Friday, October 28, 2011

Fall into Christmas (behind the scenes from the design program)


On Tuesday October 25th and Wednesday, October 26th Heather had the opportunity to design with Tim Farrell AIFD, PFCI, AAF from Farrell's Florist, Drexel Hill, Pa.  Tim came as the Education Specialist for Teleflora's Penn Jersey Unit holiday design program.

We created seasonal fall and Christmas arrangements.  It was exciting to design with other local florists.  We were able to share ideas and critique one another's work.  This way we are able to grow in our knowledge and design skills.  In the following piece Heather Towne (Penn Jersey Unit President) used a monochromatic color scheme in lime green and the techniques of shadowing and framing.  Shadowing is depicted in the anthurium on the left and the bells of Ireland on the right.  This means that two identical flowers create a heavier visual weight when one mimics the other's line and placement.  The "framing" occurs around the empty space in the middle which creates visual interest.
In the next floral design Heather used the Teleflora Glitter and Shine Bouquet.  The lid of the candy dish is hanging "Cindy Lou Who" style from a branch of cedar wrapped in lime green wire.  The white roses draw your eyes down to the center of the arrangement and tie in the white from the glittery lid and the white glitter accents on the red ornament bowl.  Feathers are added as accents in red. A fun way to change the original design.
The final arrangement was designed for the registration table for the Penn Jersey Unit.  It incorporates red ginger, steel grass, lime green cymbidiums and red ornaments.  Again Heather chose a Teleflora Christmas keepsake piece to showcase the design.  The steel grass encircles the design with lime green beaded wire.
Even though we feel it is way to early to be playing Christmas songs on the radio.  It was fun to begin exploring different techniques and texture combinations for the upcoming holiday.  Although, with the snow they are predicting for this weekend, it may seem as though winter is on its way!!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Compost Galore!

Flowers By Jennie Lynne made an interesting purchase this past summer...  We had been noticing the amount of our trash and noted that it was mostly "green" waste.  80-90% of what we are throwing out is stems, leaves and flowers.  So... Heather and I started researching compost bins online and we are now the proud owners of the Aerobin 400!  The Aerobin is a 113 gallon composter with a revolutionary patented aeration core that promotes aerobic breakdown of organic waste into beautiful compost! 
Our new Aerobin Composter allows us to take our waste:

and turn it into useful compost for our gardens!


In about 6-8 weeks our flower waste becomes this rich brown compost that our vegetable gardens LOVE!
Another added benefit to the Aerobin 400 is that it comes with a leach tank at the base that collects liquid compost extract.
This stuff is like black gold!  It is potent so it needs to be diluted 20:1 with water and then it can be used to fertilize gardens, trees and flower beds.  It is chock full of nutrients.  The Aerobin Composter was definitely a smart purchase for us at Flowers By Jennie Lynne.  We have significantly reduced our dumpster waste and had VERY bountiful vegetable gardens as a result of the compost and liquid extract. 
Flowers By Jennie Lynne is going green!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Pumpkins and Pumpkin Heads



There is something about fall that excites me every year.  Maybe it is the warm fire roaring in the wood burning stove, or the cool breeze so I can start wearing sweaters again.  But today I am reminded with the wind blowing that the fall leaves are here. Autumn arrangements with cattails, oak leaves, beautiful mums and sunflowers.  All those colors just revive me as a designer -golden yellows, rich bronze, creamy butterscotch and warm browns. Pumpkins and gourds are the trademark symbols of the season. And do we have our share! The showroom is full of fall and Halloween accents.  There are  wrought iron pumpkin candle holders with pumpkin pie votives and creepy pumpkin trees. 


          

Vines creeping, leaves cascading and gnarly tree trunks are scattered around in the show room.  Pumpkins of all sizes  - some are so small 2 large handfuls can fill a vase for flowers to sit on top.  So many fun ideas to play with.  There are pumpkin ornaments for large and small Halloween Trees. Carve-able artificial pumpkins (perfect for saving year to year).  We have unearthed so many fall home decorations it is hard not to be excited to show them all. So we will entice you with just a few.  

Even the scarecrows are donning a pumpkin motif.  Soft plaids in fall tones, a straw hat and and jack-o-lantern face - so cute.  This character is nestled in with the  NEW Thompson chunky candles and berry vine candle rings.  
 Fall scents include: Oatmeal Cookies, Toffee Crunch, Apple Dumpling, Pumpkin Pie and Harvest Spice. Yummy!  Thank goodness they are wax because they smell so awesome I could just eat them.

Stop by Flowers by Jennie Lynne to enjoy some fall trimmings
and all this season brings!!