Along with my love for cutting flowers from my own back yard, I love the impressionist artwork of Édouard Manet, and reading the works of Jane Austen.  My name is Amelia, and I am entering my third year of college, at The King’s College, but before I return to NYC I I have the joy of interning with Holly, and her warm, creative staff.  I have found a great place to be in the swirling activity of weddings, flowers, and all things beautiful.  Down a long and winding country road is where you will find Holly’s studio.  The drive is flanked by lush foliage, bright peonies, and the official welcoming committee Sadie and Grizzly, the families’ two dogs.

The work week starts with deliveries from Holly’s many sources which include champion growers from international and local Virginia farms.

Here is a recently planted field of dahlias.  Holly’s favorite dahlia grower is Don.  She is excited to see that her babies have been planted and even more excited to see that Don the dahlia man, is also Don the peony man!!!!

And then the magic begins.

First the flowers are hand selected, then they are arranged, and moved into the cooler.

Since I wasn’t there to watch Manet paint, and I am 200 years too late to befriend Miss Austen, I am looking forward to watching and participating in the artistry of the Full Bouquet, and the love that goes into each order.

In a few days with Holly I have learned the names of countless flowers, that the smell of white stock reminds me of Christmas, and that an arrangement of flowers is much more than the sum of the parts. It is a work of art, expertly created.  I am so excited by the opportunity that Holly has given me to see the artistry come to life.

As many of you know I was in Belgium and Holland several weeks ago. I am still trying to post all of the many adventures I had while I was away. One of the main reasons I longed to go to Holland was to see the Aalsmeer flower auction. This auction is the largest trading market in the world. The facility is the size of Monaco, that’s right the Aalsmeer auction is as large as the country of Monaco. 21 million stems A DAY are traded at this auction as well as 2 million plants. The property also has a barber shop, a fire dept, a police station and a bike shop. Many of the employees ride their bikes through the buildings to get to where they need to be, having a bike shop on the property was a must.

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There are several theater style rooms where buyers sit and watch the product as it comes by on a conveyor belt.

A large electronic board is in the buying room. This board grades the product and discloses things like age of stem, market value, name of the grower, the country of origin, the color of the bloom and the stem length. The highest and fastest bidder wins.  Unlike some auctions there is a stopping point. The product must meet the lowest bid requirements, if the product is not purchased at fair market value the flowers are destroyed. OUCH!!!

The facility also has a testing room. New varieties are placed in this room. This room is kept at a standard room temperature.  The flowers are graded and watched to see how they will perform as cut flower product. Each stem goes through the same wholesale experience, the flowers are boxed and shipped to this room. The performance of each variety is documented and studied. How a particular variety does in this room will indicate if it will be released to the public.

I hope this rose passes, she is a beauty.

I think this variety failed the test!!

Another fail!!

Epic fail!!!

Back on the floor, employees are racing from station to station picking up orders and checking the product in at check points. The employers or managers know at every moment where a flower is and where an employee is. Before the checkpoint system was designed, an employee could hide in the flowers to catch a little nap. BUSTED!!!

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While at the auction we got a private tour of Holex. This company is responsible for getting the product boxed and shipped to the varying wholesalers, many of which are in the United States. A long hall or tunnel connects the auction house and Holex. The flowers are driven down these tunnels to get to the Holex refrigerated area where they are packaged and shipped. Our friend Joost Bonegaerts from Florabundance was responsible for getting us this very special and very up close tour. Holex is the company Joost uses to get his product to California. The above picture is of Joost and his wife. It was wonderful to see both of them in Holland after seeing them only a month before in NYC. Lucky us!!!

The flowers are inspected many different times before they are sent from the auction. Here an inspector is shaking blooms looking for bugs.

I think this bunch passed!!!

Another hat of the day post. Notice at this point, I am so tired I cant even open my eyes!!!

Seeing how the boxes were packed and the process they go through to catch a ride to the USA was very interesting. It certainly helps me to understand the cost of a flower and to remember to charge for its true value. It’s an expensive adventure that each and every bloom takes to make it to my front door in Virginia.

