Tag Archives: flower arranging

Autumn Blooms…What’s in Season NOW

Autumn is a lovely time for flowers. The days are getting shorter, the mornings are getting cooler, and we are spoilt for choice with the wide variety of beautiful blooms available.

Here’s what is in season NOW:

Dahlias

These beautiful and popular flowers are grown in the field in Australia in summer, in areas close to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Available until the end of March, the petals come in many forms, from the closely packed ‘pompom’ types, to the more tubular type petals. They come in a fantastic range of colours: white, yellow, orange, pink, red, lavender and purple and mixtures of all of these.

Roses

Ever popular roses are available all year. They are usually closely associated with love and St Valentine’s Day, and are the number 1 selling cut flower worldwide (including here in Australia). Australian roses are grown mostly in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. They come in every colour except black and blue.

Sedum

Available in Summer, Autumn and Spring, and grown either in the field or in polyhouses. In Australia we mainly get it from Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. The heads of the flowers are made up of many small and papery, star-shaped flowers, and range from light to dark pink flowers..

Hydrangea

Hydrangea have long been a popular flower for the garden, but are also popular as cut flowers due to their unusual colours. Colour can be a mixture of colours and varies from white, pink, red or purple to green or pale blue. They are grown in the field outdoors, and in Australia are grown mostly in the southern states and also Queensland.

To take advantage of (and learn more about) what’s in season now, we have a range of floristry classes available in Melbourne and Geelong – from our ‘Seasonal Flowers’ course, to our Bloom@BOOM workshop. To find out more, and to book head here.

MIFGS is getting close now – and we’d love to see you there!

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We’ll be at Stall C01, where we’ll also be running our super popular competition yet again – where you’ll have the chance to WIN A FREE FLOWER BASICS COURSE!! Our 5-week Flower Basics course is one of our most in demand floristry courses – and regularly sells out way ahead of time. It’s perfect for beginners – or basically just about anyone who loves flowers!

You’ll automatically be entered into the competition when you come along to our stand, take a selfie, and upload it onto Facebook and/or Instagram. Make sure you tag us @bloomcollege, and also use #MIFGS and #bloomcollege.

The lucky winner will be drawn on Tuesday 22^nd March. Please see below for full Terms and Conditions. By entering this competition you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions.

Terms and Conditions: The winner is entitled to a free 5-week Flower Basics Course at Bloom College. The 5 weeks must be done in succession (no day, time or location class transfers are possible). The prize must be used within 6 months, and can be only be used at our Port Melbourne location (subject to availability). The course is transferrable to another person.

Do You Pin?

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Here at Bloom College we LOVE Pinterest. So much so, that we encourage all of our students (in particular the Career Change floristry students) to create an account and set up boards of things they love.

Are you just starting out with Pinterest? Once set up, we suggest you start with broad keywords such as ‘floral arrangements’, ‘vintage flowers’ and ‘wedding bouquet’.

You’ll soon see patterns emerging in what types of styles speak to you, and what you’re leaning towards. You’ll also find inspiration when you’re looking to try something new.

Bloom College on Pinterest

If you’re attending our upcoming Event Styling or Wedding Bouquet workshops you may like to check out our ‘Wedding Flowers’ board, which has Chuppah’s, bouquets, table arrangement ideas – and heaps of other inspiration.

Happy Pinning!

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career, including specific wedding floral design courses.

Our classes are a place where participants have fun, meet new friends and find their inner creativity. No prior experience is necessary, and we have a range of Courses and Workshops available across our three locations: Port Melbourne, Collingwood and Geelong. Find out more.

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

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The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) is almost here – and Bloom College are super excited to be a part of it once again!

The theme is ‘Discover an Inner City Oasis’, and it’s being held from Wednesday March 16^th to Sunday March 20^th.

New this year is ‘Gardens by Twilight’, which is being held on Friday March 18^th 6:00 – 9:30pm.

Along with everything else that’s going on (from the ever popular Great Hall of Flowers, to the Sculpture competition, to the Show Gardens) you’ll also have plenty of opportunities to see Bloom College:

By visiting our display at C01

Bloom teachers will be on hand to chat about all things flowers – and you’ll also have a chance to WIN a FLOWER BASICS COURSE with Bloom College!

By coming along to our LIVE presentation ‘Feeding the Soul with Flowers’.

It’s being held on the Main Stage on Friday 18^th at 1:30 – 2:15pm AND Saturday 19^th at 1:00 – 1:45pm. Yvette and Rebecca have plenty to share with you!

To book your tickets, and for further information head to the MIFGS website.

