Blaine Flower Shop News
After 2017 fire, Blue Iris Flowers coming back to Catonsville - Baltimore Sun
Wednesday, April 11, 2018The two-alarm fire last year started in the basement and burned through the upper levels of the more than 100-year-old three-story building, Baltimore County Fire Department Battalion Chief Blaine Kurrle told the Baltimore Sun last year. The building was empty at the time and no one was injured.Cary said she will bring the ribbon and the big scissors for the ribbon cutting, taking place at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 16.Glascock said thatafter the ceremony, the shop will be open for business throughout the day. Then in the evening, sometime after about 6 p.m., she said the shop will host an open house celebration with wine and snacks.The shop is known for its fresh-cut flowers, and Glascock said this time of year she is busiest filling wedding orders.Shoppers familiar with Blue Iris will see some new products, Glascock said, including locally or U.S.-made gift items, air plants, greeting cards and jewelry.Looking forward, Glascock hopes to stock a wider selection of easy-care indoor plants, like succulents and cacti.Glascock praised the Chamber and the Catonsville community for making her return possible.“Honestly, the entire community of Catonsville has rallied around us,” Glascock said. “People who we’ve never met before found us and rallied around us over the past year – following us to Arbutus, sticking by us, just generally being there for us.”“We’re excited to be back,” Glascock said. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/catonsville/ph-ca-at-blue-iris-0411-story.html
Hurricanes Causing Shortages At Minnesota Flower Shops - CBS Minnesota / WCCO
Tuesday, September 26, 2017K&D.“It’s like a kid in a candy store,” she said with a smile.But even she’s had a stressful time running her store in Blaine, the Flower Shoppe, recently.“It has been a lot harder, there’s no question about it,” she said.She fills her shop with flowers from K&D. The company buys roses from South America, but they have to be shipped through Florida — a route Hurricane Irma aggressively interrupted.“When your supply chain completely stops for a week to 10 days, there’s obviously going to be an impact on what you receive on time,” said Eric Mahannah, the South American buy for K&D.On top of that problem, some of the greens they sell are grown in Florida.“One of our contacts at a farm there said it looked like a bomb went off in her fields,” he said.Mahannah said they planned ahead by buying a larger than normal supply before the hurricane hit, but the September wedding season drained them of their white roses.“People weren’t able to get every specific variety they wanted, but if they needed roses we had roses,” he said.“We’re also experiencing a lot of drive-by brides,” said Box. “Believe this or not, they don’t plan ahead. Their wedding’s in a couple of days, they want a wedding with 500 white roses or who knows, whatever color.”A truck filled with 70,000 roses arrived at K&D Wednesday morning Mahannah said, leaving them fully stocked and back to normal. Staff say they’re now fully stocked. Now with Hurricane Maria looming, florists like Box continue to worry.“It’s been tough, but we take the order and pray to god we’re able to get it. And we’ve been very successful in getting product,” she said. “I... http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/09/20/hurricane-flower-shop-shortages/
Christian Florist: Gay Couples Have 'Every Right to Live the Way They Believe,' Christians Want the Same Freedom - Christian Post
Tuesday, September 26, 2017June to hear his appeal. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission is a major religious liberty case that is being closely watched by both sides of the same-sex marriage debate.Blaine Adamson, owner of t-shirt company Hands On Originals in Lexington, Ky., recently won in the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which allowed him to refer gay pride t-shirts to another vendor.When asked what advice he would give other business owners, Adamson said:"We all at some point in our lives will find ourselves at crossroads, where we have an issue of conscience, where we know there's something that we need to do. But whether it's out of fear or because it's the easy road, we decide to go against our conscience."When we make that choice, we lose something — in my case, what would have been freedom. We can't just kick the can for the next generation."Carl and Angel Larsen of Telescope Media Group, who refuse to use their video and film production company to document gay weddings, explained that they want to use their talents to capture truth."For us as storytellers, we want to tell the truth as we see it through the Bible. From the beginning to the very end," Carl Larsen said, conveying their belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.The Christian business owners on the panel emphasized on a number of occasions that they are not discriminating against gay people, but want to be afforded the freedom to live out their beliefs.Stutzman said at the conclusion of the hour-long panel:"If we lose this case, we lose everything. We lose our business, our retirement, our life savings, everything we've worked for for our kids and grandkids, because the attorney fees are going to be well over seven figures."Our employees lose their job, the city loses its taxes, our suppliers lose our business, simply because we don't have the same idea of marriage that Curt and Rob have."Stutzman expressed that when her grandchildren ask her what happened to her flower shop, or the Christian faith, she doesn't want to say "I did nothing."Follow Stoyan Zaimov on Facebook: CPSZaimov... http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-florist-gay-couples-have-every-right-to-live-the-way-they-believe-christians-want-the-same-freedom-199027/
Call for Beautiful Gardens, Prospect Park walking tour, flowers and more - Minneapolis Star Tribune
