2011 Flower Lover Gift Guide

We hope your hol­i­day shop­ping is going well after Black Fri­day and Cyber Mon­day. Here are a few more cyber offer­ings for the peo­ple who like flo­ral­ly inspired cre­ations. Check out each pho­to from its web­site and click on the direct links below the pho­to gallery to the items you like!

Here are the links to each gift idea: (All photos are credited from each website).

Air­plant Wall Tile from pigeontoeceramics.com
Felt­ed Wool Wreath from vivaterra.com
Flo­ral iPad cov­er from BHG.com
Flo­ral Toolset from pylones-usa.com
Flower Arrang­ing DVD from flowerduet.com
Flower Seed Cards from ecocycle.com
Flow­ery Orna­ments from trendytree.com
Gar­den Bou­quet Wall Cal­en­dar from amazon.com
Gift Cer­tifi­cates from flowerduet.com
Glass Jar Vase from homedecorators.com
Hon­ey­suck­le Body But­ter from shopterrain.com
Hooked Flower Pil­low from homedecorators.com
How-To Make Flower Nov­el­ties from flowerduet.com
Moss Ter­rar­i­um Bot­tle from uncommongoods.com
Per­son­l­ized Cards from BHG.com
Phoebe Door Mat from uncommongoods.com
Pre­ston Bai­ley Flow­ers from amazon.com
Suc­cu­lent Tur­tle from vivaterra.com
Sun­print Kit from shopterrain.com
Wine Cork Wreath from wineenthusiast.com
Wool Felt Flow­ers from etsy.com

2011 Advent Calendar of Holiday Flower Ideas

Start­ing on Decem­ber 1, 2011, Flower Duet will offer 25 days of Hol­i­day flo­ral ideas via our Face­book page. Join the con­ver­sa­tion and learn about tra­di­tion­al ideas for wreaths, gar­lands, swags and bou­quets. You’ll also get ideas for Chanukkah, Kwan­za and New Year’s cel­e­bra­tions, too! Join us on Facebook.com/FlowerDuet.

2011 and 2012 Floral Design Class Schedule

We are offer­ing four hol­i­day flo­ral design class­es this month and a tour of the LA Flo­ral Dis­trict — a sure bet to get you fired up for the hol­i­days and take any pres­sure away from shop­ping trips! Join us for these class­es and don’t for­get to hint to a friend or spouse that you’d love a Flower Duet Gift Cer­tifi­cate for a class in your stock­ing! See our Flower Work­shop page for more information.

Botanical Gardens Light it Up for the Holiday Season

by Casey Schwartz & Kit Wertz

There are so many places to vis­it and enjoy bloom­ing flow­ers and plants in the Unit­ed States. Dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son, botan­i­cal gar­dens around the coun­try fea­ture glo­ri­ous flo­ral dis­plays, light shows, teas, and fam­i­ly concerts.

We decid­ed to fea­ture at least one place you can vis­it in each state and Wash­ing­ton, DC, where you can take your fam­i­ly and be wowed by beau­ty and fun! We chose a few extra in Cal­i­for­nia and Vir­ginia since we’ve lived in both places. We hope we can vis­it every one of these fab­u­lous places. Let us know if you go and tell us what you thought on Face­book.

Unit­ed States Botan­ic Gar­den dur­ing the Hol­i­day Sea­son. Source: wikipedia.com

Alabama

Birm­ing­ham Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Birmingham
Vis­it this gar­den on Dec. 4th, 2011 for a jol­ly col­lec­tion of Hol­i­day sto­ries, songs, and sing-a-longs to warm your heart and jump-start your holiday!

Alaska

Alas­ka Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Anchorage
This gar­den offers a peace­ful sanc­tu­ary for out­door recre­ation and well­ness activ­i­ties. The ABG nature trails are a great place to walk, hike, “botanize”, bird­watch, snow­shoe, ski, or sim­ply appre­ci­ate nature, year-round.

