White O’hara, Patience, White Cloud, Alabaster, Purity, Miyuki, Vitality

A White Garden Rose Study with 7 varieties of roses grown by Alexandra Farms.

Alabaster

Alabaster

Alabaster
Vase Life: 7-8 Days
Details: A very striking white rose, each petal has a special little point at the tip which gives it a very unique look. This variety is very consistent in opening, it does need a few days to open to the full bloom which is absolutely stunning for event work.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again – I cannot get enough of this rose, it’s a favorite.

David Austin ‘Patience’

David Austin ‘Patience’

Patience by David Austin
Vase Life: 7-8 Days
Details: Patience is a David Austin garden rose variety. Patience offers a lovely, dreamy garden rose scent. The rose you want to scoop up and take a big whiff of it and say ahhhhh…..
The size and shape is similar to White Cloud, however the bloom is a touch more creamy, ivory in tone. It’s rosette shape is packed full of ruffly petals.

David Austin ‘Purity’

David Austin ‘Purity’

Purity
Vase Life: 8-10 Days
Details: Purity is a David Austin garden rose variety, one of the newer varieties they offer which was introduced in 2017. Purity offers a lovely cupped rose with dainty blush hint in the center and a very sweet scent. I found the blooms opened well by day two which is nice for designing with right away, yet the blooms did last a good 8-10 days. A beautiful shape and size to use in bridal work.

Princess Miyuki
(First Snow)

Princess Miyuki
(First Snow)

Princess Miyuki
(First Snow)

Miyuki
Vase Life: 7 Days
Details: This was my first experience with this variety. I found it to be very appealing, a wonderful true white garden rose with the prettiest ruffly petals. She offers a lovely garden rose scent, just the perfect scent to use in bridal bouquets. I found the bloom’s shape to be a perfect garden rose, highly recommend this one for bridal work if you are looking for the romantic garden rose look.

Vitality

Vitality

Vitality
Vase Life: 5-6 Days
Details: Hands-down the best smelling rose of the bunch! Exceptionally Fragrant! This particular variety is a creamy, ivory white. A very large bloom, too, the biggest bloom of the 7 varieties included in this rose study. A perfect variety for design work that needs a large rose to make an impact. Each bloom in the bunch of 12 does open slightly different, some expose the center and some don’t – I found this to be appealing as it would add texture to any arrangement.

White Cloud

White Cloud

White Cloud
Vase Life: 12-14 Days
Details: White Cloud is a super long lasting variety of white garden rose, even at almost two weeks of age I still have a few blooms that look ok in the vase! Very impressive. The color is very white, I read on Alexandra Farm’s website that it is described as bone white and I would agree with this assessment. A nice shape and size which is perfect for bridal work.

White O’Hara

White O’Hara

White O’Hara
Vase Life: 7-8 Days
Details: A sturdy and trusty variety – this one is often called a workhorse as it is so trusty. A big rose that is perfect for centerpieces as it takes up a lot of real estate in an arrangement. It has a subtle and sweet fragrance. White O’Hara does have a blush center to it, so if you are looking for a true 100% white rose this one won’t work. If you like the idea of a subtle hint of blush in the center then definitely add this one onto your list! Definitely a very lovely rose!

White O’hara, Patience, White Cloud, Alabaster, Purity, Miyuki, Vitality

White O’hara, Patience, White Cloud, Alabaster, Purity, Miyuki, Vitality

 
Join Alicia Schwede for a very special workshop being held at the beautiful Garden Valley Ranch in Petaluma, California!
The workshop will be held on Saturday, April 21, 2018 beginning at 10am and ending around 4pm. Our day will begin with Alicia demonstrating how to create a garden inspired compote centerpiece. After the demonstration students will create their own works of art, filled with all the goodness spring has to offer us! Lilacs, tulips, hellebores, and much more!
Lunch in the gardens will follow. After lunch we will be treated to a tour of the gardens, the roses will be coming into bloom and we’ll be able to take in all of spring’s beauty.
We’ll head back to our design tables and begin our large vase arrangements. Let’s get creative and have fun with spring’s bounty – blooming branches, fragrant lilacs – this will be one impressive and fun arrangement to design!
Our day will conclude around 4pm.
This class is open to all skill levels in floristry.

