The wreath also contains: spray roses, freesias, button chrysanthemums, dried heather, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

She must have loved her gardens at Balmoral. The Queen’s family will be escorting her from Balmoral to London, and then to her final resting place. It’s wonderful to know she is surrounded by all that she loves—including Balmoral and the flowers that grow there.

Most of the flowers in the wreath are ones that Americans have easy access to. But I had never heard of eryngium or hebe. It turns out eryngium is what we call blue thistle. Hebe is a shrub that is native to New Zealand. It looks like a cross between bee balm and veronica to me. Sweet pea and heather are flowers that we have access to but are not ones that we tend to use, at least on the east coast.

Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, wrote a poem in memory of Her Majesty The Queen. The poem accompanied photos of the many flowers left in honor of The Queen.

Floral Tribute

Evening will come, however determined the late afternoon,

Limes and oaks in their last green flush, pearled in September mist.

I have conjured a lily to light these hours, a token of thanks,

Zone and auras of soft glare, orbing the sprays and globes

A promise made and kept for life—that was your gift—

Because of which, here is a gift in return, glovewort to some,

Each shining bonnet guarded by stern lance-like leaves,

The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands,

Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a century’s weight.

Evening has come. Rain on the black lochs and dark Munros.

Lily of the Valley, a namesake almost, a favourite flower

Interlaced with your famous bouquets, the restrained

Zeal and forceful grace of its lanterns, each inflorescence

A silent bell disguising a singular voice. A blurred new day

Breaks uncrowned on remote peaks and public parks, and

Everything turns on these luminous petals and deep roots.

This lily that thrives between spires and trees, whose brightness

Holds and glows beyond the life and border of its blooms.

The post The Queen’s Wreath appeared first on .

Online Orders

If you are placing an online order for delivery, just let us know in the “Order Notes” field that you have vases you’d like our driver to pick up. On the day of the delivery, we’ll call to coordinate a good delivery time when someone is home so the flowers don’t have to stay outside. Just make sure the vases are outside your front door, and our driver will collect the vases when making the delivery at no extra charge!

Phone Orders

If you are placing an order over the phone, just let us know you have vases you’d like our driver to pick up.  On the day of the delivery, we’ll call to coordinate a good delivery time when someone is home so the flowers don’t have to stay outside. Just make sure the vases are outside your front door, and our driver will collect the vases when making the delivery at no extra charge!

Drop Off

You can also swing by the shop with your vases if you’d like! Our shop is open Monday – Friday from 9am – 5pm, and on Saturdays from 10am – 3pm. You are welcome to drop vases off anytime when we are open. We like to send our recyclers home with a flower so there’s a little bonus to dropping your vases off in person! At a time when some counties don’t offer glass recycling, we’re here to help with recycling vases!

The post Recycling Vases appeared first on .

Dead Dirt

Years ago I read a book by chef, Dan Barber, called The Third Plate. It was shortly after my two sons were diagnosed with celiac disease. Managing the disease is super simple–just don’t ingest gluten! Discovering why celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders are on the rise was a little more complicated, but I felt a lot of clues were in Dan Barber’s book. Barber writes about living soil (as opposed to dead dirt) and thriving heritage crops (as opposed to genetically modified crops sustained by chemicals).

Living Soil

The more research I do, the more I am convinced that creating and sustaining healthy living soil through regenerative farming practices is the key to so much of what ails us and our planet. If you want some inspiration on how transformative healthy soil and regenerative farming can be, just watch Kiss the Ground and The Biggest Little Farm!

This blog post from Heirloom Soul Florals outlines these practices and the benefits that they bring: 

“Very literally, ‘Regenerative’ Farming means we are rebuilding and rejuvenating life on earth. The ‘re-’ is critical for our understanding, because our land, at one time, was full of incredible life. We humans have spent millennia, and most notably the past few decades, effectively destroying life on earth. Through Regenerative farming and gardening, we can restore that lost life. We won’t be able to fully restore it to what it once was, but we can make it 100-fold better than it is now and guarantee a habitable planet for our future generations.”

Local Flower Farmers

The local flower farms we purchase from through Old Dominion Flower Cooperative are all organic and many incorporate regenerative practices such as no-tilling and cover-cropping. This short but illuminating video by Grateful Gardners, one of our local flower farmers, does a great job of explaining how and why farms like theirs make a difference. 

