Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Art in Bloom 2015

Prayer Rug 1 by Karen S. Davies interpreted by Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Prayer Rug 1" by Karen S. Davies interpreted by
Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
The Cheltenham Art Center once again invited our floral artists to their annual Art in Bloom, Floral Interpretations of Paintings event. The event is a fundraiser benefiting many of the wonderful programs that take place all year at the art center. Six of our talented designers took to their workbenches to create their floral versions of beautiful paintings by local artists.
Stein Your Florist Co. owner/operator and designer Patrick Kelly chose to interpret “Prayer Rug One” by Karen S. Davies. Patrick chose a heavy stone container as the base of his arrangement and added matching pebbles to the surface of the pedestal to accent the dark blacks and grays of the painting. All the flora is dried and preserved, including:  millet, hydrangea, Spanish moss, branches, grasses, berries, seed pods, limonium, and heather. The dried materials have a wonderful textural look, which complimented the painting’s dimensional qualities perfectly. The painting’s artist was so impressed with Patrick’s interpretation that she made a donation and bought the piece herself! She said she simply couldn’t picture the painting without it! 
Chaos in Purple/Blue by Norman Soong interpreted by Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Chaos in Purple/Blue" by Norman Soong interpreted
by Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.

Patrick also hosted a live demonstration during the event, designing his interpretation of “Chaos in Purple/Blue” by Norman Soong for the attendees. He created a chaotic purple/blue design of his own with delphinium, agapanthus, statice, and novi belgi asters, while also picking up on the painting’s flecks of orange with hypericum berries. The arrangement is seated in a classic cobalt blue vase and accented by a bit of ming fern. The painting’s artist recorded the entire design process and the arrangement was awarded to the night’s lucky raffle winner, who was thrilled to take the floral creation home with her!

Avelthorpe by Dera Kapnek interpreted by George Emberger of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Avelthorpe" by Dera Kapnek interpreted by
George Emberger of Stein Your Florist Co.





Stein Your Florist Co. designer George Emberger chose to interpret “Avelthorpe” by Debra Kapnek. He said was drawn to the trees in the painting and created a dark forest of his own with white branches and deep blue delphinium with pops of golden yellow solidego asters and wispy accents of bear grass. He completed his forest floor with sheet moss and dark gray river rocks. George was awarded Best in Show for Fun and Fantastic Design for his interpretation.








Love Lies Bleeding by Gail Fox interpreted by Jessica Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Love Lies Bleeding" by Gail Fox interpreted by
Jessica Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
Co-operations manager of our Burlington, NJ location and designer Jessica Kelly chose to interpret “Love Lies Bleeding” by Gail Fox. Unintimidated by taking on such a large painting (it was more than five feet wide), Jessica chose a large clear glass cylinder for her design, which she filled with stones and soil, wanting to display the unseen “underground” layers. In the center of her arrangement she used red ginger, purple liatris, and birds of paradise to capture the colors and the height of the painting. At the base of her design she planted succulents and tropical plants and accented them with cut tree fern, ming fern and hypericum berries. Jessica’s interpretation was purchased by one of the attendees.


Baggage by Nicholas Burns interpreted by Jennifer Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Baggage" by Nicholas Burns interpreted by
Jennifer Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.

Jennfer Kelly, Co-operations manager of our Burlington, NJ location, head of social media and designer, chose to interpret ”Baggage” by Nicholas Burns. Jennifer wanted to capture painting’s theme baggage, so she used several vintage suitcases to stack around the design as well as to create her arrangements in. To capture the flow of the painting she used a bundle of curly willow, draping foliages like hanging eucalyptus, springeri and Thai leaves and clusters of raffia. The flowers used are delphinium, solidego, hydrangea, spray roses, hanging amaranthus, white agapanthus, calla lilies, a pink antherium, and bird’s nest fern. She accented her bouquet with newspaper, which was also present in the original painting. Jennifer was awarded Best in Show for Mixed Media Design.






