Hello and welcome to Floral Friday! Today I am talking about the beautiful green flower viburnum.

I continually get brides that confuse hydrangea and viburnum, they do look very much alike. Hydrangea has a much larger head and has larger leaves. Viburnum ( in the fresh cut industry) comes only in green, hydrangea comes in a multitude of colors.

Viburnum’s season starts in January and goes through spring. It’s on the expensive side but it doesn’t take much to add beauty to any arrangement. It’s a flower with woody stems so I was taught to smash the ends of the stem after cutting to ensure that the flower drinks properly.

Check out this gorgeous bouquet from Brides.com. I love the mix with roses and stephanotis.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Floral Friday by Jeanne
Tags: hydrangea, viburnum, woody stems
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Roses roses roses, when I first became a florist I said “I don’t want to be typical and use roses for weddings all of the time”. Over the years my love for roses have grown and I can now truly say that they are one of my favorite flowers to work with.

photo credit www.marthastewart.com

There are so many different shapes, sizes and colors of roses. Almost all of the colors of the rainbow but blue and purple although there are roses that are died to be these colors but we won’t talk about those.

Here are some of my favorites-

Black Magic from Ecuador- this rose is really big, has a high petal count and is a velvety burgundy color.

Polo- this rose is extremely large, has such a high petal count it looks like a cabbage rose when it’s fully open and is a gorgeous creamy white.

Cherry Brandy- the color of this rose is so amazing! It’s a bi-colored pink rose with a citrus/orange center. I have used this rose many times for bridal shows that I have done and people ask me time and time again if it’s real or artificial.

Ranuncula- the name of this rose is a little confusing because a ranuncula is actually another type of flower. They must have named it ranuncula because it sort of looks like one. I love to order this gorgeous rose from my favorite rose grower Eufloria.

At one time I really thought roses were overused but now that I’ve realized that there is such a wide variety out there it is so much fun to explore the world of roses.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Trendy Monday by Jeanne
Tags: black magic rose, cherry brandy rose, polo rose, ranunucula rose
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Cosmos Atrosanguineus

*Availability- June, July, August, September and October

*Colors- Burgundy (chocolate brownish)

*Characteristics- Small 1-2″ daisy-like blossoms with a textured center on thin, leafless 12-18″ stems.

*Meaning- Decadence; Modesty; Associated with 2nd wedding anniversary

Ah……..Chocolate Cosmos, truly the only flower in the world that really does smell like chocolate. I am so crazy about chocolate, I just had to have this flower for my wedding. The only problem, I got married at the end of November and it’s season ends around the beginning of October. I did think for a second that maybe we should change our wedding date, crazy huh?

Check out this fantastic bouquet from Soulflowers of San Fransisco made with chocolate cosmos, calla lilies and feathers.

Chocolate cosmos is a relatively small and delicate flower that works so well alone or as an accent combined with other flowers.

Here it is alone from Country Living, cute idea for a junior bridesmaid or flower girl (love it mixed with pink).

or here it is mixed in with dahlias and with lighter and brighter colors (it’s so fantastic with bright green). This photo is from one of my favorite floral blogs The Treasured Petal in California, her work is amazing.

Thanks for stopping by….

Warm regards,

Filed under: Floral Friday by Jeanne
Tags: calla lily, chocolate cosmos, feather bouquet, floral wreath
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I had the pleasure of working with Alyson this past spring season and what a sweetheart she was. The wedding took place at The McCormick Ranch Golf Club in Scottsdale and what a beautiful day it was.

Her primary color was pink with accents of cream and green. We decided to do something different for her centerpieces and add limes underwater- how adorable! Enjoy the fantastic pictures taken by Jennifer at O Grace Photography, what a talent she and her photographers are.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Real Weddings by Jeanne
Tags: lime centerpiece, lime vase, pink rose, rose centerpiece
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Welcome to Trendy Monday. Today I thought I would share the result of me snooping around the web and finding some fantastic photographers. The pictures are of floral, of course, to give us all some wedding inspiration. Enjoy!

And check out the websites of these photographers, they are amazing and they might just be in your area.

Wow what a beautiful bouquet! This is www.twinlensimages.com from New Mexico.

Check out these sweet pea cuties from photographer Melissa Jill in Arizona.

I love this one because it has flowers AND food, what a great shot from Kate of Juxtapose Photography, she is so fun and sassy. Check out her blog, she’s got talent.

This bouquet is so yummy…….check out Taylor Grey Photography in Michigan.

Look at this adorable button hole and paisley tie photo from Kristi Sneddon Photography in Canada.

Thanks for stopping by

warm regards,

Filed under: Trendy Monday by Jeanne
Tags: photographers
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Welcome to Floral Friday, today I am talking about the ever so beautiful and fluffy flower hydrangea.

Hydrangea is so wonderful to work with, it fills large spaces so beautifully and is always such a gorgeous addition to any arrangement. I often like to create a bridal bouquet with hydrangea as a base, then I pull all other flowers through the hydrangea. In this way the hydrangea is everywhere in the bouquet and the other flowers just pop with their colors.

One of my wholesalers pointed out something for me years ago- look at the prefix of the word hydrangea and you will find hydra (to hydrate). Boy is this ever true, hydrangea loves and needs to be in water to survive. When doing bouquets with hydrangea I often adivise the use of a bouquet holder, this simply allows the hydrangea to keep drinking throughout the day and evening so that it lasts much longer for you.

Hydrangea from the bucket…….

into the cake………well not really into, the pastry chef put extra frosting inside those layers to hold the hydrangea in place for me. This is a picture from a wedding I did last weekend, I will post the photographers photos soon, this was such a beautiful wedding to work on.