George­son Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Fairbanks
Check out Alaska’s newest agri­cul­tur­al indus­try- fresh cut peonies, an export mar­ket that start­ed right here at the GBG and now is a statewide indus­try. This is the north­ern­most botan­i­cal gar­den in North America!

Arizona

Desert Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Phoenix
The Val­ley’s best hol­i­day event comes to life at the gar­den with more than 8,000 hand-lit lumi­nar­ia bags and 10 musi­cal groups per­form­ing night­ly. Lumi­nar­ia offers guests a choice of 22 nights in Decem­ber, includ­ing dates between Christ­mas and New Year’s Eve.

Arkansas

Gar­van Wood­land Gar­den in Hot Springs
More than 1.8 mil­lion hol­i­day lights will illu­mi­nate Gar­van Wood­land Gar­dens from 5 to 9 p.m. each evening, trans­form­ing the wood­land land­scape into a win­ter won­der­land of delight. The dis­play is one of Arkansas’ most impres­sive hol­i­day events. Cost is $6.00 for adults and $4.00 for chil­dren 6 to 12 years old. Chil­dren 5 and under are free.

California

Los Ange­les Arbore­tum in Arca­dia (near Los Angeles)
Home to plant col­lec­tions from all over the world, includ­ing many rare and endan­gered species. This month it offers a wreath mak­ing work­shop and oth­er events.

The Hunt­ing­ton Library, Art Col­lec­tions and Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in San Mari­no (near Los Angeles)
More than 14,000 dif­fer­ent vari­eties of plants are show­cased in more than a dozen prin­ci­pal gar­den areas. Flower Duet teach­es here each month and if you are a mem­ber, you get to attend spe­cial hol­i­day events. Mem­ber­ship is a won­der­ful thing for families.

The South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den in Rolling Hills Estates (near Los Angeles).

Called, “The Jew­el of the Penin­su­la”, this expan­sive gar­den is locat­ed just 10 miles south of the Los Ange­les Air­port. Decem­ber events include gin­ger­bread work­shops, a gift show, and a hol­i­day con­cert. On the evening of Thurs­day, Decem­ber 8th, local artists and ven­dors will be show­cas­ing their items for all your hol­i­day needs and there will be the TWIST burg­er truck to feed the shop­ping crowd. Ven­dors will be giv­ing a por­tion of their sales to ben­e­fit South Coast Botan­ic Garden.

Bal­boa Park in San Diego
Check out the Pointset­tia dis­plays! Not to be missed!

San Fran­cis­co Botan­i­cal Gar­den in San Francisco
On Decem­ber 10th, they offer a hol­i­day wreath mak­ing work­shop. Reserve your space now!

Colorado

Den­ver Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Denver
Embrace the hol­i­day sea­son at Blos­soms of Light. Over one mil­lion col­or­ful lights draped in ele­gant designs high­light the Gar­dens win­ter beau­ty. Roman­tic and pop­u­lar kiss­ing spots will return, as well as the always antic­i­pat­ed HoloSpex glasses.

Connecticut

Bartlett Arbore­tum in Stamford
The Bartlett Arbore­tum & Gar­dens fea­tures 91 acres of open, green space locat­ed on the his­tor­i­cal prop­er­ty of well-known arborist Dr. Fran­cis A. Bartlett.

Delaware

Win­terthur Muse­um, Gar­den and Library in Winterthur
Found­ed by Hen­ry Fran­cis du Pont, Win­terthur (pro­nounced “win­ter-tour”), offers a Yule­tide tour that will trans­port you to Christ­mases of old.

District of Columbia

Unit­ed States Botan­ic Gar­den on the Nation­al Mall
The U.S. Botan­ic Gar­den’s annu­al hol­i­day exhib­it, Sea­son’s Green­ings, runs Novem­ber 24, 2011, through Jan­u­ary 2, 2012. Stop by the Con­ser­va­to­ry to enjoy the fra­grant conifers and oth­er ever­greens used for wreaths and hol­i­day trees, and see how mistle­toe, poin­set­tia, oaks and oth­er plants have con­tributed to the time-hon­ored holiday.