The Details:
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2018
Location: Garden Valley Ranch, 498 Pepper Road, Petaluma, California, 94952
Time: 10:00am to 4pm
Investment:
Early Bird Registration 3/15 to 4/7 price is $495.00
Price will increase to $595.00 on 4/8 to 4/19.
Registration will close when workshop is full or on 4/19.
Register HERE

Details of Garden Valley Ranch:
Garden Valley Ranch cultivates a beautiful garden setting with about 6,000 rosebushes over five acres of fields and gardens. Landscaped plantings at Garden Valley Ranch feature roses on pergolas, columns, tree-climbers, arches and mixed in with local perennials, annuals and bulbs. Rose bushes will be available to purchase!
Petaluma is located 38 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge/San Francisco and it is a very quick jump off the 101 freeway in Petaluma to the Ranch.

By Rachel Evans Heath

Entrance into the Bridal Show by Trill Flora (me!)

We’re just winding our way out of bridal-show season and a question I often hear designers asking one another is, “Do you think bridal shows are worth it?”

I participated in a bridal-show-like event a couple months ago and there is always a feeling of uncertainty before, during, and even, immediately after. But every business is different and nees different things. So let’s weigh the pro’s and con’s of bridal shows and see what answers I can help you come up with for your floral business.

CON: THEY ARE EXPENSIVE

1. Bridal show fees can be expensive. Just to have a booth or be a participating vendor usually means paying a registration fee of some kind. And if it doesn’t have a registration fee, there’s a good chance it’s not a very established show—which in some ways can be great, and even better than a convention-center-like exhibit. But you also run the risk of not getting a guaranteed turnout to that event, or it not drawing a crowd of your ideal clients.
2. Perishable product is expensive. And since you’re wanting to make the biggest, most lasting impression on these potential clients as you possibly can, (right?), that usually means forking over a load of cash to buy the amount of product you want to use.
3. Marketing materials to hand out are expensive. Business cards, printed brochures, postcards or, as I saw recently, a tied boutonniere for all 700 participants who walk past your booth, adds up! And that’s not something you want to skip bringing with you and to stock your booth with. It’s important those clients have as little work to find you afterward as possible. So those babies are pretty important!
4. Hiring staff is expensive. Getting your awe-inspiring floral decors unloaded, installed, placed, and ready to go needs more than your own two hands. And if you’re planning to explore the event at all while you’re there, you need someone manning your booth and collecting names and answering questions. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can do this thing on your own. And the best person to answer questions is likely someone who’s worked with you and will need to be paid.
5. They’re time consuming. And as business owners we have to remember that time really is money. Hopefully the time spent on this show leads to lots of great weddings on your books, but just like all other expenses, this investment is one you are doing with the hope that you’ll get a nice return on your investment. Between planning your space, ordering, designing, setting up, manning your booth through the event, then cleaning up at the end of the night and, let’s be honest, in your shop or studio all of the next day, that time really adds up. And you have to ask yourself, “is this the most productive use of my time?”

PRO: THEY GET YOUR COMPANY’S NAME “OUT THERE”

1. They give you facetime with potential couples. It’s helpful in securing new clients to actually put yourself in front of them, so they can see your company, see your work, learn your name, see your face and maybe come away impressed or charmed by your personality and expansive floral knowledge
2. Bridal shows are also a great place to network with vendors. Vendor relations are a big deal. I’d argue that connecting with vendors at a bridal show is equally, if not more, important than connecting with future brides. Why? Because vendors will bring you referrals time and time again, and that bride or groom will (ideally) only be getting married once.
3. They help you stay relevant to the bridal industry. Even if you’re a veteran in the world of weddings, it’s important to stay relevant and remind everyone that you’re still here and rocking the industry with your expertise and decades of experience.

It’s important at this point to recognize that every bridal show is different and some are far more beneficial than others. So in this journey through qualifying a show together, let’s now review some of the things you should be first asking yourself each time you’re considering participation.

