Flower Duet Goes Hollywood!

Casey and Kit had an August full of Hollywood Glamour and Fun!

August held two unique oppor­tu­ni­ties for Flower Duet which had one thing in com­mon: Hol­ly­wood! They could not have been for two more dif­fer­ent aspects of Tin­sel­town, but they both involved Casey and Kit shar­ing our love of flower arranging!

Flower Duet Appears on The Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family Show

Deb­bie Matenopou­los is joined by guest co-host and Hall­mark star Dylan Neal. Flower Duet own­ers, Casey Schwartz and Kit Wertz have show-stop­ping arrange­ments. Cred­it: © 2017 Crown Media Unit­ed States, LLC | Pho­to: Alexx Hen­ry Stu­dios, LLC / Steve Lucero.

Casey and I had our own trail­er on the set! Here we are in our “green room” relax­ing before our appearance!

We were allowed to dri­ve onto the back­lot and our route took us through an old West­ern town. The Home and Fam­i­ly House is at the end of the West­ern Town. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Casey gets ready on the set of The Home and Fam­i­ly Show. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Casey gets some atten­tion from the show’s make­up artist before the cold open­ing of the show!

Kit and Casey await the start of the open­ing of the show on The Hall­mark Chan­nel’s Home & Fam­i­ly Show.

Casey is talk­ing to Dylan Neal about being a fan of his work going back to his appear­ance on “Sab­ri­na, The Teenage Witch.” He was very nice and appre­cia­tive of our gushing.

Kit and Casey pose for the pro­mo­tion­al still pho­tos for the show’s episode.

Our pro­duc­er, Bob, was a fan­tas­tic part­ner in the pro­duc­tion for the day. We real­ly enjoyed work­ing with him for the entire process.

We are all hid­den by the flow­ers at the end of our suc­cess­ful seg­ment on Home and Fam­i­ly after giv­ing a mon­ey-sav­ing tip for the con­tain­er of a large-scale flo­ral design. Hint: It just has to be water­tight! You can use a paint buck­et and a basket!

Kit receives from make­up touch-ups for the clos­ing of the show.

We are all lined up for the close of the show!

Casey and Kit pose out­side the Home and Fam­i­ly House and Set on the back­lot of Uni­ver­sal Stu­dios after cre­at­ing the Show Stop­ping Flo­ral design for the show which aired August 28, 2017 on The Hall­mark Channel.

Kit and Casey designed a mug of flow­ers for an extra seg­ment to air on the Home and Fam­i­ly Face­book page. The design idea was inspired by our Mom, Chris­tine Coleman.

Our seg­ment of the show ran dur­ing the sec­ond hour. We were delight­ed with the results and the love­ly recep­tion we had through­out our experience.

Flower Duet’s Mom is on Home and Family’s Facebook Page!

Here is Mom’s mug flo­ral design she cre­at­ed with flow­ers from her own gar­den. This appears on our seg­ment for the Home and Fam­i­ly Face­book page! Go Mom!

Our Mom now has an offi­cial title of “Flo­ral Influ­encer” as she was part of the show we appeared in even though she was on the East coast!

In 1992, she attend­ed a live tap­ing of the Home Show when it was part of the ABC net­work. She won a mug as an audi­ence mem­ber on the show by answer­ing a ques­tion cor­rect­ly. When she knew we were going to appear on the show, she was inspired to make an arrange­ment in her vin­tage “Home Show” Mug. We told our pro­duc­er about it and he was excit­ed for us to design flow­ers in a cur­rent Home & Fam­i­ly mug which would appear on their tips and tricks videos they pro­duce for Social Media.

Flower Duet Designs a Floral Mug for Home & Family

Video is copy­right­ed by The Hall­mark Channel

Read more about our expe­ri­ence on our blog post about How to Cre­ate a Show Stop­ping Flo­ral Design.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard comes to Flower Duet’s Studio

In ear­ly August, days before the lat­est action thriller star­ring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jack­son called The Hit­man’s Body­guard pre­miered in the­aters, Casey host­ed a group of 45 media folks and three “Body­guards” for an after­noon of flower arranging.

You might be think­ing, “What does flower arrang­ing have to do with a Hol­ly­wood action movie?”

This activ­i­ty was part of a press jun­ket or film jun­ket to pro­mote the open­ing of The Hit­man’s Body­guard. Tra­di­tion­al press jun­kets include press releas­es, adver­tis­ing cam­paigns, mer­chan­dis­ing, fran­chis­ing, media, and inter­views with the key peo­ple involved with the mak­ing of the film, like actors and direc­tors. We host­ed an exclu­sive group of 45 mem­bers of the Hol­ly­wood media who also par­tic­i­pat­ed in oth­er activ­i­ties based on ele­ments of the film by Lion­s­gate, such as “Car Rac­ing” (Go Karts), “Being a Hit­man” ( Laz­erTag), and “Play­ing with Tulips” (Flower Duet Workshop).