Florida

Marie Sel­by Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Sarasota
Marie Sel­by Botan­i­cal Gar­dens Presents “Hol­i­day Splen­dor at the Payne Man­sion.” The Flori­da West Coast Chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Inte­ri­or Design­ers (ASID) will expand the scope of its pop­u­lar Hol­i­day Show­house in the Man­sion for 2011, deck­ing the entire first floor with stun­ning hol­i­day décor.

Georgia

Atlanta Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Atlanta
Expe­ri­ence the Gar­den as nev­er before when it is trans­formed into a twin­kling win­ter wonderland!

Hawaii

Nation­al Trop­i­cal Botan­i­cal Gar­dens on Kauai and Maui
If you hap­pen to live in Hawaii or are trav­el­ing there for your hol­i­day break, these gar­dens are a sure bet for beau­ty and tranquility.

Idaho

Ida­ho Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Boise
Join us for the 15th Annu­al Win­ter Gar­den aGlow at the Ida­ho Botan­i­cal Gar­den and see our daz­zling dis­play of near­ly 250,000 sparkling lights art­ful­ly dis­played through­out the hol­i­day sea­son. Fun for peo­ple of all ages, Win­ter Gar­den aGlow is a tra­di­tion-build­ing activity!

Illinois

Chica­go Botan­ic Gar­den in Chicago
The gar­den offers a win­ter won­der­land of gar­den-scale trains, lights, hor­ti­cul­tur­al dis­plays, and minia­ture ver­sions of Chica­go land­marks and spe­cial hol­i­day events, includ­ing Break­fast and Sup­per with San­ta and a Hanukkah Dinner.

Indiana

Garfield Park Con­ser­va­to­ry and Sunken Gar­den in Indianapolis
Enjoy the hol­i­day train and poin­set­tia show dur­ing an evening recep­tion with hol­i­day treats. Take time from the hus­tle and bus­tle to relax with a cup of cocoa and enjoy the warmth and beau­ty of our trop­i­cal Con­ser­va­to­ry alive with the twin­kle of lights!

Iowa

Des Moines Botan­i­cal and Evi­ron­men­tal Cen­ter in Des Moines
The Botan­i­cal Cen­ter is all dec­o­rat­ed for the hol­i­days! Come down and enjoy our fun, fes­tive showbeds in the Dome!

Kansas

Over­land Park Arbore­tum and Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Over­land Park
Stroll down can­dlelit trails through the gar­dens and woods and around the ponds at the Over­land Park Arbore­tum & Botan­i­cal Gar­dens’ Hol­i­day Lumi­nary Walk. Hear and enjoy the hol­i­day fes­tive music and see the beau­ti­ful light­ed displays.

Kentucky

Ash­land, The Hen­ry Clay Estate in Lexington
Don’t miss the Light­ing on the Lawn and A Dick­ens Christmas.

Louisiana

New Orleans Botan­i­cal Gar­den in New Orleans
Orig­i­nal­ly known as the City Park Rose Gar­den, the gar­den opened in 1936 as New Orleans’ first pub­lic clas­si­cal garden.

Maine

Wood­lawn Muse­um, Gar­dens and Park in Ellsworth
Tour Wood­lawn and see splen­did Vic­to­ri­an dec­o­ra­tions while hear­ing a spe­cial audio tour pre­sen­ta­tion on the his­to­ry of Christ­mas at Woodlawn.

Maryland

Brook­side Gar­dens in Wheaton
The Gar­den of Lights, a sec­u­lar light show, now in its 15th sea­son, is a pop­u­lar fam­i­ly tra­di­tion in the Wash­ing­ton, DC area draw­ing close to 40,000 vis­i­tors each winter.