Your Majesty by Edwina Brennan interpreted by William Kirk of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Your Majesty" by Edwina Brennan interpreted by
William Kirk of Stein Your Florist Co.
Floral designer William Kirk interpreted “Your Majesty” by Edwina Brennan. William said that the painting reminded him of his own, sometimes chaotic, way of thinking and he thought the painting suited his design style perfectly. He choose bright blooms of bells of Ireland, dendrobium orchids, blue roses, lisianthus, and miniature carnations to pick up on the painting’s colors and captured the black swirling strokes of the painting with rings of dried grapevine. The painting’s artist was there to see William’s interpretation in person and she was touched by his vision.




Rhythm by Gerry Tuten interpreted by Carl Mishinski of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Rhythm" by Gerry Tuten interpreted by
Carl Mishinski of Stein Your Florist Co.




Our final representation from Stein YourFlorist Co. was created by apprentice designer Carl Mishinski who interpreted Rhythm by Gerry Tuten. Carl built a freestanding armature on which to create his design from Guatemalan river cane. He envisioned the painting as a tropical rainforest and covered his structure with Thai leaves, hanging eucalyptus, hanging amaranthus, leather leaf fern, ming fern, blue and black roses, and king protea. Carl is also a graffiti artist so he called upon those skills to tint some of his flora to mimic the colors of the painting. His work was one of the largest pieces at the show and its’ impressive stature created quite the buzz!


Our designers have been invited back to participate in the CCA’s event once again next spring. Two weeks prior we will draw for spots to select from the art on display and plan our designs. We are looking forward to another inspirational affair and we hope you will join us.

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"Chaos in Purple/Blue" by Norman Soong interpreted live by Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.
"Chaos in Purple/Blue" by Norman Soong interpreted
live by Patrick Kelly of Stein Your Florist Co.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Bollywood Fun

Bridesmaids of a traditional Indian Wedding with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.
Bridesmaids of a traditional Indian wedding
with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.
We love that in the floral industry everyone is our customer. People from all cultures, backgrounds and walks of life enjoy the beauty of flowers and incorporate them into their lives.

We’ve had the recent pleasure of working with more of our kin from the Indian community. Their culture is rich and beautiful and flowers charmingly represent the country’s unity in the form of diversity, liveliness and generosity.



Bride & Groom of a traditional Indian wedding with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.
Bride & Groom of a traditional Indian wedding 
with flowers by Stein Your Florist Co.
A single flower or a bunch of flowers can gladden the mind and confer prosperity. In various Indian traditions flowers have been associated with the Creator, religion, worship and with innumerable myths and legends across history. Similarly, flowers have forever remained an integral part of everyday life and culture.







Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.

We embraced the beauty of India and the fun of the Bollywood movie scene in some of our recent floral designs. We strive to represent all cultural communities in our work and love the wonderful opportunities we are granted to share our designs with the world!

We adorned our lovely model with flowers for her hair and wrist. We choose colorful assorted blooms to represent the fun and levity associated with Bollywood films.

Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.
The brightly colored sari she’s wearing, as well as, the blue sari with strands of 14 karat gold spun through it that is draped over the small table, were both given to us by a customer who had traveled to India. 

Her jewelry is authentic Indian jewelry, for sale in our stores, that was brought to us from India by the owner of one of our neighboring businesses when he traveled home to visit family.




Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.
We filled our pretty peacock pottery with stock flowers, liatris, spray roses, stargazer lilies, iris, tuberose and delphinium with a tail of peacock feathers. In Hindu mythology the peacock is a sacred bird, known as Mayura, and is associated with a number of gods and deities. 






Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.

We look forward to continuing to work with our diverse community and learning more about the world’s cultures and their beauty.




Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.

Bollywood fun, Indian inspired designs by Stein Your Florist Co.

