Sometimes last month, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourself included in the Common Ground Magazine's green wedding guide in its February issue. It is quite an honor, but I also felt bashful about having the halo of the green label on me.
Throughout the course of my floral design career, I have never felt comfortable enough to categorize ourself as "green floral designers". While there are quite a few organic flowers available, most of the time we can not be certain if the foliage and textural botanical materials we would use with the flowers are considered organic. Fortunately, a lot of foliage materials have local origin, which makes them somewhat greener over their imported counterparts.
As far as our effort of being and becoming greener, we encourage using seasonal flowers because less energy and resources are consumed to produce flowers in its natural growth cycle. Locally grown variety is preferred over imported when qualities are comparable. Since our move from Pasadena/Los Angeles to the Bay Area three years ago, we have established relationships with local gardeners who supply us garden clippings--those may be shapely branches or overgrown bushes that would otherwise be discarded. The widely varied microclimates within the relatively compact (as compare to the Los Angeles area) Bay Area help to nurture a great variety of materials, and our gardener friends always bring us nice surprises.
During our less busy winter/spring months, visiting nurseries and interacting with local growers help us to get a vibe of where happy, well-cared, and healthy flowers come from.
While we continue and strive to be greener in our practice, we look forward to challenges in greener floral and event designs.
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