Happy Holidays!

MERRY EVERYTHING!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!


more beautiful of our students beautiful wreaths here.

Sheet Mulching for Hellebores

Maybe our fascination with sheet mulching started on a visit to the infamous Max Gill's flower garden in San Fransisco last March. "It's a mess!" he insisted. Indeed it was covered with cardboard, yet still the most exquisite clematis - vanilla scented! - bloomed, along with a smattering of hellebores here and there. Akebia, ecchevaria...I'm digressing, but lets take a quick look:







Anyway! The cardboard was for weed control; a weed barrier if you will that saves your back hours of work when it's time to plant. This stuck in my mind.

In February we have a big southern tier hellebore trip planned. Our goal is to accumulate a large selection of rare hellebores to serve two purposes; First to be used as specimens in our Hail to the Hellebore class the first week of March (we'll teach about them and then cut them up like the greedy florists we are), and Second to begin to establish a hellebore garden upstate for future cuttings.



Our hellebore garden will happen in a large patch of pine trees. Sheet mulching this area now helps us prepare for an early April planting and will keep the weeds (and massive stretches of poison ivy) from coming up. Who wants to weed poison ivy? Not I, and judging by her recent work ethic, not Nea.





There is lots of information on the internet about sheet mulching - and different ways to do it - we did this:

1. Lay down overlapping cardboard to frame out the area of the garden. It's important to really overlap them generously so that weeds can't find their way through. A nice way to use all those cut flower boxes from our studios...

2. Moisten the cardboard with water to help adhere it to the ground.

3. Cover the cardboard with this layer of seed-free top soil 3 inches thick. This took about 2 tons of top soil which we shoveled into the back of my pickup and then back out of my pickup to wheelbarrows. Next time we might find someone with a dump-truck.

4. Cover the soil with a layer of sawdust (from the Saipua soap dish mill).

5. Top it with a thin layer of mulch.

Voila! Let the worms get to work. In April we'll dig down to the cardboard, cut and X through it and plant the hellebores.

Into the woods

We've spent two days deep in the woods of upstate New York foraging some material for this Sunday's wreath making class. Nea led the way in her neon 'please don't shoot me' hunter vest.



Wild rose hips are so prickly but we had to have them.



Tamarack cones



Piles and piles and piles!
See you Sunday!

Meet you in Garden Valley...

Saturday, May 12th, 2012
ROSES 101: Little Flower School at Garden Valley Ranch
10am - 4pm
$400

Garden Valley Ranch in Petaluma, California grows some of the finest heirloom roses in the country (without pesticides!) and supplies our studios each spring and summer with the most fragrant and unusual specimens. In this day-long class, we’ll tour the rose fields with Garden Valley staff and learn about their rose growing techniques. After lunch we’ll discuss the basics of flower arranging and use our rose clippings together with a smattering of other California grown stems to create lush rambling centerpieces.
Possibly our most exciting class yet...we encourage you to browse the roses grown at Garden Valley and hope to see you there in May!


All materials, clippers, lunch and sunscreen provided.
Registration here.

And the winner is...

Jules! Please get in touch with us and let us know which class you'd like to take!
Congratulations! hello.flower.school@gmail.com

We'll be posting some more classes over the next few weeks (including some dates Northern California!). Sign up for our mailing list to get info on all upcoming classes.
More soon....

xo
N & S

A new season...

We're gearing up for another season of flower design classes at Little Flower School!

A few changes to note; we've made it easier to register for classes online - see our new bigcartel site for registration. We're hoping to make some of our favorite tools (think clippers, vases) available on here as well.

Also, we're working furiously to get together details for a very exciting northern California class; a weekend warrior style bridal workshop; a possible list of Paris dates (!) and a Pacific Northwest summer tour.

And, we have a new improved mailing list situation located over there -->;
If you'd like to receive emails about new classes please sign on up!

LASTLY, we're giving away one spot to one lucky winner!

Leave a comment on this post and you'll be put in a lottery to win a spot in our Color Workshop, Orchid or Hail to the Hellebore class... You win, you choose!
The winner will be selected at random. One comment is all you need to enter.
We'll announce the prizewinner on Monday, December 5th!

Thanks always for your support and enthusiasm for flowers!

