We're excited to announce our partnership with Josh Skincare!

Exciting news! In our commitment to be as green as possible, we've partnered with Josh Skincare! Frustrated and saddened by the floral waste from our events, we found a solution. Josh's products are packaged in dried florals so we donate event leftovers for a second life! The packaging is sustainable, beautiful and fragrant. Josh's products are all natural, free of the bad stuff and cruelty free, which is a huge bonus for animal lovers like us. To top it all off, the products are amazing. We're big fans of the serum and the lemongrass & lavender beeswax candle, which we're burning while we type this.

Turns out, it IS easy being green.

The evolution of a business.

I wrote this back in January.

When I started this endeavor I had a lot of ideas. I was enrolled in the Horticulture certificate program at UCLA but by working with another gardener I felt I wouldn't be able to really be able to do the work without a lot more training. So many things could go wrong, and the last thing I'd want to be responsible for is someone getting hurt. It evolved into terrariums and floral arrangements. The terrariums (which I love still) did not sell. I tried different things. I sold at flea markets and craft fairs, different local shops I love like Memento Mori (amazing curiosities and goth/new wave gifts), Taza Echo Park (tiny but wonderful woman owned coffee shop) and Kaleidoscope Kollective (a collective of female led businesses) who I still sell wreaths through. Spent a couple of Sundays at Melrose Trading Post as well. I made small arrangements and dropped them off at different places with my business card. I didn't get any customers, but it did bring people to my website. I taught classes. All of these were wonderful and positive experiences, except I didn't make any money. You learn from trying. However it seems social media, word of mouth and befriending event planners seem to be what's generating the most business.

During the two week holiday break I've been doing a lot of reading about business and marketing. Setting goals for 2017. I'm going to have to do so much more to get myself out there, and it is a weak point for sure. While admittedly self absorbed, I'm not good about self promotion. But I have tasted the freedom of working for myself and I'm not ready to give it up. So I plan to:
Create more blog posts
Socialize more with industry professionals
Take more classes
Advertise more

I'm looking forward to paying myself and doing some good in the world. For starters I donate leftover scraps to be used as packing materials for Josh Skincare. In return I get products which is great. But I'd like to be able to do more to help people who need it. I have some ideas, and when the time comes I'll share them.

Growth

  While updating the site I looked through my past works. Already I can see how far I've come as a designer. Never gave much thought to what my style would be. I just let it happen. It will change, as everything does.

  What I love about working with flowers and plants is the happiness it brings. First and foremost, it makes me happy. Second, it makes others happy. The delight on my clients' faces when they see what they're getting is such a joy.

  And it's not just cut flowers. When I moved here almost a year ago our backyard was brand new. A square of decomposed granite, with the only green being English ivy growing up the chain link fence. The lack of bees freaked me out. At any rate, it was nice to have that clean slate.

  Attracting pollinators was the number one priority so I planted cigar cuphea for the hummingbirds. I had a couple of tomatoes and peppers, several cacti and succulents but nothing really attracted the bees. My tomato flowers would bloom then fall off from lack of pollination. I was so desperate I once masturbated them with my electric toothbrush in hopes that something would happen. I read it on the internet so it must be true.

  I bought a brown turkey fig tree (Tony Figz,  named after my grandfather) and planted the rest of the container with annuals. Suddenly there were insects. Moths, butterflies, hoverflies and yes BEES! The garden got bigger as all plant hoarders' gardens do. My botany instructor introduced me to finger limes. If you've never had them they are basically citrus caviar. When I stumbled across a tree at Mickey Hargitay Plants I snatched it up like a greedy little mongrel and count the abundant blossoms daily while dreaming of what delicious things my friends will make with them. They're amazing cooks. I made a little area in the corner for lizards to hide and insects to live. I tried other veggies and after a harvest let the arugula go to seed. Tiny birds came to eat them, which delighted me. Providing food without resorting to birdseed was inspirational so I want to increase my food sources for them. This past week I was rewarded with mockingbird fledglings hiding safely in multiple locations in the yard while they learned to fly. Now when I sit in the yard several varieties of hummingbirds visit. Making critters happy is the biggest compliment of all.

  I still want more. I always will. It's been great to add what I've grown myself to arrangements. Not to mention eating things! The allure of the farmer/florist is contagious.

  Finally decided to suck it up financially and enrolled in more classes towards my horticulture certificate. The vet bill from when Meeko went south did a number on my finances so I had to put it off. Glad to be back in the game. I heart learning 4-eva.

  Already this year I've got more tomatoes which are fruiting in abundance. The best part is it's no longer up to me to get them off.

Failing

  My first prototypes of epiphyte hanging gardens were beautiful failures. I find all this eucalyptus bark on my strolls through Elysian Park and it's just so lovely. Not for other plants to coexist with apparently. The tannins killed the orchids. I did some research and found that cork is great, and is easy to work with. However it's not easy to find and I do plan to experiment with other types of wood.
  

  I'm learning about which plants and treasures do well in terrariums. Conditions are too moist for some things, like dried graffiti roses. While the mold initially looked pretty, it wasn't going to last.
  

    But this is what it's all about. Trying things, failing, and improving upon ideas.
  

    Learning

Never shop for a Christmas tree while distraught.

   Back in December I'd lost my nineteen and a half year old cat Meeko to renal failure. We were going to have guests with a child the next weekend and I pushed myself to make our home festive for her. I was so out of it I picked a tree I could tell wasn't super fresh, and they didn't even give it a fresh cut before putting it on the car. It was definitely my fault for not asking. At any rate, the tree was dried up within a week and shedding needles like crazy. Out of spite I refused to buy another tree. I busted out the Felco pruners, trimmed off the small branches and stripped the remaining needles by hand. Then I spray painted it white and gilded gold. It had a bit of a Nightmare Before Christmas feel to it, which works for me. It's my first year in Cali so something less cold weather felt pretty good. I ended up loving it.

  So maybe do shop for a tree while distraught. You know. If you're ok with doing an insane amount of work.

I've started a business!

  For the last two years I've thought about being my own boss and how to make that a reality. For the past ten I'd been working as a fashion designer in New York for companies like DKNY Jeans International, Tommy Hilfiger and Kohl's, but I wasn't passionate about it like other designers. Designers who'd go home and read about fashion, blog about style or work on their own lines. They were living their dreams. I'd go home and tend to my plants, hang out with my critters and perform comedy.

  Periodically throughout my life I'd work at garden centers. I love plants, and especially loved the holidays when I'd create custom holiday wreaths. Sadly I couldn't earn a sustainable living doing that work, especially in such an expensive place. After ten years I knew I needed a change.

  I traded the busy sidewalks of NYC for the busy freeways of Los Angeles. Surrounded by so much nature and beauty, all I could think about was plants, flowers, and growing things. My initial idea back in Brooklyn was to open up my own garden shop/florist, but I had no money and did not want to go into debt. Maybe it's the time I took to think about it, or the laid back pace of SoCal, but I realized I could start small. So here I am, bringing the flowers to you. In time I hope to see how things grow.

  I chose hellebores as my namesake plant because each Winter I ache for Spring. Hellebores are one of the first flowers to emerge. They are adaptable, tough, beautiful and long lasting. They symbolize a new beginning. Exactly what I was looking for.

  Cheers!