When I tell someone I’m a flower farmer and I have four acres of flowers, they get starry-eyed. It is a beautiful, dreamy, and peaceful life with a whole lot of sweat, tears, dirt, and hard work thrown in. And it can be difficult to know where and how you should sell flowers from your farm. Each community of customers is different, but there are several key locations we’ve found work well for selling the cut flowers.
Whether you live in a big city or a small town, space is a beautiful thing as a floral designer. If you rent or own studio space, it can be difficult to know how to make the most of what you have. Others, like myself, have to utilize whatever limited area is available in their homes. Here are four things I’ve learned for making the most of small spaces for design.
Should you do mock-ups when in the consultation process with a client? It's a popular question and Kelly weighs the pros and cons in this video. She'll also share how you can use a mock-up internally to help in the process, even if you never show it to the client.
Transcript
We're here today to talk about mockups. Mockups are something that occasionally clients will ask for. Sometimes clients, depending on your business model and who you are serving, they may ask for them frequently. It might be something that you already offer or include in your packages. It might be something that you don't and you're wondering how can I handle this? When is it a great time to do a mock-up? When is it really not a great idea to do a mock-up?
So I think that what we're looking at here today is for an event that's happening later this month. And while it's really difficult to copy something exactly, this is a really great way for me just to get an idea of how much time it's going to take to complete the project. An idea for this piece, in particular, it's being suspended from a tent ceiling. So I wanted to have a general idea of how much it will weigh so that our rigging and all of those kinds of things are safe and and thorough.
I also wanted just to test and see how full things could get. The ingredients that I'm using are a little bit different than the photos that the client and I had reviewed and looked at together. So I just wanted to take a peek and see, well, can we actually maximize their budget by just adjusting some of the flower varieties, choosing things that open wider than maybe what was pictured.
So this event is a larger scale event. And whenever I'm doing something that is bigger, it's great to get those recipes down perfectly. Because if you overshoot, you overshoot by quite a lot. If you undershoot, you undershoot by quite a lot. So in this case, for me, it's really helpful to get an idea of exactly what these things could look like.
So I had some flowers left from the wedding that we did previously. And whenever I'm experimenting and putting things together, a lot of times after a wedding's over if there's flowers that they didn't want to use or that were being discarded, I'll just pull them together and put together just a quick little mock-up.
This was something that I haven't had a need to do before. So I wanted just to test it out and see so that I felt really great about it. It's a win-win, because now I know how many people I want on the project and I know exactly where the Oasis will go and just a little tweaks that can make that will make things so much easier on event day.
Something that I noticed when I was putting my pieces together for this one was that the candles that I had chosen, even though I bought the holders and the candles from the same place, they don't fit into the holders properly. So now I know I can save a lot of time on event day by just taking some Saran Wrap now and wrapping that around the base of the candle. And then this gives us some stick and a little extra body whenever it goes into the candle holder. So you just get that tidied up. And now it fits down in there and there's no wobbling around. It's a nice, easy little fix.
I also took note that I wanted to have some flat leaves that went underneath each of these candle holders. So that just in the event that there was some wax that dripped, I want to keep that away from linens as much as possible. So I'm just going to underlay each place that there's a candle with the foliages.
One more a little candle tip that I picked up somewhere from a friend, but I thought oh goodness, I'm going to get out those white gloves. That's a great way to save some time and to up the ante a little bit. But back in the day I was little tea party queen. And so I have all these fancy little white gloves.
And these I see at antique shops all the time. And I'm sure you can get them. I'm sure you can also just get them on Amazon.
But now whenever you're pulling these glass hurricanes out of boxes and putting them into place and maybe you see fingerprints or a smudge or something, right here, you don't have to carry around a bottle of Windex. You can smooth them and take care of it right there. So you're avoiding getting fingerprints on your glass in the first place. And then, if you happen to see a little smudge or something that you want to clean up, you can just take care of it with your magic gloves. So those are a few things there.
I'm going to go ahead and take apart this so that you can see the behind the scenes of what's together. It's not perfectly manicured and put together since it is a mock-up. I just did like the front half of everything. And then I can easily multiply. So that's a way to save some costs if you did want to mock something up.
