Dear Joyce,

I just wanted to thank you so much again for the most gorgeous flower arrangement you put together for my even more beautiful wife. She was surprised and it totally got me out of the dog house. Thanks again, you really did a fantasitic job!! Have a great day!

Aaron Denunzio

Jay and I just returned from a fantastic four day getaway in the Napa Valley, and what a trip it was! Because of the fires in Northern Cal, the sky wasn’t its usual perfect blue, but the weather was beautiful.

Wildflowers at Silverado Resort

We visited too many wineries to mention, but one of our new favorites is Brown Estate Winery. Owned and operated by the Brown family, they make fantastic Cab and Zinfandel, along with a fun Rose called Betelgeuse. (We bought it all!) The winemaker, David, joined us for the tasting - there is such a difference between big “corporate” wineries and small boutique wineries, and David is the perfect example of what a boutique winery is all about - SOUL. (You can buy their wine online at the website.)

Grapes going through veraison - the color change

If you’re in Napa Valley and looking for a great dining experince, check out Redd Restaurant. Great food, elegant and understated ambiance, and always a must when we plan our Napa trips. The first time we went a few years ago, we had a four hour meal, closed down the restaurant and ended up sharing a bottle of wine with the chef. And their bartender, Tim, gave us his copy of the book, ”The Best Cellar” by Jeff Smith. It’s a must have for any wine lover.

There is nothing better than al fresco dining to celebrate the season. An ordinary dinner party can be turned into an evening to remember if you have your guests seated outside. Candlelight, warm air, laughter and conversation (especially if you have a view of the water) all make your guests feel as if they’ve been transported to some exotic spot on a vacation.

One of our favorite ways to design a long table is to have multiple pieces of varying height and shape. This adds visual interest and you can design with alot of color. Floating candles, votive candles and a runner of rosepetals all add to the ambiance.

Shown here we have violet Dutch hydrangeas, Leonidas roses from Ecuador, and green Cymbidium orchids from New Zealand. Square vases lined with Ti leaves to hide the stems add the finishing touch to the florals.

Hello Joyce,

As a small business owner, I know that sometimes it feels good to get good feedback. I bid on an arrangement you donated to the Heal The Bay fundraiser a couple of weeks ago and used your service this past Monday, So far, I am very impressed.

Congratulations and good luck with everything!

Alain Gayot

www.gayot.com

We recently designed a baby shower celebration for a client at Hillcrest Country Club using a fresh spring palette of ivory, apricot and celadon green.

One long dining table is often a better solution than a few smaller round tables for an event of this size, where you want everyone to feel included in the conversation. On the center of the table, we arranged clusters of Parrot tulips in glass vases between long and low paves of roses and orchids. Keeping the colors “blocked” is a contemporary way to design with classic flowers.

There are no small details, and when choosing linens and flowers, it’s the details that make the difference! The linens were a beautiful champagne silk with a diamond trim, which matched the cushions on the chairs. The napkins were really amazing - two layers of fabric with hand tied silk ribbon, and a faux jewel-encrusted brooch for the guests to take as favors.

This Memorial Day weekend, we did a beautiful beach themed wedding at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu. Using a tailored palette of white and green with accents of black, shells and white starfish were incorporated throughout the decor as a unifying element. Starfish were hung from ribbon across the top of the gazebo, which added a magical and whimsical touch.

Another great element was the flowers on the aisle chairs at the ceremony, which were composed of layered ribbon with a single white Calla lily and a different sea shell on each. This is an elegant and tailored look to complement any kind of ceremony decor.

The centerpieces, designed in a low dish surrounded by beach sand and shells, had white Casablanca lilies, moss and succulents along with floating candles and votives. Each placesetting had a single mini Calla lily on the napkin, which is a lovely detail for any table setting.

Dear Joyce,

I wanted to thank you for everything on Sunday. I have to say I have never seen anything more beautiful than the flower arrangements you did. I must have gotten 50 compliments and I kept saying I picked a great florist.

I will be sure to recommend you and if I ever have another party and need flowers, I will be in touch.

Warm regards,

Marla Gerstenblatt

One of the required elements of setting a fabulous table is designing the overall look and feel with a unified theme in mind. For this intimate dinner party, celebrating a gentleman’s birthday, we designed a simple and elegant floral table treatment consisting of rich, warm colors and masculine flowers.

A series of glass troughs lined with striped Ginger leaf and filled with black Calla lilies and yellow Pincushion Protea dominated the center of the table. Natural wood Chivari chairs complemented the rich caramel linens and hemstitch napkins. Elegant stemware, votive candles with gold scrollwork and soft lighting completed the ambiance.

Here we show Anna working on the design in our studio. Having a series of arrangements designed to look as one long one is a fun way to make a bold statement for a long table. At the end of the evening, the flowers can be separated and the guests can take home the individual arrangements.

Picture the scene…..a flower shop buzzing with activity the day before Mother’s Day….phone ringing….designer’s hustling and bustling around, filling all the orders….what would be truly surreal at this moment? How about a PINK GORILLA!? How about a pink gorilla singing “You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings”?

In a truly inspired maneuver, Laurel’s daughter Wendy sent her a singing telegram to the shop for Mother’s Day. As you can imagine, Laurel didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or stand there stupefied, so she did a little bit of each.

We’ll be posting a link to the YouTube video once it goes up…stay tuned!

It comes around every year at this time…Mother’s Day. But what does it mean, really? It is a day honoring mothers, imported from Britain by social activist Julia Ward Howe, intended as a call to unite women against war (after the American Civil War.)

The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother’s Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

Being a Mother is the most life-altering, difficult and important task many women will undertake. We should all acknowledge the tremendous self-sacrifice, wisdom and generosity of spirit it requires to be a good mother. Happy Mother’s Day.