By supporting our local family-owned flower farmers, we are supporting the bigger initiatives of regenerative farming and moving away from a dependence on flowers flown in from other countries. Local flowers are not inexpensive, but we feel the uniqueness and quality of the flowers as well as the monumental benefits of regenerative farming practices are worth every penny we invest. 

Stay tuned for part three!

The post Regenerative Farming appeared first on .

pixabay on stockvault

As winter melts into spring, the flower growing season is upon us! Here at Fantasy Floral, that means we start receiving shipments from Old Dominion Flower Cooperative, a group of local women-owned flower farms that practice organic sustainable farming. With most of our cut flowers coming from overseas, the US floral industry is in dire need of more sustainable practices. This is the first of three articles in our series on Sustainability.  

Buying Local

“Locally-grown” doesn’t just apply to the veggies you get from the farmer’s market! Supporting local flower growers is a big step towards sustainability in the flower industry. For a couple of years, Margie and Trevor imagined ways to work with local flower farmers as a source for cut flowers. None of the options seemed feasible, but it continued to be on our wish list.

At the same time, local flower farmers imagined ways to work with local florists, but none of the options seemed  feasible. This is one of the silver-linings of the pandemic! It inspired creative solutions and thinking-outside-of-the-box. In this case, a local flower farmer cooperative was born. By combining their farms, knowledge, and resources, flower farmers overcame the two biggest hurdles–reaching enough florists and offering enough variety.

According to Modern Farmer, in 2015, “80 percent of all flowers sold in the U.S. [were] imported, primarily from South American industrial flower farms that have a history of using harsh chemical fertilizers, toxic pesticides and unfair labor practices.” 

From a sustainability aspect, buying local eliminates the need for airplanes and the chemicals needed to preserve the flowers during transport. From an economic aspect, buying local strengthens the local economy by keeping our dollars here instead of sending them overseas. From a humanitarian aspect, buying local means supporting families, not large corporations with questionable labor practices.

Buying local also increases a sense of community. We are meeting our neighbors who supply the flowers and learning what goes in (or more importantly what doesn’t go in) the flowers we are purchasing. We learn about other florists in the area who are also embracing more sustainable practices. Through social media, we are connecting with the larger flower farmer and florist community–one farmer and florist at a time–throughout the country. It’s a larger community than we imagined and totally dedicated to sustainability. We’re proud to be part of it!

Douglas Perkins on Wikimedia Commons

Higher Quality

Imported flowers are sometimes harvested weeks before florists receive them. This leads to a decreased quality and vase life according to Farm Bureau Financial Services. You can especially witness this decline in quality during Valentine’s Day. Because of the high demand for red roses, farmers start cutting their red roses weeks earlier than normal in order to meet the demand during Valentine’s Day week. The result is red roses that often do not meet our normal standard for longevity. This year we actually steered our customers to other arrangements for that reason. 

A recent arrangement by Kristi!

In contrast, flowers coming from local farms are harvested just days before we receive them. Partnering with local farmers through Old Dominion Flower Cooperative allows us to use the freshest possible flowers in our arrangements. When we do have to purchase from overseas farms, we carefully select the farm for flowers with the highest quality and longevity. When cared for properly, our flowers last much longer than those purchased at the grocery store!

In the same article, FBFS outlines some other benefits to buying local. One in particular is access to seasonal flowers that thrive in your climate! This is super important to us at Fantasy Floral, as we love the variety we get from ODFC. You can read more about what we do with flowers from the co-op in Margie’s blog post! 

Hussein Twabi on Wikimedia Commons

Protect our Pollinators

Local flowers also help sustain pollinator populations. Many species of insects, especially bees and butterflies, are going extinct at an alarming rate. According to Brightly, habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, and disease all contribute to declining pollinator populations. Local flower farms help ensure that bees and butterflies have flowers to pollinate, and they also ensure that those flowers aren’t sprayed with harmful chemicals! 

Buying local is just one step! Stay tuned for the next two blog posts in our sustainability series!

The post Sustainability–Buying Local appeared first on .

Shape

Our first order had bicolor snapdragons in pink and coral. The snapdragons we get from our wholesalers are tall and very straight. These snapdragons dipped and curved. You could see their progress following the sun in each curve of their stems! The arrangement that our designer created took these dips and curves into account. Instead of being vertical, the design was more horizontal and asymmetrical. The addition of the whimsical billy balls perfectly compliment the asymmetry.

