What do you use instead of Leather?

We often get consumer bunches of greens that we sell as well as use. The simple ones that we retail for $3.99 have 3 pieces of leather, 2 tree fern, 2 myrtle, and about 5 bear grass. They're perfect for greening up a basic vase and then we add more as needed. We also get mixed euc. bouquets that have seeded euc, silver dollar euc, gunni euc, and baby euc in them. We use those for nicer vases or split them up and use a little bit in the less expensive vases. I also like salal but it drives me nuts when the leaves have tears and "bites" out of them. There's also another foliage that has serrated looking long leaves...and I cannot think of the name of it for the life of me! We used to just get it in the fall but now it's available year round. It might be an Australian green.
 
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sandytf said:
We often get consumer bunches of greens that we sell as well as use. The simple ones that we retail for $3.99 have 3 pieces of leather, 2 tree fern, 2 myrtle, and about 5 bear grass. They're perfect for greening up a basic vase and then we add more as needed. We also get mixed euc. bouquets that have seeded euc, silver dollar euc, gunni euc, and baby euc in them. We use those for nicer vases or split them up and use a little bit in the less expensive vases. I also like salal but it drives me nuts when the leaves have tears and "bites" out of them. There's also another foliage that has serrated looking long leaves...and I cannot think of the name of it for the life of me! We used to just get it in the fall but now it's available year round. It might be an Australian green.
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are you willing to share your mixed Euc vender? :)

we too use lots of different (when available) foliages from the farm. Right now it's artemsias - varr and silver; tansy, sweet annie, sage, basil, marjoram and green sedeum, ornamental grasses of various types. The hosta is pretty much crap by now with slugs, grasshoppers and the heat

unfortunately the season for all of that comes to an end way to soon here in Michigan.

Does anyone ever see this from their vender
http://www.gardensoftheblueridge.com/gardensoftheblueridge/princess pine single.JPG
 
Kristine said:
are you willing to share your mixed Euc vender? :)

we too use lots of different (when available) foliages from the farm. Right now it's artemsias - varr and silver; tansy, sweet annie, sage, basil, marjoram and green sedeum, ornamental grasses of various types. The hosta is pretty much crap by now with slugs, grasshoppers and the heat

unfortunately the season for all of that comes to an end way to soon here in Michigan.

Does anyone ever see this from their vender
http://www.gardensoftheblueridge.com/gardensoftheblueridge/princess%20pine%20single.JPG
Click to expand...

We get the mixed greens bouquets from Koehler and Dramm out of Minneapolis. They make their own (Krueger Wholesale and Karthauser and Sons-both WI wholesalers-also have some greens bouquets available, but are more expensive). You have to watch the euc. ones. When they start to get "iffy" we quite ordering them til the euc. gets better.

Yes, the foliage in that image is Princess Pine or Lycopodium (at least in the Midwest it is). We can get it from our wholesalers around fall and winter...it's mostly locally grown. I just go pick my own!

Sandy

P.S. I remembered the name of the foliage I couldn't think of: Grevilia! Love it!
 
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shannonlovesflowers said:
um, princess pine in my neck of the woods is not that!
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Really? So you have a different product that you call princess pine? This has always been called princess pine since I started in the business, but I've only worked in Minnesota. It grows wild all over up here, but especially furthur north. I buy a garbage bag of 25 bunches each year, it makes a great, inexpensive fill in for Christmas centerpieces.
 
yes, they called it "princess pine" here a long time ago, but in the land of real Pine! does not compute - it's lycopodium and grows wild as ground cover here in the Great North Maine Woods (and elsewhere).
 
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thanks

we used to be able to get the Princess Pine locally in Michigan, but it is now on the endangered list so you are not allowed to pick it in the wild, so we don't see it anymore. I loved to use it at the holidays.

and yes, on our vendors list they sell a Princess pine but it is not what we always called PP (lycopodium)
 
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anytimeflowers said:
Really? So you have a different product that you call princess pine? This has always been called princess pine since I started in the business, but I've only worked in Minnesota. It grows wild all over up here, but especially furthur north. I buy a garbage bag of 25 bunches each year, it makes a great, inexpensive fill in for Christmas centerpieces.
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yup, Princess pine around here and from my wholesalers as long as I've been in the biz (27years) is like ponderosa pine.
Weird....
 
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I am going to give you the best tip.........makes greening EASY, cost effective, and looks great. Asparagus Sprengerii !!!!

If you have an oasis arrangement.....insert two long stems and spiral it around the foam, pinning it in several places. Voila ! Greened.

In a vase, Take two long stems, loosely spiral it around itself, use a bit of taped wire to hold it together, and set the ball of sprengerii on top and insert your flowers through the network of stems.
 
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RWK said:
I am going to give you the best tip.........makes greening EASY, cost effective, and looks great. Asparagus Sprengerii !!!!

If you have an oasis arrangement.....insert two long stems and spiral it around the foam, pinning it in several places. Voila ! Greened.


In a vase, Take two long stems, loosely spiral it around itself, use a bit of taped wire to hold it together, and set the ball of sprengerii on top and insert your flowers through the network of stems.
Click to expand...

sprengeri is a crap shoot here. some/most days it wouldn't wrap around one side on a oasis cube. then there is the shedding problem. yup old and short bunches of sprengeri we see that a lot.
doesn't grow around here, so everything comes shipped in unlike you southerners who can just go out to the yard.....
 
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Salal, pit and anything but bakers. Everyone around here used a whole bundle to 1 arrangement, all you can see is the bakers. Our customers like the variety and look of the greens.
 
Wow, Lizi, that is a whole lot of crap greens in an arrangement, I was a former heavy greener and I think my max per vase or foamed regular arrangement was 6 pieces and that was way heavy, now I use maybe 1 piece of pitt 3 pieces of lemon and 1 leather or italian ruskus or myrtle....just for full textural benefit...
 
I wish I would have my camera when I deliver to the hospital, usually my husband does the delivering, but sometimes I do go. You should see these vases with all of this bakers, it is sad. If I want to buy flowers, I want to see some flowers, not greenery. I will try to get a picture sometime so y'all can see.
 
The great thing about the spiraling vine technique is that ANY vining green can be utilized......plumosus, sprengerri, smilax, ivy, etc.

Another technique I use a lot.........especially with oasis/foam designs........is I arrange the flowers first, THEN finish off with a variety of greens. I even use a technique where I moss a vasr arrangement..........I do a cris-cros tic-tac-toe pattern of clear anchor tape across the mouth of the vase......then I glue clumps of deer moss to the tape intersections and around the rim of the vase....always being sure to GLUE TO THE TAPE....and NOT the GLASS. The reason for that is the majority of floral glues are not designed to stick to glass.
 
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