It's a Pink Thing

What a beautiful mild spring we are having in the Pacific Northwest....and between the plum and the magnolia and the ornamental cherries, it's just pink everywhere.  And it's okay to play favorites right? Because the magnolia is one of my all time FAVORITE flowers!  We've had them for several weeks now as we they make great blooms for forcing!  Just a single branch or two is so dramatic.  So come and get 'em when you can because spring is flying by.

Stone Soup or Designing Flowers in the Deep of Winter

It may be the middle of winter and our flower selection might have been a little thin but Taylor was able to work her magic and pull a rabbit out of a hat to make this beauty for the State of the City address over at the Hult Center. It didn't hurt that there was a big white amaryllis plant just begging to be cut and used in this arrangement.  Happy first arrangements of the New Year.

Setting the Table

 I always like to incorporate a few sprigs of this or that straight from the yard when I set a table.

For starters, it's a great way to get outside on a cold, or even rainy, fall day and take a little walk and see what presents itself.

And I think it strengthens my connection to the natural world.  Never want to forget where it all comes from!  Starting to put my Thanksgiving plans together.

I'm bringing cornbread, inspired by my recent trip to Mexico.

Flower Happiness

    And a little flower love for your Saturday morning viewing pleasure!  Love, love those succulents tucked in dead center!

Local, Organic, Wedding Flowers in Eugene

 Oh and this happened too during our little blogging hiatus.  Just a whole lot of wonderful wedding flowers.  We had so many great brides this summer.  It was a spectacular wedding season.

 Maybe we should just call it the year of the big ass bouquet~!

And once we get that new website update launched there will be a whole gallery of wedding photos for you to peruse. We heart weddings at Passionflower.

Some of our Favorite Vases

TBT, in the not so distant past, to when we used to be able to get these milk bottles from Norris Dairy up in Scio.....super miss those bottles. Wish we could still get them.  Wish I had hoarded some of these.

Spring Flowers

Easter came and went and it was glorious....if a bit rainy and cold and we heard tales of a hailstorm as well.   And the flowers were  just bursting everywhere - it was all squill and apple blossom and lemon balm and daffodils. And I'll leave you with just a little flower inspiration from our instagram feed.

 

Happy St Patrick's Day

 My ode to the daffodil, with a Happy St Patrick's Day and Go Ducks, all rolled into one.

It's a Flower Party called Springtime

 We're having a flower party and you're invited....

 All kinds of bulbs and flowering branches.

 All homegrown.  So lucky to live where we do.

And a big shout out to Bare Mountain Farm in Brownsville  for these awesome anemones they have been growing.

Spring is definitely here.

How I Came to Love Instagram

 

Are you into Instagram?  I wasn't for a long time.  Everyone kept telling me, "You've got to get into it. It's really fun.  It's more creative fodder than you'll find on Facebook.  It will be good for your business.....etc...etc...etc".   And all I was thinking was, "Oh vey, one more thing to do."  But what can I say,  I am a sheep and follow the herd even if I am sometimes late for the party.  I was dabbling, testing the waters.   And then what happened was I saw some instagram feeds on an ipad (instead of the little teeny images on a phone) and I was hooked.  It's just a fantastic source of inspiration.  Way past eye candy.   And it's a lovely little curated, voyeuristic glimpse into just about any world you might be interested in.  In my case it's flowers and interiors. But maybe you want to know what they're up to at the Louvre, or follow your favorite creative type, or want to know more about indigenous textiles in Peru.  You get the idea. One thing I learned is that, apparently, I am drawn to a lot of Australian designers and florists. There's some very cool things happening down under.  You can click here to see Vogue Living's list of 25 Australian designers to follow on Instagram.  And you can  click here to see Passionflower's instagram feed too. 

Happy Hunting!

All Hail the Flowering Quince

One of the great things about being a florist is it really lets you get to know a plant in a fairly intimate way. - they become like old friends.  Take the lovely quince.   Oh quince, how we love you every time we meet.  We love your thorny self.  We love your coral flowers that make us feel like we are living in a Japanese painting.  And we absolutely love, love how your flower color changes so radically when we bring you inside.  How you go from that brilliant coral to the most washed out of pinks. I love that quirk of your personality - So happy to see you again.

