Interview with Brenda Harris!

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Brenda's Favorite Flower

Brenda is new like me! She's been only working at the Ford Flower Shop for six months. I got to sit down with the amazingly talented Brenda Harris. She is one of our floral designers here at the Ford Flower Shop. We'll be posting some of her work soon!

Lisa: Hey Brenda! Thank you for sitting down with me!
Brenda: Oh, I don't mind!

Lisa: So Lets get started.. Brenda, what are some of your favorite products  here at the Ford Flower Shop?
Brenda: Oh, what don't I like! Everything!
(Brenda chuckles, then looks at me and smiles.)
Brenda: I really love the flowers, but upfront.. I adore the teapots. I really enjoy them, they're really creative.
Lisa: Yes! My Mom loves them too! Do you have a favorite Yankee Candle?
Brenda: I love anything with Apple... Oh, and I love the Sunflower.
Lisa: The Apple kinds are yummy.

Lisa: What're some of your favorite things to do at work?
Brenda: I love fancying arrangements, giving things movement and feng shui.
Lisa: Oh nice. I seen some of your bundles, arrangements and stuff. They're gorgeous. You're really talented. How long have you been doing this?
Brenda: Thank you! I've only been doing this professionally for six months. That's when I started here! Yet, I have been doing for arrangements for friends, family, and myself for about thirty years.
Lisa: That's awesome!

Lisa: What do you love to do when you're not working? Do you have any hobbies?
Brenda: (With much enthusiasm) Gardening! I love to garden. I also love to go on bike rides and for walks.
Lisa: I love that too. Nature is my thing! Do you have a favorite place to go?
Brenda: I liked Battery Park in Delaware. Its right by my daughter's school.

Lisa: Do you have a favorite flower?
Brenda: (She chuckles.)
Lisa: I know, hard decision.
Brenda: I would have to say the Stargazer. It has a strong scent to it, and I love flowers with sweet powerful scents.
Lisa: I'm tempted now to go smell one....
Brenda: You should! You won't be disappointed.

Lisa: What is something that people would not know about you? Any secrets?
Brenda: (She chuckles.) I'm shy. ... Maybe even painfully shy!
Lisa: Awww...

Lisa: So tell me about your family.
Brenda: Well I've been married to my husband for thirty-one years...
Lisa: Wait! Wow, good for you!
Brenda: Thankyou! I  also have four children. Two boys, and two girls.
Lisa: What're their names?
Brenda: My oldest is Melody, then there is Budd, Jacob, and my youngest is Nancie.
Lisa: I love the name Melody. Very pretty. Do you have any pets?
Brenda: I have a cockatiel.
Lisa: Male or female.
Brenda: He's a boy.
Lisa: Oh, so he's all kinds of spoiled and handsome then!
Brenda: Oh yes!
Lisa: Whats his name?
Brenda: (She laughs!) Oh my goodness, now.. this is NOT my fault. My daughter named him!... His name is Byrd.
Lisa: I think that's adorable!

Lisa: Brenda, what makes Ford Flower Shop different from other places you worked?
Brenda: Its a family. Its really nice to be excited to come to work with an amazing family that have nothing but love for one another. Its refreshing. That's hard to come by nowadays.
Lisa: It really is. I totally agree.

Lisa: Oh, when is your birthday, Brenda?
Brenda: October 4th.
Lisa: Aww, Your a Libra. You see the beauty in whats all around you!
Brenda: (Laughs.) Is that what that means? Nice!

Lisa: Thank you again for spending some time with me for this interview.
Brenda: Oh your welcome! Anytime.
Lisa: We'll have to post some of your work online.
Brenda: I would love that!

In Conclusion: Brenda Harris is very talented. I watch her make her arrangements and tackle assignments every Wednesday. She's so sweet, she could cause cavities, seriously. Amazing woman. Stop in to see her arrangements!

March's Daffodil.

Spring is here! The strong Daffodil prevails and blooms even after the harshest of winters.

In ancient herbalism and medicine the Daffodil was used in a type of Aromatherapy. It's a natural intoxicant. So for those with overactive minds, anxiety, stress... the scent of this yellow treasure was said to mellow out minds.

The color yellow itself is enough to center yourself. When you think of yellow, you think of joy, vitality, energy, the sun! It has a lot of life-giving attributes.

This little trumpet shaped blossom meanings are: Honesty, truth, forgiveness. Give daffodils to someone when as a token of forgiveness or a token of appreciation for their honesty.

Check back next month for your Birth Month Flower!

Happy Birthday to later Pisces and early Aries!

Lisa: My First Flower Show!

Aloha!! I had a great opportunity that happened over the weekend. I got to attend the world's largest international flower show! The Philadelphia Flower Show, which was Hawaiian themed! I just wanted to share my experience with all of you. On the way to the show, I was shaking with anticipation. I kept looking over at my boyfriend that courted me to show, and telling him. "I am so siked for this, are you!?".. "I'm so pumped up!" Walking into the building the energy changed. I immediately was taken back by the surreal scent of the Hawaiian blooms. It was so relaxing. Its like I could feel all the life in the room. I've never seen so many exotic plants in my life.

This was one of the first things that caught my eye. This is called a King Protea, it grew in Maui before being transported into Philadelphia. Beautiful isn't it? The man that was selling these gave his woven necklace to my boyfriend. It was made out of tea leaves!

You can see the necklace in this picture! Me and my boyfriend appreciate the world's unique trees. So when we seen that their was drift wood available we were pretty excited. Kenneth picked out this piece that was lacquered. It was from the Kona beach. Pretty neat!

