Free Online Flower Class — Golden Garden Bowl

Flower Duet start­ed an afford­able and fun way to learn trendy flo­ral designs in Jan­u­ary of 2018. We are excit­ed to have many of our newslet­ter fans as stu­dents who’ve signed on and log in each Fri­day for a new Flower Arrang­ing Fri­day class! These class­es are a won­der­ful val­ue at $8 per month, you’ll receive a new class each week and access to all the pre­vi­ous class­es posted!

Each month, we’ll fea­ture one of these class­es as a FREE ONLINE FLOWER CLASS…so check out our online class­es web­site to see which one is free to view each month and we are sure, once you see what we have to offer, you’ll sign up to get all the class­es now and going forward!

Flower Arranging Fridays Forever — Free Class Sample Each Month

Spring Florals

Ah…Spring! We’ve been busy teach­ing lots of class­es, spon­sor­ing venue show­cas­es and bridal shows, cre­at­ing flow­ers for wed­dings and lots of oth­er fun flo­rals this past month. Below is a small selec­tion of some of the flo­ral designs we’ve been cre­at­ing recently.

Spring Green Wedding Ceremony Florals

White and green flow­ers are a clas­sic com­bi­na­tion for any event. For this arrange­ment, we kept the green on the bright side with mini green hydrangea and bupleu­rum. Added some green and white par­rot tulips with white ros­es, and Veron­i­ca. We threw in some dark green rus­cus to give the arrange­ment depth. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Bridal Shows & Venue Showcases

From Jan­u­ary through March, wed­ding and event venues are busy show­cas­ing their spaces and they hold shows for wed­ding cou­ples or salons for event plan­ners. We are often asked to show­case our flo­rals by part­ner­ing with a plan­ner or the event space itself. Here are a few we did in the past few weeks for Los Ange­les wed­ding venues.

Flower Duet donat­ed flow­ers for a Bridal Venue Show­case at the Shade Hotel in Redon­do Beach with The Events Bou­tique. Pho­to by Jan­ice Owen.

Flower Duet spon­sored flow­ers to a wed­ding show­case at The Bela­mar Hotel in Man­hat­tan Beach. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

CMC Events post­ed this love­ly shot of our Roy­al Wed­ding inspired place set­ting we cre­at­ed with DeLuxe Wed­dings & Events at The City Club Toast & Tour Event in down­town Los Angeles.

Floral Inspired Royal Wedding Cake

Prince Har­ry and Meghan Markle going to church at San­dring­ham on Christ­mas Day 2017. Pho­to By Mark Jones via Wiki­me­dia Commons.

Prince Har­ry and Meghan Markle’s wed­ding cake will be made by Cal­i­for­nia-raised pas­try chef Claire Ptak, own­er of the Lon­don-based Vio­let Bak­ery, Kens­ing­ton Palace has con­firmed. See the offi­cial roy­al tweet about the cake:

On May 19, 2018, you can toast Ms. Markle and the Prince on their nup­tials with an elder­flower cock­tail made with St. Ger­main and add a few fresh flow­ers as a nod to the roy­al wed­ding cake which will fea­ture fresh flow­ers, lemon, and elderflower.

St. Ger­main liqueur is pro­duced in an arti­sanal man­ner, the liqueur is made from elder­flower, a small, white star­ry flower that blooms on the hill­sides in the French Alps dur­ing a short four-to-six-week peri­od in spring. Extract­ing the fla­vors of this flower is not an easy process, and the St. Ger­main com­pa­ny keeps their process a fam­i­ly secret.

IKEA makes a sweet non-alco­holic drink from Elder­flow­ers and that can be enjoyed by all in your group!

Elderflower Recipe Floral Cocktail from the St. Germain

THE ST‑GERMAIN COCKTAIL

2 parts Brut Champagne

1 1/2 parts St. Ger­main (Elder­flower Liqueur)

2 parts Sparkling Water

Vari­a­tion:

Pros­ec­co or dry white wine instead of brut cham­pagne; club soda instead of sparkling water.