Another little tip like these things here, once they come out, then they can go in and they can test out fullness for another type of arrangement for an arbor or something like that. So you can really reuse, reuse, reuse and get a great idea of what the pieces will look like for the full event
And it's also a great opportunity to snap some photos for your Instagram or some other things that could be helpful to grow your business. Maybe after it's all apart, you want to take some of these things apart and donate them to the hospital or you want to take them to a local business with your card or something like that. So there's a lot of ways to use and to make the most of these blooms even if they aren't being sold. You can use it in some of those ways as well.
So what I've done here, whenever I do the actual event, I'll have some pre-made garland coming in, just a base that will go the whole way down the table. For today, I was pulling some things out of the yard that I could use, again to save costs on the mock-up.
So I am going to show you. What I have here is a little block of Oasis wrapped in chicken wire. And I have all of my flowers for the garland tucked in here. And then I'll also do a little bit of foliage in here on event day.
So this piece I'll be able to make an advance. And then whenever I arrive on site, I can take my garland, have it run down the tables and then just simply attach each of these little blocks of flowers. They're all in water and ready to go. So that makes for a really quick and easy install.
But what I have done just for the mock-up here is I have taken just bundles of foliage like this. And I've wired them together. And I've laid them down the length of the table to get that garland base. And the ingredients that are in here, I have some forsythia, oregonia and oak leaves is what I had pulled for that. So that's same thing that's happening here. Just multiplied down there, down the side of the table.
Now let's talk about what's going on up here in terms of mechanics and what this looks like. Whenever the event is actually taking place, there is a custom box that the rental company has built that is 32 feet long by 16 inches deep. And the most similar thing to that I have available to me is a simple lattice from the hardware store. So we'll take this apart so you can see what's in there.
Let me just get rid of these little glass pieces. And I'll be right back.
All right. I'm back to pull this apart. Here is my trusty StepRight ladder by Werner. This is my favorite ladder. It looks so rough because it's been loved so well. But there's a little spot here you can put a little mini bucket to have your zip-ties, and your scissors, and all those kinds of things in. And the steps really wide. So it's nice whenever you get up onto the top step, you have like room to work.
So I'm going to pull this apart just in the reverse order of how I put it together. My finishing foliage in this arrangement was the smilax. And I did smilax in the beginning and in the end. So I weaved it through the arrangement right there at the end to soften things a bit. So I'm just going to pull that out so you know that that was in and that came out.
And then the next thing that I had, reverse order, so the last after that what I put in was a bunch of spray roses. I did a few at the end and a few at the beginning. So it's really nice to have a base and to get that color spread out among the length of the piece. And then it's nice to also go in there and like finish it with a couple ones that come out even further than the main focal point roses, just to soften it a little bit. So I'm going to pull a couple of those out.
OK. Next thing. These roses, I used two varieties, quicksand and wedding spirit. And I put in quick sand first. I made a little line with them. And then I followed them. So each little area had a little pair like this that followed along in the line just to add some fullness, body, different shape. And I really love how those two color tones work together. So I like that a lot.
These wedding spirits, if you give them just a little bit of help, they can open to be really gigantic. So this is easy to do whenever they're a little bit older, softer. And the pedals need to be moisturized. So a little crowning glory or a spritz of water on top makes it easy. And just gentle, gentle hands so that they aren't bruising.
Can't do it with every variety of rose. But I mean hello, look at that. This is our little before was. So you can see that really makes a gigantic difference.
So I had like a concentrated moment here, and then a little puff here a little puff here. And then on the table below, I had kind of a medium size that came down right in between these two to help puzzle piece the whole look together. Since they're going to be seen together. OK.
I have a couple that trailed down underneath. Also had a few dahlias in here, but those don't hold as well as the roses for something like this where I was using flowers for a couple of days. So they've gone on. They've had their moment.
And I wasn't real concerned about getting all of these into a water source. I will on the event day. There's a little piece of Oasis here. One in the center here that will be used for the top both front and back. And then there will be another little Oasis square back here.
So we have flowers that are concentrated that start here and go out. And then at the top, that's our way of getting things to come up, but to be centered and balance back in the middle. And then also to have room for a little couple of things to come out under here.
So just like whenever you're doing a simple table arrangement, that physical balance is really important. So that's why we have Oasis, Oasis on the end, those two ends, and then one right in the middle. So we don't have like wonky weight happening.