Wedding Floral Trends

We are liking the whimsical trend we are seeing of bridesmaid's dresses in floral patterns like this English countryside wedding we found on Mr & Mrs Unique.

An Almost Dried Flower Project

 It's been super mild weather wise around here and so I've been out gardening.  And, if I do say so, it's a mighty fine time of year for gardening.  Hence, my little homage to the few grasses and 'weeds' that have managed to hang out through it all.

 These allium flowers kind of looked like sparklers so I made them New Year cards.

I was so  into it, I made this little series of 5 which now graces my dining room wall.

From left to right - allium, hypericum, unidentified grass, rumex, daucus...or

chive, saint john's wort, unknown grass, yellow dock, queen anne's lace.

Tis the Season

 

Just posted  some new wedding pics on our website.  You can check them out here.

And tonight Taylor and I are going out to Deep Woods Event Center to hobnob with our colleagues in the wedding biz.  We've never been there so looking forward to checking out this amazing site (as in not an internet site but a real live location).

Wedding season is coming fast and furious and we are totally here for you.

What's happening at Passionflower!

Some things I forgot to tell you: 

 Today is Taylor's 22nd birthday~!  What a pleasure to see someone so young and so talented with her whole life ahead. Happy Birthday Taylor and can't wait to see what more beautiful things you have up your sleeve.

And Susan Goodwin is coming for a trunk show the day after Thanksgiving!  Which really means I get to have a lovely houseguest and we get to have some champagne and goodies at the store.

So if you're looking for some post holiday cheer, come join us and visit all the other festive shops downtown.  Plus a little dance party over at the Atrium Bldg benefits Greenhill Animal Shelter.

 

And finally, we just got in our holiday wreaths.  These are all locally grown and locally made which means they're big and fat and fluffy and fragrant and haven't been sitting in a warehouse getting all flat and old since the middle of October.

We're ready for the holidays.

Thanksgiving Love

 

A few berries, an oak leaf or two, some deep rich colors and a tad of velvet riboon.

What's not to love?

Surprised more people don't get married in the fall.

 

We love a fall wedding at Passionflower.

Oh and did I mention how happy we are to see big, fat , ranunuculus back in our coooler?
And a most excellent Thanksgiving to everyone.  May your table be overflowing!

Succulent Happiness

 Looking over old photos today, came upon this little charmer - Summer succulents, some drieds, and a shell.  Did you know succulents change colors depending on the amount of sun they get?  But also, that they change colors depending on how much water they do or don't get. 

Still trying to figure out which ones I leave out all winter and which ones I bring in.

Because definitely time to bring the plants in.  

It's been a Long time Coming

Oh it's a sad day, chez Passionflower, when your amazing graphic designer, who has worked for me, uncomplaining and unflinchingly, for the last 15 or more years, who always seems to know what I want, who can edit my unending prose, who's not afraid to tell me what she thinks but who also listens carefully. Yes, it's a sad day when said person sends you the email that says, "Really, really this time, it's really it. I'm calling it a day!" Well Cathy Simard, we have had a nice long run and you have done some beautiful work for me over the years. And you always seem to be able to take my jumble of a zillion ideas and turn them into something clean and cohesive.  So on that note, dear reader, I present to you , one of the last ads Cathy will be doing for us.

Hopping on the Bandwagon

We're a little late to the station, but we've hopped on the Instagram train.

And we're following all kinds of fun people and getting lots of floral inspiration and more.

Check out our instagram here and follow us

And check out this fun post from Martha Stewart Living about top 25 floral instagram feeds.

 

Some Sunday Eye Candy

 A little peek at some bout and corsage work from some recent weddings.

I know I speak for every florist in the world when I say, "We were so busy, we ran out of time, we only got a few pics.  We can't wait to see what the photographer gets from this wedding".  

But every now and then we remember to snap one or two.

Happy Sunday and here's a few more snaps from the lovely coral colored wedding we did earlier this summer.