Flowers

There are all kinds of flowers you can include in a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Yellow sunflowers and solidago bring brightness, while red flowering ginger and orange lilies give the arrangement dark color for contrast. There’s also lots of fun greenery you could add. Hypericum berries add pops of color, and seeded eucalyptus offers a unique touch.

Accents

But it’s not just flowers and greenery that make a Thanksgiving centerpiece beautiful; there’s plenty of accents and smaller items that can add a unique touch! Things like fall leaves, lotus pods, pinecones, and other dried elements give a centerpiece a rustic feel. You could even include a little pumpkin or an acorn squash for that fall look!

Size

Size is an important factor in choosing your centerpiece. A long and low centerpiece compliments any table and makes it easy for your guests to see over it to talk to each other. You could also choose some taller arrangements to place on a sideboard or buffet table. And if you have a more high-end event planned, you could order some tall centerpieces that your guests can see underneath!

When you’re ready to order a Thanksgiving centerpiece or arrangement, just give us a call!

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Toys for Tots was started in 1947 by a Marine Corp Reserve Major Bill Hendricks. His civilian job was Director of Public Relations at Warner Brothers Studio where he befriended Walt Disney. Disney actually designed the first Toys for Tots poster (below left). Today, Toys for Tots distributes toys to 7 million less fortunate children.

We have a huge box in the shop that we would love to fill. You can drop toys off anytime between now and December 10^th. As a thank you for your kindness, we’ll send you home with a beautiful flower!

If you don’t have time to buy and drop off a toy, we’ve got you covered! We have a virtual donation box through Amazon. Just click here or scan the QR code below, choose a toy, and it will be delivered to our local Toys for Tots hub. Easy!

Many thanks, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

~Your Fantasy Floral Family

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We shortened our shop hours from 7pm to 5pm, even though our competitors were open later than we. This allowed (and continues to allow) us to have quality time with family each evening. When we were able to finally hire employees, we sought out individuals with the same qualities and values that we have as a family. We also sought out individuals that added to and improved the family atmosphere of our shop.

Our goal is to have a shop full of people that care about each other and our customers as much as they care about their own families. With big box companies gobbling up whole industries because they make purchases cheap and easy, we are able to do the one thing those companies can’t—treat you like family and offer you beautiful, artistic, unique designs.

Putting family first means offering our employees living wages. We are happier at work and kinder to our families when we get home if we are not stressed about money. We stay with companies longer when we feel valued and cherished. Most of our employees have been here for at least two years. There is so much value in that kind of longevity.

Our front of the house all know that Mrs. W is allergic to eucalyptus and Mr. S likes Ikebana-style arrangements. Our drivers know not to ring the B Sisters doorbell because it makes their dogs go crazy. Just text them, and they’ll slip out to grab the flowers. Casey talked to a long-time customer yesterday who was in a hurry. The call lasted 1 minute and 39 seconds because they knew his wife’s preferences and had all the information needed for a delivery. We’ve also had calls that last a half hour as we talk through options and offer suggestions to ensure we are creating the perfect arrangement for the occasion.

Our prices and delivery fees continue to be very competitive compared to other high-end florists (not Costco)! But the way and reason we structure our prices is founded in sourcing quality long-lasting flowers, supporting local regenerative (#sustainability #grownnotflown) family flower farmers, and putting family first by offering living wages. We continue to see the amazing benefits of this focus in our individual lives, the atmosphere of the shop, the quality of our arrangements, and the family-oriented customer service we extend to our customers. We all make choices to support businesses that focus on qualities and practices that align with our priorities. We hope knowing a bit more about our foundation and priorities reinforces the trust you have put into our wonderful family business!

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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.

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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!

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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!

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Colors

Source: Pagemoral on Wikimedia Commons

Carnations, especially, come in a wide variety of gorgeous colors! Carnations especially come in practically every color under the sun, from pink to green to anything in between! There is a depth and richness of color that you can get in a carnation that you can’t really get with other flowers. Here at Fantasy Floral, we especially love the Moon Series Carnations (pictured above) for their vibrant purple hues! My personal favorites are burgundy carnations (pictured below in an arrangement.) They add a wonderful richness to the color palette and highlight the colors of the other flowers used. 

