Summer Gatherings

Everyone loves the lazy days of summer… especially when they’re on holiday. Fireworks! Picnics and Bike rides! The sounds, smells, textures and sights of summer fill the days and nights with feelings of exhilaration and delight.

If you are lucky enough to have a garden, potential flower arrangements bloom mere footsteps from your own back door. Otherwise, shops, roadside stands and farmers markets are brimming with flowers, often making it difficult to decide what to take home.

During warm summer days, spending hours arranging flowers can be brutal. What looks best are casual, fresh flowers thrust into a galvanized tin or bucket or even a wicker basket. Our projects for the season are inevitably the easiest of the year: mixing Grevillea flowers, hydrangea, fox glove and a lily in a metal container to adorn a small table, filling a bicycle basket with banksia, grevillea, alstroemeria and lilies to make a welcoming display, and placing a whimsical bouquet in a galvanized basket to decorate the picnic table or wine barrel.

"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." - Henry James

Flower News: February’s Stories of Interest from Around the World

Protea plants are ancient mystery we haven’t solved

One day, an instructor brought a bouquet of flowers to a gardening class I was attending. Amongst the more common flowers was something that closely resembled an artichoke, but certainly not the kind that I have encountered on my plate!

This flower would grace any festive occasion.

At the end of class, I was lucky enough to be able to take it home. Upon drying, it continued to be almost as beautiful as when fresh, and I placed it in a vase with other less flamboyant dried flowers. This spectacular flower turned out to be a Protea, a native South African member of the Proteaceae.

Read more here
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US (PA): Official FTD World Cup
competition schedule announced

FTD World Cup, the world’s most prestigious floral design competition, will be held for the first time in the United States of America since 1985 at the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show from March 1-3, 2019.

The competition will include 23 of the world’s most creative designers selected to represent their country. FTD World Cup will take place on the main show floor of the Flower Show, the nation’s largest and longest-running horticultural event. Tickets are required to gain access to the Flower Show and the two FTD events in the Grand Ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia.

Read more here
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Here We Go! Check Out the Line Up of Farms For the 2019 Certified American Grown Field to Vase Dinner Tour

The fifth season of the American Grown Field to Vase Dinner Tour has just been announced, and we want you check out the destinations, grab all of your flower-loving friends and join us on a flower farm for an award-winning experience you’ll never forget. We couldn’t be more excited about the lineup of farms involved with this year’s floral-infused dinner tour. Known for stopping at America’s most beautiful flower farms, this year’s tour features amazing locations, including a peony farm in Alaska and a return visit to one of our most popular stops!

Read more here

Holiday Wreath Workshop

From front doors to fireplace mantels and festive tabletops, our protea wreaths and garlands extend far beyond Christmas greens. One of our favorite holiday traditions? Helping old and new friends create fresh, unique holiday decor that they can display in and around their homes. This month, we hosted the UCCE Master Gardeners and several neighbors from the community for a fun filled morning of wreath and garland making.

By the time the workshop wrapped up we viewed over 40 beautiful wreaths and three festive garlands. Guests departed with their creation in one arm, and protea bouquets and plants in the other.

Farm & Flower Guide 2018/2019

The 2018 Farm & Flowers Guide is hot off the press and we couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. It’s a spectacular publication that celebrates the various flower and foliage varieties grown in America and the flower farmers who grow them. We hope this farm guide will help you plan your next event and let you know when the blooms you’re eyeing will be available!

Throughout the pages, you meet the farmers who are working hard to bring these gorgeous varieties to market… like our favorite farmer, Mel!

Enjoy a peak at several beautiful designs to get your inspiration flowing! And, you can browse the Botanical Index, a handy resource for details and images of a wide range of American Grown flowers and foliage… like beautiful protea and leucadendron from which to select.

If you haven’t received your copy in the September issue of Florists’ Review or Superfloral - Right this way to see the complete Guide.

Enjoy!