Brantley, AL Florists

Brantley Flower Shop News

Fake flowers used to be considered tacky. Not anymore. - Washington Post

Garlough says arrangements are popular for second homes. “Who wants to arrive at a vacation home and be greeted by dead flowers?” she says.Carmel BrantleyDesigner Erin Paige Pitts uses faux hydrangeas in her Florida beach house.Emily A. ClarkA faux orchid Instagrammed by Emily A. Clark. She got it from the French Bee at One Kings Lane.Designer Erin Paige Pitts of Gibson Island, Md., and Delray Beach, Fla., can relate. “The quality of faux flowers has come a long way,” Pitts says. “The flowers on my dining table in Delray are faux, but no one thinks they are, they look so good. It’s nice to get to my house there and have the feeling of flowers even when I haven’t been there in weeks.”Although there’s no watering, artificial flowers need care. Garlough says that when you unwrap them, “they need a bit of zhuzhing, but so do real flowers.” So move them around a bit and fluff out the branches if needed. To keep silk or synthetic arrangements dust-free, you can clean gently with a soft, dry cloth or use the small brush attachment of your vacuum. Cetti advises keeping paper flowers out of direct sun and high-humidity areas. A blow-dryer can be used to get the dust off.More from Lifestyle:That old fussy china can fit your casual lifestyle. Designers talk about how.These city dwellers loved their rowhouse, but it was too small. So they doubled it.Americans are pack rats. Swedes have the solution: ‘Death cleaning.’...

Garden club's biennial flower show is on the grow in Palm Beach - Palm Beach Daily News

Yet even with such accomplishments, the flower show remains one of the club’s most visible events – and the floral arrangements aren’t the only showstoppers. Brantley Knowles’ simple but majestic bonsai cypress, for instance, stood out two years ago among the living specimen entries.And Mary Pressly’s prickly shoe adorned with palm thorns poked fun at how painful spike heels can be, a nod at the 2015 show’s fashion-inspired theme, “Hort Couture.” Pressly’s “Much Ado About a Shoe” took first prize in the Botanical Arts Division, where jewelry and objets d’art must be made entirely of plant material.In preparing for each show, Pressly keeps a constant eye out for intriguing shapes provided by nature. “When I travel, I’m always looking for interesting things,” she says. “I collect plant material in little baggies on my walks or even in my backyard.”Many of the designs that visitors see at the show take months to evolve. Two years ago, for example, a photo of a woman peeking into a car piled with boxes on top inspired Pressly to search scrapyards for a vintage Volkswagen Beetle that she and Webster could cover with moss. Hydrangeas spilling out of the open door and shopping bags of flowers piled on the car’s roof grabbed visitors’ attention as they entered the main hall.“I thought the car with boxes on top would really tell the ‘Hort Couture’ story,” says Pressly, who joined Webster as cochairwoman of that event.In fact, that eye-catching centerpiece signaled a new level for the Palm Beach club. “The Volkswagen was fabulous – even the men loved it. “We nearly doubled our attendance.”No small effortFounded in 1928, the garden club began staging flower shows the very next year. “Back in the day, the garden club held flower shows every year,” explains leading Palm Beach gardener Kit Pannill. “But, as the level of excellence has grown, so has the workload.”Hence, the every-other-year schedule, with displays filling entire rooms of the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery Building on the Four Arts’ campus.“We have about 100 members, so an event of this size is a major undertaking for us,” says club President Sue Strickland, whose planned entry at this year’s show incorporates seagrape leaves, palm fronds, chick peas and mustard seeds in a Lilly Pulitzer-inspired brooch for the botanical arts division.That’s one of the five major divisions, which also include floral design, horticulture, conservation and photography, although the latter category is not judged at the local show. Entries are open not only to members of the Palm Beach group but to members of any club affiliated with The Garden Club of America. The New York City-based GCA is a national umbrella organization with about 200 affiliated clubs.Because of today’s higher level of design along with additional entry categories, the Palm Beach flower show has moved closer to meeting the qualifications that would designate it a “major” national show, as defined the GCA. There are only six or seven such shows in the country — all of which are organized by much larger clubs, including those in Houston, Memphis, Philadelphia and Mil... http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/garden-club-flower-show-the-grow-this-weekend-palm-beach/e3jsJJWuT8JhzRFpvm9ZMM/