Since Flower Duet is known for cre­at­ing unique flow­ers for cor­po­rate events from employ­ee appre­ci­a­tion flo­ral work­shops to huge gala event design, Lion­s­gate did­n’t hes­i­tate when they asked us to host this impor­tant press jun­ket at our own studio.

Casey stands on one of our tables to show the 45+ media guests how to design with tulips as her body­guard holds the vase!

As part of a media press jun­ket, Hol­ly­wood movie jour­nal­ists par­tic­i­pat­ed in a Tulip flower arrang­ing class in our studio.

Still.…“Why tulips and hitmen??”

Tulips are a recur­ring theme through­out the movie. (Warning…this film is rat­ed R and has a lot of the col­or­ful lan­guage that Samuel L. Jack­son is famous for deliv­er­ing on screen.)

Our stu­dio was packed with a full-house for the Tulip Flower Arrang­ing class to help pro­mote the film, The Hit­man’s Body­guard from Lionsgate.

One of our free­lance design­ers, Julie, helped Casey for the Tulip Class. Here they posed with some of the body­guards who attend­ed the press jun­ket day.

Even the body­guards went home with tulips!

Using a “per­fect for begin­ners” style vase from Ikea, each par­tic­i­pant learned how to prop­er­ly place Tulips. Green­ery, and Sta­t­ice. Three sim­ple flo­ral ele­ments made a great impact. Every­one, even the body­guards went home with beau­ti­ful arrange­ments, a new skill and a smile on their faces. ! “Hit­Woman FlowerGuard!”

Casey thought it was a hit!  A “Hit­Woman FlowerGuard!”

Trailer for The Hitman’s Bodyguard

New Online Floral Design Classes Taught by Flower Duet

Free class to start! More to come. Reveal Your Hidden Floral Designer

By Kit Wertz

When we pub­lish our month­ly newslet­ter, we are always delight­ed with our sub­scribers in coun­tries around the world and are pleased to present a way to share our flo­ral knowl­edge to any­one on the plan­et through online courses.

To start, we’ve cre­at­ed a lit­tle free mini course based on our Field To Vase design we designed and built for Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers, thanks to the great video pro­duced by the tal­ent­ed film­mak­ers at Cabra Blanca.

You can sign up to down­load all the mate­ri­als and videos for the free course “Reveal Your Hid­den Flo­ral Design­er” course from our web­site! If you sign up for this free course, you’ll be the first to find out our spe­cial offers on our first pre­mi­um courses!

Casey and I believe that every­one is a “flo­ral design­er.” It’s a tal­ent you did­n’t know you had! Let us help you reveal your hid­den tal­ents so you can gain con­fi­dence in new skills and yourself.

Sign Up for Free Floral Design Mini Course to Receive Special Discounts on Future Courses

Learn more about our online cours­es here. Sign up today to be the first to find out more about our new offer­ings that won’t be like any­thing else you see on the Inter­net for flo­ral design training.

Flower Duet’s Fall Flower Arranging Classes Around Los Angeles

Learn how to inte­grate Hydrangeas with a mix of flow­ers in our Sep­tem­ber design class that is all about how to keep those Hydrangeas Hap­py in a vase!

We are pleased to announce we’ll be teach­ing pub­lic flo­ral design work­shops around Los Ange­les this fall as well as at our stu­dio. We will be teach­ing six work­shops this fall at The Hunt­ing­ton Library in San Mari­no (3 for adults and 3 for chil­dren), two work­shops at our local South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den in Palos Verdes, and a Thanks­giv­ing work­shop for mem­bers of The Autry Muse­um in Grif­fith Park.

We are also offer­ing a pletho­ra of class­es at our stu­dio includ­ing our Wednes­day Night Wed­ding Work­shops as well as lots of oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn how to make hol­i­day flow­ers and wreaths and gar­lands for your hol­i­day decorating!

See more about all of these class­es on our Flower Arrang­ing Class­es & Work­shops Page.

Orchids add to an already ele­gant flo­ral design for Thanks­giv­ing. Flow­ers and pho­to by Flower Duet.

