Momtalk Maryland
The go-to podcast for Maryland moms looking to stay connected, inspired, and in the know about everything happening in their community—from must-visit spots to real conversations on motherhood, business, and local life.
🔹 A mix of local insights, business spotlights, foodie finds, and honest mom-life convos
🔹 Fun, engaging, and community-driven, for moms — who love Maryland, parenting, and local businesses
🔹 Short, digestible episodes (20-40 mins) so busy moms can listen on-the-go
Momtalk Maryland
Arranging Life: Finding Balance Through Flowers
Have you ever wondered what it takes to transform a pandemic hobby into a thriving business? Christin from Blooming Blossoms joins us to share exactly how she turned her love of flowers into a full-fledged entrepreneurial success story.
When COVID lockdowns had us all searching for new passions, Christin found herself captivated by an HBO show called "Full Bloom," showcasing elaborate floral designs. What started as simple curiosity quickly blossomed into teaching workshops, despite having no previous professional experience with flowers. The path wasn't straightforward—after initially starting her floral side hustle in April 2021, Christin temporarily set it aside for what she thought would be her dream job in tech. Eighteen months of corporate misery later, her husband's encouragement became the catalyst for her to quit and pursue flowers full-time.
Fast forward to today, and Blooming Blossoms has flourished into a multi-faceted business with wedding florals, corporate events, educational workshops, and a team of three employees. Christin's journey illuminates the struggle many creatives face when balancing passion with practicality, and how sometimes the best business decision is following your heart. Her background in corporate America provided the business acumen needed to grow her creative pursuit into a sustainable enterprise.
Throughout our conversation, Christin generously shares professional floral design secrets you can use at home: creating a grid with waterproof tape, starting with greenery as your foundation, removing leaves that would touch water to prevent bacteria, and following the rule of thirds for perfect proportions. We also discuss flower sourcing, seasonal favorites, and why maintaining artistic integrity trumps cutting corners—even when clients push for it.
Whether you're considering a career pivot, looking to elevate your DIY flower arrangements, or simply need inspiration to pursue your creative passion, this episode delivers practical wisdom wrapped in a story that proves it's never too late to bloom where you're planted. Follow Blooming Blossoms as they open their first brick-and-mortar location on September 6th, and discover how working with flowers can become "a massage for your soul."
🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to MomTalk Maryland — where community, connection, and conversation collide!
💻 Visit us at thecolumbiamdmom.com
📧 Join our newsletter for episode updates, exclusive content, and local happenings: Subscribe!
📲 Follow along on Instagram: @the.columbiamom
🗣️Got a topic idea, guest nomination, or want to sponsor an episode? Let us know!
🎬 Watch behind the scenes of the podcast on YouTube: Subscribe to the MomTalk Maryland Podcast Playlist
🎧 Like what you heard? Leave a review & share with a friend who needs this convo in their life!
Hey friends and welcome to MomTalk Maryland. I'm your host, claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom, and this is your spot for real conversations, local love and a whole lot of community, whether you're folding laundry, running errands or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet. Let's dive in. Well, let's get started, let's do it. So today I have with us Kristen of Blooming Blossoms and I'm so excited to have you here with us. And, um, you know me, I love a good origin story. So can you tell us a little bit more about yourself? How you got started? Um, let's, let's hear it.
Speaker 2:Sure, I would love to, so it's. It's a fun. Covid origin story.
Speaker 1:Mine too. I love that.
Speaker 2:I feel like everybody was, you know, kind of locked down during COVID and I was one of those people that watched an inordinate amount of TV. I was watching this show on HBO called Full Bloom. And it's where they put together these really beautiful, inspiring floral arrangements and then they do huge installations of flowers. Oh, that's cool, yeah, and a friend of mine was like well, what if we could take a class to learn how to do something like that? And I was like you know what that sounds like a really great idea.
Speaker 2:And within three months we had started, kind of a side hustle, so I was working.
Speaker 1:No way, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And as a side hustle we started just teaching. Like renting out a little space for a local business, who also allowed her space to be used for other um, like artisans and crafty people yeah, and so we would rent out her space a couple of times a month and we would host these floral workshops. In the beginning I had no experience with flowers yeah, I hired wedding florists to kind of teach me.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's kind of how it started was all because I saw a TV show and I was very inspired by flowers. I'd always loved flowers.
Speaker 1:Right, as we can see, yes.
Speaker 2:I'll find a floral print anywhere.
Speaker 1:Right, I love the floral print.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and then from there it's just, it's grown from the side hustle into the full-time hustle and yeah it's what we, what I do full-time now. I have a team of three people that work for me and we're opening up our very first brick and mortar on September 6th.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that is like that's so cool, like hearing that actual timeline, cause that's not a lot of time. No, and well, and was it 2020 COVID? Or was it cause there's many years of COVID? Yeah?
Speaker 2:So it was April of 2021. I think, as people were really excited to kind of get out of the house and just try new things. Yeah, but we were still full, you know, fully masked up and like right.
Speaker 1:How can you not remember those days Like it was oh my God, it's, it's, yeah, we, we try to.