DON’T MISS OUT: We’ll have 10 MIFGS tickets to give away – stay tuned for competition details.

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career. Our classes are a place where participants have fun, meet new friends and find their inner creativity. No prior experience is necessary, and we have a range of Courses and Workshops available across our three locations: Port Melbourne, Collingwood and Geelong.

Valentines Day: Tales from a Florist

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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we were sure that the Bloom College floristry school teachers would have some great tales to tell from their many years working as florists.

They didn’t disappoint – and here are their most romantic or memorable Valentine’s Day stories. They’re what we’ve called ‘Valentine’s Day: The Best…and Worst’!

Most romantic:

With only 1 story in this category – it had to be a good one! And it is…

A little boy (around 8 years old) got his Mum to bring him in to the florist to help him buy a flower for his ‘valentine’ at school!!

So cute…and we’re sure she loved it! Isn’t first love sweet?

Most memorable:

These are great – and definitely not easy to forget…

Like the wife who ordered a dozen roses for her husband – with the heads cut off…and a note to say she wanted a divorce!

Or the guy who ran in the front door of the florist in his pj’s! He had snuck out the back door while his partner was in the shower, because he had forgotten to get her something and she had presented a lovely gift for him. He was in a desperate hurry, quickly bought the biggest made up arrangement in the shop, then ran out the front door and down the road to sneak in the back door before she got out of the shower!!

And finally – the husband that ordered 2 sets of flowers. The first set (from him) was to be delivered first. Then the 2nd set to be delivered afterwards (from a ‘secret admirer’). The husband then waited to see if the wife told him about the second delivery…

We’re not sure how these stories ended, but we can probably take a good guess!

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career.

What Happens…..

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…When a Bloom College staff member (and floristry newbie) takes a class?

I’ve been with Bloom College for a while now, and while I can appreciate the beauty of flowers, and the work that the teachers and students create, I’d never actually had a go myself.

So – when the opportunity came up for me to join a class, I jumped at it!

The class fell just before Christmas – and when I found out we were making Christmas table arrangements I promptly bragged to my family that this year our table would look better than ever (no pressure!).

The day of the class, I was really looking forward to it, but I didn’t quite know what to expect. I was doing the class with another staff member (a devoted flower lover), and when the flowers arrived that morning for our class, I joined in her excitement.

When the teacher (the lovely Nicole) arrived I was still feeling pretty excited, but also a bit nervous. What if everyone else made this amazing table arrangement and mine was no good? Most of the other students had done floristry classes previously and I worried that I would be left behind as they ploughed on through.

As Nicole took us through what to do, I was feeling nervous – what if I couldn’t remember what she said and mine looked nothing like it should? Nicole patiently took us through the steps involved – but it seemed like so much to remember!

It was then our turn to have a go. I moved to my workstation (with my beautiful bucket of flowers waiting for me) – and I dived right in. Once I got going I found myself blocking out everything around me as I was fully immersed in what I was doing. I loved the feeling of being free to do what I wanted to, of placing the flowers in a way that spoke to me, and where I thought they should go.

Part way through I turned to my colleague and realised we hadn’t spoken for at least ½ hour. This was extremely unusual for us, but highlighted how ‘in the moment’ we’d both been.

As I looked around the room I noticed that everyone’s arrangements were quite different. I really enjoyed seeing how each person had interpreted what we were doing in a slightly different way.

After I was done I proudly took some photos of what I’d created – I couldn’t wait to share them with my family and friends.

Taking my flower arrangement and adding it to my family’s Christmas table was a proud moment for me, as they all gushed at how great I’d done.

Taking this class has given me a new appreciation for how enjoyable working with flowers is, and how great it makes you feel (both during and after the class). I also now know first hand how it can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but once you dive in and just get started, that thoughts of being nervous get pushed to the back of mind.

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career.

Flowers In The City

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WOW WOW WOW!!

Flowers in the City…and by ‘City’ I mean the one and only Big Apple – New York City. Whenever I travel I am always drawn to check out the local flower industry – in particular seeing the difference between regions and how they trade. When I visited New York City in 2014/15 it was no exception to this.

One of the glaring differences between how we trade here in Australia as compared to New York, is the very convenient way that all the wholesale flower suppliers are in one area. So much so that the block is actually known as ‘The Flower District’. Most of the flowers available are imported from The Netherlands and are of impeccable quality, and there is a huge variety to be found. Not only are all the suppliers within one area, the streets are also amass with flowers, plant material and potted plants. As my trip coincided with Christmas and New Year, fresh Holly with stunning red berries and spruce were available on mass along with many other Northern hemisphere goodies that we can only dream about down here in Australia!