Flowers make the moment... 
Let us make a moment for you, at Stein Your Florist Co.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 361 - 365

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Day 361 – One informal experiment has indicated that Cattails or Typha are able to remove arsenic from drinking water. The boiled rootstocks have been used as a diuretic for increasing urination, or mashed to make a jelly-like paste for sores, boils, wounds, burns, scabs, and smallpox pustules.



Day 362 – Cattail seeds have a high linoleic acid content and can be used to feed cattle and chickens. They are frequently eaten by wetland mammals such as muskrats, which may also use them to construct feeding platforms and dens. Birds use the seed hairs as nest lining.


Day 363 – The outer portion of young Cattail plants can be peeled and the heart can be eaten raw or boiled and eaten like asparagus. This food has been popular among the Cossacks in Russia, and has been called "Cossack asparagus". The leaf bases can be eaten raw or cooked, especially in late spring when they are young and tender. In early summer the sheath can be removed from the developing green flower spike, which can then be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. In mid-summer when the male flowers are mature, the pollen can be collected and used as a flour supplement or thickener.

Day 364 – Davallia fejeensis, fondly known as rabbit foot fern, is much easier to please as an indoor fern than most other types of fern, which require high humidity. Elegant, lacy fronds create a lush mound of evergreen foliage. The main attraction of this plant, however, are the furry rhizomes that hang over the side of the container. These light-brown, creeping rhizomes are covered with hairs that look like a rabbit's foot. It's a good idea to put the plant in a hanging basket because they can grow up to 2’ long. And because you want to show them off, don't you? Those furry rhizomes are more than eye-catching, they take up moisture. Mist them every day, or as needed, with tepid water to prevent them from drying out.

Day 365 – Floral design or floral arts is the art of creating flower arrangements in vases, bowls, baskets or other containers, or making bouquets and compositions from cut flowers, foliages, herbs, ornamental grasses and other plant materials. Often the terms "floral design" and "floristry" are considered synonymous. Florists are people who work with flowers and plants, generally at the retail level.


Thank you everyone for sharing this year of floral education with us! We love flowers, plants and all aspects of our industry and we feel fortunate to share that love with all of you for the last 126 years! Keep following us, you haven’t seen anything yet!

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 346 - 350

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Day 346 – In the summer months, the whole dictamnus plant is covered with a kind of flammable substance, which is gluey to the touch, and has a very fragrant, lemony aroma; but if it takes fire, it goes off with a flash all over the plant. The name "burning bush" derives from the volatile oils produced by the plant, which can catch fire readily in hot weather, leading to comparisons with the burning bush of the Bible, including the suggestion that this is the plant involved there. The daughter of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is said to have ignited the air once, at the end of a particularly hot, windless summer day, above Dictamnus plants, using a simple matchstick.

Day 347 - The dictamnus, or gas plant, is inedible: the leaves have a bitter and unpalatable taste. Despite the lemon-like smell, the plant is acrid when eaten. All parts of the plant may cause mild stomach upset if eaten, and contact with the foliage may cause photodermatitis.










Day 348 – Why white roses are so special is no mystery - it's a myth. Perhaps it started with the Romans who believed white roses grew where the tears of Venus fell as she mourned the loss of her beloved Adonis. Myth also has it that Venus' son Cupid accidentally shot arrows into the rose garden when a bee stung him, and it was the "sting" of the arrows that caused the roses to grow thorns. And when Venus walked through the garden and pricked her foot on a thorn, it was the droplets of her blood which turned the roses red.

Day 349 – The rose is a legend in itself. The story goes that during the Roman Empire, there was an incredibly beautiful maiden named Rhodanthe. Her beauty drew many zealous suitors who pursued her relentlessly. Exhausted by their pursuit, Rhodanthe was forced to take refuge from her suitors in the temple of her friend Diana. Unfortunately, Diana became jealous. And when the suitors broke down her temple gates to get near their beloved Rhodanthe she also became angry, turning Rhodanthe into a rose and her suitors into thorns.
 