In this photo I used white hydrangea as a base, isn’t it so fluffy!

Hydrangea comes in white, green, blue, purple, pink and multi-colored. The multi-colored Hydrangea is seasonal and tends to be much more expensive because its’ production is low.

Have great weekend and I will see you back on Monday for all the latest wedding trends. P.S. My season is starting to come to an end here in Phoenix so join me as I travel to California at the end of May to do three fantastic weddings with my incredibly talented sister from Petals by Candy.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Floral Friday by Jeanne
Tags: cake flowers, hydrangea, hydrangea cake
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Hello and welcome to Trendy Monday or maybe I should call it Trendy Tuesday by now, I had such a fantastic Mothers Day weekend and consequently I’m running a little behind.

Anyway, I have been using wheat grass for parties and weddings for quite some time now and thought it should be recognized as a trend. It is so adorable and can be used in so many ways.

Here it is being used for the name cards at a recent wedding I did. Check out the cute gingham ribbon at the base.

I’ve found in working with the grass that it is best to put 1 inch styrofoam underneath to give it support otherwise it’s not as firm and harder to work with. Also, if your going to be putting water tubed flowers in it, it gives them the support they need- win win.

Here I used it for a centerpiece I did last year.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Trendy Monday by Jeanne
Tags: place card table, wheat grass, wheat grass centerpiece
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Welcome to Floral Friday! Today I’m talking about the oh so beautiful phalaenopsis orchid.

The phalaenopsis orchids I am talking about today are the common ones that we use in the fresh cut industry. Most of these orchids are available year round because they’re grown in greenhouses where the environment is ideal for them (around 65-70 degrees with a lot of humidity). So this is the reason that we associate Hawaii with orchids- they love the climate.

photo credit- Rebecca Bouck Photography Here is a boutonniere that I did for a wedding at the fabulous Royal Palms resort this past fall.

The phalaenopsis orchid comes in a wide variety of colors but the most common colors that we see at the wholesalers are white and a purplish pink. Orchids in general are so fantastic for me to work with here in Phoenix because they do so well in the heat. And with temperatures heating up over 100 degrees this weekend, I am always looking to work with flowers that will cooperate and be happy.

When using phalaenopsis orchids you can choose to individually wire them or use the entire stem (they come on a stalk with multiple blooms).

Check out this amazing centerpiece from Martha Stewart. How pretty would this be for a wedding…

Thanks for stopping by! See you Monday for the latest trends in the wedding industry.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Floral Friday by Jeanne
Tags: orchids, phaleonopsis orchid
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Today on trendy Monday I am going to talk about an obvious trend (or maybe it’s just obvious to me), hand-tied bouquets.

photo credit- RebeccaBouckPhotography .Hand-tied bouquets are bouquets that are gathered to form a handle, wrapped at this gathering point with ribbon and the stems are commonly left exposed.

This picture is of a typical 80’s cascade bouquet. Long gone are the days of the cascade bouquet (well almost), I still do get asked to do them every once in a blue moon.

Cascade bouquets are commonly made in a plastic holder and in the 1980’s they often had a “lacey” collar as seen in this picture- yikes!

Now this bouquet from Martha Stewart would be a more modern version of a cascade bouquet. Because it is Martha Stewart, I’m sure this bouquet was probably individually wired, instead of being made in a holder, to achieve that cascade look. Wow, this bouquet is absolutely gorgeous! I wouldn’t mind trying to re-create this.

A more natural “hand-tied” look has been in style for quite some time now. I would say that in the 10 years that I’ve been doing wedding flowers I could count on 1 hand how many cascade bouquets I have done. When I do do them I usually charge much more for them as they are quite labor intensive. And thanks to my sister in California (who went to floral school when they were in style) I have been schooled on the correct way to make one.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Trendy Monday by Jeanne
Tags: cascade bouquet, hand-tied bouquet
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Hello and welcome to Floral Friday, today I am talking about the tropical flower cymbidium orchid.

I would like to start by introducing you to my best kept secret, Mario Scalia (12 years in the biz).

Mario is my main man when it comes to buying and ordering wholesale flowers. He works at one of my favorite places to buy wholesale, Dougherties on 3rd Ave and Roosevelt here in Phoenix, Arizona. The quality of flowers that they carry are exceptional! And they are one of the very few that carries my all time favorites, Eufloria roses. Building a relationship with a wholesaler is SO important in my business. He is my life-line between grower and wholesaler. He keeps me posted on changes related to weather, season and just about anything else related to flowers around the entire world. Most important to me, he keeps me posted on the status of my orders- he alerts me of color issues, my flowers might be coming in a day earlier or later, the flowers might be smaller or larger because of the time of year, etc etc. Communication is so important, I believe, because honesty is really the best policy.

I’ve asked Mario to talk to me a little bit about cymbidium orchids and here is what he said “We have three main growers that we work with that are in New Zealand, Holland and domestically in California. We get flowers from New Zealand in our fall, from California in the spring and from Holland year round.”

Here is one of my beautiful brides Andrea from this spring with yellow cymbidium orchids in her bridal bouquet.

Mario also told me that cymbidium orchids come in white, pink, yellow, gold, chocolate, burgundy, orange and green. There are variations of grades, they either come 6-7 blooms on a stalk or 12-15 blooms on a stalk.

Here they are being individually wired for centerpieces and bouquets.

Also check out miniature cymbidium orchids, they are so cute and tiny. This bouquet has burgundy miniature cymbidiums and came from Lindsay Docherty Photography. She’s in Pennsylvania, check out her photographs and blog, they are both amazing.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Warm regards,

Filed under: Floral Friday by Jeanne
Tags: cymbidium, cymbidium orchid, miniature cymbidium orchid
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