THINGS TO ASK WHEN QUALIFYING A SHOW?

WHAT SORT OF BRIDAL SHOW IS IT?
There are all sorts of different bridal show opportunities out there. We all know of the big convention center shows with a small booth per vendor—you know, the ones that give us a deja vu feeling of being back at the 7^th grade science fair… But plenty of planners and venues will often plan or host their own and have a few, select, participating vendors. So when investigating the sort of event it will be, remember to qualify the following questions:

• Will you get direct exposure to potential clients?
• How many other wedding florists will be featured at this event?
• How much physical space will you have to design in and wow guests with?
• Do you know anyone who has done this show before and you can ask for their review or recommendation on it?
• Have you ever attended this show before and seen how it runs, first hand?
• Will you get pictures of your work at the show from a professional photographer afterward?

HOW MUCH WOULD THIS SHOW COST YOU, AND DO YOU HAVE THE BUDGET?
Remember to include all of the expense factors listed in our “con list” above. Including your time. Get a clear picture of exactly how much this show will set you back, then double check that you have enough in your marketing budget to invest in it.

HOW MANY WEDDINGS WILL YOU HAVE TO BOOK TO PAY OFF YOUR TOTAL EXPENSES?
I think this is key. Will this event likely bring in enough weddings to pay off what you put into it? And remember, the total wedding budget a client spends with you is not the dollar amount your business will earn from that wedding. You have to subtract payroll, cost of goods, etc. Business earnings alone should be counted when estimating your profit vs. expenses.

HOW MANY POTENTIAL CLIENTS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND? AND ARE THEY YOUR IDEAL CLIENT?
An estimated attendance of 1,300 sounds wonderful, but what sort of brides are they? If most of them are just coming to get ideas on what they’ll do when they DIY their own flowers, you can plan on getting very few inquiries afterward. Make sure the type of clients attending have the budget to hire you.

Hopefully by now you feel like you have the tools to assess for yourself which shows to do and which not to do. It’s a tricky thing to navigate. And maybe now that the bridal show season is over you can be thinking ahead to next year and sizing up the various shows in your own area, getting an idea of which you want to do next year and planning your budget ahead of time, so you have it ready by next winter.

Two final tips before I sign off here…

1. If you think there is a show in your area that may be perfect for you, try to attend it in advance and see for yourself what vendors are doing and which ones look to be doing well there.
2. If you do decide to do a bridal show next year, and it’s your very first one, don’t forget to bring a notebook or clipboard to collect client information in. The follow-up with potential clients after each show is huge, and the more I talk to people, the more I hear stories of not having done this at their very first event and quickly regretting it.

Any other pieces of advice I missed? Feel free to leave a brief comment below and share some of your own experiences of things you wish you’d done or something that’s worked well for you.

Good luck to you all!

I’ve been working with Longfield Gardens on building collections of flowers which complement each other in both the garden and for cut flower designing. It’s a wonderfully fun project and we are currently sharing six collections! Four of which are of spring flowers and two are late summer dahlia collections. Currently the two dahlia collections are sold out and the four spring bulb collections will be available to order starting in May.

With the main photograph of the arrangement I did include the text that you will find on Longfield Garden’s Website.
Here are the six collections so far:

Flirty Fleurs Baroque Collection
This spring bulb collection from Alicia Schwede of Flirtyfleurs.com was inspired by the sumptuous color schemes of the 17th century Baroque period. Warm, coppery hues of midseason tulips Double Gudoshnik, Apricot Impression and Lambada are echoed in the ruffled petals of daffodil Delnashaugh.
• Exclusive Designer Collection
• Excellent Cut Flowers
• Blooms Mid-Spring
This collection contains:
• 10 Narcissus Delnashaugh
• 10 Tulip Gudoshnik Double
• 10 Tulip Lambada
• 25 Tulip Apricot Impression

Flirty Fleurs Baroque Collection
This collection contains:
• 10 Narcissus Delnashaugh
• 10 Tulip Gudoshnik Double
• 10 Tulip Lambada
• 25 Tulip Apricot Impression