And then some of these connector pieces that you saw in here. I might add just a tiny, tiny little piece of Oasis in here, or use little water picks. Or if it's happening like right away that day, and like those wedding spirit roses, and even the quicksand, they're so tough. They don't even necessarily need to be in a water source for that kind of event work where it's something that's happening.
As long as the pedals are moisturized, they do quite well out of water altogether. If you think about how they're shipped to you, dry. They are kept cold. But if they're well-hydrated before they go in, they've got time before they go down.
So I have two varieties of hydrangea in here. I have the little tardiva. You also will hear it called like quickfire or pink diamond, the cone-shaped, lacy hydrangea. And I have one here and here. And then a set of, there's technically four, and then this little guy was up just little bit higher. So there's five, six, seven. This is a nice way to get some texture into the arrangement and to start building color out to the side. So that's the function of this piece. I love this ingredient. Take it big, take it little.
If you're looking for some things to plant at your house or to have in a cutting garden, I think this is a really great investment. They're not an inexpensive plant, but they give a lot. And they can be used in a lot of different ways.
Forsythia, that you see in here as well, this is another great one. This can, late in the season, does really well out of water. So none of the forsythia that you see here, this has been used and in and out of water for a week now. So it's very hardy. We also have this southern smilax which is great out of water as well.
These are a little limelight hydrangeas. And by little, I mean they're actually quite large. This is one of the things I keep both of these kinds of hydrangeas in the garden. But these can get even bigger than this. And you can cut them apart and use the top in one place and the bottom in another place. Great coverage. OK.
Got all the flowers out, that second round of spray rose I had mentioned. I'll take the smilax out. And this I have weaved among the lattice to stay in there. And it's great because it creates a net, all of the vines, and moving around it, creates a net and adds support to the arrangement. So whenever you are using water tubes, and that kind of thing, the flowers have a place to stick and to live.
I think Jesse's grabbing this back side. So you can see how the back I didn't finish that out, but I'll just multiply by two to get my weight and to get my flower quantities. OK.
Last thing is the forsythia that I have in here. It is zip-tied and tucked into Oasis. So bundled it up and just zipped it right on there. All right. Off because that Oasis piece. This one I had secured in three spots so it wouldn't twist on me.
There you have it, the little lattice piece that we created everything on. So maybe you don't have little stands like this. These were something that we had dad put together for me for a friend's wedding long, long time ago. Ah, man. How long have they been married? Probably 8 or 10 years now. Anyway.
So if you don't have that, another thing you could do is just set up two tables. And you could create it right here at this height. And you could have a table here and a table here to balance it out for you, saw horses, really anything that you can just suspend this on and to have a little flat place to work.
Now something I was thinking about whenever I put it together. I put it together as it would be so. I left it up here this way. And I did the top. And then I kind of crawled underneath a little bit and did the bottom. Depending on the design that you're eventually trying to get to, with this having some more drape foliage and that kind of thing on it, I think it was helpful to do it this way.
However, whenever I put the forsythia on next time, I think my preference would be to have it upside down and line the whole thing with forsythia and then flip it over and start doing my Oasis up here and adding in the forsythia coming down the sides and more of the shape of it. But for coverage, as I was doing it, I was like next time I'm going to flip that. I'm going to flip that over, cover the whole bottom so that that's all taken care of and covered in and then flip. If I did something like that again and was like picking up and delivering.
This all, since this isn't the structure that I'll be using or suspending from since we have another one that's coming in, all of that will be done on site. So we will be assembling it like right there in the air. It'll be hung at about chest height and we'll go from there starting with the forsythia and the smilax and working in the Oasis and the spray roses, and the regular roses, and back to the spray roses. And we'll have-- oh, and all of the hydrangea, of course, too, before the roses go in.
But anyway that's a little undo of the mock-up. And I hope you enjoyed it and it helps you whenever you're trying to decide, should I do a mock-up, should I not? Putting together a big piece, how should I go about that? Here's just a few ways that you could do that.
Just another quick word on mockups. I think that whenever you do anything in your business, it really does need to be win-win for you and for your clients to keep you in a place where it's sustainable and you're moving forward. If you started offering mockups every time and you did it for free, it would be helpful to you, it would be helpful to them. But your profit margins are going down. So that's kind of a minus one for your side of the thing. Now if they paid for it, then OK. Then there you go. So you get something that's working and that's moving around the whole way and that it works for both parties.