Garden club's flower show is on the grow this weekend in Palm Beach - Palm Beach Daily News

Yet even with such accomplishments, the flower show remains one of the club’s most visible events – and the floral arrangements aren’t the only showstoppers. Brantley Knowles’ simple but majestic bonsai cypress, for instance, stood out two years ago among the living specimen entries.And Mary Pressly’s prickly shoe adorned with palm thorns poked fun at how painful spike heels can be, a nod at the 2015 show’s fashion-inspired theme, “Hort Couture.” Pressly’s “Much Ado About a Shoe” took first prize in the Botanical Arts Division, where jewelry and objets d’art must be made entirely of plant material.In preparing for each show, Pressly keeps a constant eye out for intriguing shapes provided by nature. “When I travel, I’m always looking for interesting things,” she says. “I collect plant material in little baggies on my walks or even in my backyard.”Many of the designs that visitors see at the show take months to evolve. Two years ago, for example, a photo of a woman peeking into a car piled with boxes on top inspired Pressly to search scrapyards for a vintage Volkswagen Beetle that she and Webster could cover with moss. Hydrangeas spilling out of the open door and shopping bags of flowers piled on the car’s roof grabbed visitors’ attention as they entered the main hall.“I thought the car with boxes on top would really tell the ‘Hort Couture’ story,” says Pressly, who joined Webster as cochairwoman of that event.In fact, that eye-catching centerpiece signaled a new level for the Palm Beach club. “The Volkswagen was fabulous – even the men loved it. “We nearly doubled our attendance.”No small effortFounded in 1928, the garden club began staging flower shows the very next year. “Back in the day, the garden club held flower shows every year,” explains leading Palm Beach gardener Kit Pannill. “But, as the level of excellence has grown, so has the workload.”Hence, the every-other-year schedule, with displays filling entire rooms of the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery Building on the Four Arts’ campus.“We have about 100 members, so an event of this size is a major undertaking for us,” says club President Sue Strickland, whose planned entry at this year’s show incorporates seagrape leaves, palm fronds, chick peas and mustard seeds in a Lilly Pulitzer-inspired brooch for the botanical arts division.That’s one of the five major divisions, which also include floral design, horticulture, conservation and photography, although the latter category is not judged at the local show. Entries are open not only to members of the Palm Beach group but to members of any club affiliated with The Garden Club of America. The New York City-based GCA is a national umbrella organization with about 200 affiliated clubs.Because of today’s higher level of design along with additional entry categories, the Palm Beach flower show has moved closer to meeting the qualifications that would designate it a “major” national show, as defined the GCA. There are only six or seven such shows in the country — all of which are organized by much larger clubs, including those in Houston, Memphis, Philadelphia and Mil... http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/garden-club-flower-show-the-grow-this-weekend-palm-beach/e3jsJJWuT8JhzRFpvm9ZMM/

Longtime owner of Continental Florist dies - Vestavia Voice

Continental Florist Barbara Orr died Wednesday, Sept. 2 at the age of 85. Orr purchased the popular Rocky Ridge floral business in 1986 and was named the 2004 Florist of the Year by the Alabama State Florists' Association, according to her obituary. Orr is preceded in death by her husband, Herbert L. Orr; son, John Michael Orr; brother, Gray Garner Jr.; sister, Faye Gardner; father, Edward Gray Garner Sr.; and mother, Tressa Allen Garner. She is survived by her sons, James Steven Orr and David Garner Orr; daughter, Nancy Orr Athnos; grandchildren, Chelsea Marie Orr and Emily Louise Orr; and sister, Carolyn Bullard. A visitation will be held on Saturday, September 5, 2020 from 10 a.m. to noon at Currie-Jefferson Funeral Home in Hoover. ... https://vestaviavoice.com/news/longtime-owner-of-continental-florist-dies93/

