is seen below working in negative double digit wind chills trying to reinforce the hoop house.

Using locally grown flowers is a super personal, extremely special way of doing business. Each flower is grown with so much love and care. There are no more dedicated folks than our flower farmers! THANK YOU to all of the hard working farmers in our region. We’re so grateful for you!

What Locally Grown Foliage Looks Like in the Winter

Yesterday, Carling made this beautiful arrangement for a dinner party and posted it on Facebook. We received a comment/question  from a woman who has taken a few of our design classes and is enthusiastic about improving her design skills.

“I was just wondering today if I could mix winter greens with spring flowers? This picture answers the question.”

It was a great comment, and one that deserves some attention. Local Color Flowers is proud to use locally grown flowers in all of our arrangements. What you may not know, is that we also you 100% locally grown foliage as well. In the winter, most of the foliage we can get from the local farms is evergreens including boxwood, magnolia, fir, pine, cedar and camellia along with lots of “sticks” including pussy willow, curly willow, fantail willow, flowering branches and more. On a rare occasion, we can get our hands on dusty miller and eucalyptus.

Our designs are unique because we are designing with what is available locally-flowers, foliage and branches. Using evergreens gives the arrangement a “winter’ feel. Combined with tulips and iris, the arrangement perfectly reflects the season, as we think it should…cold, crisp, green, brown…with the promise of spring ahead.

(Cool) Projects

(Cool) Projects: by Carling A.W. Elder

Back in August, Ellen and I had the pleasure of meeting with Heather Weisse Walsh, Editor of (cool) progeny, to hear all about this fun, family-friendly publication, and to see why Local Color Flowers might want a dose of (cool).

Started by Heather and her husband a few years ago, (cool) progeny is an online resource for parents that is dedicated to “putting (cool) back in to the crazy, upside down world of modern parenting.” Heather told us that when she and her husband became new parents, they kept striking out while searching for information about family-friendly events and activities in Baltimore. So they took matters into their own hands, and (cool) progeny was born!

(cool) progeny is bursting with good stuff! The website is divided into seven main categories of: eat, play, learn & create, style, parents, party, and out & about. Each category features articles from guest contributors who are all experts in different fields. When Heather asked if Local Color Flowers would like to partner with (cool) progeny as “Floral Experts,” we thought it might be fun to come up with some kid appropriate floral projects. So we began brainstorming…

The first project was Halloween Terrariums.  It was easy to get the kids involved in building a terrarium. They could layer the ingredients of their terrariums (rocks, charcoal, and dirt), plant the succulents, and then have a blast decorating their terrarium vessels! The Halloween Terrariums gave the kids some of their first experiences caring for plants, and they turned out so fun! 

Our second project with (cool) progeny was a “Thankful Tablescape”  For this project, the kids got to forage for natural elements such as mini pumpkins, seed pods, and Indian corn to place on their family Thanksgiving table. They also got to write what they were thankful for on the gourds and pumpkins. At the same time, the adults could design a seasonal arrangement in a large pumpkin as a centerpiece. The kids had a great time picking out their favorite natural elements for this project, and it was an easy way to include children in Thanksgiving decorating.

The third project was Holiday Swags.  A swag (a bundle of greenery that hangs on your door) is perhaps the easiest holiday floral project you can make! I loved working with Lila (Heather’s beautiful daughter) on this project. It was so fun to show her the different evergreen and berry varieties as we made her swag, and to see which decorations she chose. I wasn’t too surprised when she chose a sparkly silver ribbon and shiny Christmas ornaments :).

In the floral industry, we don’t often get to work with children. We mostly work with Brides, Wedding Planners, and well, other adults. As is necessary, conversations are often centered around details, time-lines, and requirements. There’s not much opportunity to just play with all of our amazing plants and flowers and see what comes out of unbridled creativity.  Working with the kids and seeing the flowers through their eyes was so much fun!

What I loved most about our projects with (cool) progeny was the chance to create and have pure fun with flowers and these cool kids. I’ve worked with evergreens a million times, but I don’t know if Lila ever had. I could see her curiosity as she felt the different branches and sniffed their spicy scents. Making these floral projects was a first-time experience for these kids, and it was exciting for them. Their excitement was exciting to me.

It makes me so happy to have had a small part in these kids’ first exposure to the floral world. I’m grateful to (cool) progeny for recognizing the value in teaching children early about the world of flowers, and for creating the online space to share these teachings with others. More (cool) progeny and Local Color Flowers collaborations are in the future, and I can’t wait to play some more!