Administrative Professionls Day 2016

Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman with Grohe Florists, your local Sonoma County flower shop. We all tend to get a little bit busy in our lives and forget some important dates. I'm here to remind you that April 25th through the 29th is Administrative Professionals week. Who do you know that makes your everyday tasks just a little bit more easy? Well they deserve to be recognized. And what better way to send flowers to the office, where you can show them thanks for a job well done in front of their co-workers and everyone in the office, to let them know how much they are appreciated.

An extra bonus is that research has shown that flowers increase workplace productivity. So, you're also encouraging that hard work to continue.

Remember, Administrative Professionals week is April 25th through the 29th. Let your support staff know how much you care and how much they're appreciated. I hope this video helps, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.

Magnetic Boutonniere For Senior Prom In Sonoma County

Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman with Grohe Florists in Rohnert Park, CA. Today I'm going to show you how to make a boutonniere with a magnet. The reason I like magnets so much is because it saves a lot of time, and possibly embarrassment and frustration from trying to pin on a boutonniere. The magnet is really strong and holds a boutonniere up very easily.

What you'll need is the magnet, they're also called boutonniere pin magnets. I still like to use the wire to make the flower secure on there, so you need a 22 or 24-gauge wire. You'll need floral tape, clippers, and then whichever flower you choose to use today. I'm going to use a calla lily and I'm going to use a foliage called Dusty Miller. I'm going to use, as my filler, I'm going to use a hypericum berry.

The first thing that you need to do is to take your magnet and measure your flower. And I like to put the magnet about at the base of the flower. Then I cut my flower stem right at the base of the boutonniere stem too, so they match up. Not everybody still uses a wire, but I like to, just for that extra security.

I put the wire through, and fold it in half, and then I stem tape it. And the stem tape, it's not sticky when it's just like this. So, to make it sticky you have to kind of pull, while you wrap it. So, you're going to pull and spin, all the way, you don't have to go all the way down. I go at least to the bottom of where I cut the flower. So about right there, and just pull it right off. I am going to attach my foliage, my dusty miller, and I'm going to put it on the back of the flower. With calla lilies, it's really easy because you know where the back of the flower is, it's pretty simple to tell. With some flowers it's a little bit harder, so you kind of have to turn it around to find where you think the front of the flower and the back of the flower is. And put your greenery on the back, and maybe off to the side, or whichever greenery you choose, how it looks best. So, I chose to put the dusty miller on the back and then just a little side fringe kind of coming off.

Then I trim that, and I'm going to trim a couple of the berries here. Then I will choose to put a couple berries at the base of my calla lily, like so. You can determine, just as you're doing it. It's a piece of art so you get to choose how much filler, greenery, flowers you want to put on your boutonniere. Then I'm just going to again, pull and wrap all the way down, again. Once you are done with that, you're pretty much done. Now with the magnet, I'm going to attach that, and again, it's just the same as I've been doing with the greenery and the filler. You just make sure that you put the back of the magnet on the back of the flower. Take it and stem wrap it right to the magnet. Now, it's securely attached and I'm going to use my clippers to clip off this excess wire, that I had on the bottom. Kind of push the green tape up along the bottom so it's got a nice, smooth finish.

Okay, so now it is very securely set onto the magnet and it will fit on any type of jacket or lapel. I'm putting this on my vest and see how it sits on here very securely.

I hope this video helps you the next time you're making boutonnieres or corsages for a special event.

How To Order The Right Flowers For Prom 2016

Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman from Grohe Florists, your local florist in Sonoma County. We're reaching the end of the school year, and that means for most high schools it's prom season. I'm going to give you three tips to make it simple for ordering your prom flowers.

Number one is, know what color your date is going to wear. This makes choosing flowers and ribbon a lot easier; or better yet, come in with your date to make sure that they match.

Number two is have a budget in mind when coming in. Most corsages cost between $25 to $40. More elaborate corsages can range from $45 to $60, and most boutonnieres cost between $12 to $20.

Third, come in early for a better selection. The earlier you come in, the more choices you will have. If you leave it to last minute, you'll be left with what we have in stock, and you put a little more pressure on yourself, and your florist.

I hope that these three tips make ordering your flowers for prom a little bit easier. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below.

How To Keep Valentine Flowers Fresher Longer

 Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman from Grohe Florists. And it's after Valentine's Day and many of you received roses. So, I want to give you a quick tip on how to keep your roses staying as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

First of all, is make sure to keep your roses in a cool place away from the windows that receive direct sunlight. So, you want to keep it in a room away from the window. Next, is you want to keep the water fresh and clean. So, after a day or two, you're going to want to take your roses out of the base. So, you're going to just around the top of the base, squeeze your hands together and just pull the roses out and change the water, so you have clean water.

