A Lesson in Our Eco-Friendly Floral Tools

As you all know, we pride ourselves in being Boulder's eco-friendly florist. There are certain basic tools that we use on a daily basis to create our arrangements: vases, floral clippers, scissors, loppers, compostable wax tissue paper, recyclable BlumeBoxes, and the list can go on and on! Here is a glance at some of our behind-the-scenes, eco-friendly tools that we use.

Sweet Huckleberry Instead of Tape
One of the tools that florists often use is tape. Usually it is used to make a grid like pattern on top of a wide-mouthed vase to make working with flowers easier. This grid pattern makes the flowers stay in place when making the arrangement. At Boulder Blooms we do not use tape for this purpose. Instead, we use Sweet Huckleberry, which comes from the North-West. The branches are very jagged, and they get tangled really easily. We wrap it together and place it inside our vases. When we arrange the flowers, the branches of the Sweet Huckleberry are a great source of tension for the flower stems, so they stay in place. We also love to use Sweet Huckleberry as foliage to give some arrangements a sophisticated, edgy look. Best of all, the Sweet Huckleberry is compostable.

Horsetail Instead of Plastic Pitchforks
When you receive a flower arrangement from most florists, you will usually notice a plastic pitchfork that holds the card with your arrangement. You won't see those in a Boulder Blooms arrangement! We use stems of horsetail as our "pitchforks". Horsetail is a type of grass, and it usually grows along the banks of riverbeds. We have even seen it growing along Boulder Creek! It is sometimes grown in organic gardens to attract dragonflies. We cut a slit in the horsetail and that's where we put our cards. We feel they are better than the plastic pitchforks because they are eco-friendly, compostable, and it blends in with the arrangement.

Reduce, Reuse, Re-vase Tags

At Boulder Blooms, one of our main focuses of being eco-friendly is reusing everything we can. This includes the vases we send to you! So, one of our eco-frindly "tools" is to get the community involved in being green as well. We have a program that allows you to return your cleaned, Boulder Blooms vases and we will give you $5 worth of flowers in return. Pretty cool, huh? We think so! Check out the tag that comes in your arrangement, and feel free to bring us back your vase. We would love to reuse it if we can! 

Extra, Extra!!!

That's right, folks. Boulder Blooms and Art of the Flower have joined together. Two locations, free delivery to CU Dorms, and now with free delivery to CU Sorority houses. Come say hello!

Did You Know There Were So Many Edible Flowers?

Being an eco-friendly florist, I like to think that we have a good sense of working with the earth in everything we do. We really respect everything that comes from our environment, and we try to utilize the local plants and flowers that grow here in Colorado. we also give back to the earth by composting all living plant matter. Since we are so in touch with the nature that surrounds us, I thought it would be interesting to list some edible flowers. Unfortunately, most florist's flowers are not organic because they are grown for their blooms. If you want to purchase flowers for consumption, check with your florist first to make sure they can get edible flowers. Otherwise, farmers markets are a great place to buy them because they are organic and safe to eat. I got this list from About.com: Home Cooking, which you should look at for a more complete list. You might want to think about adding in these flowers in to our next recipe! My personal favorite is how you can steam sunflowers like artichokes!

Calendula*

It has a spicy, tangy, and peppery-taste, and it adds a golden hue to foods, the same way that turmeric does.

Carnation

It is clove-like with a spicy/peppery taste.

Chrysanthemum*

Mums have a slightly bitter taste. 

Cornflower*

Like carnations, they are also clove-like with a sweet to spicy taste.
 

Gardenia

It has a light, sweet flavor.

Gladiolus*

Tastes like lettuce.

Lavender

We love getting lavender in the shop because it makes the whole place smell delicious! Lavender oil may be poisonous, so be careful! It has a slight "perfumey" flavor. 

Lilac

It has a strong, lemony flavor.

Marigold

It tastes spicy to bitter.

Rose

The stronger the fragrance, the stronger the flavor. It has a sweet, aromatic taste. Be sure to remove the bitter white portion of the petals before you eat them! Rose hips, the red fruit part of the rose bush left after the blooms have died, are also edible. 

Rosemary

Everyone knows this herb! We use it in arrangements as greens and fillers! It is very sweet and pine-like.

Scented Geranium

The citronella variety may not be edible. The taste of a scented geranium can vary from lemon to mint, depending on the variety.

Safflower*

It is like another "poor man's saffron" without the pungent aroma or flavor. 

Snapdragon

An interesting fact about snapdragons is they grow towards the light! They have a bland to bitter flavor. 

Sunflower*

Okay, so I ate the petal of a sunflower here in the shop, and it really does taste leafy and slightly bitter, like the article says! You can lightly steam the petals to lessen the bitterness. And...the most interesting thing is that the unopened flower buds can be steamed like artichokes! Try those for appetizers at your next dinner party! 

Violets

Violets have a sweet, nectar taste

*Only the petals of these composite flowers are edible. The pollen of composite flowers is highly allergenic and may cause reactions in sensitive individuals. Sufferers of asthma, ragweed, and hayfever should not consume composite flowers, and may have extreme allergies to ingesting any flowers at all. 

2010 is here!!! Can you believe it??!!

I cannot believe that 2010 is here. It seems like yesterday we were all freaking out about 2000 and the possibility of computers crashing. I remember exactly what I was doing when 11:59 pm December 31, 1999, became 12:00 am January 1, 2000! I bet a lot of you do too! Well, an entire decade has passes since then, and a lot of things have happened. I have been reading all the magazines lately, and all have their lists of the best and worst moments of the decade. And trust me, we have had some wild, fun, and crazy moments this past decade at Boulder Blooms!

With a New Year always come New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think we really have many resolutions here at Boulder Blooms, because we try to stay on our A-game year round. Being the best we can be is what makes us such a great choice when deciding who to use for your floral needs. So, in case you aren’t familiar with Boulder Blooms, here is a list of reasons why to use us as your florist in 2010. 


1) We are Boulder’s eco-friendly florist
we recycle, compost, and re-use almost everything! We only dispose of 35 gallons of trash per week!

2) Our motto is “the freshest thing in Boulder.”

 We buy from the best, so you can be assured that your floral creation will be the freshest it can be and last for at least 10 days.  

3) We are local

We are a local, Boulder business, so we try to use the flowers that are native to Boulder and the state of Colorado. One of our specialties is making beautiful wildflower bouquets!

4) We are very flexible

If it were not for you guys (the customers), we would not be in business. So, it is our pleasure to work with you until you are COMPLETELY satisfied with your order. We want to please you and provide you with exactly what you imagines. And we are not afraid of complicated orders! We actually like them… it makes our jobs more interesting and fun!

5) Our staff is from all over the United States

Colorado, Massachusettes, Illinois, Louisiana, California, and Florida… Because of this, there are different ideas floating around our shop all the time, giving us loads of creativity for the arrangements we produce. 

6) We can do almost anything and everything!

Really tall arrangements, really small ones, huge parties that need loads of flowers, small parties that only need 1 arrangement, massive weddings, small weddings, corsages, boutonnieres, wreathes, garland, arch pieces, standing orders for business and homes, and the list goes on and on… there is nothing we can’t handle!

7) We love what we do

I find that when you really love what you do, the work you produce is much better. This is definitely true at Boulder Blooms. Our passion is flowers and satisfying all of our customers, therefore; we send out only the best of the best!

So, please stop by and see us this year, and we wish you all the very best!