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While Sheltering In Place, I have done some live Instagram Stories to share my love of creating with flowers and to spread a little beauty while we are at home and distant from some of the beauty and people we love.

Here is a shortened video I've completed that can be used as a floral design tutorial or just a glimpse of how to make a hand tied bouquet. 

My favorite wedding to design for: 

1. Lush and full of greens

2. Colorful

3. A bit of tropical weirdness mixed with lots of local grown and seasonal blooms, all designed without floral foam.

This week at Revival bar and kitchen, the flower arrangements Gorgeous and Green created included some bright protea and local berries.  Here are a few pictures of the week's arrangements.

The host table has one yellow pincusion in a vintage candlewick drinking glass.

The Large French bucket in the back is stacked with bushy branches and some bright organic and local sunflowers.

The vintage vase (my favorite vase) has some pink protea and lovely local amaranth, organic bells of ireland and local branches and berries.  

  In green and health, G&G

As you know, every day is Earth Day.  Especially here at Gorgeous and Green! A local and green certified Event Planner, Karine Brighten, also treats each day as earth day.  Apart from being green certified and having connections with local green vendors, she is also committed to education as we are.  This past April 22nd, the traditional Earth Day, she put on an event in Berkeley that highlighted her commitment to the environment and her belief in eating and living as a vegan.

I asked her to share more about her event: 1. What was your vision in creating a vegan earth day in Berkeley? My vision for the event was to start a new tradition, and that new tradition was to celebrate the link between veganism and a healthy environment in honor of Earth Day. There are many events in the San Francisco Bay Area that take place on this day, but none that focus specifically on the positive effects of veganism on the environment. My goal was to have people leave the event feeling inspired, and with tools that they can use to help the planet.

2. Please describe the event and who you chose to include in the day? The event consisted of the screening of an award-winning feature documentary, “Call of Life, Facing the Mass Extinction” by Species Alliances. The film investigates the growing threat to Earth’s life support systems as a result of dwindling biodiversity.  Following the film there was a panel discussion of 4 experts in vegan lifestyle, nutrition, and sustainability. After the panel discussion there was a catered vegan reception that everyone loved!

3. Do you feel like your vision was achieved?  What else would you like to include in up and coming vegan earth days? I couldn’t be happier with the ways things turned out! The event sold out and people walked away feeling motivated to make changes in their lifestyle. The tradition will indeed continue next year, and I hope to make it a full day event.

Gorgeous and Green was hired to provide the cute edible baskets for the event:

in Green and Health, G&G

I added a few hydgrangea inside the branches, so they could peak out as people see it from different angles.

Here you can see wisps of asparagus leaves  and kale trailing from a simple bouquet of roses and gerbera that were left over from a past event.

Last week at Revival  Gorgeous and Green reused this chemical glass vase.  Since the opening is so narrow, I can only put a couple of stems in.  This time a little local flowering kale and a nice flowering branch.   I love using flowering kale or cabbage, not only because it's hardy and has lovely petals and color, but because it is tied to a good friend of mine. My flowering kale comes from a local grower and wholesaler in Half Moon Bay, Dave Repetto.  I have developed a great rapport with him and he is always clear with me about his flowers and his more sustainable practices, including not spraying pesticides on most flowers.  Besides the fact that he's local, I know he employs a good amount of local people and he is kind and fair.  My local business of selling local and sustainable flowers (and gifts and cards, and...)  in turn supports so many other local businesses and people, and the ripples go on and on.  

In the big vase I had some lovely flowering branches that had such great movement up and out, I just added a few greens and hanging amaranth as well as one large flowering kale right near the middle.

And for the entrance, one more kale in a short vase with some sprigs and branches.

In Green and Health, G&G

Gorgeous and Green does the weekly arrangements for the restaurant Paisan, in Berkeley.  We usually do just a few pieces, they have a small space and just a few touches of color brighten it up.  These were created by my assistant Ryan.

some small arrangements for a few tables

Last week at Revival I used a lot of green for the arrangements.  I love all the different textures and strange looking living things that show up in these arrangements.

Here's a crawling arrangement I did with thimble berry bush.  It seems to be crawling around the corner of the wall.

This arrangement features the spindly branches and fuchsia lepto with thimble berry and orange juice roses from a local grower in Petaluma.  I love the vase because of it's shape and character.  It's a wide v shaped vintage vase with touches of gold.  It's probably from the 40's although has a hint of 20's charm.

Here's the hot pink lepto with the big branches.  It's hard to tell but this thing was probably 7 feet tall with those branches.  The lepto itself was 5 feet tall.  It was a local bush, probably getting out of hand before it was trimmed down.  The pictures don't do these arrangements justice, because you lose the dimensionality of it.  Those branches are kind of creeping and winding around the branches.

small entrance arrangement, kind of wild with curling equisetum and kangaroo paw

and the ominous but fun big metal, here filled with scallop kale and flowering kale and some thimble berry and kangaroo paw

In local Green and Health,

G&G