Day 350 – According to business experts, the key to gaining the competitive edge in the modern economy is easy to understand -- a happy, productive workforce. And, while sometimes the easiest notions can be the most difficult to achieve, a recent scientific study conducted at Texas A&M University finds that nature can hold the secret to business success. The research demonstrates that workers' idea generation, creative performance and problem solving skills improve substantially in workplace environments that include flowers and plants.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 331- 335

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Day 331 - Interaction between insects and flowering plants shaped the development of both groups, a process called coevolution. In time flowers evolved arresting colors, alluring fragrances, and special petals that provide landing pads for their insect pollinators. Uppermost in the benefits package for insects is nectar, a nutritious fluid flowers provide as a type of trading commodity in exchange for pollen dispersal. The ancestors of bees, butterflies, and wasps grew dependent on nectar, and in so doing became agents of pollen transport, inadvertently carrying off grains hitched to tiny hairs on their bodies. These insects could pick up and deliver pollen with each visit to new flowers, raising the chances of fertilization.

Day 332 - Insects weren't the only obliging species to help transport flowering plants to every corner of the Earth. Dinosaurs, the greatest movers and shakers the world has ever known, bulldozed through ancient forests, unwittingly clearing new ground for angiosperms. They also sowed seeds across the land by way of their digestive tracts.

Day 333 - Dinosaurs disappeared suddenly about 65 million years ago, and another group of animals took their place—the mammals, which greatly profited from the diversity of angiosperm fruits, including grains, nuts, and many vegetables. Flowering plants, in turn, reaped the benefits of seed dispersal by mammals. "It was two kingdoms making a handshake," says David Dilcher, a paleobotanist with the Florida Museum of Natural History. "I'll feed you, and you take my genetic material some distance away."


Day 334 – As humans evolved, they and the plant kingdom continued to evolve together, through agriculture, angiosperms met our need for sustenance. We in turn have taken certain species like corn and rice and given them unprecedented success, cultivating them in vast fields, pollinating them deliberately, consuming them with gusto. Virtually every nonmeat food we eat starts as a flowering plant, while the meats, milk, and eggs we consume come from livestock fattened on grains—flowering plants. Even the cotton we wear is an angiosperm. Aesthetically, too, angiosperms sustain and enrich our lives. We've come to value them for their beauty alone, their scents, their companionship in a vase or a pot. Some flowers speak an ancient language where words fall short. For these more dazzling players—the orchids, the roses, the lilies—the world grows smaller, crisscrossed every day by jet-setting flowers in the cargo holds of commercial transport planes.

 
Day 335 – Bittersweet is a species of vine in the potato genus Solanum. It is considered an invasive problem weed in North America, but is available in the autumn as cut branches and used by florists in fall floral designs and wreaths. They have a small bi-colour orange skin with red berries that dry on the branch, maintaining the same appearance as when fresh.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 326- 330

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Day 326 – We know that leaves get their green color from chlorophyll, but sometimes leaves appear red, such as on a Japanese maple, or have variations of color throughout the leaves, such as croton plants, so where does this come from? Most plants have other pigments:  carotenoids, which appear yellow to orange, and anthocyanins, which range from red to purple, and these pigments may dominate the appearance of the green chlorophyll. So chlorophyll is still present and at work, its color is simply masked.

Day 327 – Flowers began changing the way the world looked almost as soon as they appeared on Earth about 130 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. That's relatively recent in geologic time: If all Earth's history were compressed into an hour, flowering plants would exist for only the last 90 seconds. But once they took firm root about 100 million years ago, they swiftly diversified in an explosion of varieties that established most of the flowering plant families of the modern world.

Day 328 - Today flowering plant species outnumber by twenty to one those of ferns and cone-bearing trees, or conifers, which had thrived for 200 million years before the first bloom appeared. As a food source flowering plants provide us and the rest of the animal world with the nourishment that is fundamental to our existence. In the words of Walter Judd, a botanist at the University of Florida, "If it weren't for flowering plants, we humans wouldn't be here."

