Join Us at The Holiday Centerpiece & Arrangement Bar

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

Embrace the season and join this creative and spirited SLOW FLOWERS Workshop

Long-needled lady pine boughs, glossy holly with golden berries, lichen-covered branches – a stunning Holiday arrangement for the season.

The HOLIDAY CENTERPIECE AND ARRANGEMENT BAR

A Hands-On Design Workshop
with Debra Prinzing, Whitney White and Erica Knowles
Friday, Dec. 6th (6-8 pm) or Saturday, Dec. 7th (10 am-Noon)

As Seen in the December 2013 issue of Better Homes & Gardens

Bring Nature Home for the Holidays!

Aromatic conifers, glossy camellia and magnolia foliage, enticing rose hips and berries,
plus winter blooms, garden roses, beautiful fruit, colorful branches — and more!

In this make-and-take class, you’ll learn how to create a fresh, beautiful, nature-inspired centerpiece for the holiday season. All instruction, supplies and plants are included. Bring your project home and enjoy it for the holidays!

Lush Magnolia leaves, glossy boxwood and beautiful amaryllis blooms.

Sparkling beverages and tasty refreshments will be served.

Cost: $95 per person or take advantage of our “bring a friend” special, 2-for-$145

Location: 95 Yesler Collective, 95 Yesler – 3rd floor, Pioneer Square (Seattle, WA)

Copies of Debra’s books “Slow Flowers” and “The 50 Mile Bouquet” will be available
for purchase and she will be happy to personally inscribe them for you.

Pre-registration required:

The Holiday Arrangement & Centerpiece Bar

Friday December 6, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM PST

The Holiday Arrangement & Centerpiece Bar

Saturday December 7, 2013 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PST

Posted in American Grown, Creativity, floral design, General, Plants | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 2

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

Winter’s Multi-Hued Palette

This is what you can harvest during the 2nd week of January!~ Pretty amazing!

Ingredients:

Harvested from Jean Zaputil’s Seattle garden:

7 stems Corsican hellebores (Helleborus argutifolius)

5 stems Japanese aucuba (Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’)

7 stems sweet box (Sarcococca confusa)

Harvested from Lorene Edwards Forkner’s Seattle garden:

3 stems oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

7 stems witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’)

3 lengths Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica ‘Aureoreticulata’)

Vase:

12-inch tall x 8½-inch diameter vintage cream urn (lent to me by Lorene – thanks!)

Eco-technique

Easy-to-use twine: Here’s a great idea I learned from Jennie Greene, a Portland designer and partner in the flower shop called Artis + Greene. To anchor a branch, stem or vine in place, use bind wire. Available from craft

stores and floral supply outlets, spools of the pliable, twine-wrapped wire come in tan or green (you’ll need wire cutters to work with this material). In this arrangement, I allowed the honeysuckle to drape down the side and

wrap around the foot of the vase, using a short length of bind wire to secure it. The tie disappears into the foliage but does the trick to keep things in place.

More pics:

Beautiful detail of the oak leaf hydrangea and Corsican hellebore foliage

A “vine-wrap” detail embellishes the foot of this vase.

NOTE: Each Sunday of this year, I will post my photographs, “recipe” and tip for that week’s floral arrangement, created for my new book, Slow Flowers. Enjoy the floral journey through 52 weeks of the year~

Posted in Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | 4 Comments »

Happy Amaryllis!

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

: Poetry in a bloom

Here’s a lovely amaryllis that I potted up to enjoy in our dining room this month. I can’t say enough about the beauty of every Hippeastrum hybrid I see this time of year. There have been many holiday seasons when I am super organized, and have planned ahead to purchase the bulbs, plant them in decorated pots and nurture them to bud-stage for hostess gift-giving.

This was not one of those years. Instead, I purchased two amaryllis already in bud stage from Cascade Cuts, a wonderful grower who is now selling herbs and potted plants at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. You can see how I planted the ‘Joker’ hybrids here.

The flowers I chose are mostly white with red streaks. In Starr Ockenga’s marvlous, photo-filled book called Amaryllis (Clarkson Potter, 2002), there are several varieties of these candy-cane style blooms. Not ‘Joker’ but enough alternate varieties to wow you for holiday decorating or gifting.

As I said, I purchased 2 potted amaryllis about a week ago, but I didn’t know how I was going to display them until yesterday. I attended 2nd Saturdayz, the monthly indoor vintage flea market, with my friend and design muse Jean Zaputil.

We found all sorts of fun stuff, from a 1950s plastic light-up Santa (Jean) to red and green-handled wood rolling pins (me – for my culinary essayist-friend’s surprise Christmas gift). And then I found a pretty piece of glass for $15. It has a nice footed base and graceful lines. I guess you could serve a trifle in it, or perhaps display it filled with vintage glass ornaments, as I found it.

But once I came home yesterday, I started thinking: “Why not plant my 2 amaryllis flowers in this beautiful vessel?” Who says you can’t put pottting soil in glass anyway? The trick was to first pour a layer of gravel in the base, then add some potting soil and the two amaryllis. I topped off the design with the vintage silver-and-gold ornaments that came with my $15 vase. A new sort of mulch! When I water the bulbs, it will be carefully, so as not to flood this glass vase (since it has no drainage).

They are gracing our dining room and looking quite lovely. When December and amaryllis season arrive, I always find myself wishing for more of these yummy blooms. So here are some more pics. Please enjoy!