Speaker 2:It's like the, the two prong, like you try to forget it and then it but it's impossible to forget.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, um, wait, that's so cool that you know, cause I also remember actually I don't know if that it was COVID, I think it was actually just before COVID I remember there was another show that was like on organizing. That I remember, but I think that's when I had my daughter. I had her in 2018, so we were all like into organizing was it the Marie Kondo. Yes, obsessed right, yeah right, because that's when you said tv show and you got the inspiration.
Speaker 1:I remember, oh, when that happened, we were all doing a little bit of that yeah and um but it's so, just so funny how, like, same experience, but flowers, yep, um, that's so cool, yeah, um, so well, tell me and what we're well, and talk about your journey. Right, you had a full-time job. At what point, you know, did you make the switch or realize, okay, this is really growing, like I can make the jump, make that transition. I mean speaking, mean speaking even just personally, like, obviously it's like the clummy mom like I talk about, like you know, obviously I kind of same thing. It started as a passion hustle but, like you know, these things are sometimes just, like you know, slow burn, right, and then like, or you're working full time, before you're ever working full time, right, yes, yes, full-time right, yes, um, and at least for me, obviously, like as a mom, like I think it's can be hard and scary, but I'm also really inspired when I hear other people's stories and what that journey looked like for you.
Speaker 2:I think my approach was a bit more unique than maybe taking it from side hustle to full-time hustle, because there was a gap in there that I actually stopped doing the flowers and the floral workshops because I I thought I had found what was my dream job.
Speaker 1:Uh, in the corporate world oh the oh, okay, yeah, in the, so like I had this really phenomenal corporate career I was very grateful for it.
Speaker 2:I was pretty successful, and so when this opportunity came my way for this, this tech job, it was in tech, yeah, um that, you know they were in the middle of raising a lot of money and it was really enticing to me when I thought okay, this is the step, so I have to put this side hustle to the side. The 18 months that I was there ended up being very tumultuous and very crazy, and that's a whole different story for a whole different day. Different podcast. Yeah.
Speaker 1:When we build up the tech arm, we'll talk no shade. No shade, Just yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so probably like 18 months into that, my husband was like you have to quit your job and you have to go do flowers. Like this is not healthy for you, it's not healthy for us. I basically don't even know who you are anymore, Like I was just miserable. And he's like you have to quit your job and you have to go do flowers full time.
Speaker 2:Like go figure out what it means to you, go figure out what it means for our family, and so with his encouragement yeah, I was able to quit the job full time and go focus on flowers, and I did a lot more than just teaching workshops. That was about two and a half years ago and I started like I took on freelancing roles.
Speaker 1:I worked in a couple flower shops.
Speaker 2:I did some weddings. I was trying to figure out like how do you create a full-time business with this concept that blossomed during COVID.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2:And yeah. So now we're sitting here and we have a really large wedding business that we do wedding florals. We have the event business, which is how you and I met through our first divorce. Yes, yes, which is how you and I met through our first neighbors. Yes, yes, yeah. And then now we're opening the brick and mortar to really bring back the center of community and bring back teaching, which are all the things that are really important to me.
Speaker 1:Right. So at what point? So how far into your, obviously from the time that it started, even as a side hustle? What point or how far in were you when you went full-time with it?
Speaker 2:so I started in April of 2021 and I quit the full-time job in June of 2023 wow, okay. So talking about even just the full-time growth in the last two years, yes, wow, I think what I think, what came to me, what I realized is when people started working, like people would come to the workshop, women would come to the workshop and the women would be like I have a dream of DIYing my own flowers for my wedding. I'm like amazing, let's teach you some skills, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then people realize that it's actually really hard.
Speaker 1:Like designing for a feel like I've never dived into it, probably for that reason, yeah.
Speaker 2:I you know, with our classes we teach it through a very like simple four step process.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And once you kind of understand the basics. But getting the elevated wedding design that takes practice right and you have to work with flowers a lot and you have to know a lot about flower recipes and everything that goes into making a wedding happen, yeah so you could. You could learn how to do this on your own with Trader.
Speaker 1:Joe's flowers. She said I could do it. I think a lot of people actually said if they've gotten sort of their start from Trader Joe flowers, because it's like such a yeah well, it's accessible, easy.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean well, and it's like it's right here and they have such fresh floral selections yeah like you could never use it for a large event no, no yeah if you wanted to just like throw a girls night party at your house, right, like those types of things people over yeah we did like I remember my mom's 60th now, like several years ago, um we, uh, I mean we, we probably like 100 people at our house, but um, you know, we went up and got like a whole, you know a bunch of like hydrangeas. I remember it was beautiful, like simple, not not your level, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But listen, flowers add such a spice and a beauty to a place and they they can really wake up a table yeah um, and it doesn't even matter if it's really simple, like a few little bud vases here, it just adds color and it adds brightness and freshness.