Flower Gar­nish­es:

For pizazz and col­or add a fresh flower! There are many edi­ble flow­ers that make won­der­ful gar­nish­es for cock­tails. Make sure they are organ­ic and sourced from Whole Foods or an online mer­chant like Gourmet Sweet Botan­i­cals.

1. Rose­bud (Pros­toni­fy Ros­tisi­tis) 2. Laven­der (Lavan­du­la Angus­ti­fo­lia) 3. Fen­nel Blos­som (Nigel­la Sati­va) 4.  Den­dro­bi­um Orchid  5. Snap­drag­on (Antir­rhinum)  6. Cal­en­du­la (Cal­en­du­la Offic­i­nalis) 7. Bach­e­lor But­ton (Cen­tau­rea Cyanus)  8. Ama­ranth Flower (Ama­ran­thus)

Spring & Summer Floral Events, Exhibitions, and Summits

This is the time for won­der­ful adven­tures with flow­ers! Go, get out and have a feast for your eyes, nose, and palate!

San Diego Museum of Art Annual Floral Exhibition

Pho­to: San Diego Muse­um of Art

April 27–29
9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

The Muse­um is in full bloom for this sig­na­ture fundrais­er and annu­al exhi­bi­tion with more than 100 flo­ral inter­pre­ta­tions of the works of art on view. 2018 Rotun­da Design­ers Natasha Lisit­sa and Daniel Schultz will trans­form the John M. and Sal­ly B. Thorn­ton Rotun­da into a large, all-encom­pass­ing flo­ral instal­la­tion. In addi­tion, hands-on art-mak­ing and inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties designed for chil­dren and fam­i­lies to do togeth­er are offered in the Gar­den of Activities.

Free for mem­bers | $25 non­mem­bers | $5 youth (7–17)

BUY FLORAL EXHIBITION TICKETS

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ART ALIVE: FLOWER POP-UP SHOP

Exclu­sive to Art Alive, Green Fresh Flo­rals will once again be on site sam­pling all the beau­ti­ful items they car­ry in their Hill­crest store. Pur­chase hand select­ed cut flow­ers import­ed from all over the world as well as local­ly grown suc­cu­lents, herb gar­dens, and ter­rar­i­ums. Lush cus­tom bou­quets can also be cre­at­ed onsite by their tal­ent­ed designers.

Free with admis­sion to Art Alive Flo­ral Exhibition

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Members’ Preview

Fri­day, April 27
7:00–9:00 a.m.

Muse­um mem­bers and their guests are invit­ed to be among the first to see the 37th annu­al Art Alive flo­ral exhi­bi­tion dur­ing this spe­cial pre­view. Free for mem­bers | $25 mem­bers’ guests | $5 youth (7–17)

Flower Duet Workshops in Los Angeles

Our April work­shop in our flower stu­dio in Tor­rance is sold out, but you can still sign up for our class­es in May, June, and July! Find out details on our shop­ping web­site: shop.flowerduet.com to reserve your space or send us an email!

Here is a list of our group stu­dio class­es we have for 2018. Remem­ber, we offer pri­vate lessons and pri­vate group par­ties, too!

• April 21, 2018 — Sim­ply Sump­tu­ous Ranun­cu­lus Design Work­shop — SOLD OUT
• May 19, 2018 — Amaz­ing Anemones Flo­ral Design Class — A few spots left
• May 23, 2018 — Bou­quet & Boutonniere
• June 2, 2018 — Cit­rus & Flo­rals Workshop
• June 13, 2018 — Wed­ding Cen­ter­pieces & Table Accents
• July 21, 2018 — Col­or Sum­mer Extrav­a­gan­za Flo­ral Design Workshop
• August 11, 2018 — Alaskan Peonies Flower Workshop
• Sep­tem­ber 8, 2018 — Fifth Sea­son Flow­ers Workshop
• Sep­tem­ber 26, 2018 — Bou­quet & Boutonniere
• Octo­ber 13, 2018 — Flower Pump­kins & Suc­cu­lent Pump­kins Class
• Octo­ber 24, 2018 — Wed­ding Cen­ter­pieces & Table Accents
• Novem­ber 17, 2018 — Autumn Branch­es and Berries Flo­ral Workshop
• Decem­ber 8, 2018 — Hand-Made Wreaths and Gar­lands Class

