Packing. Working. Moving.

This is a crazy week! We are packing up the shed. The shed affectionately got it’s nickname from our friend Emily, who, when she visited for the first time said “I didn’t know you worked in a shed”. 

We’ve been in our Hampden studio for two years now. When we moved in it seemed so glorious. So much room! A private entrance! A bigger cooler! Close to home! And if I’m being honest, the shed had been mostly good to us. We’ve done over 125 weddings in there. It never lost power, even during “Derecho” when our cooler was filled with hundreds of hydrangeas and it was over 100 degrees out. And we’ve become a part of a funny little community of artisans that work in adjacent “sheds”.

But we’ve out grown the space. I mean…we’re busting at the seams. So it’s time to go. Eric has been packing and moving and packing and moving. Tomorrow we’ll do our last event in the space. Then…

We’re off to Charles Village!

Things at our new studio are …still a work in progress. In fact, painting just started today!

But we’re going! This Saturday’s wedding will be the first in the new space. I’m looking forward to a little kitchen, and a big cooler, and heat and AC! Soon…

Thanksgiving is coming! It’s Time To Order Flowers!

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just two weeks away! If you’re like me, you’re already planning your menu (with loads of local food), strategizing about what the farmers markets will have and feeling hungry (and grateful) throughout the process.

Whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving yourself or spending the day at a friend’s or family member’s house, local flowers are a wonderful addition to any celebration.

Local Color Flowers is excited to offer a variety of locally grown Thanksgiving centerpieces, wreaths, door decorations and more. In the spirit of the original thanksgiving, we’ll use the best flowers, branches, berries and fruits that are available locally to create a unique, seasonal addition to any Thanksgiving dinner.

If you have a large dinner table, maybe you’d like this 12 inch long centerpiece (could be made in a vintage wood box as well) filled with seasonal flowers (colors may vary depending on availability), ornamental cabbage, seed pods, veggies (can you find the brussel sprouts in there??) succulents and more!

Or maybe you’d like to wow your guests with an adorable centerpiece made in a locally grown pumpkin or gourd.

Don’t forget to decorate your door or mantle with a naturally styled wreath made with local berries, greens, branches, pine cones and more. (berry colors will vary depending on availability)

Door swags are super cute too!

Finally, if you want to bring your hosts a great little gift, how about Baltimore only ALL LOCAL gift basket! Filled with some of Baltimore’s favorite “stuff”, the basket is a great way to celebrate the goodness our region has to offer

Buying local this Thanksgiving! To order, fill out the form on our website and someone will be in touch with you to go over the details (pricing, delivery etc). Or you can call me (410-262-1494) or email me ellen@locoflo.com

LoCoFlo Swag Courtesy Of CommonSEED-press

I absolutely love our new LoCoFlo tees and hoodies! I’ve been wanting them for sooo long and now…here they are!

Each tee and hoody has a different flower from our logo on the front.

They’re awesome!

I first met Michael Clark of CommonSEED-press at a Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance meeting a few years ago. Michael was passionate about his work as a small, sustainable print shop. CommonSEED-press is located here in Baltimore and is committed to using water-based ink and organic cotton to produce a truly sustainable product. They’ve worked on apparel for some great local businesses including Hamilton Tavern and Woodberry Kitchen.

As happens with a lot of things, tee shirts and hoodies were something I wanted, but spending the time to design/create them always got pushed to the bottom of my list. A few weeks ago, for my 40th birthday, Eric showed up at the studio with boxes of LoCoFlo tee-shirts and sweathshirts!  He had worked with Michael and CommonSeed-press to create great looking, comfortable, sustainable apparel that we can wear at work, on deliveries and for fun.

I love them-and if you’ve seen me in the last few weeks, you’ll notice that my LoCoFlo hoody has become my favorite article of clothing!

Now that we’ve started, we’re hoping to have LoCoFlo “stuff” available for sale in the near future. Stay tuned for availability and options.

Special thanks to CommonSEED-press for their great work!