Speaker 1:And I don't know, I love flowers, obviously yes, well, and you know we will talk about the actual flower part of this. But I'm also like, just again, the business person. Well, I said the business person. Well, I say business person with large asterisks, because I'm like, I still feel like the world's biggest imposter in my own way, but every day, ok, I'm glad, because I was like, you know, we have a very similar story and almost an identical timeline, really okay, um, I mean even personally, you mentioned 21. 21 is when I, um, I didn't quit my other full-time job, but it was a like similar, very, almost identical timeline. You know, the lines are very blurred for me and when I went full-time, because I'm like it's happening somewhere, yeah, you're like, I think that's when it happened.
Speaker 1:I have no idea, you know, um, I just remember when somebody would ask, like, is this your full-time? And I remember clearly asked, stating, oh, it's just a part-time thing. And then, um, and then at some point I was like, oh no, this is my, my, it mentally absorbs all of me. So, yes, yeah, that is the point that it's full time. Yep, um, but, um, so you so? Okay. I'm also curious you mentioned that you obviously had a a big uh career in tech and we will talk about that part, about, yeah, but had obviously you've been learning a lot about flowers and stuff. What was your life prior to that? Like, had you taken any of any other flower classes, or you, or were you just like I've always loved flowers my whole life. I've always loved doing a little bit or I would jump in and help my friends, like, whatever it did you have, was it any Of that?
Speaker 2:I had no professional experience sure but I was always the girl that would buy myself flowers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in it.
Speaker 2:My designs back then were terrible. They weren't great, but I was proud of it because it was just like going to the grocery store picking out all the fresh colors that you really like yeah to the grocery store picking out all the fresh colors that you really like, yeah, and then knowing that even cutting the stems and putting them in a vase is going to be better than buying a $20 bouquet at Safeway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's just going to be a little bit more pretty and a little bit more artistic. Right but so no, I had no formal training. All of my formal training has all been in the business world has benefited me greatly in going full-time and and going yeah flower company.
Speaker 1:Well, and and that's the part that I wanted to nerd out with you in a second, and then we'll talk more about just flowers but, like I kind of love that you mentioned that you didn't really start taking any of it, any class. Obviously you're offering some classes, right, but taking classes for yourself until after you started your business, and to me I actually think that's such a beautiful thing, for whether you're an entrepreneur, you have a side hustle or something you're interested in. I feel like the message not that I'm saying that we're sitting and trying to send this message, but it was like you don't have to have it all figured out, you don't. You don't have to be an expert in your field. I'm saying this. Do I believe it myself? I be an expert in your field. I'm saying this, do I believe it myself? I'm putting it out there and maybe it'll come back to me, but my whole point this is message for everybody else. I won't listen, but everybody else can listen to this Is that no, you do not need to have a degree, you don't have to have the perfectly lined up business, the perfectly lined up plan.
Speaker 1:You don't need to, like, take all these classes, like, literally, you just figure it out, yeah, as you go.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm sure you can say this too it's hard as heck, but is company if there's something kind of beautiful about it.
Speaker 1:Because in a way and again I feel like this kind of makes sense because you're in the floral industry and, um, like, we're both creatives, yes, in different mediums, yep, right, and so the creative brain lends itself very well to this world because we're very multiple, we're very flexible, yeah, oftentimes spontaneous, you know what I mean. So we can adapt to the business, entrepreneurial world, because you need a lot of those same skills, yes, even though I have a love-hate relationship with all the things that go on with that, on with that. But, um, those that skill set, I think you know applies to both ends of, like, the creative side and, um, actually getting kind of businesses off the ground kind of thing. And I, you know, and it's funny because I, at least for me, with my story, like I never sought out to be an entrepreneur, and I feel like it sounds very similar to your walk of like, you know, you just wanted to take a class yeah, I just, I just wanted to be with flowers and around flowers.
Speaker 2:And once we, I think for me what was really interesting. I knew that there was a lot of skills that I brought to the business and maybe I didn't know how to do flowers, but I had a confidence in myself that I could learn how to do flowers to make beautiful arrangements.
Speaker 2:I just needed to find the right people to be able to teach me those skills, and so I was like well, if I know all the things about how to start a business and running a P&L and doing all the business stuff, well, I can learn how to do flower arrangements.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, you did have the actual business. Yeah, sorry, I'm projecting all of my unknowings. You yeah, sorry, I'm projecting all of my unknowings. You actually did have it figured out. No, no.
Speaker 2:I didn't. I didn't. I was just like well, I've done this before, so like why can't I do this for myself?
Speaker 1:no-transcript. It's just like you know we're. We're in lots of shifting tides and everybody's feeling it from like business owners ourselves. Right, you know um and um, so it can be really scary to take a dive into starting a side hustle and, frankly, I think we're often conditioned not to follow our dreams. Take the stable, sure path. You know what I mean, the one that you know will have that consistent salary and blah blah blah and provide for kids and provide for the family.
Speaker 1:yeah and even though, like you know sorry I'm kind of just going on a whole tangent, but it's like you know, we're taught as kids, like you know, follow your dreams, follow your passions, but actually don't you know what I mean and so, as kids, we're taught to like, expand and love and all that you know, so that we can explore our passions as we get older.