Massachusetts

Berk­shire Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Stockbridge
Check out the Hol­i­day Mar­ket­place ear­ly in December.

Michigan

Dow Gar­dens in Midland
Get ready for anoth­er beau­ti­ful win­ter evening walk in Dow Gar­dens. Paths will again be lined with can­dle lumi­nar­ies, lights will adorn sev­er­al trees, and choirs will be per­form­ing at var­i­ous stops along the way.

Minnesota

Min­neso­ta Land­scape Arbore­tum in Chanhassen
The Min­neso­ta Land­scape Arbore­tum announces “Mak­ing Spir­its Bright,” a hol­i­day sea­son brim­ming with mer­ri­ment, music and make-believe. Vis­i­tors will find 12 spec­tac­u­lar sto­ry­book-themed dec­o­rat­ed trees, sur­round­ed by sto­ry­time seat­ing, in the Oswald Vis­i­tor Cen­ter and Sny­der Building

Mississippi

Ros­alie Man­sion in Natchez
Reg­is­tered Nation­al Land­mark offers dai­ly tours. This Fed­er­al-style man­sion in Natchez was built in 1823 near the site of the for­mer French fort of the same name.

Missouri

Mis­souri Botan­i­cal Gar­den in St Louis
The Mis­souri Botan­i­cal Gar­den in St. Louis was found­ed in 1859 by Hen­ry Shaw. Today, 152 years after open­ing, the Gar­den is a Nation­al His­toric Land­mark and a cen­ter for sci­ence and con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, and hor­ti­cul­tur­al dis­play — wide­ly con­sid­ered one of the top three botan­i­cal gar­dens in the world.

Montana

Tiz­er Botan­i­cal Gar­den and Arbore­tum in Jef­fer­son City
Not open from Oct-March.

Nebraska

Lau­ritzen Gar­dens — Oma­ha’s Botan­i­cal Cen­ter in Omaha
More than 5,600 poin­set­tia plants are grown in Lau­ritzen Gar­dens’ green­hous­es start­ing as ear­ly as July for this annu­al hol­i­day show. This spec­tac­u­lar exhib­it includes a 20-foot-tall poin­set­tia tree, beau­ti­ful­ly dec­o­rat­ed hol­i­day trees, antique sleighs and sev­er­al pas­sen­ger and freight mod­el trains.

Nevada

Springs Pre­serve in Las Vegas
Join our archae­ol­o­gist for 2 hours along the banks of the Las Vegas Creek here at the Pre­serve. You’ll help unearth val­ley his­to­ry under our cottonwoods!

New Hampshire

Straw­ber­ry Banke Muse­um in Portsmouth
Stroll through life in a sim­pler time as the his­to­ry of Amer­i­can hol­i­day tra­di­tions unfolds around you. Bring the whole fam­i­ly for a whole­some stroll through the sights, sounds, & smells of New Eng­land’s favorite hol­i­day season.

New Jersey

Mac­cu­loch Hall His­to­r­i­al Muse­um in Morristown
Lots of hol­i­day-themed events inl­cud­ing a Civ­il-war Christ­mas and vin­tage images of San­ta Claus!

New Mexico

Rio Grande Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Albuquerque
“Make plans now for the Riv­er of Lights, a hol­i­day dis­play of ani­mat­ed sculp­tures and more at the ABQ BioPark Botan­ic Garden.

The event con­tin­ues through Dec. 30.”

New York

Brook­lyn Botan­ic Gar­den in Brooklyn
Always a pletho­ra of things to do at the BBG! Fol­low them on Face­book or Twitter.and you won’t be disappointed!

North Carolina

Daniel Stowe Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Belmont
Tour Hol­i­day Lights, enjoy a hol­i­day tea, make a wreath or meet San­ta! All of this hap­pens at this won­der­ful garden.