Varieties

As summer progresses, the flowers offered each week change. This week there are a lot of varieties of dahlias, zinnias, and celosia as they come into their own. Along with these familiar flowers are varieties of flowers and greens that I associate with our local woods and fields. Fern, chicory, and porcelain vine are all things I see when I run at Walney Pond. I found myself smiling at a childhood memory when I saw pokeberry on this week’s list. As a little girl, I used to forage in the woods near my house and come back loaded with “ingredients” to make “dinner.” Of course these dinners weren’t edible, but I had fun making them. Pokeberry was one of my favorite ingredients!

What Sets Us Apart

I love the artistry in our flower arrangements. You can find beautiful flower arrangements at your local grocery store, but you won’t find the floral works of art that Trevor and Kristi create. They are truly inspiring! We are so excited to be offering one more aspect that sets us apart from other florists. Our goal of incorporating greater sustainability practices led us to purchase from local flower farmers. To our delight, the unexpected bonus is that these local flowers lend a unique signature look. What a wonderful combination—amazing artistry and unique flowers! Give us a call or place an online order! We’re ready to create YOUR beautiful Summer Designer’s Choice!

The post Local Flowers Lend a Unique Signature Look appeared first on .

Lilies

If you’re a cat owner, you’ve probably heard this one before. Many varieties of lilies, including Oriental lilies, Asiatic lilies, and stargazers, are extremely toxic to cats. Even with just a little bit of exposure can cause harm. According to the ASPCA, it’s not known what causes lilies to be toxic to cats. They are not toxic to dogs in the same way, but these beautiful blooms can be fatal to felines. 

Image credit: Geoff McKay (Flickr)

Carnations

Though not quite as intense as the lily, carnations are another common flower that is toxic to both cats and dogs. Though the symptoms are a lot milder in comparison to the lily, the flower can still cause gastrointestinal distress and dermatitis. If you receive an arrangement with carnations, it’s best to keep it out of reach of your furry friends.

Image credit: Sheila Brown (PublicDomainPictures)

Mums

Chrysanthemums, including daisies, contain natural insecticides known as pyrethrins. While this is good for keeping insects off the flowers, it also means that anything that eats it will ingest that insecticide too. Gerbera daisies are a different genus and are not toxic to pets.

Image credit: StockVault

Hydrangeas

Along with being toxic to dogs and cats, hydrangeas are also toxic to us humans! This is because the plant contains cyanide. While death from ingesting hydrangeas is rare, the flower can still cause irritation and gastrointestinal issues. Dogs and cats, since they’re generally smaller in stature compared to the average person, would have a stronger reaction to the chemical than humans would. 

Image credit: Tiago Fioreze (Wikimedia Commons)

Tulips

Tulips are another flower commonly found in floral arrangements that are toxic to dogs and cats. The toxins are most concentrated in the bulb of the flower and can cause depression and gastrointestinal issues. If you do receive an arrangement with tulips, be sure to keep it out of reach of curious paws.

Image credit: Pixabay

So, are flower arrangements and pets completely incompatible? Not at all! Several flowers, including roses, sunflowers, and snapdragons, are non-toxic and won’t cause serious harm if ingested. However, that doesn’t mean your pets can go around eating roses all they’d like. The ASPCA cautions that “the consumption of any plant material may cause vomiting and gastrointestinal upset for dogs and cats.” And even if the flowers are completely harmless, they may be treated with pesticides and other chemicals that can cause harmful symptoms. 

A full list of plants and flowers that are toxic (and non-toxic) to pets can be found on the ASPCA’s website here.

The post Plants and Flowers Toxic to Pets appeared first on .

Did you know that 80% of the flowers in cut flower arrangements in the US actually come from outside the US? We understand the need to source our food locally. For the last year, Trevor and I have been discussing ideas to source our flowers locally.

We want to source flowers locally for all the same reasons we subscribe to CSA’s for our fruit, vegetables, and eggs. As fewer flowers are flown across the ocean, the carbon footprint is reduced. By incorporating organic growing practices, local flower farmers focus on healthy living soil, not chemicals. As family owned and operated farms, they add to the local economy. In addition, by supporting them we help them survive and thrive! Sourcing locally also means less time being transported. This translates to more time in your vase!

We are researching local organic flower farms. Our hope is to incorporate local flowers into our arrangements this summer. I’m so excited by this new adventure into sustainability practices! Local flowers—good for us, good for the farmers, good for the planet!

(photo courtesy of local flower farm, Wild Blue Farm)

The post Sustainability Practices appeared first on .