Reply
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,222
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

I had to go there to find a frame for a collage I made, and decided to check out their fall foliage, picks, etc.

 

Didn't find any faux greenery to suit, except, their faux yarrow sprigs.  They are very fall-ish, and look really good.  I succumbed and got 2 sprigs.   I have already mixed them with my green eucalyptus in a white vase, and oh, boy, they give a perfect touch of coming autumn!  And you only need one or two of them if you're mixing them in:

 

18717710.jpg

I love yarrow anyway.  They also have yarrow wreaths.

 

Didn't get these, but if you love brown glass in the fall, Joann's has these handsome, vintage-looking pillar candle holders in two sizes:

 

18770412.jpg

18770420.jpg

They're calling them "orange" at the online Joann's site, but they are a rich, deep amber,  very autumnal.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,602
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

Sams club here has Halloween costumes out. Ugh I so want summer to just go on here in Pa. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,295
Registered: ‎03-27-2010

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

@Oznell  I'll bet that white vase is just right for Fall...love the candlesticks!

Valued Contributor
Posts: 835
Registered: ‎10-16-2021

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

@Oznell   That is very nice looking yarrow!  As a florist of 50 years I am fussy about 

my artificial flowers and I must say that in recent years the quality has really improved.

Your postings of architecture and design along with your commentary on the contents of interiors has me appreciating your beautiful aesthetic!

 

I also agree with the previous poster that those candlesticks are very nice!

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,971
Registered: ‎04-05-2010

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

[ Edited ]

 


@godi wrote:

Sams club here has Halloween costumes out. Ugh I so want summer to just go on here in Pa. 


@godi I'm with you. Always feel the same this time of year when everyone starts with the fall stuff.

 

I don't even get in the mood for fall until very late Sept, or early Oct. That's fine with me. I love summer, heat, humidity, light clothing, flip flops, barefeet, everything that comes with it.

 

I get it...someone will tell me...why did you click on this post?

lol...I was curious I guess.

 

Anyway, I've been thinking...it's the New England thing for me...we get such a short period of time with sunny, beautiful, hot, weather, light days, life outdoors, enjoying our patios etc,

and wayyy too harsh and lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time with winter, that most people I know are not done with summer, ever, in August. No matter how hot it gets for how long.

 

But I suspect if you live further south or west...where it's maybe even hotter than we have it, but the fall is nice and winter is not long and harsh...you don't dread it as much.

 

That said....let the beach days continue.....😎

 

Fall for me is ....well.....Fall! ...ie. end Sept....when it actually IS Fall.

 

But @Oznell not to be a complete buzz kill for you~those candle sticks are nice! And the faux flowers look real!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,222
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

I know what you mean, @godi  and  @amyb ,  I have a certain dread for winter coming too.  And I love our summers.  But believe it or not, Joann's was putting their fall stuff on sale, already!  Presumably to clear for new merch coming in.  So wanted to alert anyone who might be looking to buy fall stuff now.

 

Thanks, @phoenixbrd  and  @781Florist !    That's very kind, coming from an experienced florist.  What a fab career for you-- what could be more wonderful than having an artist's canvas like that, but with flowers!   So much scope for creativity. 

 

I'd love to hear from you, when you are inclined, @781Florist ,  as to what were your favorite florals to work with professionally,  and then what are your own personal favorites.   Do they differ?  Or overlap?   It's not that often we get to hear from someone in the field, and would be fascinating.

 

 

Valued Contributor
Posts: 835
Registered: ‎10-16-2021

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

[ Edited ]

Hi  @Oznell !

It is actually pretty difficult for me to say what varieties are "favorites" because over time and with changing styles the use of several varieties seems to ebb and flow.

 

In the 60s and 70s the world was not such a small place (as it is today) and flowers were 

most definitely subject to seasonal and geographical (due to less sophisticated shipping methods)availability.  I can remember things like daisies and iris and tulips being around for a short window in Spring, and believe it or not, pompom and daisy chrysanthemums were mostly Fall items!  Today these thingsare fairly ubiquitous!  If you ever look at the floral decor in movies from say the 1920s through the 1940s you will see that even in what were supposedly very swanky/upscale settings the vases contained gladiolus and 

football chrysanthemums.  That is how limited the floral menu was in those days.