Field to Vase Dinner Tour Kicks Off for 2018

The Amer­i­can Grown Field to Vase Din­ner Tour is a series of inti­mate, must-attend gath­er­ings that place sea­son­al, local and sus­tain­able Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers at the cen­ter of the table where local­ly grown food, beer and wine is served by a farm-to-table chef. Each arti­san-style din­ner is held at a breath­tak­ing venue — an Amer­i­can flower farm that encour­ages guests to expe­ri­ence the age-old art and sci­ence of flower farming.

The first din­ner took place at the Resendiz Broth­ers Pro­tea Grow­ers farm on April 7, 2018 in Fall­brook, Cal­i­for­nia (see pho­to below).

Find a din­ner near you! Amer­i­can Flow­ers Field to Vase Din­ner Tour!

The first Field to Vase din­ner spon­sored by Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers took place on April 7th at the Resendiz Broth­ers Farm. Pho­to from their social media post on the event.

Slow Flowers Summit Tickets on Sale

Attend the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit on June 29, 2018, in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. with Flower Duet!

Save the Date for the 2nd Annu­al SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT, Fri­day, June 29, 2018, in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.
The SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT has been called a “TED Talk for Flower Lovers.”

This Sum­mit will expand your imag­i­na­tion and chal­lenge the way you think about your flo­ral business.

Devel­oped and pro­duced by Debra Prinz­ing and Slow Flow­ers LLC, this one-day event is designed to cel­e­brate AMERICAN FLOWERS WEEK (June 28-July 4, 2017) and bring togeth­er cre­atives, thought lead­ers and change agents with a lec­ture series fea­tur­ing lead­ing voic­es in the pro­gres­sive Amer­i­can-grown flo­ral community.

The SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT will stim­u­late your curios­i­ty by inquir­ing, inform­ing, includ­ing, insti­gat­ing and inspir­ing con­ven­tion­al assump­tions as we explore con­scious and eth­i­cal prac­tices in the flo­ral industry.

Casey and Kit of Flower Duet are speak­ing and offer­ing demon­stra­tions at the event! Come join us!!!

READ MORE ABOUT THE SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT

MEET OUR SPEAKERS

VIEW THE SUMMIT SCHEDULE

TICKETS

Save Muir Ranch Dinner II — April 21, 2018

The next din­ner to sup­port the stu­dent work at the Muir Ranch in Pasade­na is this Sat­ur­day. Tick­ets are avail­able at Eventbrite.

Casey and Kit attend­ed the last #Save­Muir­Ranch din­ner in March. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Casey and Kit had a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence on March 17, 2018 that we hope more peo­ple can expe­ri­ence in the future! We had din­ner on a 3.5‑acre urban farm in Pasade­na on the cam­pus of John Muir High School. Muir Ranch is a jobs pro­gram that ben­e­fits the com­mu­ni­ty in many ways. 1) It intro­duces stu­dents to entre­pre­neur­ship 2) it pro­vides pro­duce to local res­i­dents week­ly 3) it teach­es skills to stu­dents from farm­ing, to irri­ga­tion, to pest con­trol, to flo­ral design. These students make mon­ey that enables them to help their fam­i­lies, attend out of state school per­for­mances and it’s self-sus­tain­ing. We pur­chased our tick­ets for din­ner and attend­ed the farm-to-table din­ner in sup­port of this won­der­ful pro­gram because it’s under threat of removal by the Pasade­na City Coun­cil. We urge the City Coun­cil to recon­sid­er its posi­tion and con­tin­ue to embrace this valu­able asset to the city and beyond.

