From Tennessee with love

 I enjoy making boutonnieres, there like a vignette, a quick impression of place.

 These are a mix of cornflowers, juniper berries, variegated thyme, and other little bits of whatnot.

The globe amaranth, and cornflowers came from Tennessee Tech University's organic farm (Shipley Farm),  where I lived for the last 3 and a half years while studying fine arts and horticulture. They have been growing cut flowers for the fall floral design class the past couple years. Two years ago I assisted Dr. Airhart with the class, it was such a great experience! Processing hundreds of roses all day made me realize, I really love flowers and this is what I want to do for a career. The roses and other imported flowers were donated by the local wholesaler, whatever they would be throwing away for the week. Some weeks they didn't have much, so I would drive around and look for interesting foliage and wildflowers. That got me into the habit of always having scissors in my car, and they come in really handy when you see some great hydrangea! I feel that using flowers and foliage fresh from where it was grown has a certain essence of place to it. They just feel right. 

The centerpiece (above) I created while working at DelMonaco Winery, for a food and wine pairing.  It was rewarding working at the winery, where I helped with a lot of events and weddings. It is a small family owned business, where I ended up doing a little bit of everything: picking grapes, bottling wine, decorations for events and holidays, wine tastings, graphic design, and website maintenance. It was cool to have a hand in the whole process of a business and to be part of a team. 

The bouquet (below) was made with some lovely pastel gladiolas, from Shipley Farms. I pulled the nicest flowers off of a few different stems, and wired each one. It took a little while, but the result was worth it, and I do kinda enjoy repetitive tasks :)