 

The 80s were the start of worldwide shipping and year-round availability and varieties that were not often seen in flower shops in prior years.  I remember in the very early 80s being in love with that newfangled stuff called alstroemeria!  Today it is used as a filler flower similar to pompoms!  Myriad lily varieties, monkshood, snapdragon, veronica, nerine, freesia, tuberose etc. etc, all filled our cooler where once we were limited to carnations, glads and poms and roses.

The one casualty of this shipping and transportation revolution was (IMO) roses.

Until about the mid 80s most roses were grown by local growers because they did not ship too well.  The shape and stem thickness (which was a Goldilocks not too thin/not too thick) was (again IMO) much nicer than the Central and  South American roses we have today.  Alas when the roses began to ship better, local growers could not compete due to higher costs and they pretty much all folded.

The 80s floral designs were some of my favorites because they were far more architectural in design (design being the operative word) and required a certain level of skill on the part of the floral designer to really work well. Things like liatris and allium

as well as verticals like bamboo and equisetum (horsetail) were often employed in these designs.  They do not really lend themselves to the Martha Stewart mounds that have been so popular in the last several years.

 

The 90s saw the Martha Stewart revolution and the hand-tie and mounding and  grouping techniques that pretty much persist to this day, although the mid 2000s have seen a return to beautiful garden style European like "natural" vase arrangements.

This is great news for lovers of the tall verticals like Snapdragons, delpinium, stock,

as well as greenery like ruscus, eucalyptus, myrtle buplerum and so on.

 

Marthas grouped mounds also offer us opportunities to really utilize things like brunia berries and hypericum and dusty miller so those arrangements are also fun to create.

 

I am SO SORRY!  I got wound up and now this thing looks like I should submit it to Random House for publication!  

That will teach you to ask me to explain myself ever again! (LOL)

 

Every day at the shop was different. every arrangement was another opportunity to 

express creativity and experience the beauty of the flowers. That is why I was able to keep doing it for over 50 years, despite the absolute nightmare that was Valentines (week) Day and Mother's Day.  50 plus years of those either turned my hair white or caused it to fall out!

 

If you are still awake and have reached this point...thanks for the indulgence!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,222
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

WOW,  @781Florist !   I am dazzled by this insider's look at the floral industry.   Thank you so much for taking the time to enlighten the layman, and provide this fascinating overview, decade by decade.

 

Just to take one tiny example--  it is so interesting about the more "primitive" arrangements available in the 40's.  As a fan of that era of filmmaking, I'm going to pay better attention to to the floral displays in set designs, with an eye to comparing them to those of today. 

 

Love, love all this detail--  you are a wealth of information.

You deserve to rest from your labors, but if you ever feel so inclined in future, I would so enjoy your opinions on vessels and the appropriate ones for different flowers and shapes, etc.

 

Pottery and vases are obsessions of mine, everything from huge vintage pots, to sleek Art Deco planters, to trumpet vases, ultra-round vases, tall ones, all kinds of contemporary shapes.  Some glass too.  My small ceramic collection, apart from my tiny blue and white collection, is almost all neutral-- whites, creams, taupes, indigo, that I rotate in and out at will.

 

Anyway, if you ever choose to discourse on the myriad of flower containers, I'd be all ears....

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,660
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

@781Florist,

 

I too loved reading your experience as a florist!

I've often thought it would be something I would like to do but settled for enjoying it myself.

And I'm sure it must be very tiring work and standing long hours as well! And sore hands I"m sure!

 

I agree with you about liking the artistic, more natural looking freeform arrangements, though bunches and mounds can be pretty too.I never knew that Martha started that trend.

 

I used to collect weeds and make arrangements with them. Queen Annes Lace, tall shoots of grasses,

so many lovely weeds lol!

 

My mother dried hydrangeas and made her own arrangements in pottery vases I gave her.

Yes, we could all discuss for hours!😄

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Valued Contributor
Posts: 720
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: FALL SIGHTINGS AT JOANN'S!

I enjoyed reading your post @781Florist . It sounds like you had a wonderful career and think how many people you made happy over the years!