Martha Stewart’s American Made Contest! Vote for Local Color Flowers today!

Local Color Flowers has been nominated for Martha’s Stewart’s American Made Award in Design! It’s pretty exciting to think that we are in the running with “makers” all over the country doing such amazing work.

This is a big deal. If Local Color Flowers receives the most votes in the Design category, not only will we WIN but we will also be able to show the world that it is possible to have a successful floral design business using 100% locally grown flowers! No chemically sprayed roses or floral foam needed!

Though we’ve got the nomination, we still need the votes. That’s where you can help. Each day from now until September 13th you can vote for us up to six times by clicking here!  Voting is easy, and our competition is tough, so every single vote is going to count!

If just voting isn’t enough for you, don’t worry. There are even more ways to show your support! Forward this message to your friends and family. Share our Facebook videos and posts. Film your own video telling people why they should vote for us. Tag us, Pin us, walk down the street and shout about us! The more people hear about our nomination, the more votes we can get!

Cat Rapped Endorses Local Color Flowers

Local Color Flowers wants to put Baltimore and Maryland on Martha’s map! If we win this award, we will be sending an important message to America. We will be proving to America that small businesses can really make a beautiful difference in their communities when they choose local products, follow green practices, and support their local economy.

Let the voting begin!

Butterbee Farm Needs Your Help

Our friends at Butterbee Farm are expanding! Many of you may be familiar with Laura Beth and Butterbee Farm. They are located right here in Baltimore and they have been providing us with beautiful flowers all season.

During their first year of production, Butterbee Farm has been leasing space from Whitelock Community Farm in Reservoir Hill. While they love being part of the Whitelock Community, the amount of space they have to grow on is really small.  After much searching, Butterbee Farm has found a new home in Baltimore County. The space is sunny, has great soil, great drainage and a good spirit.

To help them expand, Butterbee Farm is embarking on a crowd funding campaign.  Here is a list of some of the items they need:

• a tool shed: $1,000

• a deer fence (deer pressure in the area is pretty intense): $1000

• basic tools like hoes/a precision seeder/harvesting knives: $1,000

• soil amendments, compost, and initial tillage: $2,000

• Water meter accessibility and drip irrigation (the most sustainable kind of irrigation): $2,000.

• Potting soil and seeds: $2,000

• Labor: $1,000

• Liability insurance and LLC status: $1,000

As an entrepreneur whose business depends on flower farmers, I’m proud to be able to help support Butterbee Farm in their expansion. If you are an entrepreneur, a farmer, a lover of flowers or just a generous friend, please consider contributing to Butterbee Farm’s campaign.  They have some great gifts for your contribution including design classes with Local Color Flowers! Spread the love! Support local farmers!

Summer Bouquet Class

Summer Bouquet Class: By Carling A.W. Elder

Friday morning, I got to do something really fun. I got to go to my work, and not work at all! Yesterday morning, I was lucky enough to attend a Summer Bouquet class at Local Color Flowers taught by my talented boss Ellen Frost where I got to sit back, play with some beautiful local flowers, and revel in being a student again.

I’m always quick to tell anyone who asks that one of the best things about designing with local flowers is the ever changing variety and availability of the flowers. Each week, there are different colors, textures, shapes, and scents to examine and explore, and it keeps floral design from ever becoming boring or static. I love the challenge of working with new materials each week, and I always feel it’s my responsibility to the growers to make their flowers shine in each design.

For the class this week, there was basil, celosia, mountain mint, lisianthus, gomphrena, zinnias, sunflowers, and marigolds to choose from. The mint and basil smelled fresh and sweet, and the multicolored zinnias lit up the studio table with their brilliance. We each got a silver or white, low footed bowl to use as a vase, and quickly filled it with a ball of chicken wire to create an eco friendly support structure for our arrangements.

As Ellen explained the basics of floral design, we passed a golden marigold around the design table and stuck our faces into it, delighting in its earthy scent. I watched the excitement on the faces of my classmates as they learned how to cut stems on an angle, the importance of foliage and texture, and the benefits of buying local flowers. As I choose green and orange flowers for my design, I watched others gravitate towards their favorite colors of purple, red, and yellow. Once we had chosen our flowers, we each grabbed a pair of clippers and, as Ellen likes to say,  “Dove in!”