Another tip is every time you do that, get some scissors and cut about an inch off the bottom of the rose. So, the roses are going to start getting shorter and shorter, but they're going to live longer by doing this. So, I hope that this helps you keep your roses as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

Order Early For Valentine's Day 2016!

 Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman with Grohe Florists in Rohnert Park.

Men, it's that time of year, it's Valentine's Day and I'm going to give you one important tip and that is to order early. By February 8th you should be ordering your flowers for Valentine's Day because that gives you more options and in the florist world it's first-come, first-serve.

And look, guys, you do not want to be the guy that comes in last minute and watch somebody else walk out with our last dozen roses. Even better, have your flowers delivered early in the week and tell your valentine you couldn't wait to say, "I love you." If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Valentine's Day 2016 FAQ

Hi. My name is Julie Klingaman from Grohe Florists in Rohnert Park. And man, it's Valentine's Day soon, and I'm going to answer some of the common questions that we get asked this time of year. One is "Why are roses so much?"

I wanted to tell you that it's supply and demand, but it also starts at the farm level. Having to grow long-stemmed roses in the middle of winter. It's cold and dark, so that cost just gets carried through to the florist, and then onto my customers.

Another common question is "Can I order online?" And the answer is yes, but just make sure that you're ordering from your local florist. Because there are many deceptive websites out there that make you think that they're local, and they're not. And if you order from these places, you will get your flowers delivered in a brown box from UPS or FedEx that your valentine will have to design themselves. Make sure that you are contacting and ordering from a local florist because you'll get your flowers delivered to your valentine in a vase professionally designed.

Another common question is "Do we have specials?" and the answer is yes. And they are all viewable on our website, or if you call, you can talk to a floral consultant that can help explain to you the different things that we offer. If you don't know anything about flowers, the consultant can help guide you through what types of flowers are available, and what might be the most appropriate gift for your valentine.

Besides just flowers, you can always add on teddy bears, chocolates, balloons, anything you think that your valentine would like. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below.

How To Build A Succulent Terrarium (DIY)

Hi, I'm Julie Klingaman from Grohe Florist, and today I'm going to be making terrariums. First of all, you need to pick plants that you want to use. You can do small plants and then you need to pick a glass container. I'm doing open air terrariums, so there's a little air that can get in, but you can also do closed ones as well. I have one here that I've already pre made that you can see is an open air, and it's got the small ferns and splash plants in it.

Today I'm going to make one with succulent plants. So, I'm going to move aside the plants I don't want to use for this and I'm going to use succulent. So, first of all, you just need a container. You can do open or closed. They can be small or large, and then you need soil. I already put a little bit in a container, I like to use leftover containers to pick my soil up rather than shovels and stuff.

So, I'm going to put a little bit of the soil into my terrarium. Just put in a couple scoopfuls to start, and then I'll see if I need more once I start putting my plants in. I'm going to put my tallest plant in first until I kind of just squeeze the sides of the container to loosen it up... The plant up in here and then I'm going to take it out. And what I'll do is I'll kind of spread the roots of the plant from the sides a little bit and then put it in here. And I'm picking my tallest plants first to put them towards the back of my container. If you're doing one that's a little bit more open, you can kind of choose how you want to put them in, just to kind of get an idea of what looks best.

If you have a bigger container, you may have more dirt and you might not need to spread it out quite as much. And I chose to use five plants just because I think it'll fit my container. So again, you need to kind of judge, based off your container and your plant sizes, how many plants you're going to want in here to make it look good. And succulents are nice because you don't need to water them a lot, so they're really easy care plants. Alright? So now, I have all my plants in here and I'm going to add just a little more soil to make sure that they're all covered, and I'm going to try to get in here so I don't get soil on top of the plants as much. Otherwise, I'm going to have a lot more clean up to do.

And then, I'll just even it out, and then you can add accessories to your terrarium. So, if you're going to be going to somebody's house or you're having people at your house and you want a little decoration, you could put something like a little pumpkin or some fall leaves in there and kind of just decorate it. I'll show you here how that looks or you can change it out if it's Christmas time or Winter months. You could put pine cones, you could put little ornaments, you could put different types of things like that to kind of make them seasonal. And that is how you make a succulent terrarium. It's really simple. If you're not into making your own, you can call your local florist and they'd be able to make one for you. I hope that this helps if you want to make terrariums for yourself or for some hostess gifts this holiday season.

Have a great day.