There are Angels even in Los Angeles!

There are Angels in Los Angeles

As a local Santa Monica florist for almost 30 years, we have serviced our community and designed many flowers for endless occasions, happy and sad.   We have been able to celebrate and comfort all the milestones of our many cherished client's lives.   

Ruby roses and purple butterfly orchid arrangement

We have been here to help the shy teenager to pick out the perfect flowers for a first prom date.  Later send flowers to express his affection to a new found love interest.  Have the honor to design the flowers for the wedding, send flowers for anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine's Day and just because he wants to see her smile.  They later become parents and share many baby pictures with us.  

Garden roses and dahlia bridal bouquet

Several young fathers come in with the new addition or many small ones to pick out Mommy's first Mother's day flowers.  In order to keep the children entertain we offer a balloon and have become to be known as the balloon store.  We help choose a wrist corsage for their first father/daughter dance.  We have made countless nosegays for little girls first dance recitals from proud parents and friends.

As for the sad times, we have cried and hugged many of those in our community.  We breath some light into their lives with beautiful  floral tributes in memory of a loved-one during difficult times.   

Open Heart Sympathy wreath

Recently we had a very sad occurrence.  One of our families lost their Mother,  two young girls 18 and 19 years old.  They had recently lost their Father just a few months earlier.  Even though still sadden by their loss, their mother decided to still have a 50th birthday party. A party she was joyfully planning for months with her now deceased husband and family.  The week of her  party she passed away.   

The young ladies called our shop to inquire about flowers for the funeral.  They wanted standing sprays for the service as well as several centerpieces for the meal after the service with limited funds.  We told them we would work it out with their limited budget in making the flowers beautiful.  

Later that day the young sisters came in to discuss the items they were needing.  At the same time we had a woman in the shop deciding on what gift she wanted to send to her friend in Europe.  As the sisters cried and our manager tried to hold back her tears, they re-told her their heart-wrenching story as they choose the flowers for the funeral and meal.

 When they were about to pay for the flowers,  the woman looking at flowers for her friend asked to speak to the Manager.  The woman told our manager that she would pay for all the flowers for the funeral and the after meal.  The woman thought we were going above and beyond to help the mourning sisters.  When we told the sisters,  tearfully they hugged and thanked the generous stranger.  

Later I asked my manager, who knows all our clients if the lady had been here before, she told me she had never see her before.  We looked at our list of clients and this was the first time she ever purchased flowers from our shop. 

God had sent an Angel from heaven to help these sisters.  What are the chances?  There are Angel even in Los Angeles!

  

   

Wedding at the Lodge - Edelweiss Flower Boutique - Elizabeth Seiji AIFD

Reprinted with permission.
A wedding at the lodge

The epitome of a destination wedding, this featured event by Liz is situated at the Biltmore forest Country Club in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Groom is a Hollywood producer claiming many projects of note including the biographies of famous people.

The location is lush and green. The venue has a country lodge feel and since it was in the fall months, flowers chosen were of that color theme. 

The large fireplace in the main dining room had to be decorated with ladders and installing done on site. Tall johnson grass harvested in the fields add a whimsicle "fresh from the field" air to the design. The beautiful hunting lodge decor of the dining room with the imposing fireplace.

A lush display of flowers in a footed compote. Swirls of bittersweet add a forested autumnal feel for this entry guest book table.

A dramatic cake cascade of flowers flows onto an ocean of blossoms. Accent swirls are created by individual insertions of hypericum berries.

Elizabeth Seiji AIFD and

Edelweiss Flower Boutique

Success through Innovation, Internet and Involvement

Elizabeth Seiji AIFD can point to a handful of professional practices that she firmly believes have boosted the success of her shop in Santa Monica. The amazing thing is that her practices and philosophies are incredibly basic tricks of many trades and professions. To succeed, it sometimes seems, one needs to step outside the shop. Take Liz's belief that industry networking" is crucial to the success of the entrepreneurial florist-designer. Operating in a vacuum and ignoring industry opportunities. Her participation at a competitive level demonstrates another of her business success philosophies: Competition is good for the floral soul.

Elizabeth believes her broad network of florist friends, cultivated over 22 years of entering design contests and volunteering on floral event planning committees, has taught her, through the experiences of colleagues and herself, how to manage her floral business more efficiently. Being involved is a big key to continuous learning.

"Competition is what made me a better florist," she says. "It’s valuable experience; it’s fun and it doesn’t matter if you win or lose."

Although she has never won the top spot in a CSFA "Top Ten" contest, she did win Top Ten’s second place, the 1998 Carik Cup and several FTD competitions.

But perhaps the biggest competition Elizabeth experienced was when she dedicated herself to become a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers. It was a huge achievement for this former Hawaiian who majored in Bio-Chemistry and Plant Morphology at UCLA.

Posted by SouthWest Regional Chapter AIFD at

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Summer Flowers - Gloriosa Lilies, beautiful, long-lasting, pre-ordering is a must!

Summer Beauties meet Gloriosa Lilies

Gloriosa Rathchildiana
(from my garden)

Gloriosa lilies are cherished by floral designers all over the world for its very exotic look.  Stunning in form and vibrant in color, this flower is commonly used in contemporary arrangements, tropical arrangements and wedding work.  In its fresh-cut form gloriosa lily is cut in 2 ways:  with the vine intact - with 3 or more blossoms on the vine with stems at least 18-24" long or as single stemmed flowers with stems 6-8" long.  Cut Gloriosa typically has a long vase life of 5-10 days.  In our shop this flower's vase life has exceeded a week or more, especially the long stemmed vine form.   The price of this flower will vary widely from month to month whether if found in its short stem or long vine form.

Yellow Gloriosa Lily

Gloriosa Boutonniere

Native to the tropical regions of Asia and Africa, this stunning flower is also known as the "climbing lily" or "flame lily".   This summer bloomer is available from July to October.  A member of the lily family yet unlike their close cousins (the asiatic lily) this lily climbs upward with the aid of tendrils on the tips of the leaves which can attach themselves to most anything.  Available year-round from sources in Holland but locally grown seasonally in the summer is when this flower is at it's greatest glory and when it is most abundant.  Of course, in the winter this flower is rather scarce and very pricey. 

Roses, dahlias &
gloriosa lilies in a
modern flower design

Orders for this lily must be made in advance since it is shipped only a few times a week in limited quantities.  Since it is often a rare commodity, when in season one should enjoy its beauty or share it with those who appreciate its living art form.

When our florist, Edelweisss Flower Boutique-Santa Monica - uses gloriosa lilies in our flower designs we express the dramatic nature of its vibrant petals.  This flower visually has so much natural movement and flow, particularly when used within arrangements.  From everyday floral designs to wedding bouquets ultilizing the form and beauty of this unique flower one can create very powerful compositional expressions in a client's flower arrangements.

To the left is a summer bridal bouquet using orange gloriosa lilies with large orange dahlias - petals edged with white, red spray roses, orange roses and yellow mokara orchids all tied off with an orange wired- ribbon.  Notice this bouquet plays off the texture of the petals of the gloriosa lily and the dahlias.