flores del sol

house beautiful feature

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 14:21:00 +0000

I was interviewed by House Beautiful on inspired ways to style your front porch for fall. Fall container planting season is just about here as the weather is cooling off now and the fall plants will have a chance to survive without the scorching temperatures. Check out the feature here!

floral crowns in february

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 19:52:00 +0000

Last month, I had the pleasure of teaching a floral crown workshop. This winter has been brutal on New Jersey, especially the week that we held the workshop. Spring flowers were needed to lift our spirits, and that is exactly what they did! It was hosted by Stef, Erica and Jenn of Bits & Pieces Vintage Rentals at their warehouse. To say I was impressed is a huge understatement. The space and pieces are gorgeous!

The photos were taken by Adeline of You Look Lovely Photography. Her photo talent is impeccable.

floral crown workshop!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:12:00 +0000

I am excited to announce that I am teaching another workshop with Bits and Pieces Rentals! In this workshop, I will be sharing how to make floral crowns. Perfect for the DIY Bride, mommy of little girls, the inner hippie or just to make spring come a little earlier! Join us on Friday, February 27th from 7- 9:30pm at Bits and Pieces Rentals here in New Jersey. There will be treats, drinks and fun times, as always!

Go here for more details and to register!

wreath workshop re-cap!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:21:00 +0000

gorgeous graphic above by Lindsay Crafter

I had the pleasure of teaching a winter wreath making class that was hosted by Bits and Pieces Rentals at Murray & Finn in downtown Summit, New Jersey. It was a lovey evening!

Most of these photos were taken by the lovely and talented Adeline Ramos of You Look Lovely Photography!

Table settings:

The wreath ingredients to choose from:

The fragrance from the evening was tantalizing! Fresh cedar, bay leaves, white pine and eucalyptus mixed with the scent of hot cocoa.

Demonstrating and making pretty messes:

Me and the final wreath!

The ladies at Murray and Fin and Bits and Pieces Rentals did an amazing job. They sure know how to throw a party. The food and drinks were so tasty and the camp-out theme was pinterest worthy.

A few attendees, hard at work:

A finished wreath! The evening was truly a delight. We enjoyed chatting and laughing well into the evening. I was so impressed by how everyone's wreaths came out. I will be teaching some more workshops in the near future so stay tuned!

Photos by You Look Lovely Photography. Photos 1, 2, 5, 18- 20 by me.

If you are interested in hosting a workshop in the New York City, New Jersey and surrounding areas and would like me to teach, please contact me!

-flores del sol and Anthropologie workshop

wreath workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000

I am excited to announce a winter wreath workshop that I will be teaching on Thursday, December 11th, 2014! Bits and Pieces Rentals will be hosting at Murray & Finn in downtown Summit, New Jersey. Join us for some drinks and treats from 7:30-9 and of course, winter wreath making. The wreaths are fragrant and long lasting, perfect for a holiday gift or for yourself. Cost is $40 per guest. Everyone attending will receive 25% off Murray & Finn merchandise, it's the perfect time to holiday shop too! Register here or by visiting Murray & Finn in person. Hope to see you there!

a closer look at the flowers in the great gatsby

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:47:00 +0000

The Great Gatsby won two Oscars at the Academy Awards last week in the design category. The movie took large strides in inspiring both fashion and decor last year. Catherine Martin was the production manager and won Oscars in both best costumes and best production design with set decorator Beverley Dunn.

The flower scene in The Great Gatsby is my favorite, both in the novel and the movie, although the later far surpassed my limited imagination in high school English class. The scene is set for Gatsby to reunite with his beloved Daisy and no luxurious detail is spared.

"The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o’clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby’s, with innumerable receptacles to contain it. An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes."

Daisy and Gatsby sharing a moment amidst an explosion of lavish hot house orchids. Stems of cymbidium, dendrobium and phalaenopsis orchids in a cream, soft green and white color palette.

"We chose to put a ludicrous number of flowers, particularly orchids, because that would've required hothouses and would represent Gatsby's extraordinary wealth." production designer Martin said.

