If you’re lucky, a few times in your life you’ll have a day (or maybe two) every now and then that are truly remarkable. The kind of day that you sort of can’t believe is really happening as it unfolds. It’s just too good to be true. You nearly die of awe and gratitude. Despite its many faults, the world can be a pretty amazing and generous place sometimes.

I had a day (or two) like that this past week. It’s going to be tricky to sum it all up, but I really want to share it with you. Apologies in advance if this turns out to be a bit disjointed. And long. Maybe get yourself a cup of tea and plan to stay awhile. . .

A long time inspiration of mine has been Ariella Chezar. She revolutionized the art of modern floral design when she brought a loose, wild, organic (and seasonal) aesthetic to the East coast, particularly New York City, about ten years ago. I’ve always felt a distant kinship with her; she grew up in the country and found her way to the “big city” and floral design through a sheer love of the flowers, she loves working with locally-grown materials, and she loves color and texture. Oh, and she uses a ton of luscious ribbon.

I wanted very much to meet her. When I saw the Flower School New York was offering “A Day with Ariella Chezar”, I ached to go. Thanks to a very generous early birthday gift, I was able to sign up for what would surely be an unforgettable experience. I counted down the days!

To have a day with Ariella was more than amazing all on its own. But then two other incredible designers, Sullivan Owen and Amy Merrick, added even more excitement to the trip.

First, I have to back up a bit and tell a side story. Philadelphia is nothing like NYC (in more ways than one). The floral design scene is still fairly traditional and the number of designers pushing the envelope are limited. I count myself among the few that are breaking the mold. One of the others is Sullivan Owen. She is incredibly talented and a wicked smart business woman. We often bid on the same weddings, and that has fueled a feeling of competition. She recently moved into a house in my neighborhood though, and I was determined to reach out and see if we might be friends.

We met for coffee last week and hit it off in a big way. Not surprisingly, we’ve got a lot in common, and we’re both a little quirky. During our chat, we delightfully discovered that we were both signed up to go to Ariella’s class. Sullivan very generously invited me to sleep over the night before at a friend’s Manhattan apartment. She was so amazingly gracious on the whole trip, helping me navigate NYC since I don’t often go up and brave the subway. We had dinner together with her witty assistant, Bri, and chatted non-stop about life and business. It was lovely to take down a silly invisible wall and establish a warm relationship. I’m really excited to see how we can take floral design in Philly to a whole new level together!

So the NYC trip got off to a great start with Sullivan. The next morning we got up before dawn and took the subway to the famed NYC flower market on 28th Street. I had never been before. After all, what does a flower farmer need from a flower market? Well, turns out, an awful lot. So much so that I’ll make a point of visiting once or twice a year from here on out.

For starters, I saw familiar flowers, ones that I already grow, in crazy new colors and forms. There were Scabiosa in deep true purple and ranunculus that looked like ruffled tissue paper flowers. And a smoky purple iris that I must find. It really got me excited about tracking down highly unique varieties to grow at the farm rather than relying on the standard “tried and true”. The Dutch and Japanese growers are sending amazing things to the US market. There’s absolutely no reason we can’t grow them here ourselves!

Secondly, I had an eye-opener about wholesale pricing for specialty crops. Granted, NYC is a special case with a huge demand for unique floral material and an ever-growing “Brooklyn flower mafia” scrambling to buy it. But still, it surprised me. Two-fifty a stem for standard ranunculus grown in NJ, identical to what I grow. One special variety of giant “peony” ranunculus from Japan (that really is freakishly the size of a large full peony) sells for 25 bucks a stem! Specialty parrot tulips were two or three dollars a stem. Flowering branches were 65-75 dollars a bundle. I was afraid to ask what that bunch of smoky purple iris would set me back. Remember, these are wholesale prices!! If you follow the traditional florist model of marking-up, retail for a standard ranunculus would be over eight dollars! But everything I saw was just breathtakingly beautiful. For just a few hours, I wished I wasn’t so darn determined to use only flowers I grow myself. I could have packed the van to the brim for the ride back to Philly!

Sullivan, Bri and I also ducked into some supply houses for vases and other hard goods. It was fun to see Jamali’s storefront and check out some of the containers I had been eye-balling online. It would certainly be handy to have stores like that in Philly!

Another thing I found really surprising was the format of the flower market. The name and the legend of the place led me to believe that it would be in keeping with the European style of a market: one big open space – indoors and out – packed with buckets of blooms and other materials as far as the eye could see. As it turns out, the NYC flower market is essentially just a collection of small storefronts, not unlike glorified bodegas, scattered along 28th. Most have a collection of plants and branches sitting out on the sidewalk, but all the flowers were inside and the spaces were very tight. From what I was told, this isn’t the way it always was. Back when the economy was booming in the late 90s, there were heaps more flowers spilling out all over. But the recession has really hit the flower business and the NYC wholesalers have scaled back, just like everyone else.