North Dakota

Inter­na­tion­al Peace Gar­den in Dunseith
The Flo­ral Clock, 18 feet in diam­e­ter, is a pop­u­lar attrac­tion at the Inter­na­tion­al Peace Gar­den, and dis­plays a unique flo­ral design each year. The num­ber of plants on the clock can range from 2,000 to 5,000, depend­ing on the type of plant and design on the face of the clock.

Ohio

The Cleve­land Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Cleveland
For the 2011 hol­i­day sea­son, the Botan­i­cal Gar­den is host­ing an exhib­it of large gin­ger­bread hous­es with win­dow vignettes, designed by the Gar­den’s affil­i­ate gar­den clubs.

Oklahoma

Myr­i­ad Botan­i­cal Gar­dens and Crys­tal Bridge Trop­i­cal Con­ser­va­to­ry in Okla­homa City
Myr­i­ad Botan­i­cal Gar­dens is a 17-acre, nation­al­ly rec­og­nized gar­den fea­tur­ing an archi­tec­tur­al trea­sure, the Crys­tal Bridge Trop­i­cal Con­ser­va­to­ry — an amaz­ing 224-foot long cir­cu­lar jun­gle graced with tow­er­ing palm trees, exot­ic plant­i­ngs, crash­ing water­falls and abun­dant ani­mal life.

Oregon

The Ore­gon Gar­den in Silverton
The Ore­gon Gar­den wel­comes vis­i­tors with more than 20 spe­cial­ty gar­dens and fea­tures. You’ll dis­cov­er water­falls, qui­et ponds, foun­tains, a unique dis­play of conifers, the 400-year old Sig­na­ture Oak, a North­west Gar­den, a pet gar­den, beau­ti­ful vis­tas and art.

Pennsylvania

Phipps Con­ser­va­to­ry in Pittsburgh
Join Phipps and Pitts­burgh Bal­let The­atre on Thurs., Dec. 8, 2011 in cel­e­brat­ing the hol­i­days with Nut­crack­er, Sweet! — a spe­cial fam­i­ly-friend­ly event bring­ing togeth­er the beau­ty of our 1893 Vic­to­ri­an glasshouse with the mag­ic of The Nut­crack­er ballet.

Rhode Island

Blithe­wold Man­sion, Gar­dens and Arbore­tum in Bristol
Vis­it to cel­e­brate this year’s theme “Gifts of Nature” which rec­og­nizes the won­der­ful­ly diverse ele­ments of nature as they hon­or the Van­Wick­le fam­i­ly’s love of the outdoors.

South Carolina

Mid­dle­ton Place in Charleston
Cel­e­brate the sea­son with spe­cial per­for­mances by can­dle­light at the Edmond­ston-Alston House. Christ­mas 1860 by can­dle­light will be offered as well as some fam­i­ly Yule­tide events in December.

South Dakota

McCro­ry Gar­dens and Arbore­dum in Brookings
McCro­ry Gar­dens is a botan­i­cal gar­den oper­at­ed and main­tained by the Hor­ti­cul­ture, Forestry, Land­scape and Parks Depart­ment of South Dako­ta State Universit

Tennessee

Cheek­wood Botan­i­cal Gar­den and Muse­um of Art in Nashville
San­ta Sat­ur­days begin today at Cheek­wood and Christ­mas trees in the Man­sion, live music every Sat­ur­day and Sun­day — there’s so much to see and do!

Texas

South Texas Botan­i­cal Gar­dens and Nature Cen­ter in Cor­pus Christi
Show­cas­ing a unique blend of col­or­ful, exot­ic flo­ral exhibits bor­dered with vast con­served areas of native habi­tat and nat­ur­al wetlands.

Utah

Red Butte Gar­den in Salt Lake City
The Gar­den offers walk­ing paths through 11 themed gar­dens and near­ly four miles of hik­ing trials.