Speaker 1:It's like I feel snuffed out. But then there's this kind of funny thing and I don't know if I explored a lot of, maybe a little bit of my 20s, but definitely, you know, my later 20s, into my 30s, kind of felt this like pull to come back to my roots, probably because again, we were, we did the thing. We, we got our degrees, we got our jobs and we did multiple different jobs. And you're like what the heck is all of that? You know, even if we did obviously love plenty of those too. We were just, like you know, as we grow or realize our passions are important, you know, having interest, you know, and I think it's a really cool and beautiful thing when you do get to turn it into a business like that.
Speaker 2:Oh, without a doubt. Like there's so many days where I'm just like aha, like there's never enough time in a day. No, but then I sit down and I'm like wow, like you get to do something you love every single day. Yeah, and not everybody can say that, no, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know, and so that's the point that I was trying to because, like again, I feel so connected to that and I myself feel so grateful. I mean, I'm still very much building something too, just like yourself, you know, and none of that is easy, of course, but it is um. I just look back on the days that I've again, there's never enough time in the day, but um, but I'm just like, at the end of the day, like I'm working for me and doing something I love and that's so exciting it's special yeah it's like something you can also nurture and be really proud of yes yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2:Okay, sorry, I will get off my little.
Speaker 1:Uh, I just like this is what happens on the podcast. I just like I have to like go down this rabbit hole and that's why I designed it, so that it's basically a platform where I get to talk in every thousand different directions. But thank you for indulging me, um, okay. So let's so one thing, um, and I love that you're colorful girly, because clearly I'm a colorful girly and I tease, because one of my best friends, she's the girl that she has all the blacks but she looks great in them. You know what I mean. But next to each other, she's like Wednesday Addams and I'm like a rainbow. I'll be the rainbow every time, exactly the same.
Speaker 1:I have to have color. In fact, I don't even actually love wearing black, like when I like I'm like I'm also really this is a fake tan, by the way, but I feel like I'm really pale so, like, the black looks even more striking on me. Do you know what I mean? It looks very black and white. So I guess that's going into whole color palette, color schemes, which you could probably talk a whole thing on. Um, but talk, okay, let's talk a little bit more about flowers, and so talk to me like when you think when you're, I realize there's so many different ways that you approach arrangements, because there's obviously you got to know, the purpose behind it. We know whether it's, you know, a large event, a wedding, a formal or not, but kind of, are there certain principles that kind of go into when you're starting to design a piece?
Speaker 2:Yes. So again let's talk about the event type, right? So if it's going to be a wedding, usually the person will have some type of inspiration photo whether it's what they want the whole event vibe to kind of look like or maybe it's a bridal bouquet that they've fallen in love with and we use that as kind of the tapestry for everything that we do throughout the event.
Speaker 2:When we look at like corporate partnerships and we're working with really large corporate events, it's always like, okay, what's your color palette that you're working with for the event, and then can we find florals that are going to really compliment. When I'm doing workshops, I really focus on fresh, seasonal flowers.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say, yeah, yeah, that makes sense, like the palette.
Speaker 2:You know, if we're doing something themed like a Thanksgiving theme or a Christmas theme, we'll of course buy flowers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to complement right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if it's just a regular Tuesday evening workshop, I want to focus on the freshest florals that we can find and I think that there's a lot of importance through like texture and dimensions of flowers that people don't really think about, right, right, so you have your big beautiful florals. Those are like your hero or focal flower. And then you kind of have, like your little supporting actor flowers and then your little dancey bits that give it that movement that play, and so, as a florist, it doesn't matter what type of event we're planning for.
Speaker 2:I'm starting to put those pieces together in my head Right, so that when I create the flower recipes for all of these different types of events, those are the bits that are going to go into it, like I'm thinking in that four step process of like okay, you know how am I going to write this out or what? How am I going to achieve this overall look?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that makes sense and I guess anyone that's gotten married is probably at least I mean assuming you had florals that most people have in some capacity. Right, that's where I remember learning a little bit more. My mom handled kind of most of it. Thank goodness my grandfather was a gardener and my mom has a really good green thumb so she's also really good at kind of looking and pairing some of that stuff. But I remember when she was suggesting things to me again, I'm sure you probably have this happen a lot in, just you know, whether it's brides or other events like I think you mentioned, like the the hero flowers, like there's like the hits that I think of, like you know that those that get a lot of the attention that you know, like hydrangeas, roses, um, peonies, yeah, peonies, there's another one that's not a rose, but is it a peony?
Speaker 1:Peony is one of them, but just like other, you get a lot of the hits right and people are always asking for those and I obviously know that those come with a premium, yes, you know. And then I remember my mom suggesting like what if they add carnations? And I'm like, oh, I don't want carnations, but you talked about kind of like the supplemental ones, like sometimes you know it's all about building the recipe, yeah, and how they really can complement each other in different ways. And I remember initially I was like, oh, I don't know, you know what I mean, and like I had to have somebody else obviously put it together so I could kind of visually see Same with, like the greenery and the different because I don't know the names of all of them and it's amazing how much those little touches can help balance it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a couple things. Talk about imposter syndrome. The very first time I ever worked in walked into a wholesale flower market. I got so overwhelmed. I was like there's no way I'm ever going to remember the names of all these oh my gosh like how you know, I'm like I could never acquire this knowledge.
