Cascading Blooms

 

FloraFolk’s floral arch installation from Natalie and Geoff’s wedding was featured today on The Lane under Daily Inspiration. Read the full post here: http://thelane.com/Daily-Inspiration/post/2015-02-23-cascading-blooms

David Jones

 

When I was asked to work on the David Jones Flower Show this year by Seed Flora I was beyond excited. I was warned that it would be long days to the wee hours of the morning at times. I always knew how amazing the show was, but boy I think I will always appreciate it so much more now that I’ve seen the amount of hard work that goes into it.

Basically David Jones, Elizabeth Street became my home for three weeks straight… working in tiny window spaces and up ladders after the store closed at night time, running up and down the stairs and lifts to the basement where all of the flowers and plants arrived. 

I can’t believe that Seed have been doing it for over 20 years?? I really take my hat off to them for all of the planning and creativity that goes into this. It was a 10 day straight bump in with some days totaling over 18 hours. And then close to 2 weeks of looking after the arrangements and flower change overs. It got to the 10th day the night before opening and I thought to myself, never again am I doing this, I couldn’t even string a sentence together. 

But after the show opened and having a day of rest, I felt rejuvenated and so rewarded looking out the windows to see the smiles on peoples faces, taking photos (sometimes of my butt in the window - yes now I know how it feels to be a zoo animal) and grannies taking selfies in front of the displays. It brought so much joy to know it made so many people smile with amazement. What was lovely too was that a lot of potted plants were used in the displays this year meaning that they could then go one to be loved after the show. 

Will I do it again? Perhaps ask me next year. Time rejuvenate, until this weekend, first wedding of the wedding season. Eeek

Brands WE love

 

FloraFolk has been recently featured on The Lane in ’brands we love’ with a beautiful post on our unique style, we’re also thrilled to have been handpicked to be in their online directory. 

White Magazine

I was recently interviewed by the lovely ladies at White Magazine. Read the full interview on their blog!

The School

 

I will be hosting a Spring school holiday flower workshop along side renowned stylist Megan Morton Stylist! It will be from 9am - 5pm, so you can drop your kids off for the day. Flower arrangements & flower crown fun! Oh and did I mention it’s right next to Kitchen by Mike?! Spots are limited! Buy Tickets Here

Bold & The Beautiful

Bold & the Beautiful

Are you a bright and bold kind of bride? Flora Folk designed and crafted this bright and bold floral headpiece for a photo collaboration with the talented Emma Leslie. The recipe consisted of cyclamen, camellia, violets. roses, poppies, jasmine and an abundance of berries. Hair and Make Up by Angela Brookes. 

In Brooklyn

 

Last month I was staying in New York with my family when I had the opportunity to be part of an amazing wedding in Red Hook, Brooklyn for one of SAIPUA’s leading ladies, Ashley. It was in this cool ass warehouse venue called Atelier Roquette. Red Hook is still quite an industrial area of Brooklyn but it sits right across from Manhattan on the water, but saying that you feel like you are in a completely different area to New York. It is a bit of a mission to get to from the city but is definitely a cool must go area.

SAIPUA’s shop and studio is also based there and I had the pleasure of meeting all of the team and they were really awesome, inspiring people. Sarah is an absolute character, flower creative genius and so generous in sharing her vision and tips. I wish I could have had the opportunity to attend her workshop with The Little Flower School in Portland on the Bearded Iris Farm.

Seriously, flower arranging to Salt ‘n Pepper blasting is a must. Definitely an experience I’ll never forget.

Brooke and Mark

 

The first thing that came to mind when Brooke asked me to do her engagement flowers was a ‘wonderland of colour’. Probably because they are both such lovely people and Brooke has such an amazing sense of style. It was a good thing that Brooke was on the same page when it came to the colour palette and had complete trust in what I chose which is any florist’s dream client. 

Because I was overseas I didn’t get the chance to do much planning with my flower buying. I knew what I had in mind but with the weather being so warm it was quite unpredictable what would still be available at the markets. That’s the great thing about following florists and growers on Instagram, even though I was out of the loop I could still keep an eye on what was coming in. 

Regardless, the alarm still went off at 3:45am on Friday ensuring I arrived at 4:45am to the markets to make sure I could secure the most beautiful local garden roses I could find as my hero flower. And I was pretty damn happy with my score. Bucket loads of them. You should have seen me trying to steer the temperamental trolley through the totally unpractical car park full of dips and crazed forklift drivers. If you needed a licence for pushing one of those I would have failed. 

Did I mention that my car handbrake completely snapped the night before? So I had to borrow my Mum’s hatchback and boy you’d be surprised by what you can fit in the back of a hatchback. I kept telling myself if there’s a will there’s a way! 

The next two days were filled with mad hatter flower arranging and just want to say a big thanks to my gal Aimee for being my flower assistant for the day. I think she now knows what I mean by being in the 'flower zone’ when arranging, especially when you haven’t had the chance to mock anything up prior.  

The engagement party was held at Manly Winesuites part of Manly Wine and had the most spectacular views. The arrangements were made up of lush greenery, cumquats, the most colourful garden roses you will ever see, delphinium, poppies, sweet pea, lemon lisianthus, frilled tulips and begonia.  

Tulips of New York

Tulips of New York

Believe me when I say there are Tulips everywhere in New York right now. The sidewalks, Central Park, community gardens, the flower markets, metro entries, here, there and everywhere. I have been trying with all my might not to go on a Tulip picking frenzy especially when there are the prettiest varieties sitting right there under my nose on mass. But I get it they are there to be adored by the walker by-ers, the fast paced New Yorkers.

Not many people in this city have gardens so I can imagine why there are the many volunteers that go around the city bringing the garden to the urbanscape for everyone to enjoy. In my last week of being here they are slowly starting to fade away in the gardens, the gardeners are pulling away the fallen blooms and replanting new varieties to go into the Summer. Wish I could stick around to see what’s next in bloom for the people of New York. 

Chelsea MaRket

 

Head on over to the Makers Society blog to read my latest post and photo diary of the Chelsea Flower Markets in New York, here’s a preview of some of my favorite snaps

New York Fairy Floss

New York Fairy Floss

I am in absolute awe walking the streets and parks of New York at the moment. The most stunning Cherry Blossom or ‘Sakura’ trees are like no other I have seen before, all their own individual selves. And then you have the thousands of dropped petals that fly in the wind up through the streets like a delicate pink snow storm. Just beautiful.

The Cherry Blossoms were first brought to the United States as a gift of friendship from Japan in 1912 and now they have become iconic in New York. The New Yorkers celebrate their flowering with a range of 'Sakura’ festivals on offer. The most lavish festival is in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on the last weekend of April and includes all kinds of Japanese cultural activities including music, art, Children’s workshops and of course the beautiful blossom trees.

If you can’t manage to make a festival you'l find many of them spread around the city, Central Park and Riverside along the Hudson River. 

Autumn Spells

 

Autumn is a beautiful time of the year when you get that crisp air in the morning and afternoons, the leaves are turning orange and a little fragile bloom by the name of Camellia starts to show her pretty face.

As a cut flower they are one of the most delicate to work with as they drop very easily. If using them for an arrangement they need to be used as soon as possible from when they are picked, literally straight from the flower farm. If you can pull it off the hard work is worth it as you will rarely find them in your everyday arrangement. 

The positive thing is that you will find them in many gardens around Sydney and quite possibly your own backyard. I like to cut a single stem to go in a bud vase to place in the bathroom or bedside table or on the table for afternoon tea.