Every situation's a little bit different. I don't typically do mockups, but since this was a place that I'd never gone before on a scale I haven't, I thought it would be really helpful and wise just to invest a little bit on the front end. My client didn't ask for mockups, but she'll be excited to have them.
With timing on mockups, something that I think is a little bit of a risk, is showing somebody something the month of their wedding. I know that the flowers are probably a closer fit and all those kinds of things whenever you're doing it really close in. But if there's something that pops up, there's just a lot of stress going on. So they might be like oh, I hate everything. And you don't want to be in a place where you're like redoing everything. But actually if you showed up on event day and it was there, it would be fantastic.
So that's something to think about and just to gauge like is my client-- how is my client feeling right now? Is this something that's actually going to help them or will it make them doubt their decisions? Or will it make all of us feel great? So that's something to consider whenever you're thinking about if you want to offer it and the timing for that as well. So those are my thoughts. Thanks for watching. We'll see you soon.
Life as a florist in a large metropolitan area can be both challenging and rewarding. Since moving from Kentucky to New York City, I’ve learned many lessons in adaptability, flexibility, and patience (car, studio, and cooler, I miss you!). But I’ve also found that for the same reasons, my appreciation for flowers and my admiration for their resilience has deepened! Floral work is undoubtedly a labor of love, but over time I’ve discovered some tips that have made the big city flower life easier. Whether you’re a city native who’s venturing into flowers for the first time or a seasoned flower pro transitioning into big city life, I hope these tips can be helpful for you too!
Hey, flower mom! You're probably reading this article because you’ve been wondering how you can manage to be the mom you desire and run a thriving flower business. You might often ask yourself, Can I really do this? How can I make this work? Is it actually possible to “have it all”?
There are some roles in a wedding that are often overlooked when it comes to floral design. In this excerpt from the Team Flower Bouquets and Personals class, I’ll show you a unique approach to dressing up the role of ring bearer by making a pillow out of hosta leaves. All of the materials used are ones that can be easily found in your own studio: ribbon, a small round Oasis cage, and snips.
Suzie Kostick, a leader in the floral industry who has over 40 years of experience, is the guest on this episode of the Team Flower Podcast. You’ll hear how the floral industry has changed, morphed, and grown over the past four decades. Suzie tells us what it was like before the internet and social media were a part of the operations of a flower business and when the networking within the industry was truly community focused.
Many floral designers are beginning to dabble in growing their own flowers as much as they can. The feeling of growing, cultivating, harvesting, and eventually arranging with stems that you produced yourself is a transcendent experience that you can enjoy by planting these easy-to-grow, beautiful perennials in whatever garden you might have available.
In this springtime video, Kelly will show you how to pull together an arrangement perfect for an Easter lunch table. Learn how to become a florist and take floral design classes online with Team Flower. Here you can even learn tips on flower gardening for beginners. We'll show you how to do flower arrangements in flower arranging videos.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Kelly Perry with Team Flower. And I wanted to share an Easter centerpiece with you today. I'm reading this book called Flower Arranging Through the Year, by Daphne Vagg.
And in it there is a little idea. They call it pot-et-fleur. Literally means pot in flower. It evolved about 20 years ago to describe an arrangement of growing plants that are still rooted with a few cut flowers.
At times of the year when flowers are scarce or expensive, a pot-et-fleur can provide a type of decoration which has never really enjoyed the popularity it deserves for its economy and long life. A well-planted and cared for bowl will last for two or three years.
Well, maybe not if it lives in-- maybe not if it lives in my house. But if you're a good house plant person and very attentive, this is a great idea.
I love the concept behind it. In the book that they show here, they have some begonias, succulents, dusty millers, ivies, things like that. And then they've added in some little lilies.
A great idea to have some simple house plants that then you can, throughout the year, go back to and simple little if you need a little extra in a boutineer. Or just to have something fresh and growing in your house all the time that you can then take things they're blooming outside and add into your bowl, just to keep things fresh and fun. But it doesn't take maybe quite as much work as an arrangement.
So that is what we're going to do today. And I am using some things that I would probably plant these things out. It's not house plant kind of materials. But these are things that are available at the garden center now.
And we're going to plant them, pop them up here for our Easter bowl. And then after frost passes we're going to go ahead and plan these things out in the garden.