Martin, who also won two Oscars for production and costume design of Moulin Rouge, answered a few questions for the LA times on the art deco floral design inspiration:

What was the inspiration for those outrageous floral sprays in Gatsby's house?
I looked at interiors done by Elsie de Wolfe, but the main influence was Constance Spry, probably the most famous florist in London in the 1930s and a favorite of the duchess of Windsor. For her time, she was extremely wild and surrealist, adding cabbage leaves and unexpected country garden things to arrangements. We chose to put a ludicrous number of flowers, particularly orchids, because that would’ve required hothouses and would represent Gatsby's extraordinary wealth. Constance Spry was one of the first people to put flowers in urns and ceramic swans and other unusual containers, but her arrangements tended to be a little less full. I chose to override her style a little bit and fill the arrangements out. The modern eye wouldn’t understand such a deliberate period look.

The Harlem apartment of Tom Buchanan's mistress also has a giddy gaudiness. How did you achieve that?
I worked with Karman Grech, who has original wallpaper sample books from the 1920s and had a floral with lots of red and pink reproduced. In the Fitzgerald book it says the couch is upholstered in something that looked like the 18th century painting of a girl in a swing by Fragonard. So we had that digitally printed onto the upholstery fabric.

I was hard pressed to find out if they were silk orchids or fresh until I came across this article pointing to an all artificial orchid scene. This explains their particularly perfect appearance, not one bruise or brown blotch in sight! What a visually stunning movie.

I put together examples of some of the orchids used:

Photo credits warner brothers and lucky magazine.

flowers for the NJ Devils

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:42:00 +0000

No, this was not a Christmas party, I designed flowers for a party for the New Jersey Devils! The party was at the Liberty House in Jersey City in Liberty State Park with sweeping views of NYC and the statue of liberty. It was difficult for me to get a good photo of the arrangements with the skyline stealing the show! I did find some reproduction hobnail glass vases that I absolutely love, you can see the dots slightly in the light in the photo above. Lets go Devils!

a brooklyn backyard wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:11:00 +0000

I had the chance to design for a gorgeous brooklyn backyard wedding.

The pretty scene was set amongst the textures of brick and ivy and featured on Style Me Pretty.

Photos taken by Isabelle Selby Photography

For the whole photo gallery, visit style me pretty here.

The bouquet and boutonniere are available for purchase in my shop here.

Winter holiday container plantings

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 21:10:00 +0000

I love magnolia. I feel like it is a must in my winter plantings. The velvety leaves and stems and the slight brown texture and color it brings to a design is complete perfection.

A few photos of containers I did for this years Holiday season:

8 of these window boxes!!!

Cant wait for next season... early spring! More photos of my container gardening here.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
-Christina.

Uncommon gift ideas for the botanical lover

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I partnered up with UncommonGoods to show some fabulous uncommon gift ideas for the botanical lover. The holidays are almost here and UncommonGoods has a lovely array of unique Christmas gifts to explore here. Naturally, when thinking of things a botanical lover would enjoy, I found intriguing items from the garden section here.

First up, I chose the vertical wall planter. I enjoyed picking out plants to tuck into the modern vessels. It's great that the vessels are attached with large magnets so you can easily remove them for watering and place them back up when done or to change up the design of the garden. What's also cool is that they can be hung on a fridge or a filing cabinet. I placed it in my little office corner which is now much more enticing for me to work on billing and my on-line holiday shopping with my own little vertical garden around me.

Next, these wall dot bud vases are a fun way to easily add a pop of botanical goodness to any room. I added them to my girls' room. They have a sleek modern feel but when paired with the preserved ferns, the modern turns delicate. They also hold water so I am excited to switch them out for fresh flowers once in a while if our garden is blooming or if we see a gorgeous bunch of flowers at the market.

Last, I picked the moss terrarium bottle. Guys are kind of hard to buy for, right? This would be wonderful for their desk or windowsill. The moss comes dormant but you soak it in water and then place it in the upcycled wine bottle and it begins to green and wake up! There are many other unique gift ideas for guys, check them out here.

This post is sponsored by UncommonGoods, an online marketplace offering unique designed and hand-crafted merchandise. All content and opinions are my own!

fall container plantings part II

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 14:53:00 +0000

A few final pictures of some of the autumn container plantings we did this season.