Speaker 2:You know, of course yeah, your own worst enemy right, but I learned it yeah, and and then you start to learn that, like there's flowers in the flower industry that are kind of hated on, carnations are one of them but, guess what carnations have such phenomenal texture to them? And they're very hearty, they're very yes, yes and if you're using them to kind of like fill holes. But it gives that really nice texture, like why would you hate on it? Right right okay, whatever you can hate on it but it's a very cost-effective flower for us as well right um that you can make look upscale and beautiful.
Speaker 2:And another thing about the hated flower of the carnation is they come in all the colors yes literally like any color that you could possibly want, except for blue.
Speaker 1:You could probably find yeah, carnation, which is huge and it's probably so versatile and needed for a florist right. Yeah, um, no, I think that's awesome and I know how much of your, of your job and your role. Do you ever feel like you are when you're talking to a client? Um, are you ever trying to obviously depends on their vision. I know like kind of trying to gently suggest like, hey, like you know, adding different texture, um and um, kind of I would never say like pushing them in a certain direction, but, like you know, encouraging, hey, you know, we, this is how we can help bring this to life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:There's. I feel like there's a lot of what I do that is education based, yeah, and maybe that's because of just my own love of education, like, yeah, I'm always going to be a lifelong learner and so I'm trying to teach people along the way. Like hey, you really like this.
Speaker 2:but what I think would be really nice is if we did this and this and here's why People are like, oh okay, you know, like I can kind of see that, or like you're the professional, I'm going to trust you and you can run with it. I'm like, okay, thanks, I appreciate that. And then they see it and they're like, wow, this is even more beautiful than I ever imagined that you could design Like that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, a huge compliment, I know, right, I mean, and I feel like your industry specifically too. It's like I mean they can obviously go and see your past work and stuff like that. But you know, I mean I feel like this has been my similar thing too is like you have this idea in your head or you see things on Pinterest and obviously, like, like, seasonal stuff dictates availability, price and budget will also dictate.
Speaker 1:You know what you're able to source and what you're not, and all of those things. My next question was where do you like to? Are there certain places you like to source from? Are there certain?
Speaker 2:places that you like to source from. Yeah, this is. I mean, this is tough because I love local, like I love finding local flower sources. In Maryland we have three or four very large flower wholesalers and that's where we get most of our flowers for our really big events. So I would say, something that is not well known is that most of the flowers in the US actually come from South America and they come from like Ecuador and Colombia, where they're growing on just like massive flower farms and then shipped into the US. So there's a big concept or trend in the industry of really wanting to focus on local florals and finding little local farmers that you can source your stuff from. That's a little more difficult when you're doing really massive events.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no doubt, because they just don't have it growing in the quantities that we would need for really big events, right. So to answer your question in a very short way, we work with wholesalers. The wholesalers are about 70% of the flowers are getting imported into the US.
Speaker 1:I mean that makes sense. I mean you have to because, like, especially with those size of events, and you know like well, and you've probably learned about this too. I mean I feel like I've heard. I mean I know Maryland soil, like, for instance, isn't the best when it comes to like growing grapes or you know, in our climate, and the same thing's going to apply to different plants and different. You know flowers and then the. You know you need a lot of space. You know for that, uh, there's only, for instance, so much space, even in Maryland, for just general crops.
Speaker 1:So, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but there are things here that just grow naturally and grow organically, like right now on the side of the freeway there's this little white flower and it's very bouncy. It's called Queen Anne's Lace. It's a flower that we use a lot because it just adds whimsy to it.
Speaker 1:And you can literally just go pick it off the side of the freeway. I think I know we've probably all seen this, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful. It's a beautiful white lacy flower and right now it's it's growing everywhere. Um but we do have flowers in Maryland that just grow, that you can, that we use in our arrangements. Um, we call it foraging. We go out foraging as a team. Yeah, yeah, you know it's something special to Maryland yeah add into our events that's so special, right?
Speaker 1:I like that I can be one of your class name. Yes, I do. So two questions one what kind of tips could you maybe give? I realize that's a large question, but what kind of tips could you give to maybe moms and women when it comes to just general, you know, if they want to just kind of pick up some tips for doing a little styling at home, or you know little events, or like hey, like I want to get my mother-in-law some flowers, or bring my friend some flowers. Like what are, what are some little tips you could give us?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the first is invest in a tiny little thing of waterproof tape. You can get them at any craft store. You can order them online, but creating a grid on the top.
Speaker 1:OK, I've seen some of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it helps you so that your flowers don't just like fall over and it gives them more of an upright structure. Um so, anything. Any vase with a bigger mouth I would usually do like three slices across and three slices the other way.
Speaker 1:Okay, Three and three I can. I can kind of remember that yeah.
