Where to Find Wholesale Flower Vendors
by Casey Schwartz
Here is Casey at the Los Angeles Flower Market on an early morning last month.
Flower Duet is based in Los Angeles, California and we are fortunate to have access to one of the largest wholesale flower marts in the country. For over 90 years the Los Angeles Floral District has been supplying flowers to the trade and also to the public.
Over the past 12 years, we've traveled out of state to create wedding flowers, teach workshops and make television appearances. For all of these events, we needed to locate a wholesale florist who could provide quality flowers. Here are a few recommendations of wholesale floral suppliers which are available throughout the country. Not all wholesale operations offer flowers to non-trade, but it is worth asking. Sometimes if you are doing a destination wedding, and it is a one-time deal, they may make allowances.
From inside the Mellano cooler at the LA Flower Mart.
When I was home in Virginia visiting my parents, my Mom hired me to do a flower party for her garden club. The members of her club gathered under the shade of a perfectly broad Japanese Maple, upon a lovely deck to listen to me chat about a great technique, "Gather, Drop and Fill." Some of the participants had never learned to do anything with flowers and were amazed and delighted with how easy it is once someone shows them.
Casey with our mom's garden club members. Our mom is on the far left.
Mom and I had popped up to Potomac Floral Wholesale to buy most of the flowers for the event. However, we did supplement with some home grown Hydrangeas which were the most amazing purple color.
A great supplier, they are open to the trade and public and have a wide variety of flowers and greenery available. Located just outside our nation's capital in Silver Spring, Maryland, this wholesaler offers local delivery service throughout the Mid-Atlantic region which includes Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. If your location is outside those areas, they ship FedEx and UPS on next day priority delivery service throughout the 48 states and Canada.
DWF (Denver Wholesale Florists) - dwfwholesale.com
This group started in 1909 with mainly carnations in Denver and now operates in 14 cities. I first found them when I was heading to New Mexico last fall to film segments on flower arranging and decided not to drive my hand picked flowers from Los Angeles thru mostly desert.
 Here is a photo of me with Sheryl Borden, the host of Creative Living. This was taken just a few days ago on September 29, 2011 while I taped five more segments for her show. Watch for them this season on your local PBS station. When I needed to choose flowers for my first appearance on Sheryl's show, I researched and went with this operation which has a branch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. DWF's quality was top notch, and so I have returned for more filming and had not a second thought to where I would purchase my flowers. My order was ready and I was able to pull a few more items which were lush, fresh and plentiful.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist - mayesh.com
Based in Los Angeles, Calif., Mayesh is our main go to vendor. The company operates 15 brick and mortar locations nationwide. These locations carry an open inventory, maintain regular business hours and are staffed by experienced floral personnel. Designers can place wholesale flower orders in person, over the phone, via fax or email. They also ship nationwide.
Locations are as follows:
- Bakersfield, CA
- Carlsbad, CA (San Diego Area)
- Chandler, AZ
- LA Flower Market, CA
- Las Vegas, NV
- LAX International Airport, CA
- Orange County, CA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Riverside, CA (Palm Springs Area)
- San Fernando Valley, CA
- Torrance, CA
- Charlotte, NC
- Cleveland, OH
- Miami, FL
- Romulus, MI (Detroit Area)
If you have a favorite flower market in your hometown, tell us about it on Facebook.com/FlowerDuet.
by Kit Wertz
Here are some fun flowers to use for your Halloween decorations. Pictured above is Pumpkin-On-A-Stick which is really a type of ornamental eggplant. Sometimes it's referred to as "false tomato." It's little pricey, but one stem can make an impact in a design.
Chinese Lantern You can actually grow this yourself in your garden and it dries really well. Needs to be hydrated well or the leaves will wither.
Fall Leaves on Branches Oak or maple are good choices.
Ornamental Chili Peppers The color says it all. Perfect for fall.
Grapewood Not really a flower, but evokes a spooky skeleton!
Orange Tropicals For a warm Halloween feel, use tropical flowers like Bird of Paradise or Haliconia.
by Kit Wertz
This is the fourth in a series we are writing on greenery for floral designs. This month, we are featuring succulent plants which really aren't greenery per se, but they add a lot of interesting green elements to a floral design
Greenery Type: Succulents
Expense Factor: $1.50 - $5.50 per plant wholesale depending on pot size
Vase Life: Up to 6 months in floral foam when watered
Succulents are actually cacti, but they don't have any spikey parts. Over the last five years, we've seen a growing trend toward these lovely plants for use in many different aspects of floral designs. We've used them in bridal bouquets, centerpiece designs, arch decoration and as the only element in a living wreath.
The best types of succulents to use for floral designs and living wreaths include all types of Crassula, Aeonium, Echeveria, and Sedums. Some Sempervivums and Senecios (Kleinias) are good choices depending on the application. Succulents can stay out of water for a week and still look pretty darn good, so they are great options to wire for a bridal bouquet or use inside an organic container or platter as shown in the top photo.