So my version is not as strict. But that's something that you could do is plant the house plants. And then follow the same kind of set up and concept to have something that's fresh and growing throughout the year.
So we are going to start by taking our terracotta pot. And I'm going to flip it upside down. I'd kind of like to age it a little bit, but I don't have time to go through the whole process of covering it and letting that process happen.
So I'm going to do a quick little cheat. And I'm going to just use some chalk. Some simple classroom chalk or some sidewalk chalk if your kids have some.
And I'm just going to go back and forth on my bowl with the chalk. And then we're going to smooth it over and kind of blend it all together just with a towel.
You will, of course, want to be careful when you pick this back up to take it in your house so you don't have chalk all over the front of you. But this is just a really quick way to get some interest, and texture, and age to your pot instantly. It's fun.
Kind of like we're giving her some makeup. Putting on the powder.
Now next, we're going to add some-- get a base level of some potting soil in here. We'll go back over where I just put a little thumb print. OK.
And I'm just using a simple Miracle-Gro potting mix from the hardware store that has some nutrients for the plants in it already. This is only designed to last for a little while in terms of nutrients for your plants. So you'll want to check the brand and the bag that you have to see what's in it, how long it will last, and what you'll need to add or supplement to keep your plants looking great long-term.
I know a lot of times with house plants-- I'm getting a little bit better at them. But I was on a real losing streak with them because I kept getting insects in the soil.
And so I did some Dawn dish detergent and have been doing flower food in them regularly. And that's really helped. So maybe my black thumb of death is going to leave here pretty soon.
OK. We're going to add these first. They're just a sweet little-- what was this called? Saxi-- frage? Fr-ah-g? Did we look this-- we looked this up and-- oh, man.
If I haven't heard it said before. I have a tough time with that sometimes. But it is spelled highlander white. And it's S-A-X-I-F-R-A-G-E.
I'm just going to break up this little bit at the bottom so that the roots can move around in the pot. And I chose two different ones. This one has more compact flowers and this one was a little bit leggy looking. But I liked that because I can have this one that is doing a little bit more movement come and drape down the front like this.
So I'll tuck that little baby in the there. I'm going to add-- I have some different kinds of lettuces. I guess this is a lettuce, a kale, and I think this is cabbage. Yep. A little bit of cabbage.
That one I lost. I tell people a lot with cut flowers, feeling the flowers to know if it's going to hold well for use a cut if you're cutting some things from your garden. If you feel lettuce it feels very tender and soft. And then if you feel this cabbage down here it's very leathery.
That Cabbage will do just fine out of water. But the lettuce, you'll have a little bit more wobbling around. And we're experiencing that even now just here on the plant. The cabbage and kale over here, same thing.
And I wanted to have a little bit of lettuce in here. Have a little spring garden. Thought it would be sweet. So we'll see how it does.
Let's put a little thyme in here next. Thyme is one of my-- this is a lemon variety. I love thyme.
It's very sweet smelling. It's great to have on hand for cake decorating flowers if you do wedding flowers. I like to use that on wedding cakes a lot. Of course, I make little cookies and Jesse and I had it in scrambled eggs the other morning.
When I was choosing these plants at the garden center I was thinking about the different shapes of the leaves and how they might look grouped together. I wanted to have some varieties, so that's why we have long lettuce leaves.
And these cabbage leaves have just a little hint of purple in them, which I really liked. Just add a little bit of depth to our green. It's, of course, primarily green. But I wanted to have a little hint of color.
Now This, you could plant the whole thing in the ground I suppose. I want to liberate it for what we're doing.
It has become-- the roots have come bound around the bottom of this. Try not to disturb them too much but let them go free so they can keep moving.
Easter is one of my favorite-- well it is my very favorite holiday. So I'm excited about this one. Parents are coming down to visit. And we'll have our little brunch with this centerpiece.
Nice thing about these is you can do them in advance and keep an eye on them, keep them watered, and happy. And that's one less thing you have to do when company comes. You don't need to be arranging fresh flowers. You can just touch your potted arrangement up and pay attention to your guests.
OK. I think I'm going to reserve these last two, just in case we need them. And I'm going to fill in with a little bit more potting soil. Then we're going to add some fresh flowers.
And these daffodils will be-- they will be all done blooming. They will have lived their life by Easter for me right now. But there will be more in the garden when Easter rolls around and I'll run out pick some more.