We picked out new triple ball topiaries for these front door containers that I love and the wrapping of the bittersweet berries around them seems to boldly state rustic fall:

little side door planter:

These next plantings were for an interior designer's home. I loved using the eclectic mix of plants to meet the eclectic mix of pots. I am delighted with how they turned out:

a head of croton plant, bittersweet berries, ornamental pepper, kale and kalanchoe plant:

This client wanted a simple English garden classic fall feel. Variegated Ivy, deep heuchera and ornamental plum pepper for the autumn season containers:

A hardy succulent centerpiece I planted in the summer was still going strong strong in the cooler outdoor temperatures at a clients home:

and last, a classic fall container of wheat grasses, kale, ornamental peppers, hardy fall mums, ivy and bittersweet berries.

formore of my flowering container gardens visit here.

fall container plantings part I

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 18:33:00 +0000

A few photos of some of the containers we planted up this autumn. It is always my favorite season with the simplicity of the designs, the cooler weather to work in and they always come out quite fetching.

this year I loved using the fuchsia celosia to bring a little different color and textures into the plantings (above).

for more of my flowering container gardens visit here.

Sunset at Montmajour

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 18:05:00 +0000

A Norwegian man hid this grand painting, Sunset at Montmajour, he was told was not a Van Gogh for six decades in his attic. Details of how it was discovered were not shared but this long lost painting has been authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used, and a traced history. The Van Gogh Museum director described the discovery as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" at an unveiling ceremony. The Van Gogh museum had rejected the painting themselves in 1990 as it was not signed by the artist. A two year investigation and new research technologies convinced them otherwise. It is now on display at the Van Gogh Museum starting on September 24th, 2013 in Amsterdam.

credit here and here

flowers for all!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:13:00 +0000

Have you heard of flowers for all.com? If not, listen up!

I was contacted by flowersforall.com to see if I would try out some samples of their flowers. I went on their website and found out they are a well-known and respected high end flower company that grows luxury flowers on their farms in South America. They cut the flowers fresh for orders and ship them directly to you! They have high credentials when it comes to using environmentally responsible practice and also ongoing commitment to work practices that protect the environment and their workers which is an important aspect in the floral trade. Because they are shipped directly from the growers, they are exceptional in appearance, quality and longevity and at the same time, affordable.

I picked out a box each of white roses, peach spray roses and bright yellow alstomeria. They were delivered by fed-ex directly to me from South America. As the fed-ex man handed one of the boxes over, the scent of fresh flowers caught my attention and he said "enjoy them!".

I couldn't help but open the boxes up right away. They were packaged lovely for gift giving, wrapped with a satin ribbon and a kind note. I cut them and let them drink up. Already, even without designing and just snipping them all the same length, they were beautiful! I waited a few days for them to open up before designing.

My favorite of the samples I received were the peach spray roses. They bloomed so lovely and were full of ruffled petals. I left them in my girls' room and they would not stop sneaking sniffs because of their lovely scent.

the vibrant alstromeria:

After the flowers opened up a few days later, I picked out a vintage milk glass pedestal to design in and used my trusty kenzan (the proper japanese ikebana term for a flower frog). I snipped some mint that grows wild, myrtle, citrus branches and lengthy wandering jew vine from my garden and started designing.

I loved the results of my garden themed design. Each of the flowers were top of the line and opened up beautiful. Just look at those white roses!

My apartment smelled wonderful for days as the citrus, flowers and mint all mingled together. I am confident that you will enjoy your experience ordering from flowersforall.com for any floral occasion and I am grateful for the chance I've had to share their beauty with you!

New York Botanical Garden - with kids!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 17:54:00 +0000

The New York Botanical Garden invited me to explore their gardens so this past weekend I took up the opportunity and went with my husband and 3 little girls for our first visit to it in the Bronx. A first of many visits for certain!

Elegant autumn toned dahlias grew in the seasonal walk

I could not contain my excitement and I think it rubbed off on my girls as we excitedly went from garden to garden. As we walked up to the conservatory, my husband saw the sign "A world of Plants" and knew without words that I would want a picture in front of it.

so many lovely green textures.

I really enjoyed the different hanging baskets of Apocynaceae plants native to Indonesia and Malaysia:

riding on the tram!

The flowering 'sweet autumn clematis' were a sight to see:

Naturally, we spent the most time in the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. My girls loved seeing the massive critters designed using different plantings.

They also enjoyed a scavenger hunt that had them searching for medicinal plants. They even got to plant and take home their own medicinal plant to put on mosquito bites. At the time, I missed what seed it was that they were planting, but we will find out once they start to sprout!

overflowing hydrangeas

The garden grounds were so much larger than I expected! For any horty like me, I would recommend spending a full day at the gardens to fully enjoy each area without feeling rushed. There are many things I would love to go back and discover more about that we did not have time to see, especially the Mertz Library. It is one of the world's largest and most important botanical and horticultural research libraries, with over one million items such as books, journals, original art and illustration, seed and nursery catalogs, architectural plans of glass houses, scientific reprints, and photographs. I think that alone would take a whole day for me to enjoy.