Flower Duet’s South­bay Studio
Reg­is­ter for these class­es online. *LA Flower Mart Tours avail­able some dates also.
Sep­tem­ber 16, 2017 — Hap­py Hydrangeas*
Sep­tem­ber 20, 2017 — Bou­quet & Boutonniere
Octo­ber 14, 2017 — Dec­o­ra­tive Pump­kin Flo­ral Crafts*
Octo­ber 25, 2017 — Wed­ding Cen­ter­pieces & Table Accents
Novem­ber 18, 2017 — Hol­i­day Tablescape Flo­ral Skills*
Decem­ber 9, 2017 — Hand-made Wreaths & Garlands*
Jan­u­ary 20, 2018 – Win­ter Ice Flo­ral Design Workshop*
Jan­u­ary 24, 2018 – Bou­quet & Boutonniere
Feb­ru­ary 24, 2018 – Hot Tulips Workshop*
Feb­ru­ary 28, 2018 – Wed­ding Cen­ter­pieces & Table Accents
March 24, 2018 – Emer­alds and Dia­monds Flo­ral Workshop*
MORE TO COME IN 2018!!!!

Flower Duet’s Fall 2014 ver­sion of the love­ly suc­cu­lent pump­kin using a squat white pump­kin and a vari­ety of Echev­e­ria, Aeo­ni­ums and Cras­su­la plants.

Hunt­ing­ton Library
Reg­is­ter for these class­es through brownpapertickets.com.

Sep­tem­ber 23, 2017 – Suc­cu­lent Wreaths — SOLD OUT
Novem­ber 4, 2017 – Fall Flower Arrangement
Decem­ber 2, 2017 – Con­tem­po­rary Garlands/Holiday Enter­tain­ing Flowers
Feb­ru­ary 2, 2018 – Fire & Ice Flo­ral Design
March 17, 2018 – St. Patrick’s Day Flowers
May 5, 2018 – A trib­ute to Peonies!
June 16, 2018 – Ros­es Galore

Autry Muse­um
Novem­ber 19, 2017 — Thanks­giv­ing Centerpiece

South Coast Botan­ic Garden
Novem­ber 19, 2017 — Thanks­giv­ing Centerpiece
Decem­ber 10, 2017 — Hol­i­day Wreaths

Summer Event Flowers & Classes by Flower Duet

Here is a selec­tion of pho­tos from recent event flo­ral work by Flower Duet from design class­es, to a wed­ding dur­ing the epic solar eclipse.

Dahlia Floral Design Class

Dahlia class in a vase design was a sold out class and a hit with stu­dents fea­tur­ing two types of Dahlias, Gom­phre­na, Choco­late Queen Anne’s Lace, Rus­cus, Blu­peu­rum and Echinacea

Summer Coral Wedding — Calamigos Ranch

We fea­tured a few pho­tos from this wed­ding last month, but here are a few by the excel­lent pho­tog­ra­ph­er., Jes­si­ca Claire.

Coral Peony Bou­quet for a love­ly bride. Pho­to by: Jes­si­ca Claire Photography

Our beau­ti­ful bride gets a twirl after the first look by her groom! Pho­to by Jes­si­ca Claire Photography

Solar Eclipse Wedding — Los Verdes Golf Course

The deep blue sky is not an Insta­gram fil­ter! It’s the Moon fil­ter cov­er­ing the sun dur­ing a solar eclipse-themed wed­ding at Los Verdes Golf Course. Yes, this bride and groom were mar­ried dur­ing the eclipse. Each guest had a pair of eclipse glass­es for the cer­e­mo­ny which took place right on time on August 21, 2017.

The cake flow­ers for this solar exclipse wed­ding cap­tures the sub­tle lilac sky col­or. Pho­to by Casey Schwartz

No fil­ter here! The solar eclipse dark­ens the blue in the sky nat­u­ral­ly for this August 21, 2017 eclipse-themed wed­ding! Pho­to by Casey Schwartz

Pandemonium-Free Wedding

Last week­end’s wed­ding dur­ing a heat wave did­n’t affect these beau­ti­ful Pan­da Anenomes, dusty miller, coral ros­es, and hyper­icum berries!

Pinks, corals and Pan­da Anenomes were the flo­ral theme for a heat-wave wed­ding by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Casey Schwartz

Here is a new cer­e­mo­ny struc­ture by Flower Duet with a large flo­ral spray and drapey fab­ric. Pho­to by Casey Schwartz.

Succulent Wedding Flowers

The bride and groom for this wed­ding took inspi­ra­tion from its venue, the Smog Shoppe in Cul­ver City with its large liv­ing suc­cu­lent wall. Wed­ding plan­ning by Mox­ie Bright Events.

Smog Shoppe Suc­cu­lent Wall wed­ding cou­ple kiss­ing. Pho­to by Julie Shu­ford Photography.

Table set­tings con­sist­ed of Euca­lyp­tus gar­lands along the length of the wood­en fam­i­ly tables accent­ed with suc­cu­lent rosettes and white ros­es. Pho­to by Julie Shuford.

The cou­ples wed­ding cake was a stun­ning ele­gant design with accents of white spray ros­es, suc­cu­lents, and wax flower. Pho­to by Julie Shuford.

