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

Farm Fresh: Spring Weddings Flowers Part 1

Since Katharine and Scott's wedding last summer in Seabrook, WA. I've been inspired more than ever to help friends with their wedding flowers and I've been gaining the confidence to churn out creations that people enjoy and are amazed by as long as they're okay with me using what's in my yard, their yards, what's in season and in a valiant attempt to visit and support local specialty growers, their remarkable and interesting crops, I hope, to use as well!

My first wedding flower gig this season is for my co-worker Annie and her longtime partner, Erika. With the passing of Referendum 74 here in Washington State that allows same-sex couples to finally be married and have it be acknowledged by the state, it was a HUGE honor to have been asked to do their flowers.

One of the biggest trends in weddings these days is the whole DIY concept in keeping costs down. It can be affordable, but the time and labor involved can easily stress and frustrate those who take it on. Knowing Annie and Erika, they're not at all about extravagance, they simply wanted the very basic and they wanted to use plants and flowers from their own garden that they grew. So, my challenge was to stay true to their simple requests: a bouquet for Erika, a boutonniere for Annie, their son Anders, and corsages and boutonniere for the parents and center pieces for the tables and just a few random arrangements here and there to decorate and enhance the venue.

Having been playing around with arrangements all winter, the spring push opened up a whole new palette of wonderful garden plants that would be wonderful for their wedding. With Annie being an avid gardener herself, "Why not just cut from the garden?!".

So I went at it with buckets and just gathered as much material that I thought would hold up. Fantastic Solomon's seal (Polygonatum sp), Helleborus x hybridus just reaching the stage where they're best cut, assorted greens, and even the horribly weedy spanish bluebells inspired some color and held up alright "as a cut"

The Seattle Wholesale Grower's Market in the Industrial District of the Emerald City has been such a delight to visit each and every time I come in. Having made many contacts and close friends and colleagues through the likes of author Debra Prinzing, photographer David Perry, and Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farms, I'm as giddy as a kid in a candy store looking forward to what the growers have brought in and to be greeted by smiles and hugs when I visit just makes me realize how much I love what I do. Floral designer and aspiring cut-flower grower, Nicole Cordier, is the main woman behind the desk handling orders and greeting customers. I adore her enthusiasm for unique plant materials and it's so easy to just hang around and chat flowers and the future of the industry. Not only is she a next generation gardener, she could be a next generation GROWER! The beauty of all this is the fact that we're not alone in our endeavors. I've met three other young ladies in just the past year who have their sights set on growing cut flowers and I'm anxious to see if their strong interest carries them through the ups and downs of a very challenging industry.

So, for Annie and Erika's wedding, I proposed that we use soft orange Ranunculus and blue grape hyacinths. As for arrangements, they were very open to ideas and expressed their love of lilacs so I grabbed a large bunch along with some fantastic, young snowball viburnums that were still a light moss green that contrast with the deep violet color. These were grown by Oregon Coastal Flowers who have a regular stand at the Seattle Wholesale Grower's Market.

For the orange ranunculus, Nicole directed me to Ms. Vivian Larson of Everyday Flowers who was their Ranunculus and Anemone specialist and I was able to get in touch with her to place a special order for 50 stems of orange ranunculus. By coincidence, her Standwood farm was actually on the way to the wedding venue in Camano Island and I has asked if I could pick up my order and also see her growing operation!!!!!!So yeah....good times...good times!! She was so kind and enthusiastic and I admired her work ethic and remarkable quality flowers as she toured me through her hoop houses and her fields in the picturesque Skagit Valley

I couldn't help but marvel at the incredible and painstaking work involved in producing these cut blooms. I also had to get some fabulous Cerinthe purpurescens, which she cut for me right then and there! Talk about fresh from the field!!

With my floral-mobile set, I gave Vivian a hug and gave her my sincerest thanks and off I went to Camano Island to quickly put wedding flowers together.

I was actually surprised that the scent of lilacs wasn't too overpowering. Combined that with wonderful lily-of-the-valley, it was simply heaven! It felt so good to have had the opportunity to gather all these plants, meet the people who tended and raised them and now comes the part where it all comes together to celebrate a union that's been a long time coming!

 

With the help of the family, they arranged the centerpieces and did a great job!

After a wonderful and emotional ceremony, I was greeting with compliments and "thank yous" from so many people and I was so thrilled that they were pleased with the result. Probably the most meaningful comment someone said to me was, "You did a great job. This is so Annie and Erika!"


Riz

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