Wreath Making 101

WREATH MAKING 101

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

Between 1 - 4 pm

$45

SOLD OUT

We’ll be using a variety of pine, cypress, cedar along with a smorg of pinecones, rosehips, pomegranates, feathers, and dried doo-dads to fashion natural looking winter wreaths all afternoon in the Saipua Studio. Make something tailored and neat or loose and wild. Wire frames or grapevine frames provided along with all supplies needed.

PLEASE NOTE:
This class is taught one-on-one in an open door timeframe; please pre-register and come by during the timeframe of noon-4pm.

The Saipua Studio is located at 147 Van Dyke Street in the Red Hook Section of Brooklyn.

Coral, Sand and Citrus; A color study with Ranunculus and Winter Fruits

Coral, Sand and Citrus; A color study with Ranunculus and Winter Fruits

Saturday, January 28th, 2012
1:00-4:00pm
$275 SOLD OUT

By January the really exceptional locally grown ranunculus are rolling into our studios from upstate New York, New Jersey, and a few hyper specimens from Japan. In this entry level class, we'll talk at length about strategies of color blending. Through the use of gradient techniques, we'll blend soft and bold colors; employing stems of ranunculus, poppies, tangerines and kumquats, sweet peas, hyacinth, parrot tulips, etc.

This class will meet at the Saipua Studio; 147 Van Dyke Street in Red Hook Brooklyn.

Granted it's warm palette, but still rather cool in our studio so dress with layers!

All materials and refreshments provided.

Ode to the Orchid

Ode to the Orchid

Saturday, February 11th, 2012
1:00 - 4:00pm
$295

SOLD OUT
In this class we continue our exploration of this striking specimen; reveared throughout history as one of the most precious and exotic cut flowers. The Orchidaceae family has over 20,000 known species; we'll bring together a large handful the most unusual plants and cut stems the flower trade has to offer, including some phalaenopsis, paphiopedilum (commonly known as lady slippers), Oncidium, cymbidium, dendrobium, etc. In recent years, the orchid has been relegated to tight, rather restricting styles of arrangements. In this class we'll focus on using them to build more natural, textural and unstructured centerpieces. This is a basics class, open to all skill levels. Students will create lavish centerpieces, and take home their own orchid plants to care for.

This class meets at the Nicolette Camille Studio located at 50-52 Dobbin Street in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. All materials and a snack are provided. Clippers will be provided and are a gift to take with you.

Ode to the Anemone at NYBG

Ode to the Anemone

Tuesday, February 21st

New York Botanic Garden

Midtown Education center

6:00-9:00pm

$250**

The anemone is the unusual black-centered gem among winter flora. Grown indoors in greenhouses from October through April, it is highly coveted by floral designers for its jewel-toned hues and lengthy vase life. Learn how to combine a variety of anemones with myriad other winter blooms (amaryllis, juniper, ranunculus, citrus, and more) to create rich, opulent arrangements while understanding basic floral techniques and the art of building a layered, garden-inspired centerpiece. Clippers will be provided and yours to keep.

**Register for this class directly through the New York Botanic Garden.

Hail to the Hellebore!

Hail to the Hellebore!

Sunday, March 4th, 2012

1:00-4:00pm

$275

Nicolette and Sarah will be spending the last week of February collecting some of the finest hellebore plants down south. We'll be cutting from these fine plants (before we plant them!) and adding fritillaria, white cherry, ranunculus, spirea and other seasonal material.

Come join this class and learn all the basics of flower arranging using these fine early spring flowers.

This class will be held at the Saipua Studio; 147 Van Dyke Street in the Red Hook Section of Brooklyn.

Dress Warm.

All supplies and a snack provided. Clippers will be provided as a gift to take home along with the arrangement you create.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some highlights from our best of Autumn Class. So many wonderful arrangements from a very lovely bunch of students.
We've been hard at work planning an awesome new schedule of classes for Winter and Spring. Stay tuned-- we'll be releasing the dates next week!

Have a lovely holiday!