Speaker 2:Uh, that's the first thing. The second thing is start with greenery. Um, so this is why I love so you build like with green first yeah, so you want the greenery to basically we call it like 80s hairband, so the greenery is like what is in there holding everything yeah, yeah so that when you go back and you start putting in your flowers, they stay where you want them to stay.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, and a question Do you like lay them all out or you kind of like put them in first?
Speaker 2:So with the greenery, I guess usually we have like two or three different kinds of greenery that we use and there's a little bit of magic for for bigger events on how you would do it. But at home it doesn't matter, just get the greenery in the vase right?
Speaker 1:yeah, I'm sure bigger events it's like you need to. Well, by that point of you know you've already. You already have your colors and your flower sort of selected but yeah, if you're at home. It's kind of like okay, like you know what I mean yeah, yeah, you could just start. Okay, so green.
Speaker 2:So tape greens in, okay make sure you you strip all the greenery that could touch the water off. Um, the greenery in the water is actually what causes bacteria in the water and it will kill your flowers faster oh my god, I didn't.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've seen that. I just thought it was done because visually it was like cleaner and easier, and I did not. What is that? There's certain properties in the leaf, or something like that uh, I think it just creates the bacteria.
Speaker 2:Any, any greenery, so even like the leaves of a rose. Right, you're gonna, we're gonna strip off the leaves and the thorns and everything oh, even the thorns too because it causes the bacteria in the water, so you could leave the greenery in there. If you're going to give it new water every day and a new, a new snip, got it okay, but you did that. You know, nobody really remembers to change their water and their flowers every day, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay, but if you take the greenery sorry, the greenery off, then you don't necessarily have to change the water every day.
Speaker 2:No, okay, no, you don't. And a good 45 degree angle cut.
Speaker 1:So my first tip is get some waterproof tape waterproof floral tape.
Speaker 2:Second tip is have a really nice pair of snips. So we use industrial scissors and actual flower nippers those are also very easy to acquire at any craft store and then make sure that you're stripping all the greens off your bottom of your stem Awesome.
Speaker 1:It's going to go in the water, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so your, your vase should look like an eighties hairband, to just like greenery sticking out everywhere. It's a little bit wild, a little bit whimsical. You can always cut lower, but you can never make it longer. So Right Error on the side of making it too long to begin with, because you can always go back and kind of trim down.
Speaker 1:Right. So let's just say we have a vase like this height, yes, and obviously the common, you know a lot of them have the kind of that hourglass or some R cylinder. You know I really like styling and height. You know, talk to us about like, how you, when you're thinking through different height, I mean, obviously, I think you know, when you think of like, for instance, like a bridal bouquet, a lot of times, um, that might be more like strictly orb, like or depending on the look, right. But if we're designing something for a table, right like, talk to us about height, because I feel like that's where I kind of get stuck. I'm like how do I want that to look and go?
Speaker 2:So if this is going to be, let's say, on just like a bar height or buffet table and you're going to have it just on the wall, it can be as tall as you kind of want, and we think of it in thirds, so the two thirds of this arrangement should not be any taller than the bottom third of this bottle. So, it's basically like stacking two bottles on top of each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So this is going to be your vase, and then two bottles stacked on top of each other. That's going to be your height from the edge of your vase, oh wow. So when you're doing like little stuff like this for a centerpiece centerpieces are really important because you want to see over them. You know being at a table with people means you're talking and you're engaging and you're sharing food and you know conversation. If this guy is here, I can't see you across the table Like why would we build a centerpiece that high?
Speaker 2:We just, you know we wouldn't, you wouldn't do that yeah because you want to incorporate.
Speaker 1:You know what the spirit of the event is right, and that's where I'm sure your consultations are so important and helpful, especially if you know some people come in like, oh, like I want this type of thing. And well, what's the goal of the event, what's the feeling that you want? Because I'm sure you have all those kinds of conversations yeah.
Speaker 2:Or where I'll tell you something that happens a lot with brides is they really want to save money and they want to focus on repurposing Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, a little centerpiece like this isn't going to look great in your aisle because the dimensions are very different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So your table centerpiece is going to be very different than if we set a big aisle piece next to a chair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that needs to be.
Speaker 2:yeah, it needs to be huge and to look dimensionally correct Right, and I'm like listen, there is florists out there that will do that for you. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them, because I don't want to sacrifice what it should look like for helping drive the cost down. And you know, I think that that's a kind of a tough message to hear sometimes. But when you look back at the photos you're like, oh, that didn't belong there. Right and I never want that to be our work.
Speaker 1:You know yeah.
