Late Fall Wedding with Wendy Lea

I had the pleasure of helping my friend Wendy Lea do a wedding the last weekend of November. She is a real pro, and I learned a whole lot working with her.The colors were orange, aubergine and gray, so we used gerbera daisies, orange melva roses, brandy wine roses, purple spray roses, seeded eucalyptus, hydrangea and lots of little accents. My favorite and the most unusual flower that we used was the Orange Chinese Lantern Lillie (Sandersonia, bellow).

I have been living near Santa Cruz, CA which is a short ride to Watsonville, where many of the  flowers growers and wholesale flower providers are located. We went to Paja Rosa, one of the last large scale rose growers in the area and Kitayama Brothers who specialize in lilies (Orientals and Asiatics), but sell tons of other wholesale flowers all over the US.

The wedding was for an older couple, so there was not a lot of fuss or last minute freak outs. 

    

                                                                            It was such a pleasure to see the brides face light up when she saw the flowers.

 I am definitely getting hooked on doing flowers for wedding, 

its very rewarding. 

Early Spring In California

I spent some time with my friend Carra, on the Everett Family Farm in Soquel, CA this weekend.  She grows a variety of cut flowers and now is the time for hardy bulbs with delicate flowers like Narcissus and Tulips.

 We endured 10 inches of rain last week, so the formerly dry, dusty landscape has become lush with thick green grass and early blooming flowers are plentiful. I am still getting to know this area of the country and getting a chance to get out and dig in the dirt, is the best possible way to know a place.
And boy did we dig, 100 feet about 2 ft deep to lay down gopher wire, to protect these beautiful French Tulips!

The Everett Farm is an all organic “incubator” farm. So they have several different people who farm on their land, take care of goats and chickens, etc. it is called an incubator farm, for young farmers starting out.