Valentine’s Day Flowers

An exam­ple of one of four heart designs you can cre­ate using Kit’s meth­ods out­lined in this mon­th’s The Bloomin’ News pub­lished by The Orig­i­nal Los Ange­les Flower Mart. Sign up for your dig­i­tal sub­scrip­tion today!

Last month, The Bloomin’ News pub­lished a design arti­cle by Kit on how to cre­ate heart shapes out of twigs, green­ery and wire to accent Valen­tine’s Day Designs. Kit is the flo­ral design colum­nist for the Los Ange­les flo­ral trade mag­a­zine. The Bloomin’ News is pub­lished quar­ter­ly by the Orig­i­nal Los Ange­les Flower Mar­ket of the Amer­i­can Florists’ Exchange. It is a flo­ral news mag­a­zine for, by and about retail florists, design­ers, event and wed­ding plan­ners, sup­pli­ers, whole­salers and oth­ers in met­ro­pol­i­tan Los Ange­les and South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. Sub­scrip­tions are free to those in the Cal­i­for­nia flo­ral indus­try or a nation­al flo­ral asso­ci­a­tion. Just click here to sub­scribe to the Bloomin’ News print ver­sion, the email announce­ment of the PDF web post­ing or both.

Flower Duet Featured Speaker at 2016 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

Flower Duet to Appear at 2016 San Fran­cis­co Flower & Gar­den Show

Kit is a fea­tured speak­er at the 2016 San Fran­cis­co Flower & Gar­den Show on March 19th and 20th, 2016 at Noon on the Flower Pavil­ion Stage. Each day, Kit will show atten­dees new tech­niques in how to arrange with flow­ers! The theme of this year’s show is “Dis­cov­ery” and Kit’s plan is to help audi­ence mem­bers dis­cov­er new ways to have fun with flow­ers whether you are a kid or a kid at heart. Here is Kit’s sched­ule at the Show!

Flow­ers for All: From Age 7 to 70+ Sat­ur­day, March 19, 2016 at Noon 

Flower arrang­ing is a skill that can be dis­cov­ered by any­one at any age. Kit will reveal the rea­sons behind ten clas­sic flower arrang­ing design tech­niques and guide­lines such as “cut­ting stems at a 45 degree angle” and “pet­ting car­na­tions like a kit­ten. ” Dur­ing this demon­stra­tion, audi­ence mem­bers of all ages will learn how to make flow­ers last a long time in a vase, design flow­ers with style and have some fun, too!

Suc­cess­ful Flo­ral Design: Dis­cov­er Two Fool­proof Tech­niques on Sun­day, March 20, 2016 at Noon

Dis­cov­er two dif­fer­ent flo­ral design tech­niques that are fool­proof for any size vase. Using Flower Duet’s reli­able “Bundling and Gath­er­ing” tech­niques, Kit will show the audi­ence how to design flow­ers with­out the aid of under­wa­ter archi­tec­ture or flo­ral foam. These two reli­able tech­niques will help audi­ence mem­bers dis­cov­er new ways to arrange flow­ers with ease and con­fi­dence in one easy lesson.

Creative Living Television Appearance Scheduled

Will & Sam will appear with Casey on Cre­ative Liv­ing TV!

Flower Duet was asked to return for a fourth sea­son appear­ance on Cre­ative Liv­ing, a nation­al show car­ried by PBS and host­ed by Sheryl Bor­den. We accept­ed and this time, Casey is bring­ing along her two sons who will act as instruc­tors along­side Casey for a few of the seg­ments which will be geared toward kids.

The show is based in Por­tales, New Mex­i­co. The first three appear­ances result­ed in 15 episodes where Casey showed Sheryl a series of flower arrange­ments rang­ing from how to wire flow­ers for a bou­ton­niere to cre­at­ing the clas­sic dozen ros­es in a vase.

We will con­tin­ue with more infor­ma­tion on this excit­ing trip next month and show some of the fun, new designs the boys and Casey have created.

Casey of Flower Duet (on left) pos­es with Sheryl Bor­den, host of Cre­ative Liv­ing (on right).

Flower Duet Celebrates Nine Years with The Huntington

Flower Duet has been teach­ing flo­ral design class­es at The Hunt­ing­ton Library for nine con­sec­u­tive years.

Flower Duet became guest instruc­tors at The Hunt­ing­ton Library, Art Col­lec­tions and Botan­i­cal Gar­dens in San Mari­no in June of 2007.

Fol­low­ing our recent class over the week­end which fea­tured cit­rus, orchids, ros­es and berries, Casey and I fond­ly recalled all the class­es we’ve taught at this world renowned institution.