What I found most interesting is that after 9am the wholesalers are open to the public. The Florists have been in from around 4am onwards, and have snapped up all they need (at wholesale prices). They then take it to their studios or (less commonly in Manhattan) stores. I found that the majority of florist studios are within the flower district and are not open to the public.

Florists are aware that what they do best is to arrange flowers and that this is where their money is to be made. I met florists with contracts for many hotels and restaurants. In fact – one floristry business (with a team of florists) services just one restaurant each week. They have so many arrangements in this particular restaurant that it takes 7 florists to fill it each week! I was in awe of their work, with one section of the restaurant ceiling being covered in hanging pomanders of all sizes. While another area had hall stands covered in arrangements, and walls had wreaths with the diameter of 2 metres. It was just spectacular!
The few Floristry stores that are in Manhattan are pure treasures. One of my favourites was in a book store that leads into Club Monaco clothing store. It is small by our standards, but very sweet. They sell mostly pre arranged flowers rather than cut bunches.

I did come across one very clever lady with the most sustainable business (which I love) called ‘Petals on Pedals’. The owner travels out to the farms each week and only sources locally grown flowers and materials, then the arrangements are delivered by push bike around Manhattan. This would be a great idea (and very possible) for an enterprising florist back here in Australia (in either Melbourne and Adelaide in particular).

So – if you are thinking about a trip to NYC my recommendation is that you DO NOT MISS the Flower District.

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career.

New Year…Brand New Floristry Workshops…

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The Bloomers have been working hard behind the scenes to sneak in a Christmas present before we take a well deserved break.

A whole range of BRAND NEW themed workshops are up on the website now and ready for bookings in Port Melbourne. If you’re in Geelong or Collingwood, let us know if you’d like one (or all) of these in your area by emailing us at enquiries@bloomcollege.com.au.

Introducing…(click on the photo to be taken to the course info)

Vases, Vessels & Foam

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Choosing your vessel or vase is another area of floristry that you can really let your creativity soar. Just about anything goes, and the choice of vessels available for arranging flowers is wide and varied. From jars, to cans, bottles, tea cups, or baskets…re-using and recycling is a perfect way to put new life into something old.

Rummage through your cupboards, op shops and garage sales for anything varied and different. Save glass jars, tins and plastic food containers of all shapes and sizes. Even the most unattractive of containers can be used to line a basket or vessel that would otherwise not be waterproof.

Materials like hessian, banana leaves and dried or fresh lotus leaves can be used to cover unsightly or damaged containers. Use sticky tape to make grids across the top of containers to hold the flowers in place.

Just be sure to use clean vases or vessels, and choose the appropriate size and weight to balance you arrangement physically and visually.

A common question we get in our floristry courses and workshops is what the best method of soaking foam is. Simply add water to a sink (the height of the water should be slightly lower than the height of the brick), then place the foam brick with the branding facing up. Gently rest the brick in the sink (do not cover the brick with the water). Allow the brick to soak and absorb the water for a minimum of 20 seconds.

We love showing our floristry students the many varied vessels and vases they can use to make their arrangements. Now that we’ve given you some ideas, it’s over to you to see what you can find. Happy hunting!

At Bloom College Flower Design School we create Floristry Courses and Flower Workshops for beginners, the hobbyist and those wanting to pursue floristry as a career.

Private Floristry Workshops & Corporate Training

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Bloom College has more than just floristry courses and flower workshops. Did you know that we also offer private one-on-one floristry workshops, floristry business owners training, staff training, or corporate workshops with any of our highly trained and experienced teachers?

We can provide training for:

> An experienced florist that wants to learn a new skill in an area of floristry that they haven’t worked in yet.

> Someone who has some floristry experience, but would like to hone in on some particular skills, or learn correct techniques for something they haven’t previously had formal training in.

> A floristry business owner that wants help to train their staff.

> A floristry business owner who would like help in business planning, or how to run a profitable floristry business.

> A large corporate office that wants to run a workshop in their offices for their staff.

> An event organiser that wants to hold short workshops for their attendees as part of the larger event.

As you can see, private training can take on a whole range of options, and we tailor each session to your particular needs. We speak with you, find out what you need from the session, then provide a written quote.

We’ve held floristry training for people who’ve come to our classrooms from far and wide – other parts of Melbourne, Victoria, interstate, and from overseas. Our sessions are fun, hands on, and our teachers will guide you along in a relaxed environment.

Would you like to find out how Bloom College can help you with your private floristry training needs? Simply send us an email at enquiries@bloomcollege.com.au or call us on 1300 816 356.