BUCKETS OF ROSES DELIGHT SHADYBROOK

Kermit The Frog used to sing a song, maybe still does, that goes ‘It’s not easy being greeeeeen….’  But he was wrong - it’s actually easy to be green, at least as far as recycling flowers is concerned.  Just ask Fresh Market, who’s no longer throwing out the flowers they can’t sell, but are instead donating them to Second Bloom.  We pick up the flowers and with a minimal amount of effort can bring smiles and pleasure to many, many people.  Today we took 17 dozen roses and 4 bunches of baby’s breath over the Shadybrook Assisted Living Center. The residents and staff all love the flowers!  Audie always lights up when we knock on his door and today he asked us to sit for a while and talk with him.  He told us about his life building furniture, constructing his own home near Mars Hill and about his family. When we finally get permission to take photos, you’ll be able to see Audie and the others friends we’ve made at Shadybrook.  But until then, you get to see a photo of Lisa as we’re getting ready to wheel our arrangements around to the residents’ rooms.

MUSCLES FOR SECOND BLOOM

Here’s Alan, getting some flowers out of the back of the truck.  Right away I loved him as a volunteer -I mean, he can carry two buckets at a time!  We were already ahead of schedule by the time we got in the door at Highland Farms Retirement Center.  And that was a good thing because we only had the dining hall for an hour before they were going to be setting up for dinner.  But that was no problem for the three of us and Helen, one of the residents that came to help out.  In no time we had beautiful bouquets handed out to every single resident.  Each of us had our own style:  Alan’s arrangements were light and airy.  But he was quick - he ran out of room on his table in about 15 minutes.  I was at a table with Helen.  My method is the no frills, cut and stuff method.  Helen said that she takes a bit more time than ’some’ but she wants it to be really nice…….hmmmm.  And what about Lisa?  Well, every good team needs a water girl - today it was her.

DOUBLE BLOOMING

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and we’re double blooming - flowers from Fresh Market and The Biltmore House.  We make our way east on 240, looking at the mall traffic and happy to be blooming instead of shopping!  We have so many flowers that we’ll be taking some to Shadybrook Assisted Living Center tomorrow.  But today we’re headed to Highland Farms Retirement Community in Black Mountain. We find Helen there who joins us in making a ton of small bouquets for each of the residents.  Helen has some genuine floral experience, has even won some ribbons for her arrangements and is a lot of fun to work with.  She gets very involved with her creative designs and didn’t even mind when the fire alarm went off.  Alan volunteered with us today and now has several new girlfriends who are hoping he’ll come back and see them again real soon.

BLOOMIN’ BUCKETS

I’ve bought flowers regularly from Fresh Market for years.  I’ve done that because they are incredibly fresh, last a long time and there is always an amazing variety to choose from.  Now I know how they do it - they are constantly making sure their flowers are as fresh as if you just picked them from your garden.  If there is one or two sad looking flowers in a bunch, Louise who heads up the floral department doesn’t keep them. The good news is all those bunches now go to Second Bloom.

That means that they are spread around all over the Asheville area nursing homes, Hospice and long term care facilities.  Today we took 5 buckets of colorful roses, baby’s breath, spider mums and more to Magnolia Health Care Center.  They’re still working on their activity room but we managed to squeeze into one end of the room and with help from residents and staff coming in and out, we made enough bouquets to go in everyone’s room.  We heard comments such as:  ‘I really like flowers’ and ‘I was just thinking about you and the flowers and wondering when you might come again’ and ‘Flowers make me happy’…….you get the idea.  Why don’t you come volunteer with us one day soon and hear first hand what a difference the simple gift of flowers makes?

THE FASTEST SHEARS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

As far as flower arranging in a small cup is concerned, I was under the illusion that I could ‘cut and stuff’ with the best of them.  But that was before I sat at a table with Marjorie.  She was quicker with a pair of shears than anyone who’s ever helped us at Second Bloom, and that’s saying something. She created beautiful bouquets of roses for the residents at The Laurels of Green Tree Ridge!  Marjorie is a resident at the Laurels and always there with a ready smile and a desire to help.  They put her to work whenever they can - she was making the rounds, delivering mail to the other residents as we were leaving.

Today we were again fortunate to receive flowers from Fresh Market.  This time we collected three large buckets full of roses. Those roses provided immense joy and beauty to the residents of the Laurels.  As someone said to us when we were handing out the flowers:  ‘They are so beautiful.  Flowers just make me smile.’  Kudos to Fresh Market for donating to us on such a regular basis!

LOOK AT THAT FACE!

When you donate to Second Bloom, here’s the result in pictures! These are just a few of the residents from Magnolia Health Care Center and The Laurels of Green Tree Ridge in Asheville and The McCune Center and Highland Farms Retirement Community in Black Mountain. Priceless!

