Florist flowers

3 stems Eucalyptus £2.00

3 pears covered with tiny beads 50p each.

Great buys and those pears are really cool.

Thanks Candee, I love my new pears! but don't know what to do with them yet. lol!

Now why am I so sure you will come up with just the right thing???

I did not know where to post this. I recently attended a flower arrangement lecture and the presenter said his trick was to start with filler material first, then stick flowers here and there. When I got home I tried his method and it worked for me. I prepared this for Thanksgiving and it is still alive. I've had to remove things and add things.

Hi Vossner, Nice arrangement with all the big leaves. It's lasting really well, good idea to keep adding to it as the flowers fade. It's a great method, especially with floral foam. Glad you were inspired to make that one after the lecture, he sounds good! Thanks for joining the thread, I was getting lonely LOL!
Merry Christmas!

Hey Terri - I am cheating and posting this photo twice. It is on the yard to vase series, but since you and Vossner were discussing Aspidistras, here is a photo of mines. It has been in the ground for several years now, in the shade of my nectarine tree. It never gets any direct sunlight, and I water it maybe once every two to three weeks when I water the fruit tree. The secret for it to not burn is no sun in the hot Sacramento valley.

Terri - Didn't want you to get too lonely here.

Hi Dianne, WOW! your Aspidistras are fabulous!
Thanks for keeping me company and sharing those, nice one, cheers, Merry christmas!!!

So what have you done with the pears Terri?
So nice Dianne to see green this time of year. It has been so rainy, snowy, sleety and dreary here.

terri, following your advice and refreshing my arrangement. I removed mums and replaced w/ roses from my garden. ahhhh

Hi Vossner, Oh very pretty! it looks really Christmassy with those colours. You are so lucky to have your Roses flowering, scented? The leaves still look good as new, great! Merry Christmas!

Candee, I used the Aspidistra and pears to make a tree!

Flowering Christmas Cactus! using Aspidistra and Carnations

flowering christmas cactus, what a fancy arrangement!

vossner
Roses are not usually imported from China.Im not sure but Ive never seen flowers imported from there for retail use here in the US and I was in the floral business for 30 plus years. Roses come up from South America, mostly from Chile, A lot of the dutch flowers (bulb type things) do come from overseas (the european market) but a lot is grown here in the US, mostly in areas like FL and CA and TX too! Aspidistra is carried by a lot of florists and used in mostly funeral work. It just depends on what is commonlly used in what area of the country youre in and most importantly what the owner of the shop wants to carry..lol.. I made many a casket spray using it as a base..

This message was edited Dec 24, 2008 9:58 AM

lookie here. you can scroll down to the Trade section, 2nd paragraph. I was in Northern China for 2 months in 2007 and learned a little bit about this subject but certainly can't match your 30 yrs' experience, lol.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/flo/2007/09Sep/FLO2007s.txt

Chinese floriculture exports to europe are greater than to US because of distance, stricter US ag rules, etc. but it's steadily growing. If/when China can improve refrigeration and get over the trade tensions created by their producing flowers from patented material and refusing to pay patent fees, we may see more.

Anywho, I should have made it clearer that my comments are limited to my observations in my neck of the woods.

This message was edited Dec 24, 2008 10:54 AM

vossner
very interesting..I love getting new info now that Im not working anymore. I had a feeling the reason stuff wasnt imported as much was because USDA regs and the distance factor.. Ive spent many hrs on the phone with markets in Chile, Europe and Costa Rica when having to purchase flowers for events and hoildays so I do have experience with them.. heaven forbid I would have had to deal with someone from China I have the WORST ear for accents...lol.. I used to have to tell people it wasnt them it was me when I couldnt understand them...lol..
I do miss the designing Ive done a few weddings and special events since my retirement (health reasons) I dont miss the 8-12 hrs a day on my feet but I do the creative part of the job..Ive forgotten a lot of what I did know since I dont use it everyday.
thanks again for the link and have a wonderful holiday

First Terri I must say I knew you would put those pears to great use. Don't you just love the roses from TX as well, soon it will be spring again for us friend! Your flowering cactus is just the thing I need to see, as I have been too long away at the holiday and want to have a bit of the Christmas redness to remind me of the time of year. It was 60 degrees today so not much memory of the cold holiday we shall have in a day or 2.

I do then find it facinating to learn about the work of others and would love to see some of what you have done that you don't do anymore blkraven?

Thanks for the info Blkraven2.
I imagine you have made 100's of arrangements and beautiful bouquets working in floristry for so many years. I too, would love to see some of your work.
Vossner Thanks for the link, very interesting. How is your arrangement looking today, any changes? lol!
Thanks for the compliments on my funny cactus!

I have 2 bunches of broom, some white Mums and purple carnations. My camera is charging, so photo tomorrow!

I never took many pics of what I did, I was too busy working...lol.. Ive just about done it all when it comers to floral design form making a life size Winnie the Pooh out of flowers for a funeral to wedding that cost more than I made in a year..lol.. it was a great job (most of the time) .. I was fortunate to manage the floral dept of a multi million dollar special events company and got to do all kinds of things. It was hard work but a lot of fun. Ill see if I can find some pics and post them..