Vermont

Hildene, The Lin­coln Fam­i­ly Home in Manchester
Robert Todd Lin­coln, the only child of Abra­ham and Mary Todd Lin­coln to sur­vive to adult­hood, built his Geor­gian Revival man­sion in 1905 in the scenic vil­lage of Man­ches­ter, VT.

Virginia

Lewis Gin­ter Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Richmond
Lewis Gin­ter Botan­i­cal Gar­den is a mag­i­cal place with won­der­ful hol­i­day events includ­ing fes­tive dinners!

Mount Ver­non in Alexandria
George Wash­ing­ton’s home has always been a fam­i­ly favorite — open on Christ­mas and always dec­o­rat­ed for Christ­mas. “Mrs. Wash­ing­ton” hosts an enchant­i­ng evening of can­dlelit tours, fire­side Christ­mas car­ol­ing, and sam­ples of hot cider and gin­ger cookies.

Mead­owlark Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in Vienna
One of Flower Duet’s moth­er’s loved gar­dens. Check out their wreath mak­ing work­shops ear­ly in the month of December.

Nor­folk Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Norfolk
Warm up with a tasty cook­ie and a warm cup of hot choco­late while you lis­ten to a read­ing of the Polar Express, then take a tram ride through the Domin­ion Gar­den of Lights Hol­i­day display.

Colo­nial Williams­burg in Williamsburg
Go back in time to the ear­li­est of Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tions in the Unit­ed States to Colo­nial Williams­burg. I can smell the hot spiced apple cider now!

Mon­ti­cel­lo in Charlottesville
Thomas Jef­fer­son was a great pres­i­dent, states­man and one of our coun­try’s found­ing gar­den­ers! Make a wreath or run a 5K.it’s all hap­pen­ing at Monticello!

Washington

Yaki­ma Area Arbore­dum and Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Yakima
2011 marks the 20th anniver­sary of the Yaki­ma Area Arbore­tum’s annu­al Lumi­nar­ia can­dle-lit walk, arguably the grand­est Lumi­nar­ia walk in the Pacif­ic North­west. Over a 1000 can­dles line a mile long path­way through the win­try land­scape of the Yaki­ma Area Arboretum.

West Virginia

Ogel­bay Resort in Wheeling
Since 1985 the Win­ter Fes­ti­val of Lights has been delight­ing vis­i­tors of all ages! This annu­al hol­i­day light show is one of the nation’s largest, cov­er­ing more than 300 acres over a six-mile dri­ve through­out the resort.

Wisconsin

Green Bay Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Green Bay
Peo­ple of all ages come to WPS Gar­den of Lights each year to expe­ri­ence the mag­ic of the hol­i­day sea­son as the Gar­den’s win­ter won­der­land glows with over 250,000 LED lights.

Olbrich Botan­i­cal Gar­den in Madison
On Sun­days in Decem­ber, warm up the win­ter day with fes­tive hol­i­day music dur­ing Olbrich’s Hol­i­day Con­cert Series.

Wyoming

Cheyenne Botan­ic Gar­dens in Cheyenne
A full sched­ule of all hol­i­day crafts for all tra­di­tions are offered at this gar­den in December.

Flower Duet’s Succulent Nursery Update

Last month we fea­tured the new suc­cu­lent nurs­ery we start­ed. Each month we’ll talk about our progress and let you know what we’ve learned along the way in case you want to start your own suc­cu­lent gar­den at home.

Small leaves are begin­ning to sprout new growth.

More Pal­lets are ready to be paint­ed and take on new plants.

Book Review

Dec­o­rat­ing with Ever­greens by Robert Waite. Full of beau­ti­ful inspi­ra­tional pho­tos, this book is packed with ideas for dec­o­rat­ing for the fall hol­i­days. Fresh flow­ers, fruit, and live green­ery are com­bined to cre­ate beau­ti­ful wreaths, swags, gar­lands, cen­ter­pieces, Christ­mas trees, and more.