A Trip to the National Arboretum

On Tuesday, while my dad was in town visiting, we decided to take a ride to the National Arboretum. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the ride down the BW Parkway was just gorgeous.  I’ve ridden by the entrance to the National Arboretum on New York Avenue almost once a week for 2 or 3 years on my way into DC to pick up flowers. You’d think I would have stopped…just once even…to check it out.  But nope…I just kept driving right on by.

What was I thinking??? The National Arboretum is awesome! It is a truly beautiful space that would be enjoyable for anyone to visit. You can walk, run, picnic, explore and more!

The first thing we went to see was the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. I don’t know anything about Bonsai (I cant wait for the winter to read books about Bonsai!) or Penjing (which I think is the Chinese version on Bonsai). Right now, the Autumn Bonsai Exhibit called “Beautiful Transitions” is in full “bloom”. It was incredible to see dozens of miniature trees and landscapes, some over 100 years old,  in full Fall color!

Next, we walked around the perennial gardens and herb gardens. Even though it was late in the season, there were so many things blooming-I could have spent hours just touching and smelling things…and writing down things I want our growers to grow!

As we were touring around, from a distance we could see a huge field of purple and gold flowers with large …columns.

The National Capitol Columns were the original columns from the East Portico of the Capitol building in Washington DC. When the Capitol was renovated in 1958, the columns were removed and put in storage. In the 1980’s, the columns found their permanent home on 20 acres of open meadow inside the arboretum. The view was stunning.

We finished our visit by driving around and looking at some of the other permanent collections (dogwoods, boxwoods, ferns) and making plans for a many more return visits!

Night Time Progress Meeting in Charles Village

So…at the end of July, we bought a super awesome building in Charles Village that will eventually become LoCoFlo’s permanent home.  Luckily, I used to work in construction so we have some amazing folks working with us to this little warehouse into a “home”.  Tonight, Eric and I stopped over to meet with the project manager to see how things were going. Of course, as we were driving over there, we remembered… there are no lights yet.

So here’s what I could see in the dark.

New skylights!!

The future location of the cooler…

And the new soffit! (bordering the new roof!!)

While it may not look like much, to us it’s progress!

Coming this week…a little “kitchenette” and a fabulous new cooler/coolbot!

Stay tuned!

Howdy Neighbors!

Even though we are still several weeks away from moving into our new home in Charles Village, we got to meet some of our new neighbors at the Abell Street Fair last week. We set up a table to spread the news of Baltimore's best florist moving in to the 'hood.

2012 Abell Street Fair Fun!

We gave away boutonnieres to some lucky and high-stylin' fair goers, we sold some beautiful bouquets of locally grown flowers and had a generally awesome time. We loved the children's parade, Jazz Lunch grooved hard, and The Black Marks rocked our faces off. Thanks to Drew Walker and the Abell Improvement Association for a great day!

Baltimore’s Best Florist!

The City Paper’s Best of Baltimore came out today and guess who was named Baltimore’s Best Florist…Local Color Flowers! 

This has been such an exciting year for LoCoFlo! We brought on a great new designer, Carling Elder. We bought a permanent home in Charles Village which we’ll move into in a few months.  We’ve taken on new, creative projects and worked with more and more amazing clients and….Eric is going to be working full time on LoCoFlo starting next month! Woo Hoo!

One thing that hasn’t changed though, is our commitment to buying the most gorgeous, locally grown flowers from Maryland and Virginia’s most awesome flower farmers and using them to create beautiful, natural designs for our clients.

Thank you to the City Paper for naming us “Best Florist! We couldn’t be more excited!

Thanks to all of our growers that work in the fields every single day growing flowers, foliage, herbs succulents and more for us to work with! We are so, so grateful to you for your hard work!

Thanks to all of our partners who refer us, who are kind and wonderful to work with, who give us advice and promote our work.

Finally, thanks to each and everyone of our amazing clients. Whether you’ve bought one arrangement from us or you’re our biggest wedding client. Thank you for buying local! Thanks for proving that doing the right thing is important…and beautiful. Thanks for making LoCoFlo Baltimore’s Best Florist!