BILTMORE HOUSE KEEPS ON GIVING

The Biltmore House is a smiling place.  As we pull up to the back of the house to pick up flowers we’re greeted by Pam, who’s smiling and laughing as we are blown about trying to get in the door.  Then Betsey rolls two carts full of flowers around the corner for us - gorgeous colors and variety.  She’s also smiling.  Just as we’re zipping up our coats to brave the elements outside, Cathy Barnhardt strolls in.  Cathy started The Biltmore Estate Floral Displays Department over 30 years ago and is very happy to NOT be throwing out all these beautiful flowers.  She said,  ‘I’m glad these aren’t headed to the landfill.’  If you look closely at the photo, you can tell Cathy’s experienced and prepared for any scenario she might encounter - she’s smiling, and she’s carrying a camera and a pair of shears.  What else could one need?

Before you know it we’re packed up with flowers and heading over to Hospice.  As we’re making ‘double stuffed’ bouquets for the patients’ room, we meet Madison, who’s there to visit her Nana.  Madison’s taking a break and having some pizza with her mom.  She lights up when we suggest she pick out a bouquet to take in to her Nana.  Flowers have such a way of bringing out the smiles and good feelings!

COLORFUL TABLES FOR MAGNOLIA AND SHADYBROOK

Last time we tried to deliver flowers to Magnolia only to find that they were in the midst of remodeling.  They mentioned their Open House this week and we all thought that floral arrangements for the centers of their tables would look very bright.  Second Bloom was hoping to get a call from one of our generous donors with flowers to spread around.

And Fresh Market did not disappoint….the call came in and we began to roll.  We got six buckets of flowers.  Four of them went into making large bouquets at Magnolia.  We had a lot of help - the room we were using was full of activity.  There was painting, binding their cookbooks and of course, all the re-arranging of the flowers we’d received.  In short order we had plenty of large vases for the tables.  The other two buckets of flowers were delivered and made into beautiful, small bouquets for the dining room of Shadybrook in Black Mountain.

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD……

A morning call from Louise at Fresh Market and The Flower Exchange Train rolled out of the station.  After gathering flowers from Fresh Market we headed over to Magnolia, fairly certain about how our day would unfold.  But surprise, surprise…. we were wrong.  We arrive at Magnolia only to find that they were in the middle of renovating their activity room.  And the dining room was just about to be in use for lunch.  Okay, no problem, we’re flexible…..we decide to go to The McCune Center in Black Mountain.  But it’s now late morning so we have to wait for them to eat lunch,  since we love to have the residents help us with the flowers.   So all right, we’ll roll with that - our Flower Exchange Train will perservere.  After all, the flowers are beautiful and we’ve got 4 buckets of them!  So we eat lunch and with renewed energy we head out.   It took us over 3 hours to get the flowers to The McCune Center but only took the residents 20 minutes to assemble over 60 bouquets!  Totally amazing to watch these women.  It is always a joyous whirlwind of activity when we’re there.  So that was our day, another successful one for our Flower Exchange Train!

A BLOOMIN’ GOOD DAY FOR US

Our day started out with a call from Fresh Market so we went over and picked up 4 buckets of flowers from Louise.  From there we went down to the Biltmore House and Betsey Baker wheeled out buckets of flowers.  It was a good thing we decided to take the truck and not the Prius.  In no time we had it full.  Anyone out there got a van for us???

With so many flowers the call went out for HELP!  We got a hold of Jackie (a return volunteer), who came to our aid at The Laurels of GreenTree Ridge.  Jackie’s in the photo above on the right, the floating head above the flowers belongs to Lisa.   Jackie helped us cut and stuff over 100 small bouquets.   Woody, a resident at the Laurels, was one of our many grateful recipients.  We blanketed the entire place with flowers, one for every resident, large bouquets for the nurses stations and front desk and a few for some of the staff to take home.  It was a bloomin’ good day!

YOUR VASE OR MINE

Judy Garry, of Your Vase or Mine, is a master gardener here in East Asheville.  For whatever occasion you may be planning, you can ‘pick your own’ locally grown flowers right from her garden.

Pick from hundreds of varieties of flowers.  Judy’s garden is in full bloom from mid-May through October.  By the bucket, by the vase or by the stem, there is nothing quite like fresh-cut flowers from her garden.

Contact Judy to discuss your floral needs.  Her flowers would love to meet you!  You can email her:  yourvaseormine@charter.net   Or phone:  828-299-4394

FLORA

Flora is a full service design studio that specializes in floral arrangements for weddings and special events.  Melissa Thomas, the owner, is an artist and has experimented with textiles, paints, metals, sculpture….you get the idea.  Now she’s putting her creative talents into floral design.  Find out more at www.floraevents.com

BILTMORE ESTATE

There are several beautiful event venues at The Biltmore Estate:  Deerpark, Lioncrest, The Stable Cafe, The Inn at Biltmore.  We usually arrive at the Biltmore Estate just before it opens in the morning so we can pick up flowers from an event the night before.  The grounds are spectacular, the flowers are spectacular and so we don’t mind getting up at a specatacularly early time to arrive there.  Everyone at the Biltmore has been incredibly helpful and welcoming.

