Size matters

Our block - 56 between 5 and 6 is New Yorkishly funny. Here you can find the most bizzare collection of businesses. We have fancy steakhouses (2), hotel, trendy offices (of Etro, Testoni and other designers), crappy delis, dirty dry cleaners, 3 florists, chinese restaurants (2), korean, sushi (2), salons (seems like 20, for all budgets), Argentinian Consulate, subway, and others (such as wedding dresses, contractors, pr agency etc).. and of course the huge line to Abercrombie and Fitch ... that takes a third of a northern part of a block.

A couple of months ago, before Valentine's Day I had an idea to put something outside on both side of our entrance door to attract clients - like 2 pots with spruces or whatever. I did not really care much as long as it's nice and catchy...
So we put 2 red pots with spruces. 2 weeks later another florist put a big pot with collection of flowers, another week later korean restaurant put a palm tree next to their door. Today our neighboring steakhouse put 2 enormous planters with elaborate topiary.

Probably soon we all will be broke, by putting more and more money into outside objects, trying to outperform each other... hope not.... but we have a very decorative block so far....

Oh, did I mention that each consecutive business put their plant/pot/tree twice bigger than the previous one.... and of course today we went even bigger... we put 10 feet tall curly willow with tulips.... and i think.... not big enough, and now searching for something more presentable.... and of course bigger.....

Easter Hat Parade

Today was an Easter Hat Parade. People had all sorts of hats, but i did not see any which i thought was amazing or at least interesting, or had some work put into....
At most there were random eggs and rabbits attached to the edges...
But you can do so much with it..... You can do tutty -frutty hat by Christ Sake... Oh, Carmen Miranda (for a log time i thought she was a transvestite... to be honest i still do)...
but back to flowers and hats.... i'll do something for next year for sure.... hat of thorns or hat with lily of the valley (very Scandinavian forest folk tale-ish...), or just luscious burgundy peonies (well they won't look all that luscious after 20 min, but rather like an old lady pretending to be a young sex bomb, sad and withered), or red and orange gerbera like a new jersey lady ( don't know why i have such an association..)

in any case till next year....

Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis orchid. Everybody loves them. Everybody buys them. Everybody sells them.
From unique delicate luxury flowers they transformed to a "rolex" - it became a status symbol (the first expensive watch to show that certain income level is achieved :).
If you want to show that you have a fancy office, expensive store, luxury boutique, or just a "classy" taste you buy a white phaelonopsis or better few in a nice pot.

They are gorgeous, it's undisputable - just became a bit too common....

I've seen them small, big, with more flowers on a stem, less... but few days ago I changed a supplier and now we have GORGEOUS orchids... and i am a bit sick of them....

They are huge and strong and each stem has few branches and it's all with flowers... so one orchid plant will have probably 20-25 flowers when blooming.... it's unbelievable!!! I was delivering one today, people were turning their head, pointing fingers, asking me where i get such an orchid... it was like a mini tree....

I guess you can't really get sick of something sooo beautiful!!!!

thank you...

I love what i do!! Sometimes I get so scared that i won't make it and will have to do something else.... sit a cubicle, go back to the bank or some other organization and count hours when i can go home....

I like to have my small flower shop ( yes of course, i would like to be bigger and much more profitable, and be "the best florist in New York", but day to day stuff makes me so happy ). Everyday I have someone who is very happy and grateful for our flowers. It's so good to make someone happy even for a minute, to put a smile on somebody face....

Phone rings.
- Hi, may be you remember, i am the lady who came a month ago and bought few twigs from you for my friend who never gets out of the house anymore. (Of course I remember. She was that tiny older lady, who was getting quince for her sick friend)
- I'm just calling to say thank you, you made my friend very happy. she is looking forward to every new flower blossoming on those twigs....( great, i am glad that we made somebody happy)

then she called few minutes later:
- I keep thinking of you..

and then she proposes to contact Carnegie Hall and tell the name of the contact person.

I would love to work for Carnegie Hall!!! Would love to!
I want to make flowers for the stage which actually will look different from the funeral flowers. (Stage and coffin flowers are identical, ironically).

Nice tall vases with a prelude, fugue, sonata of flowers - white, yellow, green, red.... Build a structure of flowers - hanging crystals with orchids, standing shape of some sort or.....

and yes i want chair cover for the wedding salon :))

Wedding Salon

There is an event which takes place I think in many big cities, including New York of course, where wedding professionals (sounds kind of corny, but anyway) create a lavish event and supposedly many brides attend it.
It's called Wedding Salon. Actually for a bride I think it makes total sense - instead of running around and looking for florists, photographers etc - she just pays 50 bucks for entering and can meet all of the "wedding makers".

But do the brides come?

That's what stops me from just screaming "yes! i want to do, and who cares about crazy entering price" ( we pay almost a hundred times more). But from the other side - may the brides actually will come and may be i get more than few, to make it worthwhile.... Business vs. creativity ... not always together....

Still I am contemplating to participate in it. Just can't figure out what shall i do for it. From one side there is nothing better then lush white peonies, but from the other it's going to be inside, electric light, so i think everything will look yellow in the end. and I am not sure what kind of yellow - warm and sexy or dirty and old-ladyish...

Or shall i go with multi-colored extravaganza? Any advice?

just attaching peonies (not mine) and multi-coloredness....