Winter Flowers Workshop Announced!

Winter Flowers Workshop
January 15th, 2017
1-3:30pm at the Botanique Studio

It's winter. Unexpected as it may seem, this is a very exciting time of year for flowers! Bare trees make way for unique, textural berries and branches, fragrance abounds in early spring bulbs like hyacinth and heirloom narcissus, and there are a bevy of local, greenhouse-grown roses- the perfect antidote to winter blues! Join Kelly Sullivan of Botanique for an afternoon of floral arranging in our intimate, South Seattle studio, where you will learn how to create a beautiful, layered arrangement full of movement and texture. Participants will take home their completed arrangement. 

Workshop is open to all levels, and is limited to six participants.

Investment: $275 includes all materials, professional photographs of your arrangement, and light refreshments. 

Registration is live at: http://botanique.bigcartel.com

Winter Flowers

If you have been following our blog for a while, you know that we are BIG on local flowers! And you might wonder what that looks like in the winter, when there isn't nearly as much blooming locally as in other seasons. Hopefully this post will be inspirational for those planning winter weddings, who don't want to skimp on the lush florals, but want to stay local too. In the winter, we source a lot of our blooms from California- not as local as Washington and Oregon, but not too, too far away either. Almost all of the beautiful roses we used in these designs came from Eufloria and Green Valley Floral, two of our favorite sources for California grown roses. We went foraging around Seattle for bush ivy (the ivy that you see growing up all the trees and telephone poles) which has beautiful, midnight blue berries in the winter. Those elements made up the bulk of these designs, with ranunculas, anemone, hyacinth, maidenhair fern, and huckleberry foliage adding extra textures.

All of these beautiful photos were taken by Jennifer Tai. This was our design with MG Davis Events and Vintage Ambiance for Weddings in Woodinville this past January, at JM Cellars. The paper goods were created by The Card Bar. Enjoy!

Stephanie and Chris

A wintery night at an intimate bar, two people who are very much in love, a close group of family and friends, beautiful details, artisan cocktails...... sounds pretty great, right? That was the setting of  Stephanie and Chris' beautiful wedding in mid-January of this year. They married at Canon, the bar on Capitol Hill known for amazing, craft cocktails and an impressive collection of whiskey and bitters. Stephanie is the talented designer behind Dahlia Press, a design and letterpress studio that makes gorgeous paperie, so she has an incredible sense of style (you can jump right over to her website here to check out her beautiful work!). She created the invitations and paper good for the day, all with a prohibition-inspired theme to match the bar and vibe of the wedding. The fabulous Erinn J. Hale photographed the day beautifully (um, the LIGHT in this first portrait- WOW! So beautiful). And if you want to see this wedding in print, check out the current issue of Seattle Bride Magazine- Stephanie and Chris' day is one of their featured, local weddings.

But before I share the photos, I have to share the email that I received from Stephanie, on the day of the wedding itself, shortly after I handed off the flowers: "Kelly!! I just have to tell you how over the moon I am for the flowers. They are more stunning then I could have ever imagined. The bouquet looks AMAZING with my dress!! I'm taking a little break in between photos and ceremony time and just had to message you. Thank you soooo much!!! Your work made this day so special." Suffice to say, receiving that email put a big smile on my face - that is exactly the kind of response that I hope each and every one of our couples has when they see their flowers.

Congratulations Stephanie and Chris!

Kelsey and Sean at Sodo Park

This wedding was so beautiful. It was February 16th, two days after Valentine's Day, and a VERY rainy, windy, stormy night. Though the plan was made long before we knew the weather report, the cozy, elegant, and romantic atmosphere we were shooting for seemed perfectly suited to the day- Sodo Park became a warm, glowing refuge from the storm. I lost count of how many mercury glass votives and candle holders were part of this wedding... hundreds and hundreds. Those candles combined with dark green ruscus, jasmine vine, roses, deep plum ranunculas and a hint of pussy willow created the shimmering and richly-toned ambiance we were looking for.

Kelsey and Sean both looked absolutely stunning. They had a relaxed, poised, and sophisticated presence together, which you can see in these beautiful photos by Jeramie Shoda of ShodaLOVE. Any couples out there looking for a photographer, I would hightly recommend Jeramie- as you will see below, his work is outstanding, and he a true pleasure to be around and work with! And if you love Kelsey's dress as much as I do, you just may want to head over to The Dress Theory......

All the best to Kelsey and Sean! It was an honor to create these designs for you!

Jessica and Dean- Local Wedding Flowers in February

Remember the bride who wanted all local flowers for her February wedding? The bride whose story opened this New York Times article about local, seasonal wedding flowers? I had the pleasure of creating her wedding bouquet last month, and love how this bouquet expresses not only the beauty and uniqueness of Jessica, but is also testament to what local flowers can look like, even in the dead of winter when it seems like nothing is growing outside.