Want to learn more? - Post a question on Facebook.
Come to our design class this month as we feature how to integrate wood into floral designs at our Huntington workshop. You make something like the image at left!
Flower Duet Working with Wood in Floral Design Workshop - Huntington Library in San Marino, CA - October 15, 2011 - 10 a.m. to Noon, San Marino, California
Working with Wood in Floral Design
Rogers Gardens Halloween Nights - Costa Mesa, California - Nightly until October 31, 2011
Rogers Gardens Halloween Activities
National Bulb Market in Keukenhof, The Netherlands - October 14-16, 2011
This is where thousands of Dutch flower bulbs are grown and featured each spring. If you can't make it for the big show in April, perhaps you can go the annual bulb market in the fall.
Holland Bulb Market
Fall Flower Show at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota - Saturday, October 9, 2011
The show will feature hundreds of chrysanthemums of many different cultivars with colors of yellow, orange, red, gold, highlighted with Chilly Chili ornamental peppers and ornamental grasses.
Marjorie McNeely Conservatory fall flower show
Flower Duet Flower Mart Tour and Design Studio Workshop - October 29, 2011 - Tour 7 a.m. - Workshop 10 a.m.
Come on a custom tour of the Los Angeles Floral District and then learn to create hand-tied bouquets for weddings or centerpieces. Also, learn to wire a boutonniere. You can get a discount if you choose to do the tour and the workshop, or just go to either one separately.
Flower Duet Flower Arranging Class at its Design Studio in Torrance
Phipps Fall Flower Show - Pittsburgh, PA - October 13 to November 16, 2011
Pittsburgh's historic glasshouse conservatory celebrates the past while looking forward to the future.
Phipps Fall Flower Show
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Newsletter Archives
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Floral Workshops
Upcoming Classes & Workshops - click links below to learn more and sign up
Huntington Libary:
October 15, 2011
Working with Wood in Floral Design - Adult Class
South Bay Design Studio:
October 29, 2011
Flower Mart Tour & Hand-Tied Bouquet Workshop
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We Do Weddings!
Flower Duet offers a generous wedding package that includes your own personalized Web page, a trip to the LA Flower Mart and
a mockup design of your centerpiece or bouquet! Check out the details on our
Wedding Flowers page.
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We offer private and group tours of the downtown Los Angeles Floral District -
affectionately known as "the LA Flower Mart." Tours are 2 hours long, in the morning and $20 per person. Call to reserve your spot - 310 792-4968.
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Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living Magazine doesn't really need a review, but since Halloween is Martha's self-proclaimed favorite holiday, the October issue is not to be missed. If you love Halloween, too and want a spooky fix each day, sign up for her free daily Halloween crafty tip! Halloween Central Craft Ideas
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You are wondering what the heck do you use zip ties for in floral design? Well, we use them for a lot of things. We secure floral cages to wedding arches for example. This arch (pictured below) was decorated by using zip ties to attach the seeded eucalyptus greenery and seven floral cages.
We also use them to drape fabric on chuppahs, arches, pews or gazebos.
Zip ties can be used to attach a floral spray to a large candelabra or to hang a wreath on a door.
They are strong, easy to remove with cutters and come in many colors including white and green which work well for weddings.
If one zip tie isn't long enough, you can combine two together to make a really long tie.
So, get some zip ties in different lengths and have a zipping good time!
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Flower Arranging DVD - Hand Tied Bouquet
What this flower arranging how-to DVD includes:
First, the sister team of Flower Duet, Casey and Kit, take you on location to their favorite wholesale flower vendor and show you how to choose only the freshest flowers – just like they do for all their clients in person!
Then, it’s back to the design studio where we show you how professional florists prepare flowers to optimize their vase life.
In addition to tips on color and flower choice, we teach you the easiest and most adaptable way to create a hand-tied European wrap bouquet using three different sets of flowers.
Learn more about our Flower Arranging DVD
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Learn to Make Novelty Floral Designs
All "How-to" booklets include a complete supply list with instructions on how to use the floral supply, how to make eyes, ears, noses, mouths, whiskers and bows. Patterns are also included for ears for flower puppies and flower bunnies. All "how-to" booklets include step-by-step instructions with photos illustrating each step.
Order Your Flower Novelty Instructions
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Order Our Favorite Shears
So...what is the best tool to cut flower stems when you are flower arranging? Most professional florists use floral knives. Knives are easy to keep sharp which will bring you the best results. It's key to make sure that the cuts you make to a floral stem are clean. When we teach our flower design classes; however, we use the floral shears pictured above. This is because when students are just learning the new skill of flower arranging, we feel it's a bit safer to go with an easy to grip floral shear. We've tried a lot of cutters over the years and these are the BEST we've found (picture above).
Order online with PayPal:
$15.00 (plus shipping)
usually ships within 1-2 days
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