 

My friend Julie accompanied me to the class. When we got home, she asked me “Was it useful for you?” wondering if I found the class helpful since I’ve been doing floral design for a few years. I answered with a resounding “YES!” At yesterday’s class, Ellen’s teaching, summer’s  fresh flowers, and the basic elements of floral design, gave me a deliciously strong shot of inspiration. While creating our summer bouquets, I saw my classmates awaken to the joys of floral design, and I thought about the many reasons I love floral design so much.

At yesterday’s design class, I realized that no matter how good a designer I ever become, my goal is to always approach floral design with a beginners eyes:  with enthusiasm, with curiosity, and with a desire to learn. 

In other words, I will forever strive to be a student of my favorite artform, floral design.

MAKE TRIBE

Make Tribe: By Carling A.W. Elder

A few weeks ago, I met up with two lovely ladies to join a discussion about how Local Color Flowers could help grow creative conversation in our Baltimore community by teaching a terrarium class. As Lindsay Hite and Jessica D’Argenio Waller shared their vision for their newest project, Make Tribe, I grew more and more excited. Make Tribe would be a series of seasonal workshops for the sole purpose of sharing expertise, forging relationships, and feeding inspiration, and as we chatted I thought,  “It’s happening!” This event is already encouraging creative conversation between us, and it hasn’t even begun! Naturally, Local Color Flowers jumped at the chance to partner with Make Tribe.

As Lindsay and Jessica had explained, each Make Tribe event would be lead by a creative professional or “Partner” who wanted to share their expertise, but it wouldn’t be a class or lecture where you merely heard about their artform. Each event would be a workshop where you worked with your hands, got dirty, and took home a souvenir and a new skill. These parameters were of course a perfect fit for a terrarium class, and for Local Color Flowers since we love getting our hands dirty!

The day of Make Tribe’s inaugural event, I showed up at the venue with trays of gorgeous locally grown succulents from Farmhouse Plants and Flowers in Brookeville, Maryland. Lindsay and Jess had the venue decorated to perfection with pretty signs, hanging garlands, chic cocktails, and Make Tribe souvenir booklets.

 

Three long tables were set up in the middle of the room lined with supplies for building the terrariums. Waiting at each place setting was a different glass vessel, and as guests trickled in, they claimed their favorite one.

 

I loved sharing my knowledge of terrariums with all the creative spirits who attended this event. The enthusiasm of every participant was supportive and infectious, and the conversational  manner of the class opened the door for many questions, comments, and new friendships to form. Everyone’s personalities shone through in the terrariums they created; from which color succulents they choose, to the shape of their vessel, to the figurines and accents they added.

Special thanks to Lindsay Hite of Make Tribe for these beautiful photos. To see more photos from the class take a look at our flickr site!

It was truly wonderful to see such creativity blossoming all around, and to play a small part in bringing Make Tribe to life.

Brighten Up Your Space with Local Flowers

Want to freshen up your front desk, waiting room, office, or showroom but don’t have the time or know-how? Local Color Flowers can help with our Business Floral Subscription! Sign up today, and soon your business will be filled with the scent of gorgeous, expertly designed, locally grown flowers.

Here’s how it works. Our Business Floral Subscriptions are custom designed to fit your business’s unique needs. Whether you need a tall front desk arrangement, small waiting room design, head-turning window piece, or even a restroom budvase, we will listen to your requirements and provide you with floral designs that complement and enhance your business’s space. Depending on your business’s needs, your Floral Subscription can be delivered on a recurring basis, or picked up at our studio at 3100 Brentwood Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21218. Vases can be traded throughout your subscription so that as we give you a new arrangement, you return an old vase to us.

As always, all of Local Color Flowers’s floral designs are made from 100% locally grown flowers which means that your subscription will not only beautify your business, but help support our local economy as well.

Apothecary Wellness Spa is one of our favorite business clients!  Having locally grown flowers in the spa is a perfect fit with their organic and green products and practices.

To customize your Business Floral Subscription today, give us a call at 410-262-1494 or email at info@locoflo.com

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!