Christmas Hues & Fresh Color Combinations for your Holiday Decorating

It's hard to imagine that it isn't even December 1st and we are already discussing Christmas decorating. Even though you might not have all of your holiday decorations out or up you can at least get started on color combinations.

Some traditional color combinations we see year after year are gold, reds, silvers and greens. This year you might add a unique twist to your existing color combinations. Here's just a few recommendations for adding a unique color combination to existing holiday decor:

* Golds - add in touches of chocolate browns or celadon green
* Reds - keep the golds and bring in tones of warm brown and copper
* Silver - cool things down with a frosted turquoise
* Greens - add in tones of celadon with your traditional green tones

Splashes of these new hues can spice up your existing decor without having to start from scratch or spending a fortune.

Thanksgiving Table

We are a day away from Thanksgiving and thought The Hidden Garden would give you a few tips on how to add those extra touches to your dining table decor.

Napkins
* consider wrapping a brown or rust toned ribbon around a rolled napkin
* use raffia or another natural twine rather than ribbon if you are going for a more rustic look

Place Cards
* place a small pumpkin at each guest setting. Place a small slit into the top of the pumpkin and put the name card into the slit
* cut a slit on each side of the name card and slip a ribbon through the slits. Tie the ribbon around the napkin with the escort card at the top

Votives
* incorporate colored votives on the table (ambers, reds, greens)
* wrap fall leaves around your votives
* cut out the center of a mini pumpkin or mini artichoke and place a votive candle in the center

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Oh Henry! Bar Mitzvah

What a special day for Henry. Henry celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Spago Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Henry {or, shall we say, his mom} chose rich colors of deep red, orange, yellow, purple and green to create a fantastic luncheon for family and friends. Each centerpiece consisted of 6 smaller vases each filled with a different type of flower in alternating colors. We utilized a variety of roses, hydrangea, fiji mums, dahlias, orchids, and hydrangea. The table linens were a vibrant, yet rich green crinkle material. Each napkin was adorned with a single dahlia head.

The kid's tables had a smaller version of the adult tables; however, they had additional vases filled with monochromatic candy to compliment the flower colors. The place card table was a beautiful display of tall glass vases filled with groupings of flowers to compliment the guest tables. As the guests signed in to the party, they were greeted with vases filled with candy- including Oh Henry! bars. How fun!

Unique Color Combinations: Red & Turqouise

This coming Saturday, The Hidden Garden has the pleasure of working with the talented coordinators at Levine Fox (Diane & Alyson) Arielle's Bat mitzvah will be held at the Hollywood Social. The location has one of the coolest vibes as everything there is just ultra chic and only calls for the most modern floral design to dress the room. Our color pallet for the event is what i find most striking, turquoise & red. This is a color combination that we have worked with in the past and have a few events planned for the future. It's seems like an odd pairing but they are so striking together. Both colors have a blue undertone so they end up being very complimentary to one another.

I can't wait to share the event photos with you once we have theme. In the meantime, enjoy the sample centerpiece photo to get a glimpse at what lies ahead.

Amy & Johns Santa Barbara Wedding

This past summer Hidden Garden had the pleasure of designing Amy & John's wedding at Bacara Resort. I know I blogged about the wedding in the past but I have a little more to add.

Just today we received a great video snippet from Harmony at the fabulous Riley Towne Productions. They are amazing videographers! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

We are almost a week away from Thanksgiving so it's time to start thinking how you might dress up your dining table for the big feast! At The Hidden Garden we can help you adorn your table with flowers! It's not to early (or too late) to order your dining table arrangements. Feel free to give us a call or order on line.

For more great ideas, check out my tips on Better TV for fall table settings.

Shopping the Los Angeles Flower Market

It is that time of year when floral novices want to decorate their homes for a Thanksgiving Feast, Hanukkah or Christmas so I thought i would share a few of my tips when shopping at the Los Angeles Flower Market. A visit to the Los Angeles Flower Market is one of greatest flower experiences for a flower lover. Stretching over 2 city blocks it offers a wide array of flowers from all over the world as well as amazing vendors that provides supplies such as containers, ribbons and other finishing touches.