This year is a significant year for our family and for this business. Just a few months ago we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and 25 years ago during the month of May we came to this home on Stumptown Rd.  This house, this land is where everything began. We have brought 7 children home to this house, we have designed over a thousand weddings from this house, and we have gardened here all of those years. Initially we focused on being growers. At that time my father owned the largest garden center in our town. We worked with daddy to add to our cutting gardens. Those flowers were cut and gathered into bouquets and I would go to farmers markets with the stems.  At the time we had only one young child.  The work on the property seemed endless but it was a fabulous way for us to supplement our income. 20 years ago on Mothers day eve, I delivered my first bunches of flowers to a corporate weekly account. That account was Tuskies Restaurant, now 20 years later we still gratefully provide their weekly flowers and designs. Mothers day signifies the anniversary of my first real flower job. Shortly there after I was given my first wedding. That wedding came in Sept 20 years ago. During the last 20 years the ability to cut from our gardens has been one of our biggest assets and blessings. Designing with fresh flowers or accents from our garden was always what defined our look. It is a known and practiced fact in this studio, if a designer is working on a piece that is not quite right, the answer is always in the garden. In the garden we can always find that missing element be it a rich green foliage or a unique and precious bloom. What defines our look are the flowers from this land.

Mothers day also signifies the beginning of spring and serious planting. Oddly enough 25 years later we are returning to our roots. With Evan now a full time partner of the business we have the time to turn our sights back to growing in a very big way. Thankfully all that we planted all those years ago has carried us for the last 20 years but with a new idea and a new found passion we are turning our focus back to growing. I have a really nice and big dream brewing right now!!!

This design was created almost completely from our garden and was delivered to a lucky lady in Leesburg. We received countless requests to design for mothers day this year. Unfortunately we typically don’t do that type of work because we are always so busy with weddings. This year with only 2 weddings to design for and extra flowers in the garden I was able to fill some 911 orders.   One particular lady from TX won my heart when she shared that other shops had declined her order because they had reached maximum capacity for the day. Being one that likes to solve emergencies I came to the rescue with this design for her sister in law.

My personal mothers day started bright and early with these designs. I woke early to create these pieces that were taken down the road to my fathers farmers market. With extra flowers in the garden and it being mothers day I thought I could sell a few extra designs. Which indeed I did!! That money was used to purchase more plants.

At dads market (Heiders Country Store) we gathered yet another van load of perennials, and annuals. Mothers day is my favorite day of the year because the kids will help in the garden with a slightly more ambitious heart.  Every mothers day we plant, they plant, we all plant.

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Many of the gardens on this property are very sentimental. This garden is the baby garden. It’s just a little tiny space but it was built in a time of big sorrow. Before we had our second round of children or the bottom 3, Evan and I suffered two very serious miscarriages. When that kind of hurt comes along you actually just don’t know what to do with yourself. The pain makes you restless and you ramble around trying to figure out what to do. Out of total grief, Evan went into the garden and just started digging, I will always remember looking out the window watching him shovel dirt in anguish. The spot he created that day became the baby garden. Many of the plants in this garden were given to me for mothers day presents.

One of my mothers day roses, given to me by Hannah.

This garden is behind the house and we have several varieties of peony and hydrangea here.

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This is our new deer proof garden. Every year we plant gardens down at the bottom of our yard and every year the deer destroy the garden. With Evan home this year he built a huge fence to protect our plants.

This is Eli’s garden.

The hens hang out down at this garden as well.

Sam is a chicken stalker, he loves the chickens.

Go Eli go!!!

This is by far Riley’s least favorite day. He kept asking “why do you want to work for mothers day? Can’t you want a present or something!!” I happily responded, “your working is my present!!!”

This is Evan’s seed bench and it was completely full a few days ago. Many of the tiny plants have been moved into the big garden.

All over this property are tiny miracles, special gardens, first Christmas trees, and happy kids.

More babies coming!!

I love it here, I am happy here, we built our life here.  As the business grows I often think we may need to move but honestly that just is not an option for us. We are so tied to this piece of land. I believe the answers are here, the next phase for this business is here. We are trying to figure out a lot of things right now but I must remember the answers are here in the garden.  This property has given us everything. So since we can’t leave we are dreaming up all kinds of ideas for the next phase.