With a little creativity and some help from our friends at Peterkort Roses in Oregon (who grew the roses and orchids in this bouquet), a gorgeous, lush, winter bouquet was born! Jessica and Dean specifically requested some NW native plants, so the salal, ferns, and a touch of moss made it in too. Plus pussy willow, and fritillaries grown by Cascade Cuts, located just a few towns up from Jessica and Dean's home in the Skagit Valley.

We are so lucky in the Pacific Northwest to have relatively mild winters, and many flowers farmers who grow at least a portion of their crops in greenhouses- this allows them to force spring bulbs early in the year, and keep some crops, like roses, going year-round. Though the options are more limited in the winter than at other times of year, they are no less beautiful. And some flowers, like the checkered plum fritillaires and fresh pussy willow, are ONLY available in the "off-season" months of late winter/early spring. There is always something beautiful and unique blooming, some times of year it just takes a little more hunting than other times to uncover these gems.

These lovely images come care of Michele M. Waite, whose work is truly exceptional. You can check out her work here.

Congratulations Jessica and Dean! Thank you so much for requesting local flowers!

February's Hellebores

Oh spring, oh spring, could it be true? Are you here yet? This weekend brought two 60 degree days, and it sure felt like spring. This weekend also brought the first crocus and snowdrop sightings of the year, and the first arrangement of 2013 made with with flowers from the cutting garden!

Dusty Miller, Green Amaranth, Green Berzillia, Pussy Willow from the Vashon Island Adventure of a few weeks back, and the infamous HELLEBORE.

If you can find a place to plant a few hellebores in your garden, I would strongly recommend that you do!!!! They are without a doubt one of my favorite plants- gorgeous flowers in FEBRUARY, when almost nothing else is in bloom. Depending on the variety, they come in an assortment of different shades of rose, plum, white, cream and chartreuse. The variety I have growing right now is Helleborus niger 'Joseph Lemper-" the flowers are pure white, and as they go to seed the blooms turn a light, lime green color, with the backs of the petals turning dusty rose. They are truly gorgeous...

Most often they are billed as shade plants- they will bloom and thrive in the shade, however I have also found them to be extremely durable and unfussy in the sun- in one of my gardening clients homes, they are part of a completely drought tolerant parking strip that receives NO irrigation- and they bloom and grow like nobody's business. You can cut back the foliage in late fall, or leave it through winter and cut it back in early spring when they start to bloom (I am a fan of the latter method as their evergreen foliage is a nice addition to a winter garden). Plant a few- trust me, you will LOVE them.

Busy Times of Planning and Celebration

The past few weeks have flown by.

It all started with a big snow storm on MLK day that pretty much shut Seattle down for a week straight. Snow, snow, snow, and also quite a bit of ice, made the streets pretty treacherous, so we just nestled in, made lots of good food, luxuriated in having so much down time to just sit and look out the window at the magical Seattle snow, and eventually went a little stir crazy and were ready for it all to melt.

But in that time, things happened, oh yes they did.

First of all, drum roll, please....................... ELI AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!

It happened on that very same morning when all the snow started. Right after we woke up, groggy and cozy and nestled in our warm bed, Eli presented me with an engagement ring that used to belong to his grandmother (it's gorgeous!!!). Well of course I said yes (prepare for a bit of gushing......) Eli is without a doubt the man of my dreams, and I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. Look at him, who could say no to this handsome face, warm smile, and bright eyes?

Not me!

I was over the moon with excitement! We went outside for a celebratory romp in the snow, found a gorgeous pine cone, and took some photos to commemorate the day.

Can you see the ring in there, sparkling with the snow???

And so, wedding planning has ensued. I have to admit that I love it. And the big question of course has been, "Are you going to do your own flowers?" Well there are at least twenty people trying to talk me out of this idea already, but I think it would be fun! On the other hand, two of my favorite floral designers happen to be located right here, and I can't imagine anything more exciting than the gorgeous designs of either Erin Benzakein or McKenzie Powell at our wedding..... so, we'll see.

Right after the ice storm started to melt, we took a trip to Vashon Island to check out a potential wedding venue (GORGEOUS farm with incredible orchards, a very dreamy place). Driving back to the ferry, something on the side of the road caught my eye: A HUGE TRUNK OF PUSSY WILLOW had cracked off a tree from all the ice, and was just lying there, fuzzy and silver, on the side of the road!!!!!

This could not go to waste.

"Wait!" I shouted as we drove past. "Go back!"

Eli backed up, I pointed to the booty with wide, drooling eyes, and he said, "Yeah! Load up!" (Gotta love a man who is nearly as excited about finding pussy willow on the side of the road as you are!)

We collected as many branches as we could fit in the old Subaru and headed back to Seattle.

Since then, I have been busy creating and re-creating the plan for next year's cutting garden, trying to figure out where I am going to plant the zillions of seeds that I ordered. I am so excited about it! I can't wait for spring, when the barren, muddy backyard turns into a blooming paradise!