Speaker 2:Like I want to look at the photos and be like, yeah, we crushed it, we did a really great job.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 1:And that's because I stay true to things like dimension and height yeah, well, and I actually think that's a really um, a really great and important message too that speaks to your design and your integrity. And kind of going back to the creative um side of things too and I've never really thought about it, that sense. But, like, even for me, I know that, okay, there's certain things that I wouldn't film a certain way or just slap on Instagram just because, right, like, I'm not going to do that. Right, it needs to like, look and match a certain aesthetic and I think that's really important to adhere to because you know, it's not just, like you know, sticking to maintaining our ego, right, but it's your artistic work and, again, you want to do right by your client by, yeah, by making it look good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because they're going to have the pictures forever. You want to do right by your client, by yeah, by making it look good. Yeah, yeah, because they're going to have the pictures forever. You know, right, they're not going to remember the details, they're not going to know the exact name of the flower I have, but they're going to see the video, they're going to see the photos and that's what they're going to remember the event by, like, that's really important to me, yeah, important to me, yeah, um, for them to look back on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I know, yeah. So to wrap, I'm kind of curious. Now I realize this is going to be super seasonally dictated, yes, but tell me about what some of your favorite flowers are, and if we have to go by season, we can do that too.
Speaker 2:I mean there's flowers that I love all times of the year yeah, and there's colors that I love Like. Recently, we've become very obsessed with the candlelight rose. The candlelight rose has this beautiful, creamy, gigantic head that opens huge.
Speaker 2:Like she's absolutely gorgeous like a creamy yellow. So we love the candlelight rose. Right now we're also loving the sushi spray rose and's this soft blush, almost a velvety texture of the actual head of the rose. I'm a huge fan of a Clooney Ranuncula, so Ranunculas are typically like 50-cent piece size. The Clooney Ranunculas get huge and they're just ruffly and beautiful and they come in like this beautiful, gorgeous white blush color and then seasonally of course, like yeah doesn't love a peony of course for a good time, not for a long time.
Speaker 1:No, I think we have a peony bush at home.
Speaker 2:She's not too big, but yeah that's another thing that just grows out here. We have them in our backyard. I'm like, wow, this is crazy yeah, yeah, just grows I love it right, I know and then, of course, the dahas Dahlias are the fall flower.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're a much hardier flower than the peony. They come in so many different colors and shapes and textures, but they're such a great flower Expensive.
Speaker 1:But they're absolutely stunning.
Speaker 1:Right, right, it's so true. Yeah, I know we have funny enough. I mean, I'm just thinking about like plant. We have a big hibiscus plant. Ok, it's massive and it's so funny. I remember, like you know, every year they like clean it up and she goes down to like nothing and then she's like back up here again. I'm like it's so fast, they go so fast and she's massive. And I was like are you sure that they didn't just like kill her and she, just she just gets right back to it and she keeps blooming, like I mean, obviously during this season, you know, um, and I mean one of our hydrangea bushes, or two of our hydrangea bushes, are really well placed, the other one's in the shade.
Speaker 1:She clearly likes to be more in yeah um, so those two are are kind of like by our patio edge, so I love seeing those and I love hydrangeas, which they're mostly hardy, they'll, they'll hang around a good amount of the summer no, they will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even when you let the heads kind of start to die on the bush, you can still use them in designs, because they're not dead dead, they're just becoming a little more like antique yeah and you can still use them. So if they're probably green or something, if you leave the head on the bush throughout the fall, they're going to get a little bit more crunchy right, you can still use those in fall arrangements that's cool.
Speaker 1:I didn't even think because, yeah, then you're kind of getting into more of your what would you call it um? I guess I say like harvest colors, but you know, like some of those rust, um, like your beige, you know those different color styles go cut them off and put a whole bunch in a vase. And the last yeah yeah, oh my gosh, I love that well, um, okay. Final question do you have a favorite project that you've worked on, and what was that? What did it entail?
Speaker 2:yeah, favorite project, favorite project One, I'll give you two.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So real life. We just had a wedding up in Baltimore and her palette was this like all white and green, like absolutely stunning, luxury, gorgeous flowers. That was really fun for me and my team because it wasn't a lot of stems of florals and so you had to really make it very elevated based on the type of floral that we were working with.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we used a lot of orchids, we used a lot of calla lilies Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So very upscale beautiful flowers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like our showstopper flowers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And when we walked out of the ballroom we were like we did this, like that transformed this ballroom yeah, to look like this flowers really do make.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like jake, like you know, we didn't get married in a ballroom. Remember, feeling like I don't want to be in a ballroom. You know what I mean. But they can really transform a space.
Speaker 2:They can because you walk in the ballroom and you're like, wow, this is really pretty, like there's a pretty chandelier and a pretty artwork and you know pretty things. But when you get the table set and you have the silverware and the glassware and then you come through with all of the candles and all of the florals, like that's what adds that chef's kiss.
Speaker 1:That's right. It really brings in, like the mood the warmth obviously helps create, you know, set the tone, the setting. I mean, obviously, like you know natural things, like you know earth elements. Yes, you know we all need them and we crave them. Right, my husband just sent me an article about which we all know, right, is that? You know we, as humans, like all need to be by, like you know earth things, like like water, you know how we all feel better. But even the article mentioned even just being in green spaces, right, like, obviously, I think we have an even greater amount of like dopamine, you know, when we're next to water. But just even green spaces, but it's hinting at just natural elements and why we are meant to obviously not live 100% outside. But, like, the concept of like go outside and be outside or or, conversely, bring some of those elements inside, like have, you know, and have plants indoors, and which I know is house plants, is kind of a whole nother topic.
Speaker 2:I'm a house plant.
