The Floral Masters: Reconnecting with the growers and meeting Francoise Weeks

Re-igniting my fondness and passion for arranging flowers these last two years has been quite a ride. The many wonderful people I've met and the various events I've been able to do flowers for have been experiences I'll forever take with me and the season's not even over yet! I've got at least two more weddings this year and I've been seriously thinking about adding this work to my already jammed-packed repertoire of services offered. And I'm seriously thinking......be careful. LOL!

What brought me back to arranging flowers intensely was the simply fact that playing with flowers, local flowers from my own gardens, was becoming more recognized and the stories of small farmers/growers was something I related to and found inspiring. Thanks to Debra Prinzing and David Perry's fantastic book, "The 50-Mile Bouquet" followed up by Debra's "Slow Flowers", the arrangements I did for events at work or for my own enjoyment at home suddenly had value and meaning.

One grower I met and instantly clicked with was Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm. You might remember I paid her a visit in Spring of 2012 with some friends and learned about the basics of sustainable cut flower production. This mighty power-house of energy, knowledge and business sense is at it full speed with her partner Denis, who helps in every aspect of their remarkable operation.

It was definitely a treat to visit again during the peak of bloom and harvest:

Scoping out a remarkable crop of Scabiosa atropurpurea  'Black Knight'/'Ace of Hearts'

Walking down the rows with stunning roses underplanted with Nigella or Love-In-The-Mist. Looks stunning together

A personal favorite both in the garden and vase, Echinops ritro or the Blue Globe Thistle

Their most precious and lucrative crop (when earwigs haven't eaten the petals) is this elegant Dahlia called 'Cafe Au Lait'. It's said to be the most asked for flower by brides who see it in all the magazines.

A view of the Cascade Range in the background as Jello Mold Farms erupts into bloom!

So if you take these flowers and have them assembled by artists, you instantly have an endeavor that's so rewarding and absolutely state-of-the-art. One such floral artist is the very well known, Francoise Weeks, who I had the GREAT pleasure of meeting during a recent trip down to Portland.

Visit Francoise's website and blog. It truly is remarkable what she's been able to create, but what's most inspiring is Francoise herself. From the moment she walked down her driveway to greet me, she was all smiles and warmly welcomed me to her studio.

And what a studio:


I was actually kind of surprised that she even had time to meet with me since it is wedding season and all. I was simply in awe just walking into this room and seeing for myself the exquisite work that she does.

Francoise had just completed a project and a collaboration with a professional photographer who captured these most unusual headpieces worn by models for a photo shoot worthy of a fashion magazine cover! Check out her blog about these pieces and, of course, the resulting photographs!

An elaborate headpiece composed of Abutilon, Gloriosa lilies, and a few begonia leaves in the rear

The best thing about her designs are the sheer number of botanical wonders she integrates into her work. Talk about detail, color, form and textures!!

A truly captivating mask using the absolute perfect variety of Rex Begonia!

Another mask, this time with a wide assortment of succulents all carefully glued on.

I would love to take part in one of her workshops and learn techniques to improve my own work. As brilliant as she is, she is also very kind, informative, and very generous woman. Scoffing at trends, making time to explore and share her knowledge and creativity, and having a love and respect for the medium she uses to create, Francoise is definitely someone the next generation can look up to.


R

A late summer wedding

Flowers are incredibly symbolic and there's nothing more gratifying than sharing my love and adoration for them by creating something for an event that many will see and also remember for the rest of their lives.

During the first weekend of September, I was invited to my friend, Katharine's, wedding that took place at the scenic Washington coast and was asked if I was able to do the flowers for the event.

Normally, I would decline such requests as seasonal, informal bouquets from my garden and what's in season were one thing, but flowers for an event with a specific theme and color scheme were a whole other ball game. Hearing her ideas and offering some advice, I quickly began to see it coming together in my mind. With the help of her Pinterest page, it was obvious that she wanted to go a simple, almost country/rustic route that would be easy to pull off utilizing materials I had close at hand or could be sourced easily and locally!

Already inspired by my early spring trips to Jello Mold Farm and the book "The 50 Mile Bouquet" by my friends Debra Prinzing and photographer, David Perry, I've been on such a roll putting together abundant bouquets freshly picked from my garden and I figured I would have the same approach. It came together very well!
Dahlias were the flower of choice by the bride and I couldn't have been more thrilled. It could have been a total excuse to visit Dan's Dahlias in Oakville to see his remarkable farm!


Excited, yet also nervous, I agreed to create her bouquet and the bridesmaid's bouquets. And always wanting to go above and beyond, I said I could pull off corsages and boutonnieres for the parents, centerpieces for the reception, and arrangements for others areas of the venues.

Long story short, it came together so well. I was able to raid the future mother-in-law's home garden for some fabulous material to put together other arrangements for the event.

The aisle flanked with a pair of galvanized buckets filled with 'Limelight' Hydrangeas, Physocarpus, and plumes of Stipa gigantea. I bundled some fresh lavender, which the groom's family kindly helped me clean and prepare, to adorn the seats that defined the aisle.

The bride's view as she walks down the aisle to her groom under a simple arbor draped in red silk and the dramatic ocean view in the background.

The completed bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages.

The bride's bouquet composed of hand-tied dahlias, chrysanthemums, lavender and surrounded by the sweet scent of Clethera and various ornamental grasses.

The bridesmaids had white dahlias hand-tied with silvery blue Echinops, lavender, rosemary, and various ornamental grasses for a wild, meadow look. I threw in Hypericum berries to compliment the bride's warmer tones in her bouquet.

Witnessing moments like this when two join together as partners in life is something truly special, but to see that you played a part in that union by seeing a bride holding something you created, from the heart, makes what I do working with plants and flowers, so extraordinary.

So here I am with the bride during the reception after all the running around getting flowers and making sure everything looked beautiful.

I've known Katharine since middle school when we were in orchestra together! We both played violin and I think we were stand partners at one point. It was great to know that she continued with it and is now part of a band called Scarlett Virginia:

Congratulations, Katharine and Scott Houck!

R

My First Video on YouTube!!! Tell me what you think!

Here it is. My special thanks to David Perry for shooting this clip for me!

Let me know what you think! I'd love some feedback.

Plant Delights, oh baby!

Knowing I could get creative with how I pack my plants and bringing multiple boxes to ship them with. I made sure I would be coming home with selections I simply did not want to have to pay for to have packed and shipped when I could easily do it myself!

Plant Delights certainly lived up to my expectations and more so. With the help of my colleague, photographer David Perry, shot a video of my ranting on about the cool plants I saw in Tony Avent's Juniper Level Botanic Gardens.

Here's just a few things I picked up while I was there:

Woodwardia unigemmata (I pre-ordered these to make sure that they didn't sell out!)

Colocasia heterochroma 'Dark Shadows' (OMFG!, I hope lives for me)

Gloxinia namantanthodes 'Evita' (absolutely stunning color. I'll be posting photos I took of this plant on Flickr soon!)

Packed in a canvas bag I inherited from the trade exhibitions, I jammed it full along with an Aspidistra and a Edgeworthia I've been hoping to try in Seattle.

Off to the NC Farmers market, back to the convention for sessions and then an outing at famou JC Ralston Arboretum!

Sweating buckets having to rush and catch the bus,

Riz