Suzanne's Bouquet - The Materials

When I shared this blog with my high school friends (we all post on a Google Groups page regularly to keep in touch), Suzanne - a June bride - automatically wanted my take on her bridal bouquet:

Tell me what you'd do with this: Blue Hydrangeas, White fluffy
flowers of some sort (like white ranunculus) Chocolate Cosmos Hop Buds And an
Ivory fabric to put around the stems. For my bouquet I want mostly blue
with touches of white and a few chocolate cosmos and ivory ribbon.

I told her I'd do what I could with the supplies that I can get! Hop Buds and Chocolate Cosmos were not possible. But I did use the reddish brown leaves of the unknown plant mixed in there to show how the brown color would look in the bouquet. (I will find out what it's called asap)

And I need to share this story about the Blue Hydrangea! I won't say where, but I saw them and picked them up so I could make good on my promise to Suzanne. Just like I do with all of my flowers, I took them home, trimmed the bottoms and put them in water with antibacterial floral food. Well, within hours the blue Hydrangea were basically dead. Wilted, dropping petals, droopy, ugly, shriveled, dead. So I took them back the store - where I buy A LOT of flowers - and asked for new ones. Easy trade, right? The floral manager gave me such a hard time! She was insulting and really passive aggressive....more or less accusing me of mis-treating them OR lying about when I bought them OR stealing OR all three. I ended up taking a bouquet of white Hydrangea to replace the sad blue specimen and bought 2 stems of blue elsewhere. Funny enough, my friend's mother had the SAME problem with blue Hydrangea from the SAME store as me... You can see in the picture below how droopy those hydrangea are!

Results tomorrow...

My First Bouquet - The Supplies

I felt like a beauty queen walking down Wisconsin Avenue yesterday afternoon with a big bunch of flowers on my arm, despite my sweaty gym clothes - that is the power of flowers.

I was out of town this weekend so I couldn't go to any of the wonderful farmers' markets we have here in Washington, DC to pick up local blooms. So, instead, I stopped at the Glover Park Whole Foods - they usually have a great selection as far as grocery stores go. Also, Whole Foods certifies their flowers through VeriFlora and their own "Whole Trade" standards, so you know that what you are getting is grown and harvested sustainably, humanely, et cetera. They also sell local flowers that are in season.

I thought about the offerings for a few minutes and then decided to not overthink my selection and chose a bunch of white Hydrangea (5 stems for $12.99 was a deal), and white Alstromeria, purple Football Mums and yellow Solidago Aster Flowers (all part of the everyday 3 for $12 deal at Whole Foods).

I put them all in a vase with water and antibacterial plant food for the night. I thought about trying the bouquet in the evening because I wasn't sure how the Hydrangea would do overnight (I'm still learning). But, as it happens, I had to go out for sushi instead. Results tomorrow!