Tuesday, May 30, 2017Perennial Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 3-4. Workshop topics include color in shady spots, ground cover, ornamental grasses and showstopping hostas, at Gertens, 5500 Blaine Av., Inver Grove Heights. Go to gertens.com.Art fair kickoffLooking for one-of-a-kind artwork for your home or cabin? The Edina Art Fair offers photography, woodwork, glass pieces, mixed media, fine art, sculptures, jewelry and wearables by more than 300 artists, June 2-4 along France Avenue S. at 50th Street. There’s also a Kid Zone, live entertainment and two craft beer gardens.Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 2-3 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 4. A free shuttle runs daily from Southdale shopping center. Go to edinaartfair.com.LYNN UNDERWOOD... http://www.startribune.com/call-for-beautiful-gardens-prospect-park-walking-tour-flowers-and-more/424631943/
Two-alarm fire burns Blue Iris Flowers' century-old building in Catonsville - Baltimore Sun
Tuesday, February 07, 2017The blaze was reported about 6 a.m. at the flower shop in the 800 block of Frederick Road, Baltimore County Fire Department Battalion Chief Blaine Kurrle said.The fire took a few hours to extinguish, closing Frederick Road, downtown Catonsville's main thoroughfare, during the Monday morning commute. No injuries were reported.The fire appeared to have started in the basement and burned its way to the upper levels through the walls and a rear staircase, Kurrle said. Nobody was in the building at the time of the fire. The cause is under investigation."Crews were able to contain the fire or knock the fire down in the basement, and then we got a handle on the fire traveling up through the walls, through the structure in the second and third floor," Kurrle said.He said the building's old-fashioned "balloon construction" design, which featured gaps between the interior and exterior walls, allowed the fire to spread quickly to the upper levels inside the walls.The three-story building was built in 1900, according to state property tax records.After the fire, a thick layer of shattered glass from the store's broken windows blanketed the sidewalk. Pink and blue paper hearts and "XOXO"s for Valentine's Day fluttered in the breeze in a front display case.Alli... http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-co-catonsville-fire-20170206-story.html
A devoted florist gives each 9/11 victim a white birthday rose - Anchorage Daily News
Wednesday, December 02, 2020On Friday, six names will be adorned with white roses. Amelia Fields, 46, had been working at the Pentagon for only two days when Flight 77 crashed into the imposing military fortress outside Washington. Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista, 24, a cook for Windows on the World, was supposed to take the day off but subbed in for a co-worker. AnnMarie Riccobini, 58, a billings supervisor at a law firm, had just beaten breast cancer. Michael Berkeley, 38, had just founded his own brokerage. Michael LaForte, 39, a broker, never met his third child, born two months after 9/11. FDNY Lieutenant Vincent Francis Giammona, 40, last spoke to his wife while en route to the burning towers. Family members often reach out to Collarone or to the memorial’s staff, touched and surprised by the ritual. “It is with tears of gratitude that I write this,” said Jennifer Glick in an email to the memorial. Her brother Jeremy was among those who rushed the hijackers on Flight 93, which crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. “With all the insecurity and chaos that we face right now, knowing that our loved ones are remembered gives me great comfort.” Kerry Irvine, an artist, used to visit the memorial often to think about her sister, Kristy Irvine-Ryan, a 30 year-old equities trader who had been married for just three months when she died. But in March, she told The Washington Post, “It was all chained off, and one of my first thoughts was, ‘Oh, God, her birthday,’ which was May 22nd.” Then she got a photo of her sister’s name decorated with a white rose. “To know they’re taking care of all of them, and giving them the respect they deserve,” she said, “it takes the load off the families a little bit.” The memorial grounds reopened July 4. The museum will begin allowing visitors inside again this weekend - first, family members only on Friday and then the public on Saturday, with drastically limited capacity. Collarone didn’t come up with the idea for the birthday flowers; that was a volunteer in the museum. But he’s the one who’s made it happen all these years, carefully selecting roses — he wants them to be a perfect white — from the city’s flower market and cleaning them and nursing them at his shop Floratech, in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. “I’m not looking for the cheapest roses,” he says. “I look for the best.” When the pandemic forced New York to shut down, halting inbound flights bearing hard-to-get white roses from global suppliers in the Netherlands and South America, Collarone knew instantly “that I had to take care of it,” he says. “I went into an immediate rescue mode for the 9/11 memorial.” Whereas roses had been coming in on 10 flights a day, there was now one flight a week from Europe. He worked connections (“My Holland guys helped me out.”), paid large markups as freight pricessoared, and sent drivers to the airport to pick up loads of roses directly from the source, circumventing wholesalers, because, he says, the city’s flower market, then and now, “is operating on life support.” His own shop, which used to supply flowers for Madison Square Garden and high-end hotels like the Mandarin Oriental, has hit di... https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2020/09/10/a-devoted-florist-gives-each-911-victim-a-white-birthday-rose/
Headed to DC, local florist chosen for White House Christmas decorating team - Clarksville Now