The Trade industry shops Monday through Saturday buying their flowers and supplies to stock their design studios. The market is open 6 days a weeks at varying times. The market opens as early at 2 am certain days of the week but only available to the wholesalers during that time. The general public is able to gain access to the Flower Market at 8 AM (Mon, Wed, Fri) and 6 AM (Tues, Thurs, Saturday). The Hidden Garden's favorite days to shop at the Mart are Wednesday and Fridays. A good majority of the product arrives on those days so your chances of purchasing the "freshest" floral selections would be on those days. If you do go on a Mon, Tues, Thurs or Saturday there are still fresh flowers arriving daily just ask the grower when the product came in to assure freshness.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite vendors: Mayesh, Basket World, Blossom Valley, Wasabi Green, Orchid Man and Floral Supply Syndicate. If you visit any of these vendors you are guaranteed fresh product any day of the week. Any additional information pertaining to the Los Angeles Flower Mart.

Enjoy creating your own personal floral designs!

A Pea in the Pod

This past weekend we created centerpieces for "a Pea in the Pod" baby shower. What a cute theme for twins or someone that might not know the gender of their new baby. We created the most adorable centerpieces for the occasion. So simple for even the novice florist to try.

Supplies Needed

* 3 oasis balls (we used 6 in balls)

* chicken wire - covered in green fabric

* 3 bundles of kermit mums

Step 1 - create your Pod shape with the chicken wire and fabric

Step 2 - soak oasis balls in water

Step 3 - cut kermit mum blooms leaving 1 inch stem

Step 4 - insert kermit mums into Oasis Ball

Step 5 - place oasis balls into "pod"

So easy, so adorable and quite affordable!

Fall Elements in Your Arrangements

Halloween is over and we are jumping into a time of the year filled with textures and many non traditional elements you can use in your floral arrangements. When creating your floral designs start to think about incorporating elements you might see growing in your own backyard! Some items might include picking up fall leaves and tucking them into your arrangements. Clip privett or eucalyptus berries from the trees and use them to drape over the sides of your designs. At your local grocery store you can pick up mini pumpkins or gourds that you insert a floral pick into the bottom and intermix them into your design. Accent all of these long lasting textures and elements into your fresh floral arrangement and you will have created a wonderful harvest display.

Whimsical Chuppah

This weekend the Hidden Garden was honored to do the wedding flowers for Lindsay & Adam, at The Four Seasons Los Angeles. The bride loved the look of a natural and whimsical chuppah design. She said, "I want it to look like it just grew there...". Lindsay also loved orchids. So, her chuppah was created from natural curly willow branches completely covered in green and white dendrobium orchids.

Since blossom branches aren't available in October, the combination of the curly willow and the small blooms of orchids created a magnificent and dramatic display. Everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the chuppah, including Lindsay, Adam, and their whole family. Lindsay's bouquet was in all green and ivory flowers, with orchids, roses, stephanotis, and hydrangea. The bridesmaids all carried beautiful fall tones of rust and orange, including golden cymbidium orchids, leonidas roses, and orange makara orchids.

The centerpieces were a tall, dramatic display of orange, yellow, and green orchids with green hydrangea, orange/rust toned roses, and curly willow. More pictures to follow...

Carolyne Roehm Luncheon

We were honored to participate in a table top presentation at Carolyne Roehm's luncheon held at the Los Angeles California Club. Carolyne Roehm happens to be the author of the first floral book I ever purchased "A Passion for Flowers". It's still my favorite to this day!

Her 9th book is coming to bookstores on 10/28, "A Passion for Blue and White". The California Club in downtown Los Angeles hosted a lunch for Carolyne Roehm promoting the release of her new book.

