A new video from Yahoo Personal Finance tells viewers that one of the best ways to save money on Valentine's Day gifts is to buy good quality, fresh flowers from a local, professional florist instead of an on-line service (or buying them from a road-side vendor, duh...).
Last time I went to the Kitayama Brothers Watsonville greenhouse, Robert gave me an armful of freshly harvested lilies and hot pink Gerbera daisies, and they lasted for almost a month (using cut flower food).
I don't usually post about commercial events & products, but I have found these Modern Luxury wedding fairs to be very interesting. Also of value is the free subscription to the on-line version of San Francisco Brides magazine, which saves it from being lost forever in the huge stack of magazines and stuff to read at the end of my dining room table :-) Students, check this out (and let me know if you are going 2/21).
I have been contributing to the Kitayama Brothers Floral News blog. There are new posts up about this year's floral trends, and a great video by Robert Kitayama about their bountiful Valentine's Day crop this year. The blog can be found at http://kitayamabrothers.blogspot.com/
This might seem like an odd topic for a floral blog, but it's important. I love floral design, and have been through most of the program at City College of San Francisco. Along with that I have worked in the arts my entire life, and have frequently worked as a graphic designer or creative director for dot.coms and software companies.
Many people don't quite understand the huge paradigm shift that has happened on the web, with HTML 5, CSS 3 and the general user expectation to participate in a conversation/relationship instead of looking at a static informational website. People become confused and overwhelmed by all the choices that are available. Web site, blog, Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter - how do all of these work together? Floral designers need to harness this power and communicate about their designs and what they do.
Below is a short presentation I did for the work study class at the CCSF. Please contact me by e-mail at kim_munson@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
Last week, I had a business meeting at the KB (Kitayama Brothers) Farms in Watsonville, situated on the Monterey Bay near Sunset Beach. They have about 1 million square feet of greenhouse space, and I was amazed by how tall and beautiful the flowers were. When we were walking through the greenhouses, it seemed like they went on for miles! I also enjoyed hearing all the stories about how things really work, like the fact that the birds that get in the greenhouses prefer to only eat the shoots of purple flowers and what holidays/seasons the crops are grown for. It was fascinating, and worth the drive to see it in person.
If you click on the slideshow in full-screen mode, you will get the captions.
The above are photos of our final projects for the "floral designs for events" class taught by Jenny Tabarracci, AIFD. We were assigned one of 5 "food stations" to design and install in the floristry workshop/classroom in mid-December. There was a "winter wonderland" desert station; an English tea; a farmer's market display; and and a sushi station, all lovely.
Joyce & Kim's "martini" station
Joyce Kessler and I were assigned a "Martini" station. We decided to go with a fruit Martinis theme; green apple, lime and kiwi, all in shades of green and brown. We decided to add a hanging floral element with a hint of the holidays, constructed of gold branches with white twinkle lights, noble pine, green spider mums, dianthus, hypericum, and belles of Ireland with green and brown holiday ornaments. We filled clear cylinder vases with green apples and limes and used them to support glass shelves, lit underneath with LED lights. There was a display of "kiwi martinis" on a gold tray front and center.
This was a great class, and we got lots of practical information out of it. Highly recommended!
These large arrangements of magnolia, greens, berries and roses were created at Taste Catering and Event Planning for a Microsoft holiday party at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. The finished arrangements were placed on top of large glass vases filled with clear water and floating branches of holiday greens. These were incorporated into the food stations in the main ballroom. The event had an overall 1940's theme.