One of the wishes on our list is this field. The field is across the street from our house and it has been vacant for 25 years. If a really big dream were to come true, the owner of this land would sell me just a little slice.  I believe in putting your dreams out into the universe. Please hear me world, I would really like to add another field to our land.  Every day I stare out into that field and for the last 6 months, when I look into that field I see flowers, lots, and lots of flowers.

My mothers day ended with a wonderful meal cooked by Evan. He grilled vegetables and chicken, and he made his famous garlic string beans. Notice we are dinning right in front of that field I dream of. Can you see the flowers, I can.  My only regret on this mothers day was that we were not with our college girls Hannah, and Abby.

We ended the day in exhaustion, but with lots of dreams!!!

We have two wonderful weddings on this lovely mothers day weekend. Just a few seconds ago I checked on my bridal bouquets and I caught them snuggling “in the cooler.” I wonder what goes on in my cooler when I turn off the lights and close the door.

The cooler is also hiding 168 bud vases. The little designs are tucked in so tightly that I couldn’t get a photo. The flower shop girls had one heck of a time this week creating all of those pieces.

This was created for a flower girl. The flowers bend into a wreath and it will be bound together with sheer pink ribbon.

Mid morning today I headed down to preschool for the mothers day tea with Samuel. This was a nice break in the middle of my day.

Back in the garden lovely things are blooming. I love my tulip poplar tree and I am thrilled that I got to design with her this year. I did a big photo shoot this week and she was the featured bloom.

We also have astrantia, peony, iris, clematis, and baptisia blooming in the yard.

This design was being created for a princess, yes we truly had a flower order for a princess today.

This beauty was created from my garden and it will be given to a special mom for mothers day.

Happy mothers day to all the mommies!!

On Friday night after all of the vans were loaded for the Virginia Gold Cup, I went into the garden with the children and designer Whitney. Looking back on this adventure it sounds a little crazy that I went cutting and that I designed after all that we did on Friday. But this time I am making for myself in the garden and to design for me is making me very happy. As we strolled the gardens we checked out the tadpole eggs that had just hatched, saw snails that are growing along the wall of our water pond, and we found blue bird eggs in a nest. When I am in the garden the children can be with me and there is an open door to my heart, but when I am on the computer there is a wall between us.

Blush peony, and spirea buds

Fern, viburnum

Heirloom mock orange, viburnum

Yellow peony

Salvia, and knock out roses

Ivy, this also happens to be the same ivy I used to create my wreath for the front door.

For this design I started with my new vase I bought in Holland, I can’t believe how many treasures I brought home from that place. This container is a frog and a vase. Frogs were used to hold stems in place before there was oasis. Using this type of vase or structure allows the flowers to rest in fresh water without the oasis floral foam.

Greens first, remember they are the bones of your design.

Virburnum pods

Next I placed some textural elements into the design, notice one of the elements I used was the viburnum that had finished blooming. Then came the bold knock out roses and my dark purple salvia.

Then came my glorious yellow peony.

The dainty pieces of fern and mock orange were added last so that they could be seen and recognized.

Believe it or not there is an entirely new crop of beauties waiting in my garden and I am going to make time to get out there today!!!

As promised I am going to show you how I decorated my front door.  For now  I am only going to give you a little teaser but I hope to finish the post later today.  I am in the midst of designing for a photo shoot and I need a little more time in the studio this morning. So, when Evan and I were kids we bought a very modest home. Since then we have added onto the house many times, and it has become a wonderful full and beautiful home. However the front door is still, shall I say a little boring. During the years it’s had various types of decor but recently Evan painted the door and put up stucco where the sidelights once were. The front door has been sitting bare for a few months now and it was driving me crazy.

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First I started with a garland of honeysuckle vine. My challenge was to only use the existing nails. Evan is never thrilled when he sees me with a hammer in my hands. I don’t really have rights to the hammer in this house, let’s just say I have done some damage with that thing. I was sure if I started hammering and adding additional nails to the door frame I would crack his new stucco wall. Around the rim of the door are about 5 nails that Evan had begrudgingly left in the trim when he stuccoed the wall. This allowed me to hang a garland at Christmas.

Back in the flower shop I had a box of succulents leftover from designing for the Virginia Gold Cup. The succulents did not have roots but thankfully they root very easily. Succulents can be rooted in water or by laying them in soil.

I happened to have super mini plastic pots in the studio so I filled them to the brim with potting soil.