The next din­ner to help #Save­Muir­Ranch is April 21, 2018. Sign up for tick­ets here!

A patron of the March din­ner at Muir Ranch walks back to his table in the fields of the urban farm in Pasade­na. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Pork bel­ly, roast­ed car­rots and a table-made tossed sal­ad were some of the fan­tas­tic farm-to-table dish­es served at the din­ner. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

Stu­dent interns and work­ers on the farm set the tables and cre­at­ed the flo­ral arrange­ments for the din­ner at Muir Ranch. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Chef Minh Phan cre­at­ed an amaz­ing sal­ad that looked more like per­for­mance art as she lay­ered greens with pick­led veg­eta­bles, sal­ad dress­ing and edi­ble flow­ers before toss­ing. It tast­ed as good as it looks in this pho­to. Amaz­ing­ly yum­my. Pho­to by Kit Wertz.

This was Kit and Casey’s view of din­ner which start­ed with hand-made flo­ral designs fea­tur­ing gar­gan­tu­an arti­choke leaves (awe­some dinosaur-like) and the best avo­ca­do toast on the plan­et deliv­er­ing by a pint-sized kid who was polite as could be. Cucum­ber agua fres­ca was the bomb. Pho­to by Kit Wertz

Mud Baron who will be at the Slow Flow­ers Sum­mit 2018 in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., is the head instruc­tor and man­ag­er of Muir Ranch. He is intro­duc­ing the stu­dents, past and present of the pro­gram and talk­ing about what we could do to help keep the pro­gram alive.

Heirloom Roses: Rose Story Farm

There were a lot of fires in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia last year and one was very close to Rose Sto­ry Farm in Carpin­te­ria. We are hap­py to report that even though they are not offer­ing tours or have the nurs­ery open, they are still pro­vid­ing ros­es and will ship overnight! We had some love­ly spec­i­mens in our stu­dio last week. Their whole­sale terms are: A min­i­mum pur­chase of five (5) bunch­es is required for ship­ping. A min­i­mum pur­chase of two (2) bunch­es is required for local pick up. Orders placed before 11 a.m. will be ready the same day. Orders placed after 11am will be avail­able the fol­low­ing day for ship­ping or for local pick up as ear­ly as 8 a.m. and shown here are a few examples.

Rose Sto­ry Farm® began in 1998,  and the fam­i­ly-owned busi­ness states their mission:

“Our mis­sion has been, from the very first day, to pro­duce beau­ti­ful, fra­grant, roman­tic ros­es in exquis­ite shapes and col­ors. We are ded­i­cat­ed to pro­duc­ing the high­est qual­i­ty ros­es in our gar­dens, and Rose Sto­ry Farm now grows 25,000 rose bush­es, with over 120 varieties.”

They named the farm Rose Sto­ry Farm because ros­es are cen­tral to some of their fam­i­ly’s most enchant­i­ng experiences.

Book Recommendation: Willow Crossley’s Flourish

Inspired by wild and way­ward flo­ral styles, Flour­ish, is a book full of nat­ur­al and orig­i­nal arrange­ments includ­ing glo­ri­ous gar­lands, posies, cen­ter­pieces and more!

Author Wil­low Cross­ley demon­strates how easy it is to trans­form a hand­ful of fresh cut­tings into arrange­ments to dec­o­rate your home through­out the year.

Arranged by sea­son, Spring cov­ers fox­gloves and frit­il­lar­ies, Sum­mer show­cas­es bou­quets of ros­es to rosemary.

Fall fol­lows with crab apples, cos­mos, and clema­tis. Win­ter­time offers ivy, moss­es and snow­ber­ries. From the pub­lish­er: “This is an orig­i­nal and styl­ish guide to dec­o­rat­ing your home with inter­est­ing sea­son­al blooms and foliage; be it a relaxed lunch table or an elab­o­rate din­ner soiree, there is some­thing for every taste and occasion.”