Long time, few posts...

I have been slacking on the Blog. Go ahead and slap my wrists, but I have good reasons. The biggest of those, is that my camera broke, and I had to send it off to get fixed. Right now I am down at my parents house in Homestead. My sister, her husband & their 7 month old twins are visiting from Okinawa. Dave is in the Air Force and stationed there, until this fall, when the will move to California. So Terry, Abbey & took a long weekend to visit with everyone. Today we took part in my Dad's annual LSU Crawfish boil. Yes, we were in enemy territory, but we survived. Tomorrow we are having an Open House, for everyone to meet the twins, and see how big Abbey has gotten. One bonus about being here, is that there is this place called Knaus Berry Farm. They are open from mid-November, until the last weekend in April. So we have been snacking on Cinnamon Rolls and Milkshakes.

Haven Hospice Helpers

In preparing for the 5th Annual Haven Hospice Bayou Bash, on Saturday the 18th. We had members of the decorating committee come & help make the centerpieces. Thanks Barbi, Becky & Barbara for your help. Here are the flowers, before we arranged them. We used a mix of Orchids, Bells Of Ireland, Solidago, Curly Willow & Monstera leaves.
Here are the ladies preparing the Curly Willow.

Doing our part!

There are many things that we do at The Plant Shoppe, which are environmentally friendly. Ever since we moved into our new building last year we have been recycling everything we can. The cardboard, and brown bags we receive our plants in. Our compost bin is overflowing with the old flowers, stems & leaves we do not use in our arrangements. I have even added some rabbit pellets from our neighbors. All of our food containers are put in the blue bin. We try to route our deliveries so that we are not running around town more than necessary. The plants we sell produce oxygen. Turning lights off in sections of the building we are not using saves electricity, and lets us use the air conditioner less. We even reuse containers, if they are in good condition. Let us know if you have any other ideas we could put to use.

With visions of Sugarplum Fairies dancing in her head.

So when I ordered Sugarplum colored roses for Joan & Bill's wedding in March, I got a call from Larry (my supplier). He wanted to know what color Sugarplum was. He had no idea. I asked him if he had ever heard of the Sugarplum fairy. Well sort of, wasn't she in a play or something? I told him to ask his 9 year old daughter, she could tell him. Anyway, there isn't exactly a rose that is sugarplum, but Joan told me I could use an assortment of pinks & ivory for her bouquets. Here is what we created. Three different shades of roses, and waxflower. Larry will probably never admit to not knowing a color again. For the rest of the day every call he took from customers, asked him for something in Sugarplum.....roses, lilies, hygrangea, carnation. Somehow it had become a very popular color in just a matter of minutes. Or maybe it is becuase everyone who answered the phone told the customers to ask for that color....thank you ladies, for helping me pick on Larry. And for those of you who don't know if is kinda of a pinky-purple color.

Here is a dress by Mori Lee in Sugarplum

Ceremony: Westside Baptist
Reception: Westside Baptist
Florist: Us

Nicole & Brian

Nicole came to us with a picture of a bouquet she wanted us to recreate. Here is what we came up with. Nicole's bouquet is made of hydrangea, roses, gardenia, pittosporum & pink cymbidium orchids. Brian's bout was a pink cymbidium orchid to match Nicole's bouquet.

Ceremony: Baughman Center
Reception: Plantation Hall
Florist: Us

13 kids under the age of 6

That is what you get when you visit our relatives for Easter. We traveled up to Yulee for Easter, as we do every year. Abbey loves being surrounded by her cousins. Here are some of the highlights. This is her going thru her basket from the Easter Bunny.

Here is the 6 and under gang, along with some additional relatives to hold the babies.

Here are some of them getting ready to hunt the eggs.

Abbey has found one hanging in the tree.What a fun day. We are so fortunate to have so many relatives near by.

Michelle & Justin

Bright & cheery were the colors of the day on Saturday, when Michelle & Justin were wed at The Baughman Center. Michelle brought me a picture, that she wanted her flowers fashioned after. A frosted vase, filled with Gerber daisy, roses & wax flower. Her bouquet is made of yellow roses, wrapped with a section of her shawl. The bridesmaids are orange & fuchsia Gerber daisy, yellow roses & purple wax flower.

Here is Michelle & Justin as they arrive at The Paramount Plaza Hotel for their reception Michelle provided me with frosted vases for the centerpieces. She was not able to find frosted faces that she liked, so they frosted them. The arrangements were replicas of the bridesmaids bouquets, except yellow spray roses were used for a fuller look.
Cakes by Jenny provided the cupcake tower, which was used instead of a traditional wedding cake.

There was a special treat for their young guests at the reception.
Just thought I'd show you all the centerpieces, before they were delivered.

Ceremony: The Baughman Center
Reception: Paramount Plaza Hotel
Photographer: A Friend
Florist: Us
Caterer: Paramount Plaza Hotel
Cake: Cake by Jenny

Attention Cat Lovers!

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, lilies are considered highly toxic to cats. While the poisonous component has not yet been identified, it is clear that small amounts of the plant, when ingested, can result in severe kidney damage. The Plant Shoppe recommends keeping lilies out of the reach of cats. It is important to note that lilies do not pose a problem for other pets or humans.

Armida & Eric

Armida & Eric were wed on a glorious January day. Periwinkle blue & white were the colors of the day. Armida provided me with some bling to add to her bouquet.

The Bouquet is made of Hydrangea & Delphenium.

For her attendants, we did wrist corsages of white spray roses.

Here Eric is sporting his bout made of light blue Delphenium & a salal leaf.

