Flowers, oh the flowers!
There is a specific season for some of them, there are the thirsty blooms (yes, I am talking about you hydrangeas), roses that bruise so easily, flowers difficult to get, flowers that come from Africa and should be used in a bridal bouquet that weekend, and happens to be taken over by customs, etc, etc. However, today I want to share an article by Holly Chapple, one of my favorite flower designers. Read and have fun as she explains her struggles with .... anemone.
Today I am going to do something I rarely do, I
am going to bash a flower, I am going to expose the anemone, in
particularly the white and black one, for it’s horrid and unpredictable
behavior. Anemones are not good wedding flowers. Yep I said it and now I
need you to believe it!!!!! We all see anemones with their perfect
white petals and black faces gracing the cover of magazines. I love
those images and long for those perfect anemones but they rarely are
that wonderful!! Flowers come to the designer in bunches usually 10 to
25 stems per bunch. I expect and need for 99.9 percent of that bunch to
be worthy of my designs. On most occasions only one of the bunch is
truly perfect. If you are lucky in the height of anemone season which
is typically the spring or even the cooler fall weather you can get
maybe half of the bunch to look respectable. I keep trying to use this
bloom because clients and yes planners keep bringing me the requests for
this flower. I get that artistically, its perfect for any wedding that
has anything to do with black, but I am a perfectionist and I can’t
stand seeing the blemishes or small closed flower heads that are so
characteristic of this bloom. Not only that I am constantly promised
that I will get the flowers from my wholesalers only to be let down
continuously because the flowers often arrive to the supplier looking
ill. I am super mad at this bloom and its lack of ability to step up to
the plate and be pretty for my brides.
Just last weekend I tried endlessly to get these blooms in for my bride. I tried five different wholesalers and I actually ended up buying them from a man I had never even heard of in Chicago just because he swore he could get them. I felt like I was a drug user in search of some type of illegal drug and I was willing to get the goods wherever possible. Having been in the business for many years I thankfully never, ever, ever promise this flower to a bride so I was prepared. If I have an adamant bride that must have them I discuss the option of using the silk version of this bloom. So even though Mr. Chicago did get me the blooms they were to beat up to use and I had to use the silk. I also had to paint the centers of the real ones black. Seriously stressful. What drives me crazy is I never want to give up, I keep believing they are out there so I keep trying. Quite frankly I have yet to see one as lovely as the ones I see in a magazine which leads me to believing those are silk also. I know for certain that two publications recently featured this bloom with silk flowers in the bouquet because I asked the designer.
Yes I have had great purple and fuchsia anemone but that also is a big gamble. You can just never be sure of the blooms you will receive when working with this flower. It’s time we blow the cover off of this naughty bloom. The above bouquet was created with silk anemone and one real white anemone. The real one was almost good enough to be in a Holly bouquet but not really, I just put it in the bouquet so I could say I did. 1 out of 20 blooms. Naughty Anemone!!!!!!!!!!
Just last weekend I tried endlessly to get these blooms in for my bride. I tried five different wholesalers and I actually ended up buying them from a man I had never even heard of in Chicago just because he swore he could get them. I felt like I was a drug user in search of some type of illegal drug and I was willing to get the goods wherever possible. Having been in the business for many years I thankfully never, ever, ever promise this flower to a bride so I was prepared. If I have an adamant bride that must have them I discuss the option of using the silk version of this bloom. So even though Mr. Chicago did get me the blooms they were to beat up to use and I had to use the silk. I also had to paint the centers of the real ones black. Seriously stressful. What drives me crazy is I never want to give up, I keep believing they are out there so I keep trying. Quite frankly I have yet to see one as lovely as the ones I see in a magazine which leads me to believing those are silk also. I know for certain that two publications recently featured this bloom with silk flowers in the bouquet because I asked the designer.
Yes I have had great purple and fuchsia anemone but that also is a big gamble. You can just never be sure of the blooms you will receive when working with this flower. It’s time we blow the cover off of this naughty bloom. The above bouquet was created with silk anemone and one real white anemone. The real one was almost good enough to be in a Holly bouquet but not really, I just put it in the bouquet so I could say I did. 1 out of 20 blooms. Naughty Anemone!!!!!!!!!!
Holly Chapple