I laid the succulent on the soil and then gathered some fresh sheet moss from our stash.

I used a floral product called bind wire to wrap the pot with moss and to hold the succulent in place. Bind wire is like a raffia wrapped wire and we use it for everything.

By wiring the succulent onto the pot this assured that the little succulent would stay attached to the soil long enough to grow a root.

The little moss covered succulent pots were then tied into the garland.

Next I took an old apple orchard ladder and leaned it against the house. To decorate this area I rested a giant air fern or bromeliad on one of the rungs of the ladder. Small glass bottles of ivy were hung randomly on the rungs, this brought a different shade of green into the design. The ivy was gathered from my backyard and I know it will take root hanging right there in the vase. Little glass miniature terrariums were designed with river rocks, moss, and air ferns. Some of the mini terrariums were even planted with hens and chicks. I also hung one of the moss potted succulents from the ladder. All were dangling with my magical bind wire.

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Next I created a wreath for the front door.

First I wired a small iron urn onto my wreath. The urn was full of soil and I  placed another piece of the ivy directly into the soil. This time I chose pieces of ivy that had baby roots or runners on them. Miniature succulents were also placed in this pot.

The ivy was then wired onto the wreath in a curved shape with… guess what, bind wire. Burlap was added to the back of the wreath to protect Evans newly painted red door.

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Hanging baskets, potted plants, vintage props from the shed, large air ferns, and more succulents were added to a bench that sits at the front door.

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Loving it!!!

Baby Grace and I also planted two big iron baskets full of flowers and these hang flush against the stone wall on either side of the door. Currently these baskets are being hidden by my nandina bushes. I can’t prune these shrubs back yet because I am waiting for the berries the bushes are producing. While I wait for my berries, the hanging baskets will have a chance to grow and flourish. I love the way this project turned out, if I thought I could have gotten away with it I would have hung a few more succulents on the garland but because I am trying to make this work with the 5 nails that are holding up the garland, (and because I didn’t want it to fall down and hear my husband say I told you so) I thought I better not put anymore pressure or weight on my design. Instead I planted hyacinth bean seeds and when the vine grows I will train it up and around the front door. This is a living door and I am very excited to watch it grow. The idea to create this design came from seeing so many living walls or rooftops in Europe. This project is also a part of my new commitment to my home and to design. Having all of these lovely flowers, props, and containers on my property and never finding time to design with them is simply sinful, and I am going to change that.  I am going to work on this place and get it ready for something very special. I have a new plan!!!

Being the preferred flower sponsor for the entire Virginia Gold Cup is quite a big task. It’s amazing to me what our studio is capable of. Honestly, I can’t think of a more complicated floral job then this event. For this event, we typically have 30 plus tents that we are responsible for. The tents are spread out across a beautiful meadow and that lovely meadow is an hour from our home. We have to be at the races by 6:00 am. This year we started on Friday night loading as much as we could into a 16 foot long refrigerated truck. Everything that could not fit into that truck had to be loaded at 3:30 in the morning.  Having accomplished this successfully for two years straight now proves to me that our studio is a power house.

Evan built a wooden grid in the truck so that all of the tall arrangements could be tied down. Most of the big designs were in 24 inch tall vases. Evan carefully checked designs as they were loaded into the van. We had to create a list of how the designs were on the truck. Evan also gathered food and treats for the flower arranging troops.

When the big truck was completely full we packed up the rest of the designs and said goodnight to the designers. Thankfully we finished our day at around 7:30 so our crew could get a little sleep. Evan and I worked until 11 getting spread sheets finished and loading up non perishable items. At 3:30 in the morning we started the final loading of the vans. Thankfully our sons Alex and Riley got up to help. At 5:00am in the morning we headed to the races with one huge box truck and 5 other cargo vans. We arrived on time bright and early at 6:00am with a team of 13 people.

A beautiful view of the steeplechase field.

My boys, Alex and Riley. Can you tell which one is the oh so happy teenager?

While they unloaded the trucks, I headed straight to Audi. I had decided to create a structure around the center pole and cover it with callas. Which meant that the whole design had to be created the morning of the event. This caused a little extra pressure!!!

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Designs featured callas, orchids, roses, stock, freesia, double tulips, dusty miller and silver brunia. We also used the wire in the base of the vase for a contemporary feel.