Succulent Flowers for Baby Shower

One of our long-time ven­dor con­tacts was hold­ing a baby show­er for a friend and she chose a gar­den theme with suc­cu­lents, this­tles, and lots of pret­ty green­ery. Each guest also received a lit­tle suc­cu­lent hang­ing ter­rar­i­um, too!

Suc­cu­lent gar­den flo­ral designs by Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Baby Show guest par­ty favors — mini suc­cu­lent ter­rar­i­ums in hang­ing teardrop glass globes. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Summer’s Not Over Flower Movie — Tulip Fever in Theaters Now

Tulip Fever, a thriller-romance set dur­ing the ear­ly 17th Cen­tu­ry in Ams­ter­dam stars Ali­cia Vikander.

Ah…Summer. The time to go out and have a nice relax­ing din­ner and then to the movies to escape. As we are hot with all things Hol­ly­wood this month, we are mak­ing a trip to the movies to see Tulip Fever along with The Hit­man’s Body­guard.

Anony­mous 17th-cen­tu­ry water­col­or of the Sem­per Augus­tus, famous for being the most expen­sive tulip sold dur­ing tulip mania.

Movie Plot (from IMDB):

In 1634 in Ams­ter­dam, The Nether­lands, an orphaned girl is forcibly mar­ried to a rich and pow­er­ful mer­chant — an unhap­py arrange­ment that saves her from pover­ty. After her hus­band com­mis­sions a por­trait, she begins a pas­sion­ate affair with the painter. Seek­ing to escape the mer­chan­t’s ever-reach­ing grasp, the lovers risk every­thing and enter the fren­zied tulip bulb mar­ket, with the hope that the right bulb will make a for­tune and buy their freedom.

For the Love of a Bulb: Semper Agustus

The movie is based on a best-sell­ing nov­el by the same title, Tulip Fever, writ­ten by Deb­o­rah Mog­gach and takes place dur­ing an eco­nom­ic bub­ble in the 17th Cen­tu­ry where the prices for a sin­gle tulip bulb cost as much as a house! The mania was in part caused by the Sem­per Augus­tus Tulip bulb. When the book came out in 2001, The New York Times wrote: “Sump­tu­ous prose … reads like a thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review.

The Sumer August Tulip’s col­ors were made up of white petals with stripes of red. It was lat­er found to be caused by a virus, but the rar­i­ty of the bulb made it sought after by peo­ple look­ing for a way to make it rich quick. Tulip­ma­nia has been com­pared to oth­er mod­ern eco­nom­ic bub­bles like the “dot-com” bub­ble of the 1990s and the “real estate” bub­ble of the 2000s.

Tulip Fever was first a book by Deb­o­rah Moggach.

Wine Tasting and Flower Making

Look to Wine Labels for your Next Floral Design Inspiration

Dress up a basic Cal­i­for­nia White Wine with some pret­ty white and green flow­ers like these Green Cym­bid­i­um orchids with white hydrangeas and pur­ple alli­ums. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Last month, Kit cre­at­ed a of series flo­ral designs inspired by dif­fer­ent types of beer glass­es and craft beers. Well, some­one had a great idea to pair wine tast­ing with flower arrang­ing at a local wine shop and we thought, what a great idea! If you are look­ing for your next par­ty theme, why not take inspi­ra­tion from the beau­ti­ful wine labels and cre­ate some pret­ty flo­ral designs?

Rosé wine would look great with mixed pinks!

Ban­shee Rosé wine with a match­ing flo­ral design by Flower Duet! Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Champagne with ivory and white flowers!

Cham­pagne flo­ral design by flower duet. Ivory col­ored ros­es lend them­selves nice­ly to a bot­tle of French Cham­pagne. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Red Wine with Red Roses — What else!?

And, we bought a few bot­tles of Wish Flower win­ery vin­tages and made a few fun flow­ery match­es! This is a great idea for table scap­ing! Match your flow­ers with your wine bottles!

These red ros­es and deep red green­ery cap­ture the rich­ness of a good red blend wine. We love the name of this wine, too!

Summer Floral Color is Still Everywhere

School might be back in ses­sion and the local pool is closed, but we are still see­ing many signs that sum­mer is in its high sea­son — at least flo­ral wise!

It’s the sea­son for beau­ti­ful Dahlias, Sun­flow­ers, Zin­nias, Celosia and more! Check out the cov­ers of the mag­a­zines on the news­stands and the pret­ty bou­quets at our local Trad­er Joe’s! Please go and enjoy sum­mer flow­ers now!

This week’s selec­tion of flow­ers at our local Trad­er Joe’s fea­tures a eye-pop­ping array of color!