Flower Growers School

Last weekend I had the incredible opportunity to attend a Specialty Cut Flower Growers School put on by The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market and Washington State University Mt. Vernon Research and Extension Center. I learned SO MUCH in the two days of the workshop- everything from crop selection, seed starting, harvest and post-harvest flower care, hoophouse and greenhouse construction and crops, succession planting, business planning, crop costing, beneficial insects and dealing with pests in a sustainable manner.... the list goes on and on. It was a conference full of super helpful and pertinent information, and it left me so inspired and ready for the next phase of The Botanique Cutting Garden, the 500 sq. ft. area in our backyard that is rapidly turning into a mini, urban flower farm! I feel like I am only just beginning to digest the smallest little fraction of what I learned, and can't possibly fit it all into one blog post. So for now I will just share some photos of one of my favorite parts of the weekend, a tour of Jello Mold Farm in Mt. Vernon, where the second day of the workshop took place.

The hellebore beds at Jello Mold Farm- LOVE THE HELLEBORES!!!

One of my favorites, love that dark purple, grape juice color

Columbine, just starting to poke up through straw mulch.

Soil Blocking- a great way to start seeds.

Dahlia propagation!!!

Diane Szukovathy (my new hero). Diane was one of our teachers for the weekend, and she and her husband Dennis Westphall run Jello Mold Farm. I have gotten to know Diane and Dennis through purchasing their flowers at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, and it was so awesome to see where and how their flowers are grown.

It was a truly inspiring weekend! It made me want to move to the Skagit Valley and farm, farm, farm..... but for now, I am STOKED to get the Botanique Cutting Garden going for the year! Small-scale, urban flower farming- YES! 

RED

Two centerpiece mock-ups for a wedding I am doing this June.... very different styles, very different color palettes, but both are very RED. 

Centerpiece #1 features deep RED roses, carnations, and snapdragons, scarlet spray roses and ranunculus, dusty miller and agonis foliage, and, my personal favorite, black pussy willow.

Centerpiece #2 features the same deep RED roses and carnations, Spicy Roses (the burnt orange roses), a few sprigs of eucalyptus, coral bark maple twigs, and a few orange parrot tulips:

The jury is still out on which design will be selected! Which would you choose?

One more arrangement before we hit the road....

Tomorrow, Eli and I are heading off to Breitenbush Hot Springs- yes!!!! But before we go, a few shots of an arrangement I made today for a friend's booth at the NW Flower and Garden Show.

Please excuse the blurriness... there was gorgeous light spilling into the basement when I went to grab a crate to pack this bad boy up, and so I decided to "get crafty" with my photography and take a photo in a location other than that trusty fence you may have started to recognize from almost. every. flower. photo. I. take.

But then I got frustrated with my camera (which was not doing such a great job of focusing this low-light situation) and had to take the photo operation outside to.... you guessed it- the fence!

Ahhh, the fence, where there always seems to be just enough natural light...

Ranunculus, Acacia, Dusty Miller, Eucalyptus, Pussy Willow and Drumstick Allium.

Enjoy the weekend and Valentines Day! Botanique is NOT taking Valentines Day orders, but I will be working at Terra Bella Flowers on V-Day, so if you want flowers for your sweetie I recommend you get them there!

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.

Hot Pink, Powder Pink and Lime

The final bouquet from my January Bouquet Study- thinking of spring, lots of movement, and sweetness...

Featuring a pink and green color palette, and some of my favorite flowers: parrot tulips, ranunculus, green, hanging amaranth, lisianthus, green berzillia, and the tiniest bit of stock...

And what would a bouquet be without some pretty pins and ribbon...

By the way, if you are planning a wedding this summer and would like amazing flowers for your celebration, let me know! I'm currently booking 2012 dates.... send an email to: emailbotanique@gmail.com

I would love to design flowers especially for you!!!

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!

Plum Ranunculus

I think it's safe to say that this week's flower obsession was rich, plum-colored ranunculus. Here are a few shots of arrangements made with this incredibly gorgeous flower!

Ranunculus, tulips, feverfew, and stock...

And here we have a similar palette, but take out the stock and yellow tulips, and add some pincushion protea, quince branches, and blackberries...

Makes me think of spring...