Strength in Numbers

Carnations, mums, and daisies are the epitome of the phrase “small, but mighty.” On their own, they may not look like much, but together they have the power to make an arrangement shine! The arrangement pictured above showcases the beauty of multiple types of daisies. Since these flowers aren’t as expensive as a rose or a lily, our designers can use as many of them as they’d like!

Complement Other Flowers

In addition to being beautiful on their own, carnations, mums, and daisies are versatile enough to act as gorgeous accent flowers! When used in this way, the smaller flowers highlight the beauty of the larger ones. Take the arrangement pictured above as an example! The purple carnations offer a subtle contrast to the large pink lilies while also complementing the tall purple veronica. 

Have I sold you on these flowers yet? If you want to send some to a loved one, give us a call today!

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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!

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Centerpieces

If you’re hosting Easter dinner or brunch, a centerpiece is a great way to liven up the table setting! The most important thing for a centerpiece is to allow your guests to see over it. For a rectangular table, something long and low would look lovely and complement the table shape. Or something low and circular for a round table. Alternatively, a short and compact arrangement in a vase is a great hostess gift because it could work both as a centerpiece and as an accent on a coffee or end table!

Corsages

If you’re in the mood for something a little more traditional, Easter corsages for the ladies in your life may be for you! Fresh flowers are a great addition to any outfit, especially one as fancy as your Sunday best. Whether you’re going to church or having a nice brunch with family, our designers will make sure that your corsages look as beautiful as the woman wearing them!

Easter Flowers

Spring is the season of flowers, and Easter brings some of the prettiest blooms to the table! I’ve written about seasonal spring flowers before, but some of our favorites for Easter specifically include tulips, hyacinths, and the ever-popular peony. Plus, thanks to our partnership with Old Dominion Flower Cooperative, we’ll have more unique flowers like daffodils on a weekly basis! 

Easter Arrangements

This time of year, we get to experiment with fun additions to our regular designs! Baskets are a popular vessel for flowers in spring, and we have all kinds of lovely pastel baskets here at the shop. We also have little plastic eggs in all sorts of spring colors! If you’re looking for a sweet addition to the holiday, one of our favorite arrangements this time of year is the whimsical Jelly Joy!

If you need any Easter flowers, just give us a call!

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Standard Arrangements

For sympathy flowers, many people opt for a standard flower arrangement in a vase or basket. When ordering these arrangements, it’s important to specify whether the flowers are going to a home or a funeral service. For a funeral service, our designers recommend a three-sided design so that the flowers are facing the attendees. If they’re going to a home, an all-around design can be put pretty much anywhere!

Color Palettes

Depending on the feeling you want the arrangement to evoke, there are several different color palettes you can choose from. You can never go wrong with an all white arrangement like the one on the left above. If you’d like to stay with a more sedate arrangement that has a bit of color, a mixture of white and soft pastel colors is a nice option. Sometimes the most appropriate arrangement is one that is vibrant and colorful to celebrate a life well lived and loved. The two arrangements on the right are great examples!

Funeral Service Flowers 

At Fantasy Floral, we have many options for funeral services. If you would like flowers in front of a podium or book-ending a stage, a three-sided arrangement like the one pictured on the left above is a nice option. For easel arrangements, we have sprays, wreaths, crosses, and open and closed hearts. These arrangements typically start at around $200. We can also do both half and full casket sprays, starting at $200 and $300 respectively. The price depends on the size of the arrangement and the kinds of flowers that you would like to use. 

Honoring Your Loved One

While we specialize in cut flower arrangements, we are sometimes able to add custom pieces to an arrangement in honor of your loved one. Two such arrangements are pictured above. On the left is an arrangement that we delivered to the family of a gentleman who was known for wearing bowties. We added a ribbon in the shape of a bowtie to the arrangement. On the right is an arrangement our customer ordered for her friend who had just lost her beloved dog. The customer asked us to do something spectacular and increased her budget to allow us to purchase dog toys to include in the arrangement.

We have photos on our website to give you ideas on shapes and color palettes. Just give us a call or come into the shop to discuss how you would like to customize your sympathy flowers.

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