Speaker 1:I didn't even have to ask. I meant to ask earlier. And, um, when we were talking about like, what got you? And I was like she definitely was a house plant girl, or is a house plant girl like before all of this. I actually funny enough, when I built my podcast studio, um, because again I had a friend that is really good with like interior design, okay, um, and I like I use like chat gpt to like help design the space and I'm putting together and and I was like can you do my shelves for me? Cause I was like. I was like these are some of the things that I. Here's some of the stuff I bought.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do it for me Collected or things that are special to you. Mementos yeah, you have that incorporated.
Speaker 1:Right and so, um, but she, um, she was like you need greens and she again was pushing for um, for real over artificial.
Speaker 1:But she was actually we, actually we used a little mix of both, okay, because I was like I don't have a green thumb, I was like my husband does, but I was like I don't know that, I'm like super good with that.
Speaker 1:But, um, after designing it, I was like I ended up buying oh, don't even ask me what it is but it's um, uh, she's like this big and I haven't killed her and she's been up there since, yeah, like April I mean. So I bought her because I knew that she was gonna be a hardy plant and I was like I need one that I, you know, don't that I won't kill, kind of thing, and um, and then um, but now it's kind of like got me itching for, but anyways, it's just this idea of like, you know, those elements's kind of like got me itching for, but anyways, it's just this idea of like, you know, those elements like kind of literally breathe a little bit of life into that space and the realness of it just softens it so much more than I mean, yeah, we have these little artificial elements, but it is really cool how you can balance those things.
Speaker 2:I. One of my favorite things about teaching workshops is usually they're around like 6, 6 30 at night, and so people are like getting off of work and there's a buzz about the room and people are chatting, and then we sit down to start the actual workshop and just going through like the four-step process of how to build the design, and then, as soon as the people start working with the flowers, with the greenery, with the flowers, there is this hush and this calm that goes over the room.
Speaker 2:And by the time that we're done, people are like that was the most relaxing 90 minutes. You know, it's almost like getting a massage, but it's like a massage for your soul because you're learning something Right, but you're working with a fresh product and you're so proud of what you built by the time it's over. Yeah, it's absolutely one of my favorite things about teaching a workshop. It's just this calm.
Speaker 1:That is so cool. Wow, I love this. I feel like it's like a brain scratch that you didn't even know you needed Nope. You know what I mean, because it's just the incorporation of working with natural elements, even if you are indoors. You know what I mean? Um and just yeah, it's coupled with the I'm. Even if you're not a creative, you're using that creative side of your brain and um, which I think is important.
Speaker 2:I yeah, obviously we'll say that, but it is important, it even even for those that aren't like we need.
Speaker 1:Well, just, I guess we could also argue that I need to use the executive functioning part of my brain too but um on a daily basis right, taking care of everything else that we take exactly like what's it? Yeah, it's never not being used um, but that's important. So, um, well, that's awesome. Well, listen, thank you so much for your time for me on here today.
Speaker 2:I feel like okay, I'm the principles uh.
Speaker 1:Waterproof tape. Yep. Waterproof floral tape. Waterproof floral tape. Three by three, grid three by three grid greens first um height, well, which I knew really can dictate whatever you want it to be, but go start taller before you go shorter also I'll always think of it in rules of thirds.
Speaker 2:So, you're never going to go any higher than two thirds higher than this.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep.
Speaker 2:So you know threes Yep Really important in floristry.
Speaker 1:I like that. Oh, and taking the greens off the stem. Yep, obviously shopping local, supporting local.
Speaker 2:Local forage Foraging is so great. We can do a lot of foraging here in Marylandland. Um, you know, just be careful of local rules, right, right, right. Don't just like, yeah, go out there, but don't go.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, I know, don't take my flowers from um, but my backyard is also a fence, so um well, thank you right, exactly, um well, thank you again. So much. This was. This was really eye-opening for me. I love getting to chat with you and, again, your new place is opening in Cloverly. You said September 6th, september, 6th September 6th.
Speaker 2:So there will be a lot of push online, a big campaign to get people. Please tag us.
Speaker 1:We will share it and actually, if you send us the rest of your information and we'll also put it on our events calendar and we'll also put it on our events calendar oh wonderful. I would love that. Thanks so much. And if you've got some cool classes, I mean, obviously we're based here in Howard County, but we moms we'll go where there's fun. You know what I mean? Yes, I know, so we'll just keep them in the know.
Speaker 2:I'm like Columbia's in my back door. I come here more than I go anywhere else, Like when I'm doing all of my like errands and all of my shopping, like I'm in Columbia.
Speaker 1:That's how, because I'm from only, which is like I kind of call, like you know, columbia's like little cousin you know what I? Mean Just down the road. It's the same thing.
Speaker 2:We would come up here because it was less congested than like Rockville and you know all of that area, it's easier for us to get here from where we're at too.
Speaker 1:It's so. So no, I would say I'm also a Columbia girl. We'll adopt you. We'll adopt you for sure, Thanks. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mom Talk, maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend, or tag me at thecolumbiamom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think, and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.