The Hidden Garden was one of the few Los Angeles based florists invited to design a gorgeous table top display to honor the special occasion.

We designed "Seaside Romance" for the luncheon. We used a steel blue gray linen provided by Tabella (as well as their chargers and chairs). The top of the table was covered in a 48 inch round mirror with an array of seaside elements and florals helping tie our theme together.

Michelle and Julie get Married

Today we had a great wedding at Shutters of the Beach. Michelle & Julie (die hard Red Sox fans by the way!) chose Shutters as the perfect location to showcase their love for orchids and each other. Our brides were not afraid of color so the Hidden Garden designers had lots of choices. From the vibrant tones in the ceremony (blue, purple and green) to the rich pallet of burgundy and celadon in the bouquets, the wedding decor really popped!

One of the really unique touches to the wedding were the brides' centerpiece selection. Each of the tables were adorned with 3 various orchid plants (flown straight from Hawaii) ranging in colors such as magenta, yellow, purple orange. Each plant was arranged in separate glass containers. Michelle & Julie thought it was a great treat for their guests to be able to take something home at the end of the evening. The table linens were a Tiffany blue tone with the orchids and candles intermixed in the center of the table. It was truly a spectacular combination of color.

The Bridal Bouquet was also designed with magnificent orchids (cymbidiums and lady slippers), dahlias, eggplant Callas and hydrangea. Again, the color selection was rich and vibrant. (photo attached)

If you are a Red Sox Fan....they even had a special Red Sox wedding cake made for the special occasion! (courtesy of Cake Divas)

Please Vote for Hidden Garden at MyFOX L.A.'s Hotlist

The Hidden Garden team was thrilled last year when we won Best Wedding Flowers on MyFOX L.A.'s hotlist, and we are just as excited to be nominated again this year. We know that we would not be on the list again without the great word of mouth from our loyal customers. Thanks so much for your continued business and interest in everything flowers.

It is no secret that we truly enjoy transforming spaces and commemorating events with flowers, but what you might not know is that all of you and your lives are our endless source of inspiration. We would love to have your vote again this year, please take 2 minutes and follow these easy steps:

1. Go to MyFOX L.A.'s hotlist
2. When prompted, complete a brief registration (user name/email/password/gender/DOB) I know, it’s a bit more info than last time J
3. When you receive an email confirmation simply click on the link to confirm your vote and you're done!

Deadline to vote is November 8^th and you can only vote once per IP address.

Fall Wedding Colors

Eve and Chris chose warm and rich fall tones of orange and burgundy for their fall wedding held at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica. Although traditional fall design includes a variety of textures with a more full and lush feel, the couple wanted a more clean line and modern feeling for their wedding decor. The chuppah was created from natural bamboo with soft, sheer fabric draping from the sides, with an accent of floral decor for color. The aisle was covered wtih a criss cross design of orange and deep red toned rose petals. The centerpieces consisted of 3 glass cylinders in varying heights with submerged orange makara orchids, submerged sunset colored cala lilies, and a compact arrangement of burgundy roses, cymbidium orchids, and dahlias. The base of each centerpiece was adorned with 3 small glass cubes with floating orchid heads, and illuminated votive candles. The carried a bouquet of all burgundy cymbidium orchids and cala lilies, while the bridesmaids carried bouquets of mixed orange and burgundy roses, dahlias, and orchids.

Fall Centerpieces

It's that time of year when all of the fall elements from the outdoors become just as important in an arrangement as the flowers themselves. Here's a few unique tips in which you can incorporate your typical fall accents into the dining table arrangements and holiday decor in your home.

* use the small mini pumpkins and gords as a display on your center dining table intermixed with "flower heads" for pops of color

* sprinkle fall leaves down the center of your table and place a few vases of monochromatic groups of fresh flowers atop the leaves

* use a long wood box and fill with fall leaves and mini apples, pears or pumpkins

* actual pumpkins carved out in the center can become the floral vase for your flowers