NEW CLASS! Rose & Rust

Color Workshop: Rose and Rust

Saturday, October 29th

1:00-4:00 pm

$265

In this class we'll investigate the nuances of pink; from the saturated berry hues of celosia and cockscomb to the palest heirloom rose. Students will learn how to layer and combine color with flowers to create an ombre effect. Does pink have a better foil than the rich amber and sienna tones of October? We think not! Featured in this class will be the last of the Califonia heirloom roses, pepperberry, autumn fruits, asian pear, sedum, carnations and maybe, just maybe, we'll have some tree peonies too! Open to all levels.

The class will take place in the Saipua studio at 147 Van Dyke St, in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

***

All classes are limited to 10 students, unless otherwise noted.

Clippers will be provided and are a gift to take with you.

Of course, class will finish with a refreshments.

Payments accepted through paypal.

To sign up or ask questions email us at hello.flower.school@gmail.com

NEW CLASS! Best of Autumn

The Best of Autumn
Sunday, October 16th
1:00-4:00 pm
$265

Autumn, our favorite season for flowers.
When leaves color, field flowers are going great guns and we finally get to play with fruit on the branch, berries, pods and wild grasses. October beckons a range of color palettes from muddy blues and turquoise to opulent plum and warm ochre tones. We'll be bringing in the last of the dahlias in their dinner-plate sized glory, porcelain vine, persimmons, olive, rosehips, amaranth, celosia, pear, and painted fern. Combing fruit, foliage and flower we'll create grand sprawling arrangements using a flower frog in shallow footed urn. This class is open to all levels.


The class will take place in the Nicolette's studio at 50-52 Dobbin St, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

***

All classes are limited to 10 students, unless otherwise noted.

Clippers will be provided and are a gift to take with you.

Of course, class will finish with a refreshments.

Payments accepted through paypal.

To sign up or ask questions email us at hello.flower.school@gmail.com

On newsstands today! Herbs & Flowers

Check out this little piece I did for the Wall Street Journal Off Duty section. Simple tips for creating late summer/early autumn arrangements with flowers & herbs. Full article here. Beautiful photos by Tara Donne.

xo, Nicolette

Oh, and don't worry we promise to put out a new schedule of classes soon!

The best of Autumn at the NYBG

There's no doubt that Autumn flowers, fruit & foliage are our favorites here at Little Flower School. Come revel in the best of the season with us Sunday, September 11 at the New York Botanical Garden. We'll start the class with a tour of the gardens and we'll get some special cuttings from the garden to use in our arrangements.

Registration ends September 6th!

FROM GARDEN TO VASE: Autumn edition

Sunday, September 11th

10:00am-3:30pm

In this intensive one day workshop we'll start with a tour of the gardens led by the garden curators of the NYBG! After the tour we'll break for lunch then head inside for a few hours of floral arranging. Taking inspiration from the Autumn garden we'll make abundant arrangements that evoke the hues & textures of the season. We'll be using dahlias, pear, amaranth, garden roses, celosia, hydrangea, privet, zinnias, porcelain vine, coleus as well as some very special cuttings from the grounds of the garden!

Hope to see you there!

To register click HERE.

Flowers in Real Simple July 2011

Hello flower friends!
Nicolette did a flower story in the July issue of Real Simple. The gorgeous photos are by the extraordinary Martyn Thompson. There are some really lovely photos* and lots of arranging tips. You can check out the article here or be sure to grab one at the newsstand!
Hope you are surviving the heat!

*this mostly green arrangement is my favorite. there are endless possibilities with all green arrangements. have you ever made an arrangement with all greens?

blue, bleue, blå, 蓝色, blu, sininen, 청색, asul, синий, azul, ブルー, أزرق

Some blue details from our Blue Color Workshop...

Bella Donna Delphinium

Tweedia

Amsonia

Bella Donna & Columbine

Scabiosa

Passion Flower

One teeny tiny forget-me-not

There are many more beautiful students arrangements on our Flickr.
Happy Fourth of July weekend!

Peonies!

Hello! Hope everyone is surviving this heat wave in NYC. Let's try to remember a cooler, breezier time...when peonies were just starting and wearing a scarf was still an option.

Here are some beauties from the Peony class.....

We'll be taking a short break from classes while we get through our busy wedding season.
But do not fret! We are scheming, brainstorming & organizing new class ideas and exciting travel/surprise guests/spaces/vases. SO MUCH!

We may even have a couple pop up classes this summer......

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