Flirty Fleurs Dolcetto Collection
This elegant floral arrangement was created by Alicia Schwede of Flirtyfleurs.com. She grew the flowers in her home garden, and all are varieties from Longfield Gardens. The combination of frosty white and dark burgundy looks dramatic, yet serene. The collection includes three dahlia varieties, plus the fragrant, late summer flowers of Acidanthera. Buy the kit or order the flowers separately.
This collection contains:
• 3 Dahlia Edge of Joy
• 3 Dahlia Tartan
• 3 Dahlia Rip City
• 24 Acidanthera Murielae

Flirty Fleurs Dolcetto Collection
This collection contains:
• 3 Dahlia Edge of Joy
• 3 Dahlia Tartan
• 3 Dahlia Rip City
• 24 Acidanthera Murielae

Flirty Fleurs Jubilee Collection
This stunning collection of late-blooming tulips was developed by Seattle-area florist Alicia Schwede. Alicia grew the tulips in her home garden, then arranged and photographed them and featured the bouquet on her blog, Flirtyfleurs.com. Each variety represents a different style of tulip, to provide variations in texture as well as color. This contemporary mix will look as beautiful in your garden as it does in a vase.
• New and Exclusive
• Sophisticated Colors and Textures
• Outstanding Cut Flowers
This collection contains:
• 10 Tulip White Parrot
• 10 Tulip Carnaval De Nice
• 10 Tulip Midnight Magic
• 10 Tulip Estella Rijnveld
• 10 Tulip Red Wing
• 25 Tulip Cartouche

Flirty Fleurs Jubilee Collection
This collection contains:
• 10 Tulip White Parrot
• 10 Tulip Carnaval De Nice
• 10 Tulip Midnight Magic
• 10 Tulip Estella Rijnveld
• 10 Tulip Red Wing
• 25 Tulip Cartouche

Flirty Fleurs Somerset Collection
This exclusive collection from Flirty Fleurs has the freshness of an early morning by the seashore. Floral designer Alicia Schwede has paired classic daffodil varieties Barrett Browning, White Lion and Delnashaugh with fragrant Aiolos and Gypsy Queen hyacinths. Looks lovely lining a front walk or filling a container.
• Exclusive Designer Collection
• Excellent Cut Flowers
• Blooms Mid-Spring
This collection contains:
• 10 Narcissus White Lion
• 10 Narcissus Delnashaugh
• 10 Hyacinth Aiolos
• 15 Hyacinth Gypsy Queen
• 20 Narcissus Barrett Browning

Flirty Fleurs Somerset Collection
This collection contains:
• 10 Narcissus White Lion
• 10 Narcissus Delnashaugh
• 10 Hyacinth Aiolos
• 15 Hyacinth Gypsy Queen
• 20 Narcissus Barrett Browning

Flirty Fleurs Tivoli Collection
This exclusive assortment was created for Longfield Gardens by floral designer Alicia Schwede of Flirtyfleurs.com. It captures the timeless splendor of Tivoli’s ancient villas and pleasure gardens. The tulips include black and white parrots, double late Backpacker, lily-flowered Claudia and single late Queen of Night. The elegant daffodil Starlight Sensation adds sparkle.
• Exclusive Designer Collection
• Excellent Cut Flowers
• Blooms Mid-Spring
This collection contains:
• 10 Tulip Queen of Night
• 10 Tulip Black Parrot
• 10 Tulip White Parrot
• 10 Tulip Backpacker
• 10 Narcissus Starlight Sensation
• 25 Tulip Claudia

Flirty Fleurs Tivoli Collection
This collection contains:
• 10 Tulip Queen of Night
• 10 Tulip Black Parrot
• 10 Tulip White Parrot
• 10 Tulip Backpacker
• 10 Narcissus Starlight Sensation
• 25 Tulip Claudia