Same with-- I think we're going to add some forsythia to this. It's a great plant to use.
But again, that forsythia will actually very likely still be looking great for me around Easter. Forsythia is one of those flowers that roofs in water. And those kinds of things are always very long lasting in arrangements.
I don't know if you've ever noticed ivy. If you cut ivy and put it in a vase, it will start to shoot out little roots at the bottom. Maybe after about two weeks of being cut.
And forsythia acts the same way. That's how it spreads in the ground and multiplies is by putting out roots. So that is a great, great cut. Great thing to have in your garden if you don't have already. OK. Cute.
So to put these flowers in, I'm going to use some little water picks. But I wanted to show you a few other options.
In the book, whenever they talk about putting together the pot-et-fleurs, they have thin little containers or little vessels that they actually plant in the soil that then they can put their little bouquet in. So I wanted to show these. These would be great little things that you could plant in there. With what we're doing with it being so low and just the shape of what we're doing today, this isn't what I need.
We could, if we wanted to, perhaps use this. This is a little pin frog cup that you can put a little bit of water down in here. And then you have the pins that you can set the flowers in and around.
So I'm going to just-- there's a little place right here that I've created that would be fine to put that in. Since it's green it mixes in with the things that we have. I'm just going to put a little bit of water in that.
And since I might want to put some flowers in a spot other than this or maybe just one little flower over here, I also have some water tubes to use as well. And they just look like this if you haven't used them before. They have a little poke and you just poke it down in there. And then kind of hide the mechanics of that as needed.
So I'm going to start with the forsythia. And I'm going to use this to create the kind of more interesting shape at the top. We've filled in the base of our arrangement. But now opposite of this rosemary that's probably the most prominent thing that we have coming up, I'm going to do the forsythia right over here.
And I'm not getting real serious about precisely how this is going in there. I want it to feel casual and just that it was a walk in the garden. But naturally, just because that's how my eyes bend, I'm thinking about the lines and the movement that I'm creating in the arrangement with the pieces that I put in.
And then the little daffodils. You can see how they get this little-- where they've been living and forming. You can just pull that off and liberate the flower. So there she is. Glad and ready to roll.
I'm going to take a quick peek at my flowers. See which ones are the biggest, which ones are medium, which ones are small. That helps me as I place them.
You place larger flowers at the base of the arrangement and smaller ones higher. It feels a little bit more grounded, I guess is the word you could use to describe that.
And as I place the flowers in, I'm thinking about just putting maybe one a stair step above the other, rather than crunching them together. Because I want this to just look like they're growing there.
And as you go out and gather your flowers, you don't have to use daffodils. You don't have to use forsythia. Use whatever is in your garden.
But notice as you bring it in and as it's growing there, just the natural bend to the flower and how it seems to grow. And if you mimic that kind of look as you arrange it in the bowl, you'll get a nice garden feel.
So I'm going to show you-- I have this one in here and I'm going to take it out. And I'll show you why I think-- I mean it could stay there.
But I kind of think it's a stronger composition to me if I just pull this out and we have that. These were kind of on the same level and similar. So I'm just going to readjust how this one is facing. Maybe use it a little bit further back in the arrangement.
So now I'm going to work this angle. And see how as we do this we're creating depth in the arrangement. You can tell that it's moving backwards here just a little bit more. Movement.
You really could, I think, stop there with the flower placement. What I might do with some of these other smaller daffodils that I have is just create a small little grouping in a little bud vase and put these in front of each person seat. I think that would be a sweet way to use the rest of these.
And I wanted to add in my little bunny here. I have two younger sisters. And the one next in line to me, her name is Kristin. But we-- from the day she was born she just looked like the sweetest little snugly bunny. And the name stuck.
So this is little bunny right here. She can't make it down to Easter. So we're going to put this little-- we're going to put this little bunny in here to remember Kristin. I think we will put that right here. Cute.
And just these last two that I have. There's a little spot back here. I'm going to fill them in.
OK. I think that took care of that. I think we're done.
Another thing you might want to do down the ends of the tables. I know everybody's dinner tables are a little bit different. Some people are eating family style. Some people are having it on a buffet or something like that. So just a few other things.
So the daffodils in the bud vase is another way that you could add and make something with this. And then there are little sweet terracotta pots that you can get at the hardware store. They have little tiny mini ones too. That might be something that's sweet that you could put at each person's place setting.
