A Holiday Wish from Tish

Happy creating!

Workshop: Holiday Decorating

Happy December!

A few weeks ago, I was asked to conduct a holiday workshop at St. David's Golf Club. For a few hours on a crisp winter night, I demonstrated a variety of holiday floral ideas, including the three options the participants could select to create themselves: a mixed green wreath with gilded pine cone rosettes, wheat, and green apples;  a jewel-like arrangement of roses, boxwood, and berries in an oversized julep cup;  and an oblong arrangement in a mossed log of greens, white roses, casablanca lilies, orchids, and gilded elements.

There were so many of us, we took up an entire ballroom! What a great evening!

A special thank you to my friend and colleague, Laurie Velitskovich, who was so wonderful to come and shoot the event - her photos are below. Visit her blog and her website to see some more of her work.

Bringing the Outside In

Fall is in full swing and the changing landscape is spectacular – new shades, textures, and shapes are revealed during this time of transition, made all the more beautiful in this wash of glimmering, almost golden light.  The traditional time of food harvest is also a time of floral harvest. For many many years I have harvested the parks, roads, and woods for materials: osage oranges, thistle, teasel, grasses, pods, sweet gum balls, as well as cut various items from my garden to dry.  Nature offers boundless inspiration, constantly.

My wedding of a few weeks ago did just this – brought the outside in – as they selected a blaze of fall colors for their centerpieces.  We created two looks in glass for the tables - high arrangements in pilsners and low arrangements in cubes. The colors are what made it spectacular - bright oranges and velvety reds cushioned in antique hydrangea and deep greens. The texture, shape, and color of the kangaroo paw made this look pop and the embroidered gold organza overlays were the perfect complement. 

The cake was pretty marvelous – I haven’t decorated a cake with so many flowers in such a long time and I always love how this looks. I may be biased, but I think nothing tops fresh flowers on a cake, and the cascading design is so lovely.

Flowers pictured include:  kangaroo paw, antique hydrangea, blackout and brunello lilies, freedon roses, orange unique roses, italian ruscus, snapdragon, hypericum berries, vendela roses, salal, and green hydrangea.