The Biltmore Estate Floral Displays Department gave us a great start.  We met with Cathy Barnhardt and Betsey Baker as we were just beginning.  They were excited about what we were doing and it fit in great with their efforts to green up their own department. Cathy sent word out about us to every single Biltmore employee!  Their early support and encouragement provided a real boost for us.

STUDIO WED

Are you tired of trying to plan your wedding in a coffee shop, trying to coordinate meeting vendors?  Studio Wed is what you are looking for.  It is a unique place where you can meet a collection of top quality vendors in a setting that is comfortable and spacious.  This service is complimentary to you.  Studio Wed can walk you through every step of planning the ‘event of a lifetime’.  Find out more by going to their website:  www.studiowed.net

WEDDINGS WITH TARA

It can be a bit overwhelming to plan a wedding.  So don’t try doing it all by yourself.  Call Tara - she’ll help you with your destination wedding, your large hometown bash or your small intimate gathering.   She’ll save you time and money and help relieve the stress that can come with all the planning.   Check out her website to find out all the services she offers.   www.weddingswithtara.com

ALL IN A DAY’S BLOOMING

Today started off with a visit to George ‘The Fern Man’ Pickering at his Lake Eden home.  I had knocked on his door early one Sunday morning looking for the ‘Barn’, where a wedding had been held the night before.  He was quite gracious and in the course of talking, he asked if he could donate some ferns to our blooming business.  I’m not one to discourage any recycling, so I agreed.  I had no idea how gorgeous they would be - or how many!   We stuffed the truck full of them and headed off to the McCune Center where Tamara happily greeted us.  In no time they knew exactly where they were going - these ferns had indeed found a good home. They can now be seen hanging in the dining room windows, in the large solarium and probably most everywhere you turn!Well, this exchange would have been a fine blooming day all by itself, but when we looked in the rear view mirror we remembered that we’d also picked up 4 buckets of flowers from Fresh Market.  Okay then….but before we went anywhere else we needed to refuel.  After a much needed lunch at the Morning Glory Cafe in Black Mountain, we headed over to Highland Farms.  Help kept arriving.  There was a lot of joking around but also a fair amount of quiet concentration as the flowers got rearranged into our now famous cups.  Within the hour we had made about 80 bouquets, enough for almost every room.

HOW MANY FLOWERS CAN FIT IN THAT CUP?

If you ever want to know how many flowers our little cups can hold, just come to the McCune Center and watch these women!  They can put more flowers into a cup than I ever thought possible.  Each one is truly a work of art. There is pleasure involved in every phase of it - the beauty of the flowers as they lay on the table, the creativity as the arrangement begins to show itself, the delight as it unfolds and the smiles all around as the cup is ready for the cart.  From the cart they travel to the rooms where they can be enjoyed for days to come.

Today’s joy began with the generosity of two of our donors:  Fresh Market and Earth Fare.

IT’S SECOND NATURE TO RECYCLE

Last week someone thought the name of our business was Second Nature, not Second Bloom.  I thought that was a good second name for us.  If it’s not now second nature for you to recycle, then it ’should’ be.  If our donors didn’t believe in reycling, in greening up their businesses, Second Bloom wouldn’t be happening.  Hundreds of residents would be missing out on beautiful, colorful flowers and not have as much to smile about.  Check out the fun that Vernelle’s having with her hydrangea pom poms!  On this particular Sunday morning we totally maxed out the capacity of the truck, both inside and out.  But it was worth it.  These beautiful flowers from Blossoms at Biltmore Park found their way from the Crest Center to both Magnolia Health Care Center and Hospice.

THE CREST CENTER

The Crest Center is a spectacular setting for any celebration!  Views of the Biltmore Estate on one side and our western mountains on the other.  It was a great place to be early on a Sunday morning.  The Pavillion, where we got these flowers, is a huge glass enclosed structure that can hold several hundred people and is an ideal setting for weddings and other large gatherings.  Blossoms at Biltmore Park did the flowers for this event and Second Bloom got the call to action.  We were on the move,  stuffing the truck to overflowing proportions!

FALL LANDS AT HIGHLAND FARMS

The Blossoms at Biltmore Park made 8 beautiful fall wreaths for the center of tables at a wedding at Lake Eden.  There were sunflowers, roses, dahlias and even pumkins.  They fit perfectly on the tables in the main dining hall of Highland Farms.  And you can see here on the right that Sally is happy to find vases for a few bouquets!