The tables were chrome in the tent and my structure for the buffet was made out of wire, so I really wanted to keep that metal feeling going along the Audi fence. Because of this, Evan and I did a walk through of Home Depot looking for a metal mesh we could use for the fence. We brought home gutter guard and regular screen for screening doors.  I was obsessed with the way this turned out.

The designs for Audi were super sexy and very “Hollyish.”

Large arrangements in yellow and blue were created for the observation area. You can see them on the front porch of the building.

United Airlines had a Hawaiian themed tent, luckily for us we also found a very cool grass fence at Home Depot. Big tropical flowers were added to the fence.

Birds of paradise, orange pin cushions, aggies, blue delphiniium, and orchids were used for these designs.

We created a garland of tropical leaves for the center pole.

United”s tent was beautiful.

Our next tent was for Infinitive Corp. This tent featured bold orange fabric, their signature color, and south western looking flowers. This tent had a Cinco De Mayo feel.

The centerpieces, poles of the tent, and fence draping all featured succulents and air plants. This tent had my creative juices flowing so much that I repeated some of this decor at my own home. You will see that in tomorrows blog post.

As you can see, we pretty much designed every color combination imaginable since we were servicing so many clients.

Large arrangements and garland were created for this fence.

For the clients that requested garland on their fence we created a beautiful mixed greens garland that we created in our studio. Wholesalers sell a green garland but it’s no where near as nice as our home made garlands. We made more feet of this than I care to think about.

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We left the races just as the day began and an hour before guests arrived.

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Our crews got home just in time to take a little breather and then we loaded up again for our big DC wedding. This was a really big and beautiful wedding. My bridal bouquet was created with white peony and white phal orchids.

Eenterpieces were created with hot pink peony, hot pink carnations, hot pink hydrangea, and green amaranthus. Low centerpieces were created with white peony, white hydrangea, and roses. You could say that we had a very full and successful weekend.

I spent the rest of the weekend working in my garden and designing a really big arrangement for my front door. Wait until you see what I created here. It happened to be my favorite design of the weekend.

It started like this, boxes, and boxes, of flowers arriving for this weeks Virginia Gold Cup Races.

The boxes and bundles were sorted per corp. customer. Our wedding flowers would arrive one day later giving us a chance to get the other flowers in water.

There were flowers everywhere…

and then we began to design.

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and design…

and design!!!

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Our shop is loaded with the most beautiful designs, red pieces, coral pieces, all white pieces, hot pink and orange pieces, blue and gold pieces, yellow pieces, white, black, and red pieces, white and silver pieces, purple and green pieces, hot pink and blue pieces, tropical pieces, cinco de mayo pieces, contemporary pieces, southwestern pieces, and let me tell you; this has been a PIECE of work!!!!

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Getting all of the big designs in the cooler after we create them is mega hard, and the boys get to help with that. I think we have a total of 36 buffet designs that are this size or larger. We purposefully use this huge vase full of water to keep the designs weighted in case it’s a windy day!! When you have an outdoor event you have to be prepared for anything.

Congratulations to Whitney who designed her first buffet piece!!! We are all so proud of this designer girl!!!!

Wish us lots of luck tomorrow night, we have to get all of these flowers into vans at 2am because we have to be loaded up and on our way by 5am. We then have to get all of the flowers to the field at 6am and all tents must be decorated and ready for visitors at 10:00 am. GO TEAM CHAPPLE!!!

Big thanks also to Evan who spent the entire day draping fences and tent poles. He is awesome!! I am so proud of our entire team, everyone was awesome today and the energy was rocking in the shop. I hope we can keep it up for two more days!! One last thanks to the Chapel Designers who encourage and inspire me everyday. Thank you for believing in me!!!

Our first full day in Holland had me doing something I vowed I would never do, I started the process of learning to design with a knife. With the careful instruction of the world famous designer Rob Plattel, I took the leap. I will also say I was cautioned by my husband to not play with knifes while I was gone, which is probably the real reason why I tried. I have to admit I am a bit of a klutz so the knife thing, with babies all over the house has always seemed like a big no, no. However I of course do know that it’s what professional designers usually prefer to use. When Rob mentioned that it truly pained him to see flowers smashed when designers cut with scissors, I knew I had to try for my new friend and teacher.