The Mis­sion state­ment of The Hunt­ing­ton is: “Build­ing on Hen­ry E. Huntington’s lega­cy of renowned col­lec­tions and botan­i­cal gar­dens that enrich the vis­i­tor, The Hunt­ing­ton today encour­ages research and pro­motes edu­ca­tion in the arts, human­i­ties, and botan­i­cal sci­ences through the growth and preser­va­tion of its col­lec­tions, through the devel­op­ment and sup­port of a com­mu­ni­ty of schol­ars, and through the dis­play and inter­pre­ta­tion of its extra­or­di­nary resources to the public.”

We had the won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to walk around the grounds after our two class­es last Sat­ur­day with a long-time flo­ral stu­dent of ours, Judy Cobb, who recent­ly became a vol­un­teer Docent for The Hunt­ing­ton.

Flower Duet’s flow­ers and tip sheet for our Pinkie & The Blue Boy “Art of Flo­ral Design” work­shop. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Judy was our excel­lent guide who edu­cat­ed us on the new­ly con­struct­ed build­ings and gar­dens, as well as the exten­sive and rich his­to­ry of how this South­ern Cal­i­for­nia gem was cre­at­ed by Hen­ry E. Hunt­ing­ton. It was won­der­ful to learn more about every gar­den, folio, book, paint­ing, plant, flower, fur­ni­ture and sculp­ture avail­able to see and research at the institution.

The col­lec­tion is so vast and the pro­grams so var­ied to expe­ri­ence that it would take years to see it all.  Enjoy this walk through the past and present in flow­ers at The Huntington.

First Class — Teaching Greenhouse, June 2007

We taught stu­dents how to cre­ate a Euro­pean style hand-tied bou­quet in the first “Art of Flo­ral Design” class by Flower Duet at The Hunt­ing­ton in June of 2007.

Casey pre­pares green­ery for our first class at The Hunt­ing­ton in June of 2007. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

This pho­to is still used on The Hunt­ing­ton’s web­site on its con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion page! Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Still Life, Posies, and the Gardens Floral Designs

We taught stu­dents how to recre­ate a Dutch Flo­ral Mas­ter paint­ing in this real “still life” class in June of 2008. Kit Wertz on left. Casey Cole­man Schwartz on right.

A snap­shot of Casey show­ing the top of a hand-tied bou­quet design in one of many of our class­es over the past nine years at The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kids Year of the Drag­on flo­ral design class at The Hunt­ing­ton in 2010. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Casey talks about the prin­ci­ples of a trop­i­cal flo­ral design using Gin­ger, Bird of Par­adise, Anthuri­um and Pro­tea. At The Hunt­ing­ton with Flower Duet. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Tulips are a peren­ni­al favorite in all our flo­ral design class­es at our own design stu­dio or at The Hunt­ing­ton Library. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Suc­cu­lent Pump­kin set up last Novem­ber for our stu­dents at The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

A stu­dent in our Suc­cu­lent Pump­kin class adds fin­ish­ing touch­es to his design. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Decem­ber 2015 — Christ­mas Trees for the kids class in the fore­ground. Adult class did white flow­ers and ever­green boughs with sil­ver accents. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Casey teach­es a chil­dren’s flower arrang­ing class how to make Christ­mas trees using leather fern. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Inspired by the Herb Gar­den, Flower Duet taught an herb wreath class fea­tur­ing mint, berries, rose­mary and laven­der. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

A boy’s dou­ble-deck­er posy cre­ation from our kids Tussie Mussie class where we taught them the Vic­to­ri­an Lan­guage of Flow­ers. Casey in the back­ground. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kit shows stu­dents a close­up of a step dur­ing April 2009 class where the descrip­tion read like this: “Flower Duet takes its flo­ral design stu­dents “Down Under” and shows them how to make a high-style mod­ern flower arrange­ment with some of the unusu­al inhab­i­tants of the Hunt­ing­ton’s Aus­tralian Gar­den. Stu­dents will have a “g’day” work­ing with flow­ers such as Pro­tea, Kan­ga­roo Paw and one of the 700 species of the most well known Aussie green­ery, Euca­lyp­tus.” Pho­to by Casey Schwartz.

Suc­cu­lents are the main fea­ture in this new­ly installed land­scape called The Cel­e­bra­tion Gar­den at The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Accord­ing to our docent guide Judy Cobb, Hen­ry E. Hunt­ing­ton tru­ly loved palm trees. Here is a pho­to of a very small sec­tion of over 200 species of palms to walk around in The Palm Gar­den on the grounds. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

In The Shake­speare gar­den framed entire­ly by ros­es, a bust of Shake­speare com­mem­o­rates the author of 37 plays, 154 son­nets and two nar­ra­tive poems—many of them found in ear­ly edi­tions in the Library. Flow­ers that are men­tioned in his plays and son­nets can be found in the gar­den and refreshed as sea­sons change. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