Flirty Fleurs Verona Collection
Seattle-area floral designer Alicia Schwede of Flirtyfleurs.com made this arrangement using Longfield Gardens dahlias grown in her own garden. With a limited palette of harmonious colors and several different flower styles, she composed a distinctive bouquet with an old-world feel. To get the look, simply grow all three varieties in this exclusive collection.
This collection contains:
• 1 Dahlia Labyrinth
• 3 Dahlia Cafe Au Lait
• 3 Dahlia HS Date

Flirty Fleurs Verona Collection
This collection contains:
• 1 Dahlia Labyrinth
• 3 Dahlia Cafe Au Lait
• 3 Dahlia HS Date

I hope you enjoyed seeing these six beautiful collections. Visit Longfield Gardens Website to order the collections.
Meanwhile, my garden is coming into bloom and I’m thrilled to see the daffodils, hyacinths and tulips starting to pop. Can’t wait to work on more collections with the new blooms in my garden!
~Alicia

By Rachel Evans Heath

Sheri Jentsch of Sheri J Floral Design

This is Sheri or Sheri J Floral Design in New Braunfels, Texas. And she is a woman who knows tools.

Her favorite tool is the electric drill. “It’s my favorite because that is the tool I started with. It is sentimental for me, and I use it all the time.”

She’s referring to the first project she incorporated the use of power tools in with her floral design. It was 1999 and she’d been commissioned to create a 50^th wedding anniversary piece that celebrated Y2K while also reflecting the customer’s electrical co-op and internet career.

The arrangement was to be freestanding and sit in front of the podium, but because the podium was attached to an elevated stage she needed a piece that was 7 feet tall in order to reach the top of the podium from the floor.

What she designed was a 7-foot-tall structure made of birch branch, screwed together with a power drill to make it self-standing. Cutting sheet metal into long strips, she wound it around all the birch throughout before using a heavy gauge silver wire purchased at a feed store to secure it and compliment the sheet metal. Lastly, she made self-contained flower-foam balls and incorporated the flowers.

Sheri’s Y2k floral structures

In addition to the 7-foot-tall structure, she made enough miniature versions to place on the buffet tables.

After that she knew she wanted to continue advancing her own designs with the help of power tools. So she started taking some classes.

“I first learned how to weld at a local community college in my area. Community Colleges are a great resource. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in becoming familiar with  power tools to contact a community college in their area to discover any courses being offered in construction. Or welding if you’re interested in that.”

From there, she says, you grow comfortable from constantly using those tools and incorporating them into your creations and projects.

But being a woman and working with tools has its hurdles.

“It took me hours to even get help from the men at the hardware store” she says. “It took time after time for them to take me seriously there. [It was when] I didn’t go away that they finally had to see me.”

By 2011 her comfort with tools gave her the foundation she needed to elevate her creativity and enable her designs to be something more than what the average florist might produce. And the city of New Braunfels had noticed.

When the New Braunfels’ Civic and Convention Center went through a 16 million dollar renovation, they were asking local artists to create pieces in various mediums to hang throughout the newly renovated building. They approached Sheri and asked her to create a piece.

So she created this: a 350 pound, 9 foot by 11 foot wall hanging structure made of native elements collected in New Braunfels. Those native elements included:  River Rock, Limestone, Pecans, Cedar Wood Slices, Pecan Wood Slices, Driftwood, Burr Oak Pods, Mountain Laurel Tree Pods, Wisteria Pods, Lichen Branches and Acorns.

“I started the project by having 9-foot tall cedar trees milled into 2.5 inch thick pieces.  After that I cut panels in the shape of a wave out of half inch plywood. Those panels were placed on top of the milled cedar to reflect the 2 rivers that run through New Braunfels. On each of the flow panels I created patterns with the native elements I collected throughout New Braunfels. The final step was to weld a frame for all the structures to mount and hang on a Limestone wall.”

The tools she used to create this wall hanging included:

Mig Welder, Jigsaw, Electric Drill, Skill Saw, Clamps, Adhesive, 1/4 inch steel pipe, 1/2 inch metal plates, and a scissor lift to get it installed.

“I had moments of elation and moments of crying following the installation of my Wall Sculpture at the Civic Center. There are no words to describe how I felt when the plaque with my name and the name of my art went on the wall next to my Sculpture. I still get emotional thinking about it.”

