Interesting News?
A newsletter by harkins, the florist
Mother's Day
Mother's Day 2010 is upon us! We have a great selection of gifts this year, and urge you to order early for the best selection. Two wonderful flower types we will be offering this year are boronia, a wonderful, shocking pink flower in the heather family, and Louisiana native saracenia, a wonderfully sculpted carnivorous plant, in gorgeous colors. We have a Mother's Day page up on our web site and invite you all to browse. As always we are recommending our orchid plants. We feel that gifts just don't get any better than these beautiful Phalaenopsis, and they have been exceptionally nice this season. Give us a call, and we'll fill you in on the available selection, or pass by and see these beauties for yourself.
I have included a tulip vase on our Mother's Day page, though there may be a shortage this year thanks to the volcano in Iceland. Shipments out of Holland have been sporadic, so please order early so we have some wiggle room with delivery.
A Most Unusual Employee…
Back in the early days at 1359 Magazine, there was a much more hip feel to the business. Jawn was not that far removed from his ponytail phase, and the “London-after-the-war” building attracted a more adventurous clientele than in later years.
Last month were remembered the very first employee, Mary Helen Michals. Next to come on the scene was a very unusual young woman nicknamed “The Cat Lady.” A child of the old Marengo Street Commune, she was, without a doubt, the hippest employee ever. She was truly the child of 1960s Flower Children. Working in a flower shop was, of course, a natural.
Cat Lady did have an artistic flair. This manifested itself in a rather bizarre way that gave her the nickname. When her cat died, she harvested its bones and fashioned them into a necklace she often wore. “This is Cat. I would like to introduce you,” she would say to startled customers.
There’s an album of pictures from the 1359 Magazine period. Included is a classic picture at the annual Christmas party of “Cat Lady” perched on a marble top dresser used as a display piece back then. She was wearing a classic, quite short dress of that era, fishnet hose, a funky turban hat and, of course, her cat necklace.
The move to 1601 Magazine marked the end of Cat Lady’s tenure. During the stress of the move Cat Lady snapped rather strongly at Jawn, resulting in one of the very few times an employee was dismissed. Ever the peacemaker, her friend, Mary Helen, finessed the situation by honoring Cat Lady at the Christmas party soon after her departure.
Cat Lady is still around town and seems to have done well. She is an artist of some renown, working in sculpture and other art forms. Several times she has appeared in The Times-Picayune, seeming to have held onto her hipness through several decades.
Prom
Just a quick word about Prom. As always happens, many of the area proms fall on Mother's Day weekend. For the best selection of roses, and orchids please order early, our supply may be taken for all the moms. We have a new line of keepsake bracelets for our wrist corsages this year and we are quite excited about them. They can be seen on our Prom! page, or stop in and see what we have, and bring your dress if you'd like to see how they coordinate. We also have chokers and armbands made to hold flowers, and of course we have boutonniere holders, so the guys can have some bling too!
Care and handling of......
Saracenia
These great plants and their flowers grow in swampy areas, so it's no surprise that 7 out of 8 varieties grow right here in Louisiana. We have a wonderful supplier that cultivates quite a few varieties and harvests, first the flowers - also know as frog bellies (shown in the middle picture above) - and then the plant itself, or pitchers as they are called. They are only available to us for a short time and we love to design with them, they are so different from anything we can normally use. They don't fare very well in arrangements using the florist foam, so we always suggest only designing them in deep water. In vases of water you can expect a good week, and sometimes more, of enjoyment from them.
We also are showcasing a second care and handling segment on Boronia this month.
Boronia
Boronia, or boronia heather as it's known, is another great flower for this time of year, with a short availability. We'll have it here for the next couple of weeks only.
The flowers are small, cup-shaped blossoms on long stems, with soft, needle shaped leaves. It comes in a wonderful, hot pink/magenta color and has a pronounced sweet scent.
This flower also benefits from being designed in vases of water rather than florist foam, though it will last a day or two in the foam, whereas the saracenia will not. Be sure to clean the foliage and blossoms that may fall below the water level and add some floral preservative for best results, and most of all, enjoy!!
Archives:
harkins, the florist on Facebook