Day 329 - Botanists call flowering plants angiosperms, from the Greek words for "vessel" and "seed." Unlike conifers, which produce seeds in open cones, angiosperms enclose their seeds in fruit. Each fruit contains one or more carpels, hollow chambers that protect and nourish the seeds. Slice a tomato in half, for instance, and you'll find carpels. These structures are the defining trait of all angiosperms and one key to the success of this huge plant group, which numbers some 235,000 species.

Day 330 - Just when and how did the first flowering plants emerge? Charles Darwin pondered that question, and paleobotanists are still searching for an answer. Throughout the 1990s discoveries of fossilized flowers in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America offered important clues. At the same time the field of genetics brought a whole new set of tools to the search. As a result, modern paleobotany has undergone a boom not unlike the Cretaceous flower explosion itself. We are learning more about flowering plants all the time.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

365 Days of Floral Education - Days 226 - 230

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebration at Stein Your Florist Co. we are sharing a year of floral education, November 1, 2012 thru October 31, 2013. Each day we will post something new on our Facebook page to share our knowledge of our favorite things, flowers and plants and we'll be updating our blog every 5 days or so. No need for pencils and notebooks, just sharing some simple lessons in floristry.

Day 226 - It’s a tried-and-true way to keep roses and other cut flowers fresh longer: Put a crushed aspirin in the water before adding your flowers. Also, don’t forget to change the vase water every few days.

Day 227 - Just as it preserves your hairstyle, a spritz of hair spray can preserve your cut flowers and help them look fresh, longer. Stand a foot away from the bouquet and give them a quick spray, just on the undersides of the leaves and petals.











Day 228 - Don’t throw away those last drops of soda. Pour about 1/4 cup into the water in a vase full of cut flowers. The sugar in the soda will make the blossoms last longer. Note: If you have a clear vase and want the water to remain clear, use a clear soda, like Sprite or 7-Up.







Day 229 - The secret to keeping cut flowers looking good as long as possible is to minimize the growth of bacteria in the water and to provide nourishment to replace what the flower would have gotten had it not been cut. Add a few drops of vodka (or any clear spirit) to the vase water for antibacterial action along with 1 teaspoon sugar. Change the water every other day, refreshing the vodka and sugar each time.

Day 230 - Freshly cut flowers will stay fresh longer if you add 1/4 teaspoon bleach per quart (1 liter) of vase water. Another popular recipe calls for 3 drops bleach and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 quart (1 liter) water. This will also keep the water from getting cloudy and inhibit the growth of bacteria.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Sharknado 2: Flornado

So we can’t get back the 2 hours spent watching Sharknado on the SciFi channel (and we’re not totally sure that we want to), but we can make a short sequel… Sharknado 2: Flornado, a Tornado of Flowers at Stein Your Florist Co.

Stein Your Florist Co. employees Jessi and Chris are ready to start another day at work, but when they walk into the store they are hit with, what else, a Flornado!

We adapted some of the best/worst lines from Sharknado for our “actors”, grabbed the biggest fans from our greenhouse and gathered a ton of petals for our sequel.

Here’s the dialog breakdown: 

Sharknado:  "Sharks. I never saw that coming."
Flornado:  “Flowers. I never saw that coming.”

Sharknado:  “Sharks in a tornado. Sharknado. Simply stunning.”
Flornado:  “Flowers in a tornado. Flornado. Simply stunning.”

Sharknado:  “They took my grandfather. So I really hate sharks.”
Flornado:  “Flowers helped cheer up my grandfather. So I really love flowers.”

Sharknado:  “Instead of letting live sharks rain down on people, we’re going to get in that chopper and throw bombs into the tornados.”
Flornado:  “Instead of letting live flowers rain down on people, we’re going to get to work and arrange flowers in a vase.”

Sharknado:  “We’re going to need a bigger helicopter.”
Flornado:  “We’re going to need a bigger vase.”

Perhaps not as epic as sharks in a tornado, but pretty close ;)