Already a little overwhelmed at this point (me that is; not Sullivan since she goes to the market regularly), we then headed to a nearby Starbucks to meet up with the official group spending the day with Ariella. It was a small group, but a very international one with designers from Canada and Egypt in the mix. We were all experienced professionals which made it nice so we could chat about business all day. Ariella arrived and whisked us all back to the flower market to buy flowers for the designs we would make later in the afternoon. I was immediately struck by how warm and thoughtful she was. And pretty. She was wearing killer green suede kitten heels. I want!

It was hard to keep up and take everything in as she shopped at G Page and the Dutch importers for parrot tulips, jasmine, ranunculus, Icelandic poppies, muscari, fritillaria, and hellebores. I snapped a few hurried Instagram photos so I knew it wasn’t just a dream. I loved that she chose nearly all seasonal flowers and wasn’t tempted by anything too terribly exotic. I could have absolutely grown pretty much everything she chose, except for the seeded eucalyptus and the jasmine vine.

After buying the flowers, Ariella took us ribbon shopping. This surely must have been a dream, even though I have the photos to prove it. Ribbon shopping with the maven of luxurious ribbon! Unreal!!

I was dumbfounded by the amount and diversity of ribbon available in NYC. As a ribbon hoarder, it was so exciting I nearly fainted (kid you not; I had to step away from the group a bit to recompose myself). The one shop was dedicated to just vintage, out-of-circulation ribbon and trim. And it was huge!! And expensive. I am going to set up a ribbon fund and save up to go back in a few months when I can really have fun buying whatever I want! But of course I had to buy just a little to calm my addict shakes. I settled on a few yards each of lovely velvets.

All our shopping and exploring done, the group headed back to the Flower School New York’s classroom/studio. I got super lucky and managed to jump in the same cab as Ariella. It was really lovely to have a few quiet focused moments to chat. I was thrilled to hear she’s recently bought a 90 acre farm in the Berkshires in hopes of seriously tackling flower farming in the near future. This locally-grown flower movement is really picking up steam!!

In the classroom, Ariella demonstrated how to make one of her signature bridal bouquets. I was incredibly fascinated by her technique, which was unlike any other I’ve seen before. She does not use the spiral technique and yet achieves a very similar rounded look that spills forward more. As she worked, she confessed that sometimes bouquets come together effortlessly and sometimes they don’t. She was having a bit of trouble with this one. It was incredibly reassuring to know that even the greatest designers have tough days. I often feel this way when leading my own design workshops so I could really empathize. But once we turned the Bach up and the class stopped pestering her with so many questions, you could see her sink into the flowers and find her stride. The finished bouquet was breathtaking.

And then the moment I’d been waiting for all day. She demonstrated how she gets all that amazing ribbon so neatly attached to the stems. It’s so simple once you see it, but I honestly am not sure how to describe it. It took real restraint not to bear hug the woman in appreciation as she put the final pins in place.

Armed with a fantastic set of new techniques, we were let loose to create our own bridal bouquets with Ariella walking the room to offer feedback and pointers. My first instinct was to do a spiral hand-tied like I always do. It’s so familiar and easy. But then I caught myself and made a point to try Ariella’s layering technique instead. It felt pretty awkward for several minutes, but then I found a happy marriage between her technique and my familiar spiral that really worked in an amazing new way. The design came together quickly and cheerfully after that. Adding the ribbon was pure perfection. My bridal bouquets will never be the same!

Since the group was all experienced designers, all the designs were amazing. I wish I had thought to take some pictures of each. As with any workshop I attend or teach, it was fun to see how everyone made something uniquely theirs with the exact same selection of flowers to choose from.

With a few minutes still left, Ariella was kind enough to sit down and have a bit of a heart-to-heart with the group about how to manage a floral event business and how to properly value ourselves and our creativity. Hearing her experiences and philosophy was incredibly invaluable. I left feeling exceedingly grateful and inspired.

As if the day weren’t amazing and intense enough, I headed directly from the Flower School to meet up with Amy Merrick for dinner and drinks. I’ve admired Amy’s masterful and flowing organic designs since she first came on the floral design scene a few years ago. She’s one of the talented ladies that has sparked Brooklyn’s flower renaissance. We have a mutual love for flowers, nature, photography, writing, trucks with personality, and Longwood. It was easy to chat for a couple hours and share our stories. Amy’s going to come pitch in at the farm a couple times this season, and I can’t wait to load her up with flowers to take back to Brooklyn. She is so very lovely; I can’t wait to see her again!

I got in my van, blurry-eyed and mush-brained, as the sun set on NYC and made my way through the tunnel and onto the highway home. My head was spinning from so many thoughts and plain old exhaustion that I actually missed my exit, the one I take nearly twice a week. As I realized I was a little bit lost, having gone past the familiar and onto a dark stretch of road I don’t normally travel, I couldn’t help but think how it was symbolically appropriate. My time in NYC is sure to change things up a bit around Love ‘n Fresh. Can’t wait to see where this little flower farm goes!
P.S. – Lots more photos will be posted over on the Facebook page!

My finished design from Ariella’s class.