When I asked her if she had anything she wanted to say to other women regarding power tools she sent me this:

“I want to tell other women not to limit themselves on what they can create and accomplish by being too fearful of using power tools. Yes these tools are intimidating, powerful and deserve respect. But they can also be very empowering. If you become used to working with power tools, your options become limitless.”

A special thanks to Sheri for sharing the beautiful images.
Find Sheri J Floral Design online

YOU COULD BE FEATURED ON THE FLIRTY FLEURS BLOG!

KNOW SOMEONE (YOU?) WHO SHOULD BE FEATURED ON OUR WOMEN WITH TOOLS SERIES? HAVE THEM EMAIL US AT INFO@FLIRTYFLEURS.COM,
SUBJECT LINE: WOMEN WITH TOOLS APPLICANT.

TELL US WHO YOU ARE, A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR DESIGN WORK, AND YOUR FAVORITE POWER TOOL TO USE. INCLUDE AT LEAST 2 PICTURES OF RECENT PROJECTS YOU’VE DONE THAT REQUIRED POWER TOOLS AND TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT EACH.

By Rachel Evans Heath

Toward the end of my first year as a business owner I stumbled into one of the best things that has ever happened to my floral life: I found a floral community.

What is a floral community, you ask? Well for me it’s a group of floral designers who all live in the same general area. They network with each other, hire each other for freelance work, get together regularly, and best of all, offer an array of friendship opportunities with individuals who know exactly what you’re going through as you all navigate the floral-business world.

We call our group “Flower Power”, for lack of a better name. Literally. When naming the group they were struggling to think of something and jokingly offered Flower Power. And, of course, it stuck.

But I personally love the name. Because, despite its retro connotations, it’s empowering to be a part of a group like this!

So how did our amazing group come to be?

Well once upon a time, in June of 2016, a group of early floral business owners all happened to take one of Alicia’s Flirty Fleur Arch and Chuppah workshops together, here in Washington State where they all lived. Afterward these ladies got to chatting, and realized they all had something in common: they were craving a floral network to be a part of.

The Flirty Fleurs Arch and Chuppah Class where it all started, (not all participants are pictured here): Shannon Hagen, Erin Shackelford, Alicia, Keita Horn, Sandy Figel

So they organized their own. They invited Alicia and she joined in as well!

Three months later, while I was attending a separate Flirty Fleurs Arch and Chuppah Workshop, I asked another lady in attendance if she knew of any organized floral groups in the area. And guess what: SHE DID! She explained to me that she was part of a group that had just formed a few months prior, they met every month, had an email list, and a Facebook group.

Within a week I was emailing my hellos to a handful of designers and getting all the information for their next monthly meeting, (I had just missed the last meeting by 4 days! <sad face>).

But three weeks later I was excitedly attending my first meeting, and everyone was awesome! There were only about 8 of us there, and about 3 who couldn’t attend that night.

Their numbers were small, and had started even smaller, but it’s been almost two years now and we have upwards of 30 members on our email list.

These ladies, (so far we only have female members), have been a game changer for me. I’m a transplant to WA state, so networking was having a lot of shortcomings for me.

But networking aside, these ladies created a large community for me. We’re not just fellow flower power members. We’re friends!

Images include: Elaine Naness, Rachel Evans Heath (me), Alicia Schwede (Flirty Fleurs), Sandy Figel, Tammy Myers, Maura Whalen, Shannon Hagen, Kim Richards, Erin Shackelford, Keita Horn, Carey Wendel, and Katie Clary. (Please note we have many more wonderful members not pictured here.)

We meet monthly at each other’s homes, which creates a greater sense of friendship and connection between us. We chat and share what’s going on in our individual businesses, what we hope to do better, what has worked well for us, our business goals, our love of flowers…. All the things we can’t connect on in quite the same way with our own families and friends. We often plan meetings with business or floral themes to help keep our businesses on track. We offer encouragement to one another. We hire one another.

We take the competition out of the Greater Seattle floral industry.

