Lush greenery is important for floral design. The perfect greenery elements can make or break a design. Team Flower member Sophie Felts shares her go-to greenery options in this comprehensive list of greenery ideas for your next arrangement.
Finding Inspiration in Flower Art
Floral artists and floral designers aren't too different from one another. Something tells me that each of us starts out the same - either with dirt or paint on our hands and with goals of making everlasting memorable moments; our lives speckled with blooms marking the timeline of our lives. Reaching out to one another should come easily because of this unique passion for flowers.
Debra Prinzing of Slow Flowers
In this episode, we are diving into the Slow Flowers Movement - what it is and what it is becoming. Debra is sharing the story behind her passion and the farmers who sparked the Slow Flowers flame in her. We are talking about American Flowers week, how you can be involved, and how you can support your local flower farmers. You'll learn the difference between growing from seed vs. planting from a garden center, and you'll receive tips on how to connect with flower farms & florists.
Marketing Your Flower Farm
We as growers and designers are aware of the numerous reasons why everyone should be buying local flowers, but how do we convey that to our customers? Karey walks through how to find your audience and communicate with customers.
The Bloom Project
In this episode, Heidi is sharing the “why” behind The Bloom Project and her inspirational journey in founding the organization. The Bloom Project is a volunteer-driven nonprofit that provides fresh floral bouquets to hospice and palliative care patients. You’ll be touched by the real-life stories of the people The Bloom Project has impacted. We are talking about the best flowers and the best vases to use for donation, and Heidi is sharing some secrets of the trade when it comes to being involved in the community.
Organizations that recycle wedding flowers
One aspect of the floral industry that is commonly overlooked is the floral nonprofit sector. These organizations work incredibly hard and receive little recognition for the feats they accomplish, yet they continue to press on because they believe in what they do. They have huge hearts, and both their work and their stories are remarkably inspiring! Take some time to read about and be encouraged by a few of them below.
Floral Supplies Basics
Team Flower member Amy Balsters shares floral design basics from attending floral conferences, design shows, reading trade magazines. She loves to share what she has learned all these years so in this article, she covers some best practices that have been around for awhile but may help you save some time and money in your business.
How to Use Pinterest for Marketing
We are always looking for new ways to grow our business, and we all want to do it in an organic, authentic manner. If you're a beginner to Pinterest, it can be overwhelming to see how the site can help generate traffic to your business. Pinterest is often passed over as a tool that can generate business, but by making small changes in the presentation of your Pinterest page, you can yield excellent results. In this article, Kristen shows you how.
Using the Language of Flowers in your Arrangements
For thousands of years and in many different cultures, flowers have had meanings attributed to them. Today, it is almost forgotten that flowers were ever a means of communication. So how can we modernize a concept from the past to use today?
Video: Making Bouquets for Retail or Farmers’ Markets
In this video, Kelly shares how she thinks about creating bouquets for retail vs. bridal work using American Grown flowers.
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Transcript:
- - We're back in the studio to put together a quick little farmer's market bouquet. I like to work one ingredient at a time, so I'm going to use five apple mint leaves, and just like when I'm creating a bridal bouquet, the apple mint leaves are giving me the shape and the structure that I'm going to use, but since the bouquets are going to be displayed in buckets, and people are walking up to them and looking down on them, the perspective that you arrange from is a little bit different than if you're doing a bridal bouquet that's going to be held here. So, I'm focusing on working, I'm just going to spiral the whole way around, and continue that with each of the ingredients that I have, celosia, and I'm working in layers because I do still want to have a little bit of ends and outs in my bouquet, and a variety of shapes and sizes. I'm going to add a little bit of cosmos in here, next. It gives me a completely different texture, really interesting. Now rather than using five, I'm just going to use three. And then I have a couple of pieces of basil we're working here, again three. Farmer's market bouquets, a lot of times you're doing, doing 'em all and doing 'em real quick, and you have a whole bunch to make, so if you can get yourself lined up, and you've got your pattern that you're working in, it's really easy to move quickly through the placement of the flowers. Last, but not least, I have zinnias, and these are our big, these are our big focal moment, and they're great because they're flat on top, and they have that nice face that's going to look up at all the passersby. Going to put the three smaller ones in, and then my three larger ones. That little bit of basil adds nice fragrance. Something, too, about farmer's market bouquets that are a little