Flower Friends, Summer Part Two

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For this summer post, Brooke and I were joined by another flower friend, Adrianne Smith an Encinitas based floral designer and artist.  Adrianne is always up for something new and three of us had so much fun putting together arrangements and bouquets with flowers from my garden, local zinnia from Sebastopol and the wonderful cutting garden at Valley Flora.  

Adrianne and Brooke, such good flower friends.

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Flower Friends is an ongoing seasonal series between friends who love and work with flowers.  Our spring series with Laura Miller can be seen here (four parts total).

All flowers and styling in this post by Adrianne Smith, Brooke Harrington and Silvanie Farmar Bowers.  All photos by Silvanie Farmar Bowers. 

Flower Friends, Summer Part One

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Brooke and I are back with our Flower Friends for summer.  She and I both are inspired by nature and like to keep things as natural as possible and not too fussy.  We cut most of the flowers ourselves and used leftovers from Valley Flora that were headed for compost.   It was a beautiful evening in Napa and we came upon the best wild camomile that we added to this bouquet.  Here in California, summers are golden and dry with the amazing evening light.  

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We thought this arrangement of flowering cilantro, Queen Anne's lace and feverfew looked pretty amazing just as it was, blowing over in the wind.   

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Check out some of our spring Flower Friends here.

All florals and styling by Brooke Harrington and Silvanie Farmar Bowers.  Photos by Silvanie Farmar Bowers. 

Flower Friends, Spring Part Three

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Another in this series of spring florals done by Brooke Harrington, Laura Miller and myself.  All working in floral design, we love to do floral things when we get together.  Last week, we spent a few hours in Laura's beautiful garden in Oakland making vignettes using mostly flowers from our own gardens.

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Cheers!

Flower Friends, Spring Part Two

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Another spring vignette from our day of floral styling in Laura's beautiful garden.   Brooke brought some fava beans and fresh eggs from her hens to share.  

All flowers and styling by Laura Miller, Brooke Harrington and Silvanie Farmar Bowers.  All photos by Silvanie Farmar Bowers.

   

Flower Friends, Spring Part One

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I love to get together with my flower friends and have some fun.  Earlier this week, Brooke Harrington and I met up at Laura Miller's sweet house in Oakland.  You may remember Laura's house and studio visit I did last spring (here).  The three of us styled a few little vignettes in her beautiful garden.  All of the flowers we used were gathered by us from our gardens.  

Laura working on her tool alcove and potting bench.

We borrowed some of my mom's enamelware.

Laura beautifying!

All flowers and styling by Laura Miller, Brooke Harrington and Silvanie Farmar Bowers.  All photos by Silvanie Farmar Bowers.

Check out my visit to Brooke's garden and floral design studio.  Thanks to my mom, Lisbeth for enamelware and roses.  You can see a visit to her sweet house.

 

 

Laura Miller, Floral Studio Visit

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Laura is an Oakland based floral designer who specializes in weddings and special events.  She was kind enough to open her adorable house and studio to me this past weekend, which she shares with her dog Parker and cat Cleo.  With nearly two decades in the floral industry, Laura describes her design style as "inspired by nature, the way plants grown naturally, with layers of texture and dimension.  And as an avid gardener, I include unique blooms from my own garden into my designs whenever possible".  She has an awesome garden and a massive love for clematis and succulents.  Laura is also a collector of vintage ceramics and has wonderful vignettes displayed throughout her house.

Questions with Laura;

How long have you lived in your house?  Eight and a half years.

What are some of your favorite things about living in your house?  I've always been drawn towards older home and feel in love with it's character and charm, along with the garden space, at first site.  It's small, but has everything I need wrapped into a perfect package.  I love the diversity of Oakland, and the fact that it's so centrally located to many different areas allows me to work in areas outside Oakland.

When did you start your floral design business?  I started working in a flower shop in Los Angeles as a bookkeeper, quickly I was drawn into the "floral" environment, being a gardener at a young age in made sense. I worked in a few retail florists and gift shops as a sales person learning the ins and outs of the business, then I landed a job where I learned design, and that ended in my purchasing an existing business 16 years ago.

What are you favorite elements to design for a wedding?  Lately I'm enjoy creating centerpieces more and more, but I've always loved making bouquets and boutonnieres.

What would be your ideal setting and florals for a wedding?  Outdoors in a natural setting. Being a lover of nature and gardens, I've always been more attracted to including a wide array of elements in my designs.  Including textural foliages along with different sized and shaped floral blooms to create what we see in nature. I'm a sucker for a cool vessel.

What do you find easiest and hardest about having a home-based studio?  The easiest thing is NO commute traffic to deal with ever. The most difficult is motivating myself to get things done every day, to keep on top of the future work. When I do have a job I have a difficult time saying good night and not going back outside to work on something else after hours. 

You have a lot of collections and vignettes around your house.  What are some of your favorite pieces?  My doll parts and pottery collection are the overall favorites. I love the floral prints above my desk and the old sheers, but the current favorite is a wooden box vignette in my room.

What are some of your favorite places to go in Oakland and the East Bay?  Tail of the Yak (ribbons), Urban Indigo (gifts), Bocanova (food/drinks), Redwood Regional Park (hiking with Parker), Dona Tomas (food/drinks), Tattoo 13 (tattoos),  Esqueleto (jewels), The Fox Theatre (music venue), Farmer Joe's  (grocery store)