It's hot. Not hot, HOT. We're talking 100 degree days with no rain in I can't even remember when. Hear the crunch, crunch, crunch of dead grass under your feet, feel the sticky burrs poking your toes, and the stifling breeze of hot air blowing your sweaty hair about. I'm surprised that anything can grow in this heat, especially the beautiful possibilities that we use for everyday floral arrangements. We are currently in a state of intense heat (and drought), the kind that forces one to think twice before stepping outside (and sometimes, you don't even have to think once). When you have flowers at home that are burnt to a crisp if you forget to pour buckets of water on them, it makes you appreciate the lively flowers we receive in our shop throughout the week, especially the ones grown locally. Despite this early onset heat (it's not even summer yet), we have been receiving beautiful Texas-grown flowers from our local growers, Texas Specialty Cuts and Waller Gardens. Beautiful sunflowers, celosia, coxcomb, scabiosa, gomphrena, gerberas, etc. in a lovely array of summertime hues:
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| mini gerberas, gomphrena, scabiosa |
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| mini gerbera daisies in pinks and oranges. |
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| strawberry gomphrena and black knight scabiosa. |
Not only have we been receiving such beauty, but we have also been creating beauty with them also. A couple weeks ago I created several new Texas-grown arrangements for our website, including a few with bright yellow asiatic lilies. Because the flowers from our Texas growers can easily vary from week to week, it can be difficult to have an inventory of various Texas-grown arrangements. Designing new arrangements and figuring out how to better sell our Texas-grown flowers is something we are definitely trying to work on this season because we really want to highlight Texas and sell our locally-grown product! Being season-specific is kind of a new idea for us, but we're starting to be more adept at changing with the seasons, so to speak. Just check out our website, we now have a
Summer Collection!
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| Mellow Yellow: Texas lilies and filler. |
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| Texas Garden Vase |
Bright and beautiful! On an end note, we hired a new employee, Lindsay from C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I Cincinnati (Babes in Toyland, anyone?)! Oh, and the ladies of Ben White Florist are finally getting new T-shirts that are very female-friendly (we all remember the shirts of yesteryear and how they fit, or should I say, didn't fit). It's nice when one of the employees knows a freaking cool screenprinter. Hopefully, we will be sporting those beauties by next week. Also, check out out new
Meet the Crew section on our website with updated photos and everything. It's pretty great.