different than bridals, I think sometimes is that they're looking for something that's very bright and cheery, so color is very important in those types of settings, something that's very eye-catching and that people can see from far away, something that draws them in and over to your table. Made a lot of bouquets on the sidewalk last week. I'm just with some leftover flowers that I had from the workshop and the number one request was I want all colors, so it's different selling on the street than it is for bridals, so perhaps you're a wedding florist and not a farmer, but you want to do a pop-up shop or something like that, it's something to consider. It's so funny, some of the first bouquets I made whenever I started work for my friend that was a flower farmer, Mary Ellen, and she said, "No, really Kelly, like the first person "who comes up and buys flowers for his wife, "like he will want a really bright bouquet," and I was like, "Really?" 'Cause I'm the lady who wants the all-white bouquet, or something that's monochromatic, and sure enough, there I was at the market, and a man comes up, and he wanted the one with all the colors , and so I'd be curious to know what your experiences are, what your experiences are in that regard, since wow. I'm just going to give this a little clip here, tough to do, tough to do that with one hand There we go. So this is just a simple butcher's paper, and you can get it that it's wax side, a little bit water resistant, which is a little bit of water resistance, which is nice, and then also having this stand that you can tear from, I think, is really helpful as well. All kinds of ways that you can wrap, you're going to find the one that works the best for you and for your business, coordinates with the look of what you're going for. I have this cute little stand with some twine that I'll take with me when I do the little popups, but if you're doing farmer's market, you might want to get some clear sleeves, or you might want to have little baggies with water that you can have them sent home in, or something like that but that is up to you, but whenever I'm doing little sidewalk bouquets, that's what I like to do . There you go! Thanks for watching, and for taking a little tour through my seed patch.
Predicting Floral Trends Based on the Royal Wedding
The organic, natural look is a current trend in the floral industry, and according to the press release, it sounds like Megan’s floral décor will take on loose, organic qualities, and a seasonally inspired color palette. My prediction is that her bouquet will include Peonies and Myrtle in an asymmetrical shape. What do you predict?
How to Grow Dahlias
In this article, we share with you a few things about growing the beautiful dahlia: the great queen of the summer. The dahlia never ceases to dazzle us! Team Flower member Jessica Weatherford, after growing 250 dahlia plants, is in the process of tripling her crop this year and shares how to grow them with success.
Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona
Rona Wheeldon is the mastermind behind Flowerona. The Flowerona brand includes a widely known blog, full of inspiration and resources for anyone who loves flowers. In addition to creating content for the Flowerona blog, Rona also spends time as a freelance flower writer and writes for New Covent Garden Flower Market in England. Rona's journey with flowers is beautiful, and in this Team Flower Podcast episode, she is telling us all about it!
Marketing to Your Ideal Client
If you feel there is a disconnect between your message and the client you are trying to attract, do not despair! You do not necessarily need to rebrand completely. Sometimes adjusting the messaging on your website or your social media strategy is all it takes to start reaching those ideal clients.
Tips for Florist Branding
The first thing you should do if you feel you are not reaching the right people with your brand is to ask who those people are. What are their personalities like? What do they do for fun? Where do they hang out on weekends? What is their job? What music do they listen to? Where do they live? Dig deep and create a mental picture of your ideal client, their aesthetic, and their values.
Sophie Felts of Blossom and Vine
In this episode, we are chatting with Sophie Felts of Blossom and Vine Floral Design. Sophie is sharing her go-to flowers for events and her staple cut garden blooms. We are talking about how to easily start a cut flower garden and which blooms are our favorites!
Why You Should Grow Cosmos Flowers
Whether you are a flower farmer, floral shop owner, or event florist you should be growing cosmos. This past year was my first time growing and designing with cosmos and by the end of the season, they were my absolute favorite flower! Here are a few reasons why I love to grow them and why you should grow them too.
Back to the Basics with Amy Balsters
In this episode of the Team Flower Podcast, we are chatting with Amy Balsters of Amy Nicole Floral. Amy attended the 2018 Team Flower Conference, and was chosen as the 2018 Designer of the Year! She's sharing about her experience at the conference in the Designer of the Year competition and what it has meant to her to have been chosen as the winner.
Prioritization for the Detail Junkie
Do you rock at the “small stuff” but need help with things like setting yearly or quarterly goals — important tasks that feel less urgent? Hannah shares four strategies that have helped her tackle the Big Stuff first while saving her favorite—all the nitty-gritty loose ends—for second.