June 21 2019

What's Your Statice?

Tags: Farmers, Hilarious, Flower Profile

Ours is German. It's unremarkable all alone in a bucket straight from the farm. But Statice, Ellen says, is a floral work-horse. Old Reliable. AD ('All Day' if you are familiar with the confusing nickname of football player Adrian Peterson - sometimes misnomered AP). What I'm getting at is Statice is a hearty and versatile cut we use year-round from Winter wreaths to Summer bouquets. It's a two-way player. It's a multi-instrumentalist. It's a flower for all seasons. It gets the job done!

LB (status: sassy) with her Statice

And that's why Ellen loves herself some Statice. She also loves to enumerate:

1. Statice looks the same fresh or dried (there's your versatility and longevity)
2. Statice is a competent local substitute for the oft-requested and locally-scarce Baby's Breath
3. With a name like 'Statice' the jokes write themselves. Baller.
4. Statice is a staple for arrangements out of water: arches, bouts, head crowns, aisle swags and the such.
5. Not a lot of growers sell it, so it provides a unique look in our arrangements.

Despite the high regard it holds today here at LoCoFlo, it took a few seasons for Statice to reach its current status (it didn't even get an at-large bid in last year's inaugural Flower Madness Tourney). Our first deliveries came from Greenstone Fields in 2014. After a few weeks, we saw the upside, and went all in. The next harvest, Ellen bought the entire crop.

Statice: flush.

As quickly as Statice came into our lives, it was gone. Hey Lloyd, Ellen was ready to be heartbroken (she really said 'heartbroken'). The Greenstone Statice bonanza lasted only one year.

Statice: sadness.

There were no other Statice growers nearby. Ellen started to recruit. Butterbee accepted the challenge and ordered up the plants from Dave Dowling at Gloeckner in the Fall of 2017. A year and a half later, we bought Butterbee's entire crop.

Statice: back in business.

Fake ending. More Statice. When LB delivered the Statice, local flower OG Bob Wollam came into the studio and said "Oh, you've got Limonium (fancy name for Statice). I used to grow a purple variety."

Statice: so many emotions.

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April 28 2019

Hey Guys! We Have a Mural Now

Tags: Hilarious, At LoCoFlo

LoCoFlo thought we had something special when Jessica A. Rowe Valmas applied for a design job with us. She was in the Future Harvest Beginner Farmer Training Program with an internship at our long-time trusted partner, Butterbee Farm. She was a graduate of MICA with several aquatic-themed commissions completed. She wore a t-shirt that implied membership in The Society of Excellent Women. It was all very promising.

Flower design training began. Jess built a wall. Everything was pretty, pretty, pretty good. Then, things got weird. Jess started bringing Uncrustables for lunch. She reenacted her favorite signature professional wrestling moves from the 90's (i.e Scotty Too Hotty and George, The Animal, Steel). She would, on more than one occasion, rap the entire theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Real weird.

But Jess had the art skillz, and we asked her to paint a mural on the outside of the building. We set the requirements: Flowers from our logo - Rudbeckia, Zinnia, Dahlia. Easy peasy.

Nailed it!

It turns out our first impression was right: Jess is special. She has transformed our building and our business. She brings beauty to shop even on the days she isn't working. If we could just get her to eat some real food...

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April 19 2019

Flower 911

Tags: Hilarious, Open Studio

What happens when our customer gives us the wrong date for their event? If they call during Open Studio looking for their flowers, we're on the mofo (to paraphrase Jules Winnfield).

Ellen calmly assured the customer over the phone we would make it to their event in time for them to present their awardees with flowers - then she hit the panic button. (The event had already begun!)

Bloom Battlers Chris Vaeth and Heather Zampier, along with LoCoFlo designer Jess, answered the bell. Chris was on-site for his wedding consultation, Heather is a regular at Open Studio (it's her mid-week, self-prescribed therapy), and Jess was working on the LoCoFlo mural.

Heather dropped a handful of stock, Jess slid off her ladder, Chris said "my wedding plans can wait, it's flower time!" (minor blog hyperbole). Ellen directed her impromptu, pro-am, all-star team to crank out three spectacular presentation centerpieces in a flash.

Eric revved up the LoCoRoll, and was on his way. A LoCoFlo miracle!

And that was the day Heather and Chris became local flower folk heroes.

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April 14 2019

Flower Club: Bloom Battle '19 Floral Glory

Tags: Flower Club

Bloom Battle '19 was a competition of contrasts. Of the 16 competitors, we had nine battle-tested veterans and seven up-starts. The winning designers reflected the varying experience of the field.

Jen Majewski, a four-time competitor, swept the popular vote winning both the Instagram Famous prize and the People's Choice award.

Jen is the true people's champion.

Jeffrey Gill, was not only a first time contestant, but his First Prize winning entry was his first ever large floral arrangement!

Jeffrey exhibited a wonderful negative capability in his arrangement.

Rounding out the victors:

2nd Place: Chis Vaeth, The Tom Brady of Bloom Battle, is a perennial winner. (He's never been accused of deflated balls.)

3rd Place: Rebecca Bainum another first-timer, brought it hard and crushed it. What's up.

Check out all of the fun in our flickr album.

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February 22 2019

Lady Buggin'

Tags: Bugs

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