And it’s a wonderful way to live and do business. It certainly makes shopping at the market more fun—wondering who I might run into while picking up my flowers. Or when I lose a wedding bid to a fellow member, it stings a little less, knowing how hard a worker that friend is and that they also deserved it. It’s a little easier to turn that negative dismay into a positive encouragement for working harder and getting the next one.

I feel positivity is always more productive, more helpful, and healthier than negativity. And a floral community is an excellent way to generate those positive relationships within your local floral industry.

Whenever I start to feel dismayed our insecure about my own floral business, my Flower Power friends are always ready to cheer me on and inspire me to keep on working, dreaming and creating.

Some of our group members as of January 2018. It’s tricky to squish us all in!

*Think you need floral community of your own? Keep an eye out next month for The Power of a Floral Community, Part 2: Finding and Creating your own Floral Community

Farm to Vase Rose Workshop: designing roses on a flower farm
Mount Vernon, Washington
June 12, 2018

Join Alicia Schwede of Flirty Fleurs Blog & Bella Fiori Design and Dawn Severin of All My Thyme for a day filled with exploration of fine-art floristry and boutique rose farming in Washington’s beautiful Skagit Valley.

The day will begin by gathering at the barn on All My Thyme farm; take a peek out the back door and you’ll see the roses beckoning us to come out to the field. Get ready to stroll down row after row of blooming rose bushes as Dawn shares her experiences and knowledge of the 100 plus varieties of heirloom and contemporary roses she grows exclusively for floral design work. You’ll learn care and maintenance, proper cutting techniques, post harvest handling, and other tips to keep your shrubs producing stems throughout the season. After our walkabout, we’ll utilize a ‘hands on’ approach (with gloves, of course!) and encourage you to clip some stems that may have caught your eye and imagination. Awaiting us at the barn will be a beautifully curated collection of roses and complementary seasonal flowers and foliages to use in our designs; this is simply an opportunity to hand-select some stems you’ll use for your own design, and practice proper harvesting techniques.

A leisurely lunch will be followed by our afternoon design session, in which Alicia will demonstrate the art of the lush, garden-inspired compote centerpiece. Following her demonstration, each attendee will create their own floral still life overflowing with garden roses. We will encourage you to take your time – as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses! This is your time to fully appreciate all the beauty freshly cut from the rose farm, to explore the natural placement and movement of the flowers as they are incorporated into the design.
To preserve the day and the floral artistry of each designer, a photographer will then capture your arrangement for your portfolio.

We look forward to welcoming you to the farm, and are thrilled to be able to share our love of roses with you!
This class is open to all skill levels in floristry.

The Schedule of the Day

8:45
Arrive on the Farm

9:00

Welcome
Discussion of Antique and Contemporary Roses
Followed by Farm Walkabout and Clipping Stems

11:30
Break for a Leisurely Lunch on the Farm

1:00
Fine Art Floristry Demonstration
Portfolio Shoot

We anticipate the day to conclude around 4:00 p.m., but welcome participants to work at their own pace.
A time to visit and relax while enjoying refreshments and taking one more stroll thru the rows of roses will be encouraged.

The Details:
Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Location: All My Thyme Farm, Mt Vernon, Wa. (address will be sent to registered attendees)
Time: 8:45am until approximately 4/5pm
Investment: $750.00 per person
Registration: Click Here

Listen to Dawn’s podcast interview with Debra Prinzing here.

FAQs:
We anticipate attendees will be traveling to the area for the workshop. Please do let us know if you need information on accommodations as we have suggestions on area hotels.
Payment in full is required to hold your spot, there will be NO refunds or transfers given for cancellations or no shows.
Alicia and the team at Flirty Fleurs invests a lot of time and work into planning and preparing for our workshops prior to the event even taking place. Please respect our investment of time and supplies by only registering for classes you know you will be able to attend, please do not ask us for a refund.
If you are unable to attend a class you have registered for you may sell your ticket to another student – just let us know so that we may update our registration notes. Thank you for your understanding.

by Rachel Evans Heath

Picking up where we left off a couple weeks ago, you may have seen our recent post about one of the floral communities that is here in Seattle.