And I also have some carrots and I have some cabbage leaves. I took some leaves off. And I have the actual cabbage head here. You can arrange these down your table and make it sweet and special.
Or you might even consider using one of these cabbage leaves as maybe a place card. Maybe you paint, just with some little-- bit of acrylic paint, you paint their little name in there as a place card. Or you could serve a chicken salad in it, you know. Whatever you think.
But there's so many sweet ways you can use something like this. And what a beautiful leaf, all the colors and veins within the leaf. So those are a few little ideas for you with that.
I already mentioned planning it out after you're finished using it as your centerpiece. And don't want to forget to give it a little bit of water here before we sign off as well, since we've disturbed those-- disturbed those roots, go ahead and get them some water back to their way.
So that's what I've got for you. Wishing you a wonderful, wonderful Easter. And hope that you enjoy spring and all the beautiful things that it has to offer.
Talk to you soon. Have a great day.
Suzanna has great insight and wisdom regarding transition, and in this episode we’re talking about what it’s like to shift brands multiple times—as well as when it’s necessary to diversify your revenue stream. We’re chatting about hiring that first person and what it looks like to expand a team. Suzanna is sharing how she interacts with her team and navigates conflict with her staff.
Pop-ups, workshops, and handmade markets are all on-trend, but I hear more and more participants complaining they’re a bust and a waste of time and money when, in fact, these types of events can be a great money maker for your floral business and a vehicle to let people in your community know about your floral services.
In my view, the flower business is 25% design, 50% sales and marketing, and 25% financial and human resource management. Even if you don’t own your business, understanding basic business principles will make you extremely valuable to your employer. Don’t underestimate the power of the business of flowers!
Wiring is a valuable and specialized skill that can add value to your business and set you apart as a designer and freelancer. Kelly explains why wiring is important—as well as when and where to use wired flowers—in this excerpt from the Team Flower Advanced Techniques for Wiring fast track class. The wiring technique gives you a lot of control over the exact placement and orientation of each and every bloom in a piece—if you need your focal flower to bend in a certain way that is not natural for its stem, wiring makes that possible!
Kelly is joined by Cristina Barragan of Fleur Society on this episode of the Team Flower Podcast. Cristina is passionate about utilizing systems in business, and she is talking with us about how smart business practices can save time and increase productivity.
Personal flowers are the most important of the wedding day—and sometimes the ones that get the least amount of care! Bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, posies, and flower crowns… these are the flowers used most in photos (and the flowers that are least likely to be in water throughout the day), so it’s essential to implement best practices ahead of time to make sure they are as fresh as possible.
While completing my basic floral training and starting my career as a shop assistant, while there are many avenues for training and certification, I set for myself the goal of becoming a wedding designer and ultimately earning my AIFD accreditation.
Margot Shaw, the founder of Flower Magazine and author of Living Floral joins us on this episode of the Team Flower Podcast. Margot tells the story of Flower Magazine and how it came into existence from her dream of a botanical lifestyle. We talk about what it means to live with flowers—not just work with them. We are also chatting about Margot’s wonderful new book, Living Floral. The pages are full of beautiful photos and inspiring stories of using flowers to bring color and life into your home.
Is there anything more thrilling than preparing a garden plot that will pay floral dividends for years to come? Many gardeners plant peonies for pure enjoyment, but peonies also play an important role commercially as a high-dollar flower for floral design work. As a farmer-florist, you can grow the cultivars that compliment your design style, including some that are otherwise hard to find or not available on the commercial market. You also have total control over the harvest, selecting only the most perfect buds for your design work.
Blooming from December into early spring, they are a much-anticipated bloom, the first of the year here in Oregon. Hellebores like a shady position in the garden with well-drained soil. They love a well-prepared site, cultivated deeply for their long and fleshy roots, about two to three feet deep and amended with rotten manure.
In this excerpt from the Team Flower Elements and Principles of Design class, Kelly demonstrates the principle of movement by creating a minimalistic floral arrangement using complimentary colors. Complimentary colors are opposites on the color wheel (orange and blue, purple and yellow, and red and green). She uses caladium, firecracker, and green trick dianthus to demonstrate the most difficult of the three groups: red and green. This is a color palette that typically reminds us of Christmas, but it can be used to create a sweet summer piece as well.