Our design class took place at the historic Aalsmeer auction house, this is the original auction area. This place is now a museum and educational facility, it’s also a hospital of sorts for the original varieties of particular flowers. We designed in a class room that was actually part greenhouse.

Rob began by creating a natural structure. He explained that there are really two styles of floral design, vegetative or decorative. In a decorative floral design the designer bends, pushes, pulls, and places the flowers in an artistic or decorative way, rather than in a natural loose style which Rob calls vegetative. He also explained vegetative as how flowers would grow in the garden.

Rob also discussed his particular style of floral design and many of the principles he follow. Like designing with a knife.

I hate this picture of me, but I had to post it because it clearly shows the confusion and apprehension I was feeling at trying something new. When my husband Evan saw the picture he said it looked like I was in pain. In truth I was scared to death but I wanted to try. Learning new techniques was one of the purposes of this trip. Rob was a gentle and encouraging teacher.

My new Canadian friend Gigi even had a little mishap with the knife. Unfortunately I can see this type of incident in my future as well and it scares the heck out of me. As I continue the learning process of designing with a knife I am seeing lots of opportunities to hurt myself or someone else. I am famous for dropping my tools any and everywhere. As I mentioned before leaving knives laying around when you have a house full of little people is not wise. I also find myself carrying the knife like an extension of my hand and I forget I am carrying a dangerous weapon. There are times when I brush hair out of my face or pet the dog and I realize I am holding a knife. Another thing I am afraid of is dropping the knife into my apron and stabbing myself. One of the designers shared yesterday that this is also a hazard and happened to one of her friends. Nothing like gutting yourself.

In spite of my fear I was able to create this beauty in our class. I loved the way this design came together and I loved the concept. The flowers were placed in the design the way they would grow in nature. Each bloom is placed reaching towards the sun.

Next we ate a lovely catered lunch and we actually sat in the bidding boxes of the old auction room.

After lunch Rob helped us with a decorative design. I learned so many fabulous techniques in this class. I was so thrilled with all I learned.

As we worked on the designs we had time to take our “hat of the day” photo. This is designer Laura Zaharias from Colorado.

This is my completed design and I loved how this turned out. My only regret is that a lot of this material is not available in the United States. I used the bark of a eucalyptus tree and dried banana leaves in this design and I simply have never seen that here.

After our group finished designing we did a tour of the museum and the nursery. We were going to take a canal ride but the weather did not participate. Thankfully this was the only weather cancellation we had on our entire trip.  So the old auction house is surrounded with canals. The flowers were moved in and out of the auction by canal or up and down the property by canals. The farm and the greenhouses were quite extensive.

The canal runs along the left side of the nursery and the boats were used to move product into the greenhouses or up to the auction room.

The greenhouses hold a collection of particular rose varieties or of flowers that the museum is protecting from extinction. These plants are the original plant variety.

Our handsome guide has worked at this museum or original auction since he was a child.

This cherry tree was of special interest. Each wooden post marks the graft of another variety of cherry. So this is a cherry tree with 8 different cherry trees growing from the center of one tree.

Even lilacs were resting in greenhouses.

Potting shed

This was an amazing place, rich with the history of the Holland flower market.

As good fortune would have it, I happened to be in the Netherlands for Floriade 2012. I can best describe this event as the Olympics of horticulture. Floriade happens every 10 years and just like with the Olympics, a park is created to house the event. The Floriade park represents the horticulture knowledge of many nations. CNN has called Floriade one of the worlds top destinations for 2012. There are 5 differently themed worlds, each with their own decor.

The above images were taken while riding the gondola across the park. Inside each of these spaces were incredible gardens or amazing floral designs.

There were huge floral displays and structures, as well as an area of bridal bouquets.

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Guests could sit in a amphitheater and watch as designs were created.

Floriade was a world of floral inspiration. Seeing the creativity of the floral designers and landscapers was amazing. I did have one slight suggestion for Floriade. I wanted very much to know who the designers were of each area or design. I guess Floriade was to be a combined effort and it was not to recognize the individual talents of particular artists. I so wanted to know who’s work I was admiring.

All in all this was a great day and a once in a lifetime adventure.