Wednesday, December 02, 2020CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Local florist Kassie Peterson is headed to Washington DC, where she will join the White House’s decorating team in preparing for Christmas.Peterson opened her shop, Kassie Kay Floral Designs, on Franklin Street in June of this year. She applied to to be a volunteer White House decorator in September and was selected in October.“That was a reach goal for 2020 for me. It’s something that’s been on my radar for several years, but it hasn’t been able to work out to get selected for it,” said Peterson.Peterson says that her style as a florist is rooted in her Southern upbringing. She loves romantic, seasonal arrangements.For the White House project, Peterson will be working with the White House’s team to bring their Christmas vision to life. She will be in DC all next week.In 2019, the White House halls became a forest of lit Christmas trees with red and white flowers, a design Peterson said she was a big fan of. She particularly liked the inclusion of trees from across the US“I have definitely seen Melania’s style in the last sever... https://clarksvillenow.com/local/headed-to-dc-local-florist-chosen-for-white-house-christmas-decorating-team/
Florists Rescue Their Spring Blooms For Public Installations During Pandemic - OPB News
Wednesday, October 28, 2020VID-19 pandemic.Claudia Meza / OPBAlyssa reached out to her florist friends and devised a strategy to build those installations in different neighborhoods, including Gresham, St. Johns and Vancouver, Washington.THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:“Each person decided their location in Portland. Other people did it outside of their home studios. Some people were familiar with had connections with other businesses,” Alyssa said.Since the installations were outside, people could enjoy them from the comfort of their car.“... you can just stay in your car and look at it through your car window as to not create like mass crowds running in and touching the flowers and being in close proximity to each other,” Jocelyn said.The florists sent the location of their work to Alyssa, who then created a virtual map so that drivers could easily find them.The flowers were only up for a few days before poor weather hit, but people can still take a virtual tour of the large-scale street art using #flowertourpdx on Instagram.Scroll through the pictures you’ll see bright, colorful floral art carefully draped over light poles, bike racks and staircases. Alyssa installed her work outside her shop on Northeast Sandy Blvd.“It started from the ground, kind of as though it was growing. Grew up the pole all the way to the very top of the where the pole ended,” She said. “We had a lot of oranges, pinks and whites. So we did an ombre effect, orange from the bottom, it gradually turned into pink, and then it turned into white.”Fellow florist Cassidy Reinholdt, owner of Noble Floral Co., thought it would be a great way to help one of her favorite local restaurants on Portland's N. Mississippi Ave. She teamed up with Amy Atkinson-Barnes from Briar and Ivy, another floral shop.“She and I both designed an installation on a light pole and on a little concrete bench area right in front of the Mee-Sen Thai Eatery. I really wanted to help them gain some business with the foot traffic of people coming to see the in... https://www.opb.org/news/article/potland-flower-installations-sping-pandemic/
Ham Lake couple trust God as they grow family flower farm business - The Catholic Spirit
Monday, August 24, 2020The Carlstroms were thinking produce and chickens when, in the winter of 2019, Kristen came across a book titled “The Cut Flower Garden” by Erin Benzakein, a florist farmer in Washington.“Basically, I just fell in love with it,” Kristen said. “It was kind of out of the blue for me.”She had always kept a small flower garden with sunflowers and zinnias, but nothing large-scale. But once she began to think about flowers, she became convinced that was the direction she wanted to move.“I knew we were going to take on something really big,” she said. “It was really important for me to be really passionate about it. And so, this was something that just really took a hold of me. And I had so much energy with thinking of doing really hard stuff to make it happen.”She and Jonah took Benzakein’s online course on flower farming, and dove into researching what would grow well in Minnesota’s climate. “Before we knew it, we’re like, we’re really doing it,” she said.Jonah gives Kristen all the credit for the flower focus. “I never thought I would be a flower farmer — I don’t think many men do think of that,” Jonah said, sitting near the field. He agreed to the online course, “and I was just sort of open with the Lord; ‘Wherever you lead us.’”“Ever since leaving school, I wanted to do something in nature. I love working outside. I’ve been praying along the way” for God’s guidance, he said. “Basically, I want to come home and I want to work from home.”The Carlstroms don’t know any other young farmers, but they’re not alone among Catholic millennials. Jim Ennis, executive director of St. Paul-based Catholic Rural Life, said there are like-minded young Catholics across the United States who are exploring and adopting a rural lifestyle, including small-scale farming. Many are drawn to a slower, family-focused pace of life away from the demands of city living and corporate work.Like the Carlstroms, many don’t have farming backgrounds, Ennis said, and it’s hard work without the guarantee of financial sustainability. But it’s rewarding, he said. Farming is creative work, where people can work in nature, with their hands, alongside family members, for the benefit of their own tables and their community. And even young children can see, understand and participate in their parents’ work, he said.“There’s something very innate in many people’s DNA to connect with God’s creation in a closer way,” he said, “and I think that’s very Catholic and very Christian.”Kristen admits that sometimes she’s thought the idea of turning stay-at-home mom to cut-flower florist is “crazy.” But, “there was a lot of discouragement that came whenever I tried to let it (the idea) go, and a lot of joy that was there when we kept pursuing it,” she said, so they forged ahead.The field is easily accessible from the Carlstroms’ house through a path in the woods. Kristen spends patches of time throughout the day tending its 20, 100-foot rows as she learns to orchestrate timing their harvesting with flowers’ longevity onc... https://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local-news/ham-lake-couple-trust-god-as-they-grow-family-flower-farm-business/