You may recall some of the benefits I expressed in my enthusiastic retelling of how I found such a wonderful group. But just to refresh your memory, here are a few:

1. Floral groups foster a sense of local community rather than competition. When you’re bidding against a genuine friend for a wedding, you take the loss a lot easier. Even though you feel disappointed, you know they’ll do a good job, and they often will inspire you to work harder for the next one.
2. It’s nice to have floral friends who understand what you do all day: your frustrations your joys, your love of the flowers, the pain in your back and feet… relatability means a lot. And you sometimes don’t realize how much you need it until you have it. I love my family and friends, but they simply don’t empathize to the panic you may experience when your roses aren’t opening fast enough before a big event.
3. A floral community is a huge resource to utilize. Whether it’s finding a last-minute freelancer, or asking for ideas on new rose varieties to try, having a group of experienced professionals to bounce ideas off of is invaluable. Most groups will have a Facebook Group Page for this reason, using it as a discussion board to ask for tips on getting your hydrangeas to bounce back or what have you.

Now that I’ve jogged your memory on why I love floral communities so much, perhaps you’re looking to have a floral community of your own.

Well…

Step 1: Start reaching out to other designers in your area

One of the best places you can go to meet other local florists are your local workshops. Start searching for them in your area. Check Facebook, Google, Eventbrite… and you will likely see something popping up not too far from you.

Workshops are great for both established designers and those who are brand new, because they give you opportunity to slow down and really think about your designs, learn a new mechanic, take all the time you need to make that arrangement a piece of art.

But they’re also wonderful for networking. If you’re new you may meet other new florists, or you may meet some well-established designers, (like the person teaching the workshop!) Don’t be afraid to start chatting. Get to know them. Ask them how long they’ve been doing what they do. Then you drop the big question: Do you know of any floral groups in the area? If none of the other attendees know, I’ll bet your bottom dollar the instructor does.

This is where your options split into two directions:

1. Either someone knows of a group you may be interested in learning more about.
2. There isn’t anything established in your area, and maybe this is the perfect opportunity to start saying, “would you like to be a part of one?” and get the ball rolling.

Step 2a: You’ve found a group. Now how do you join?

Some groups are relatively open and easy to join. Others can be a closed group requiring an invitation. Once you’ve established the nature of the one you’re interested in, ask someone directly what the joining process is. Some groups have a set of standards your business may need to fit into first. Some require paid dues. Network with those who you know are already active participants and let them give you the scoop on what may be required of you. If your company is not up to par, don’t sweat it. Keep working to establish yourself until you qualify. Or go ahead and start meeting in a separate group with others unable to join just yet.

Step 2b: How do I help in getting one started?

Start small. After finding a few names of others who’ve been likewise wanting a community to connect with, schedule a regular meeting. Establish how regularly you meet and what those meetings will entail. Treat it seriously. Take notes like you would at a business meeting and then email them out to everyone afterward. My friend Maura from Casablanca Floral got the ball rolling on Flower Power by taking that initiative to collect everyone’s emails, schedule and host the first meeting and follow up afterward. Following up is essential. It tells others you’re serious and sets a tone for how serious they should treat it as well. The last thing you want is to let this dissipate into something no one commits to attending or participating in.

Once those guidelines are established, the group will organically snowball from there. As friends meet new floral friends your group will grow and grow. Soon you’ll be wondering how many people should be involved at a time, or if there should be any limits at all. I think you’ll be amazed at how much power a positive, collaborative, and welcoming group can have on an entire floral community.

I do hope everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a floral community of their own. Seattle is not unique. There are already floral groups established in most major cities. I happen to be a part of a second group in my home state, (I’m not originally from WA). And though I’m not able to enjoy it in person as much as I’d like, it makes the weddings I travel there for much easier.

Imagine a world where all florists are webbed together by their communities: everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone, spanning regions across the world. What a beautiful worldwide community that would be for those who work with beautiful things.

Tell us about your floral community! Leave a comment and share your stories here. We’d love to hear them!

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