Design In Bloom Blog

If you're a pop music fan, you'll recognize the title rip off from the infamous Vanilla Ice rap song from the 80's, who ripped off the baseline from Queen and David Bowie...so I don't feel any guilt using it here.  Thanks Rob Van Winkle, for the catchy phrase. (Apologies to those of you who now have the dunn dunn dunn danah dun dah ear worm.) I say Ice Ice Baby as this bouquet is all about a quiet white heat; a full base of locally grown peonies and feathery astilbe with Escimo roses, made all the more textured with double white freesia and the oh so charming bells of leucojum, aka summer snowflake.  Leucojum is one of my favorite blooms to design with - only available when they're blooming in our garden, not a single commercial wholesaler sells them.  Beautiful clean pure white, and if you look closely you can see small spring green dots on their tips, which my Nana used to tell me were from the fairies marking each one as they harvested the nectar. The gre...

Bouquet No.2, another Emily Bouquet - keeping to our garden rose start, here's a continuation on the theme -  Peach Shimmer and Romantic Antike garden roses are the focal of this bouquet, their delightful peachy pinkness highlighted by accents of white and ivory.  A bouquet for another Emily, it's full of texture and interest, alluding to deeper depths.  Orlaya, the lacey white umbel just peeking out here and there, is one of my favorite flowers to use to add a bitter of summer garden to a bouquet.   The orlaya in this bouquet was grown in our gardens here at the studio, as was the pennycress (the little round disks of green), the white peonies, and the white wands of gooseneck loosestrife.  The loosestrife is a bit of fun, the spikes rising above and curling a bit to give some movement in the bouquet.  Little bits of parviflora eucalyptus also move when the bride walks or a breeze blows.  Dusty miller, white spray roses and white waxflower ...

Happy New Year! It occurred to me it might be great to train myself to start blogging again, so the plan is to post 31 bouquets in 31 days on Facebook and Instagram, then chat a bit about the bouquet here on the blog, perhaps post another photo or two.  Keeping up with social media has not been my forté - it may be a throw back to my upbringing with the 'always be humble' rule drummed into my personality.  Posting photos then telling you I love them and they're special seems the antithesis of humble, but I do love what I do passionately, so I shall look at it as though I'm sharing my joy in flowers with you-  and so to Photo #1! Emily's bouquet - Aspen Dale Winery, Delaplane, VA for the ceremony.  Yves Piaget, Juliet and Augusta Louise garden roses were the backbone of this bouquet, hot pink peonies and soft pink sweet peas played supporting roles and looking all the more delicate for the deeper rich burgundy ranunculus dotted throughout. A hint of white jas...

I love Pinterest.  I think it's wonderful tool to inspire creativity.  But I dislike Pinterest too, as so many of my brides and grooms seem to get caught up in someone else's story and forget about their own.   Recently, I had the opportunity to try a little experiment.  I asked one of my brides to post a pic up to her Pinterest account.  It was a pretty, simple bouquet in pinks, and the question for her friends following her Wedding Board was:  do you think this would be right for our bouquets?  (She has 10 (ten!) bridesmaids.)   Everyone chimed in unanimously that would indeed be perfect and they'd be happy to carry it down the aisle.  Here's that photo: Pretty, right?  Lovely shades of pink, who wouldn't want a bouquet like this?  Well, only one problem.  The bouquet is actually a miniature bouquet made out of spray roses and is not a lot bigger than a tube of lipstick: Surprised?  So were all the bridesma...

I am an enabler. Or maybe I should say, I am an Enabler.   When a client comes to me with a project, whether it’s a wedding, rehearsal dinner, corporate dinner for the Board of Directors, or a holiday party, my first inclination is to always find a way to enable their vision for flowers and decor.   Mirriam Webster, the dictionary people, define enable as ‘to make something possible, practical or easy.’   There are other definitions, and although they relate to different industries, I think they can easily apply   as well - for example, when you’re working with computers, you enable something to make it active or available for use.   Yes!   That’s what I do!   I help you tap into your inner design diva and think inside, outside, around and through the box.   To help you visualize all the possibilities and then help choose the one that best matches your vision, budget and capabilities.   It’s that last one that I’d like to talk about today: ...

The Power of the Peony ©2015 Cynthia Damico Throughout history, the peony has captivated gardeners and artists alike.  The Chinese and Japanese cultures have revered the lush blossoms for centuries, and it is prominently figured in many of their art mediums - ceramics, painting, and ikebana, the traditional Japanese floral design.  In fact, peony and pine is the traditional way to begin the new year: from orchidsandikebana.blogspot.com Why is this flower so popular?  Why do brides love it so?  I think the reasons are many, but first and foremost is the flower shape and style - it’s full and lush, both delicate in its tissuey petals and ripe in its rotund beauty.  This is not a flower for the faint of heart, it’s big and full and in your face.  It’s also almost always scented as well, a clean fresh flowery scent that is rarely cloying or crass.   Peonies are widely regarded as a ‘special’ flower, one that isn’t available the year round ...