As for my girls, they loved it and asked the next morning "when can we go back?!".

Eddie Zaratsian's new book: Custom Florals and Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Tap tap tap, is this thing on? I had a nice summer break and with the cool weather slowly approaching, the start of school and all that's good that comes with the Fall, I'm back again.

Eddie Zaratsian has a new book Eddie Zaratsian: Custom Florals and Lifestyle that is due to be released September 26, 2013 and I am excited to share some of the exquisite images with you!

In a floral industry that has recently been taken over by the lush garden, Baroque style designs, it is nice to encounter some west coast contemporary design.

I was intrigued by the great attention to detail, the use of so many textures and natural botanical material that that Eddie uses. It is no wonder that he is a Florist to the stars of Hollywood. He has a style that is heavily influenced by contemporary European floral design. Eddie's talent has teamed up with Restoration Hardware in their Beverly Hills store for their first floral galley boutique where his modern textural floral art mixes and compliments their styled line of furniture and accessories.

The book hosts many vivid photographs of floral eye candy paired with some of Eddie's favorite floral quotes, its every flower fanatic's must have.

"I have always been adamant about creating a beautiful art book, one that could rest on your coffee table or in a common room while the blend of texture, color and unusual combinations of flowers became an affirming inspiration." -Eddie Zaratsian,in the book's preface.

photos copyrighted by photographer Marianne Lozano

A visit to Terrain

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:08:00 +0000

I've been wanting to visit Terrain the store in Glenn Mills, PA since I've come across it on-line a few years back. Their online gardening and floral merchandise is impeccable, I mean right up my gardening/ flower alley. Not to mention that it is from the same company as Anthropologie so I had high expectations as I headed there with my friend Julie as we were in Philly for the day. Let me tell you, my expectations were met, and then some!

A wall of mounted staghorn ferns as soon as we walked in!? I was hooked right away.

They had all sorts of small plants to choose from, along with an array of vessels and vases to create your own terrarium:

I have the same chairs but in white! Seeing them in here made me relax a little bit from the chance I took buying them last summer, few!! Now I just need an old farmhouse table like that one ;)

Julie looking at some magazines

Plants were everywhere, all different kinds of houseplants inside to choose from. Not to mention the outdoor garden center full of annuals and perennials. Everywhere I turned their artistic displays were inspiring.

They have a garden cafe that is nestled into an old greenhouse that boasts of using seasonal local hand selected meats, produce and dairy products. We did not have time to stop and enjoy it, but all the more reason for me to go back.

There was a small wedding taking place as we were there. What a lovely location that would be! I was like a little kid in a candy shop at Terrain, I knew it would be worth the little treck out to it and I was right. It is now officially my favorite store I've ever been. No joke! I highly recommend a visit and I can't wait to go back during a different season to see their displays and ingenuity.

summer 2013 container plantings part II

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 12:24:00 +0000

Part 2 of a few of this seasons container plantings that we did.

Hardy succulents:

oleander topiaries:

up close window box:

window boxes up high:

I love using fern in this one:

up close, pink and succulents:

from far:

it was a great summer season! for more of our container plantings check out here

We container plant in northern new jersey. Primarily Short Hills, Summit, and Livingston areas.

summer 2013 container plantings part I

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 18:52:00 +0000

A few container plantings from this years summer season! We really got into the succulents this year. Mostly because our grower has been dabbling in growing them. Lets just say we wiped out his inventory of them by the time the summer planting season was over.

I think these were my favorite this year, honeysuckle trellises as the focal with oranges, purple, dusty miller gray and lime green at the bottom:

bougainvillea topiaries were definitely bright focal points for this modern style house:

planting a smaller container mix:

echeveria succulents and creeping jenny outdoor summer centerpiece:

more from the 2013 Fresh Art Planting summer season coming up!

for previous fresh art designs go here.

We container plant in northern new jersey. Primarily Short Hills, Summit, and Livingston areas.

exploring princeton university

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 03:21:00 +0000

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A 1/2 day for my husband, a craigslist find in Princeton and an hour car ride later we found ourselves in South Jersey walking the campus and admiring the architecture of one of the countries oldest universities, Princeton.

