The winter holidays are a wonderful time to decorate your home, both for entertaining and to make those cold gray days a little brighter. Many of us make a trip to the grocery store or perhaps the florist shop to pick out some roses, mums or carnations for the holiday centerpiece. But why not try something different this year? Something much more unique, affordable and sustainable? With more than 80% of the cut flowers sold in the US today being imported from other countries, usually Columbia and Ecuador, and with those same flowers being literally drenched in pesticides (to ensure there are no bugs on them that would get them tossed out at the customs inspection when they’re unloaded from the plane), it’s a great time to look closer to home for your floral materials.This holiday season, take a trip into your backyard (or your neighbor’s, with permission of course) to trim the tree in a different way. Both bare branches and evergreen boughs are perfect for simply elegant displays in the home. So are pine cones, seed pods, perfect fallen leaves and other botanical tidbits. To dress them up a bit with holiday sparkle, try spray painting them gold, silver, copper or white and sprinkle with a bit of glitter. Since these wintery botanicals aren’t as delicate as fresh flowers, your hard work will last much longer, and you can think outside the vase. Try placing white glitter dusted pine cones under a glass bell jar for a delicate and seasonal display. If you just can’t be without fresh flowers (I’m right there with you), try your hand at forcing bulbs indoors. Narcissus and Amaryllis are the most widely available in florist shops, garden centers and even hardware stores. Choose a beautiful wide low bowl that fits your decor, fill with pebbles, and sprout your bulbs to bloom over the winter, providing not only long-lasting color but delicious fragrance too.Love ‘n Fresh Flowers is a petite, sustainably managed, urban flower farm and full service event floral design studio in Philadelphia dedicated to creating fresh textural arrangements exclusively with locally grown flowers. Love ‘n Fresh focuses on eco-lovely weddings and other events with a vintage flair. Their flowers are also sold at area specialty grocery stores and through a fantastic Flower CSA. Jennie Love, owner and designer for Love ‘n Fresh, is passionate about using locally grown flowers in unexpectedly unique and elegant arrangements. Trained both as a grower and floral designer at Longwood Gardens , she loves educating customers about the beauty and value of locally grown flowers. In every aspect of the business, Love ‘n Fresh manages the whole creative process ““.
Jennie Love
Love ‘n Fresh Flowers
215.479.4585
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