Walking into the convention room was awesome. They had this amazing protective wave ceiling. It made you feel like you were underwater. Very neat. I didn't get any pictures of it sadly. I seen this beautiful canopy and wandered toward it.

It was beautiful, I almost feel like I was wandering through a tropical rainforest.

Then when I seen this, I knew I was! It was a waterfall! It was pretty awe inspiring.

After this, I roamed through a jungle of different floral displays. I loved them. I took a ton of pictures of them.

This was pretty, I loved the blue lights.

Loved This.

Its too bad you weren't able to sit in these displays, because I totally seen me in these chairs reading a book. I wish parks looked like this.

Surfs up! Oh.. wait. That's volcanic! Eep! That's one brave starfish.

Shut up! This is beautiful! Its like you would see this kind of stuff in a magazine. Seating in the oasis.

Now this was Hawaii inspired but Celtic themed. Since I was born in Ireland, this touched me! I loved it.

I'm also a cosmetologist. So, I was really really inspired with these headdresses.

This one was my favorite.

This was Ken's favorite!

Isn't this amazing?! I never thought of doing this. Flower petal art! From a distance, this looks like a painting. What a surprise when I got up close.

Completely constructed with flowers. Super pretty.

I thought this was pretty creative!

This gave me ideas. I love window ledge gardens.

I left my favorite display for last. This honestly took my breath away!

Aloha in Hawaii is used to say Hello and Goodbye. So its like the islander's never say goodbye. Which I think is beautiful.

So Aloha, until next time.

~Lisa xx

P.S. Afterward we went to The Vegan Tree on South St. I totally recommend it. Amazing food.

Polly Ford's Weekly Post

Polly here...

Ok, so I took on the challenge of "Not Taking Flowers for Granted." (I've grown up around flowers and in the past few years I haven't really stopped to smell the roses, if you get my meaning.)

This past week I took home a vase of beautiful yellow gerbera.

Flowers at Home being enjoyed by our cat Strider.

In looking up the meaning of the gerbera flower, the most consistent meaning was "cheerfulness."

So did I feel cheerful? Yes! Gerbera daisies have always been a favorite of mine because I love the variety of colors they come in and I love when we get a new color I have not seen. I have helped lots of brides choose them for their wedding and I have this awesome chart with the available varieties in the cut flower market. I get lost in the chart looking at the colors and the cool variety names for the gerbera.

WEEK TWO...

For week two in my "Not Taking Flowers for Granted" challenge, I am choosing a new green plant to bring home. I am currently embarrassed to reveal I only have one plant in my house. Over the past 5 or so years I have not replaced plants as they have passed over to that great plant heaven in the sky. To keep things simple I'm choosing a Pathos plant. It is easy to care for and will be a great way to dip my toe back in to caring for houseplants on a regular basis. I'll let you know how it goes...

NOW ON TO WHAT I DID LAST WEEKEND, SOMETHING I HAVE NOT DONE IN OVER 20 YEARS...

I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show!!! I keep trying to remember when it was that I last went. I can't quite remember, but I vaguely remember wandering around with my brothers. My mother tells a story about my father making a floral design presentation at the Flower Show. The story goes, my dad was so busy talking that while adding water to a container he missed and was actually watering the table. If you know my dad, that is classic Ben Ford behavior.

So last Sunday, I woke my daughter Kitty up bright and early and coaxed her in to going to the Philadelphia Flower Show. We live so close to Philly, only 20 minutes when the traffic cooperates, and we never go. She enjoyed the show, but I think she actually enjoyed the quick visit we made to the Philadelphia Reading Terminal Market. (I'll keep working on making her a florist.)

Miss Kitty Hunter enjoying the orchids.

The theme at the flower show was Hawaii. My favorite display was a large waterfall, with masses of orchids and foliage surrounding the base. Here is one section of the display with eye popping  colors....

I had to stop and enjoy the striking yet simplicity of these red anthurium en masse...

Check out this cool display of birds of paradise in a cool sea turtle container.

Kitty and I both liked this ivy topiary surfer.

That's it for this week. Be sure to check out the blog post from Lisa to get her unique perspective of the Flower Show.

Wow! The Ford Flower Blog has started….
I’ve been dreaming about it for the past few years; what will it look like, what the heck will we write about, etc, etc. So I’m ready to jump in and share my passion and experiences with flowers and the interesting customers and people I come across in my world.

I will also be sharing the blog space with fellow employees and guest bloggers. Thank you for coming along for the ride and hope you enjoy the peek behind the curtain here at Ford Flower Shop.

SO LET'S GET STARTED...................

Being a third generation florist, I am often told how lucky I am to be around flowers all day. I’ve been mulling this over in my mind and you know what, I’VE BEEN TAKING FLOWERS FOR GRANTED! Yes I’m around flowers when I walk in the door in the morning, when I’m helping a customer choose just the right arrangement, but when is the last time I really just sat back and enjoyed flowers at my desk or in my home, where they we just for me?
So, I am setting a personal challenge for the next 12 week: I pledge to work flowers in to my life beyond my every day interaction at the shop. I also pledge to share my experiences here on the blog. This challenge is really going to be an onerous one, lol, imagine treating yourself and others to flowers.
I walked into the cooler today to choose my first flowers and these bright yellow gerbera just jumped right out. The size of the blooms are larger than I’m used to seeing and the color is very vibrant.

Ok, I’ll be back next week with my experience and I’ll let you know what I’m doing this weekend that I haven’t done in over 20 years…..