Look at this fantastic shot of the Baughman Center.

Ceremony: Baughman Center
Reception: University of Florida Museum of Natural History
Photographer: Jimmy Ho
Florist: Us
Caterer: Celebrations Catering
Cake: Ms. Debbie
Planner: A'vie (day of)

Kristen & Raymond

Kristen & Raymond just celebrated their 1 year anniversary, and I thought I'd share some of the images from their big day. Ivory & green were the colors of the day. Kristen's bouquet was made of calla lily.

Here is a detail of the wrap used on her bouquet. It is part of her dress that left over, once alterations were made.
Here is Raymond & Kristen.
A close up of the kissing balls the flower girls carried.

Ceremony: Baughman Center
Reception: Gainesville Garden Club
Photographer: Mario's Photography
Florist: Us
Cake: Publix

Bryn & Hossein

I previously featured them before, with pictures I had taken.

Now here are some of their pictures, by Jimmy Ho

Ceremony: Baughman Center
Reception: Sweetwater Branch Inn
Photographer: Jimmy Ho
Florist: Us
Caterer: Sweetwater Branch Inn

Kanapaha Garden Festival

Theresa went to the Spring Garden Festival this past weekend at Kanapaha Botanical Garden . She took this great picture that any "Gator" would love.

Powers Photography

Stewart sent me all these great images that Powers Photography took of Leslie & Dave's wedding. I just couldn't wait to share them with you.

Tina & Aaron

Tina & Aaron were wed, and White, Yellow, & Grey were the colors of the day. Here is the bouquet, which has hydrangea, roses, parrot tulips, anemone, mini calla lily and white feathers.

Ceremony: Baughman Center
Reception: Plantation Hall
Photographer: Rob Witzel
Florist: Us
Caterer: Chef's Brothers
Cake:
Planner: A'vie

VIVA! 2009

Haven Hospice’s bayou bash—ViVA! 2009—returns for a fifth year!
Buy your tickets now…sold out in 2008!

WHAT: ViVA! 2009—A Bayou Bash, featuring music, dancing and other bayou festivities, Cajun cuisine by Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille, live and silent auctions of vacation adventures, jewelry, a private wine-tasting party and more.

WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, 2009.

WHERE: This fifth annual benefit for Haven Hospice returns to the Rembert Farm in Alachua, Florida.

WHO: Reservations and tickets are required. The cost is $125 per guest. For tickets or more information on becoming a sponsor of ViVA! 2009 -- A Bayou Bash on Sat., April 18, contact (352) 271-4662, email klgove@havenhospice.org, or log onto http://www.vivameanslife.org/.

WHY: One hundred percent of the proceeds from ViVA! 2009 support patient care, services and the many programs provided by Haven Hospice that are otherwise unfunded.

About Haven Hospice
Haven Hospice is North Florida’s expert in end-of-life and palliative care and is one of three 2008 Circle of Life Award® winners nationwide to be recognized as leaders in improving the care of patients near the end of life or with life-threatening conditions. Haven Hospice has also been recognized as a Florida Pacesetter for its leadership in promoting living wills. Haven Hospice has served more than 44,000 patients and families since 1979 and has been licensed in Florida as a not-for-profit hospice since 1980. For more information, visit www.havenhospice.org or call 800-727-1889.

Haven Hospice is an affiliate of SantaFe HealthCare, a family of community-based, not-for-profit organizations serving Floridians throughout all phases of life. In addition to Haven Hospice, SantaFe HealthCare also operates AvMed Health Plans, which serves over 240,000 commercial and Medicare members throughout Florida, and SantaFe Senior Living, which operates senior living retirement community in Gainesville, Clearwater and Miami.

Green Hair????

And it isn't even summertime yet. So, it must be St. Patrick's Day. We have been painting Abbey's Hair different colors for a while now. Here she is with Alison & Elena before gymnastics class last Tuesday. The class theme was St. Patrick's Day, and the teacher told them to wear green (thanks Jennifer for the t-shirts & hair color).

Here the girls are, with Alyssa, after their class.

Kasey & Zach

I have never seen the Gainesville Garden Club meeting hall look so pretty. Kasey and her friends put in a lot of work and attention to detail. For the tables they used ivory linens with mirrored squares and candles. We supplied some red petals to add a splash of color. Here is her bouquet, those of her bridesmaids, and kissing balls for the flower girls.
Here is a close up of her bouquet, with a little bling added. Red roses & salal leaves.

What is 84" wide & 132" Tall?

Our great new rental item. I finally bit the bullet and bought our very own Arbor to rent for events. (Yes Angela, this is the one I have been looking at for 2 years now.)

The inside opening is 6 1/2" wide and 8' tall, and with the extenders I bought it can be 8' wide and 9' tall. It is black and can sit in the grass, or on any flat surface. Terry and I took it out of the packaging today, and set it up in our storage room. Not long after looking at it, I started getting all kinds of great ideas on how to decorate it. (We will have it set up for a few days, if anyone wants to come by and check it out.)

One of the ideas I had was to hang these flower pouches from it. Even though my original idea was to hang the pouches off hooks. I think they would look great hanging from the Arbor.

Regin & Dylan

Regin came in looking for something a little different when it came to her bouquet. While looking thru the albums we have at the shop, she found what she was looking for. An inverted bouquet. Hers, made of dyed blue orchids & brown hypericum, is only the 3rd one I have created.

Here is a close up of an orchid, that was used for a bout.

The bride's attendants carried hydrangea, orchids & hypericum.

Ceremony: Paynes Prairie
Reception: Their Home
Florist: Us