‘The power of flowers’: Alabama’s florists cope with pandemic, recovery - AL.com

Volume dropped to almost nothing except what I could do,” Morris said.Morris’ experience was much like other industries, but it illustrates the particular challenges felt by florists around Alabama. The life events where people expect flowers - hospitalizations, funerals - were suddenly in the news, but the demand for them was all but extinguished.Cameron Pappas at Norton’s Florist in Birmingham said the lockdown, and the reopening that followed, has reminded him of the “power of flowers.”“We’ve had a lot of reminders of how important flowers are to everyone,” he said. “They keep people sane.”The pandemic hit America right in a peak season for florists - the rush before Easter, proms and spring events. Pappas said business began to slowdown by about 40 percent one week before his shop closed for two weeks on March 23. The store laid off all of its employees for that period.Cameron Pappas delivered flowers to Birmingham-area restaurants during the coronavirus shutdown.Thousands of floral businesses around America were left with perishable goods that they couldn’t sell. Just three days before Norton’s closed, it had received a shipment of about $5,000 in flowers. Rather than throw them out, Pappas said, they made bouquets to give away at restaurants and nursing homes that would accept them. In some cases, he hand delivered them.“We wanted the flowers to still do their job, to bring joy to bad situations,” he said. “We wanted them to say that we’re not going to let this virus take away the heart of our city.”Morris, 86, said he was reduced to little better than a one-man operation for about five weeks, with his nephew keeping the books. Most of the business coming in ... https://www.al.com/business/2020/06/the-power-of-flowers-alabamas-florists-cope-with-pandemic-recovery.html

HER | Local decorator helps get homes ready for holidays - Texarkana Gazette

Marie said, "including four banks, a phone company, some cell phone businesses and lodges at Beaver's Bend."But Oklahoma isn't as far as she is willing to go. "Every July I go to Dauphin Island, Alabama, where I have several clients. They get decor 'refreshers' each summer," she said. "When I go down there I also go deep-sea fishing for Red Snapper, so it's an annual vacation for me."When she isn't decorating for others, she and her husband Jerry reside on the Louisiana side of Caddo Lake where they enjoy entertaining. They are also very active at Trees Baptist Church. They have four children: Tony Campbell of Queen City, Dee Dee Wells and Misty Lutton of Atlanta, and Damon Donnell of Athens, Texas.Marie says she has never gotten too busy to take on more clients."I never turn anyone down," she said. "I just hire more people to do the work. We will do what it takes to make people happy." n... https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/her/story/2019/dec/03/her-local-decorator-helps-get-homes-ready-holidays/806564/

Wild Honey Flower Truck is Birmingham's florist on wheels - Alabama NewsCenter

It’s an idea that bloomed when Kelsey Sizemore and her husband, Josh, saw similar flower operations outside of Alabama.“We had seen a couple of similar businesses in other cities and we thought it was something that Birmingham would really love,” Kelsey Sizemore said.If you’re going to have a flower truck, it has to start with the truck.“We started by looking at trucks on Craigslist and eBay,” Sizemore said. “We decided on the kind of truck that we liked.”[embedded content]Wild Honey Flower Truck is blooming in Birmingham from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.When they found a potential truck in Ohio, Sizemore sent her father-in-law to check it out. When it earned a thumbs-up, they had the truck towed to Birmingham.“We started the process of really transforming the truck into something that could house the flowers,” she said.That meant a paint job, building out the back to carry flower vases and adding an awning.Next came procuring flowers by working with wholesalers, flower markets and other dealers.With the truck ready and outfitted with flowers, the only decision was where to go to sell them.“We just sought out the places that we really like to go,” Sizemore said.That could mean being outside of the Pizitz building one day and in Woodlawn the next.You can also find Wild Honey Food Truck at the West Homewood Farmer’... https://alabamanewscenter.com/2019/06/28/wild-honey-flower-truck-is-birminghams-florist-on-wheels/