Ivy, ivy, ivy! It's not called Ivy Leauge for nothing. Ivy creeps and crawls everywhere throughout the campus. It is trimmed and taken care of properly to show how gorgeous it can be on brick buildings. Graduating Princeton seniors started the custom of planting ivy at the university building, Nassau Hall, in 1866 as seen above. It became part of each graduating class’s tradition and they also placed a plaque on the wall with the date of their graduation.

My girls had a great time exploring all the different "castles". Good thing the campus was pretty empty as we were pretty loud everywhere we went.

ivy hill

snack time:

I am so glad we made this little day trip. Princeton is a breathtakingly old and intriguing campus. Moreno girls, class of 2028, 2030 and 2032.

walking the high line, nyc

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:30:00 +0000

We took an afternoon as a family in the city and walked the High Line! I have been wanting to do it for ages and I don't know why it took so long to go. It was gorgeous, very windy, but oh so worth it. The High Line is a modern park made from the old, elevated New York Central Railroad on the lower west side of Manhattan.

Peekaboo empire state building:

The old rail lines have been repurposed into an ever growing luscious flowering wonderland in the bustle of the city. Recycling at its best. I love how they kept some of the rail lines intact though and planted in and amongst them.

It's neat to walk elevated through all of the buildings while still in a park that is a mile and a half long.

If you are planning a trip to NYC anytime soon, I highly recommend walking the High Line! It was great to walk with kids too. My girls loved looking at the flowers, climbing on the benches and just plain old people watching. We can't wait to go back!

ps- if you are planning on going with kids, check out this book, The Curious Garden by Peter Brown and read it before you go. It is a children's book inspired by the High Line and now one of our favorites.

new york botanical garden horticultural classes

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:02:00 +0000

I get asked a lot of where/how do you start if you want to learn floral design?

I started young, always picking wildflowers at my country farmhouse as a little girl. I would make posies of my mother's peonies in early june, flox in mid summer and wildflowers from the fields during late Indian summers. I wanted to learn more though, the design mechanics that books can not teach. I chose to study horticulture at BYU-Idaho and took many floral design classes along with it as I earned my bachelors degree. But that doesn't help those who are ask me and live local, now that I live in the NYC metro area.

I've come across New York Botanical Gardens adult horticultural education classes. In-depth summer classes taught by top notch professionals in Floral Design, Landscape design or Gardening with a NYBG Certificate at the end of the class. They sound ideal for the person looking to change careers or just learn the floral design art. For me the landscape design classes sound intriguing, and I took basic ones in college, I would love to further my knowledge. Summer classes start July 8th! More information here.

all images copyright of NYBG

floral corsages with anthropologie

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I had the honor of hosting a DIY Mother's Day workshop at Anthropologie in Montclair, New Jersey last Thursday evening! In honor of Mother's Day, we made some lovely dried floral corsages. The team at the Montclair location went above and beyond to set the scene for a great group of ladies who attended. We sat cozy on their second floor surrounded by large old pained windows, exposed brick and anthro merchandise eyecandy.

First I demonstrated how to use and twist florist tape onto a stem. Then the ladies were given free reign to choose focal flowers, accent flowers, and greens for added texture to their corsages. They also had different ribbons and twine to choose from to wrap their stems and tie bows with.

The finished corsages were placed in a box and adorned with homemade tags the ladies made.

Gorgeous photos, no?!

To say that I enjoyed myself is an understatement. It was such a fun and intimate evening! Thank you to all of the Ladies who came out and also to those at the Anthropologie store and headquarters who worked hard to bring this event to life.

All of the dreamy photos were taken by talented Casey McDaniel Photography, thank you Casey!

For more photos from the event, check out my facebook page here.

a flores del sol and anthropologie event!

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:02:00 +0000

I have some big and exciting news to share today, I will be hosting a Mother's Day DIY event with Anthropologie! It will be held at their Montclair, New Jersey location on May 9th. It is free, but spaces are limited so sign up quick! We will be making dried floral corsages just in time for mother's day. Please come, I'd love to meet you!

trumpet tree

noreply@blogger.com (Christina Rose //floresdelsol) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:18:00 +0000

I just got back from a little vacation down south in Florida and Georgia. I kept noticing these pretty tabebuia trees that were flowering in Florida. The yellow trumpet like blooms were dropping from the trees in the wind littering the grass with eye candy. This is my little Penny enjoying the dropped blossoms. I can't wait for the trees to start blooming here soon!