The con­ser­va­to­ry is a favorite spot to vis­it and next to the well-loved Chil­dren’s Gar­den. This build­ing fea­tures a Rain For­est, Cloud For­est, Car­niv­o­rous Plant Bog and Plant Lab. Don’t for­get to see all the flow­er­ing orchids. Our reg­u­lar class­room is part of this struc­ture inside the Head House. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Flower Duet pro­vides all the tools and sup­plies for each class includ­ing the vase and flow­ers. Here is the set­up for our cit­rus and orchid class last week­end. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

A child in this year’s Chi­nese New Year inspired class last Sat­ur­day. We cre­at­ed flo­ral jun­gles and then hung a lit­tle felt Mon­key in the tree tops made from Dianthus stems. Hap­py Year of the Mon­key! Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Cher­ry trees are bloom­ing on Jan­u­ary 30, 2016 at the entrance to the Chi­nese Gar­den just out­side our class­room on the grounds of The Hunt­ing­ton Library. Pho­to by Kit Wertz..

A col­lec­tion of fall­en Camel­lia blooms col­lect­ed and placed at one of the many infor­ma­tion tables locat­ed through­out the grounds of The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

We will head into the woods with our next Adult Flo­ral Design class at The Hunt­ing­ton when the theme will be Wood­lands! We will use moss, branch­es, ferns and suc­cu­lents in our woodsy designs! Class at 10 a.m. on April 2, 2016. Sign up through The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Kids will get in on the Wood­lands action by cre­at­ing flo­ral ter­rar­i­ums at our next class at The Hunt­ing­ton. Class at 1 p.m. on April 2, 2016. Sign up through The Hunt­ing­ton. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Styling Class at South Coast Botanic Garden — March 2, 2016

Flower Duet will show how to cre­ate lush flo­ral gar­lands for arch­es and show how to attach them dur­ing the March 2nd 2016 Flo­ral Styling Class at the South Coast Botan­ic Garden.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 – 10 a.m. to Noon

In this exclu­sive behind-the-scenes look into event styling, stu­dents will be hands-on to set up a spring-themed flo­ral dis­play with accom­pa­ny­ing decor on the Upper Mead­ow. Stu­dents will learn about tech­niques for mak­ing flo­ral gar­lands and keep­ing them fresh as well as how to attach to exist­ing struc­tures with ease. Stu­dents will also receive tips and tricks on cur­rent spring col­or and event dec­o­rat­ing trends. Please con­tact Guest Ser­vices to reserve this class.

Address:
The South Coast Botan­ic Garden
26300 Cren­shaw Boulevard
Palos Verdes Penin­su­la, CA 90274

Class Descrip­tion:

Cost:
$75 members/$85 non-members

Reser­va­tions:
More info under Pro­grams and Events at The South Coast Botan­ic Gar­den website.
Reg­is­ter with Guest Ser­vices: 310–544-1948.

Flower Book: David Stark: The Art of the Party

From an expert event plan­ner comes an excel­lent book called David Stark: The Art of the Par­ty on how to cre­ate a cohe­sive and styl­ish event for any occa­sion. From Amazon.com: “Renowned event plan­ner David Stark reveals whim­si­cal, artis­tic, unex­pect­ed designs often cre­at­ed from sus­tain­able, indus­tri­al, or low-cost mate­ri­als to inspire readers—whether plan­ning a wed­ding, din­ner par­ty, or hol­i­day gathering—looking for ideas for their own events.

Twen­ty-five of David Stark’s events are featured—both pri­vate cel­e­bra­tions and char­i­ta­ble galas— and show­case how he devel­oped the inspi­ra­tion for the over­ar­ch­ing theme, col­or palette, and the thought­ful, coor­di­nat­ed details he’s known for, and which tru­ly make an event memorable.”

Learn from the best of the best with this book. The pho­tos of all the flow­ers are fab­u­lous and tru­ly inspirational!

Flower Tool: Vase Transport Boxes

We often rely on reusable vase trans­port box­es for mov­ing flo­ral designs around the city and for offer­ing to our stu­dents so they can eas­i­ly bring their designs home with them after class.

There are two types of box­es that fold down eas­i­ly when not in use and can be popped up to sup­port a vari­ety of vases.

Flo­ral Vase deliv­ery box­es come in two sizes at FSS.com.

When you need to move a flo­ral design from point A to point B, it’s best to keep it on the floor behind the pas­sen­ger seat in the main com­part­ment of your car. Most trunks are not tall enough and can be too hot.  Use a trans­port box to offer extra support.

If the arrange­ment is tall, you may want to add some sup­port around the box in the form of beach tow­els which soak up any splash­es of water from the vase.

To pur­chase: Most whole­sale ven­dors in the down­town flower mart dis­trict of Los Ange­les offer these box­es. You can also order them online from whole­sale ven­dors. Search for “vase trans­port boxes.”

Some man­u­fac­tur­ers and sell­ers of flo­ral trans­port box­es include: VaseValet.com, JetramInc.com, and FSS.com.