Can’t Go Wrong with Flowers from Tipton & Hurst – as featured on AJ Wears Clothes blog

Tipton & Hurst was recently featured in the Valentine Gift Guide article on the popular fashion blog AJ Wears Clothes.

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When listing the best presents to give for Valentine’s Day, Tipton & Hurst was the only florist mentioned:

“Flowers are always the ultimate Valentine, and now that Tipton Hurst has joined The Promenade, it’s easier than ever to pick up a bouquet. They have cash & carry in store, or you can order ahead of time and pick up – or better yet, have them deliver! They also have an impressive selection of gift baskets.”

Read the full article here.

Evolve 2015 “Winter Nights”

We were honored to be the official florist of Evolve 2015 at the Little Rock Marriott Saturday, January 24th.

The event was put on by the Centers for Youth and Families. This year’s theme, Winter nights, included centerpieces with ivory branches and gorgeous white hydrangeas accented with hanging candles.

The Center for Youth and Families in Little Rock provides assistance and care for at-risk families and troubled children.

2015 Woman of the Year Gala

We were honored to be the official florist of the 2015 Woman of the Year Gala. Not only were we able to put together some beautiful centerpieces, but the fruit was donated after the event!

The board of Women & Children First, the state’s largest shelter for survivors of domestic violence, held the gala Jan. 17 in the Little Rock Marriott Grand Ballroom downtown.

See the full album here.

My Loving Louise

Tipton Hurst has long given back to charities in the Central Arkansas area.  Often the charities we choose are dear to us for personal reasons.  Tipton Hurst Vice President Chris Norwood, AIFD, created a beautiful arrangement to commemorate his mother, Louise, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease prior to her passing.  20% of the sale of the “My Loving Louise” bouquet go to Alzheimer’s Arkansas.

Featured in the bouquet are daisies, lilies, roses, stock, dahlias, and solidago in shades of pink and yellow.

“My mom always loved bright colors,” said Chris.  “She was an avid gardener along with her mother, in fact, they were really involved in garden clubs.  I just always think of her when I put together these arrangements because of the bright, fun colors.”

The Alzheimer’s Arkansas site provides some information which we wanted to share with you, including the starting statistics that 100,000 Arkansas are living with this disease and at least five-million Americans.

As the disease attacks the brain, memory, thinking and behavior are impaired.  The rate of progression varies from case to case, which means that some will live with the disease for only a few short years where others can feel the effects slowly over 20 or more years.  Sadly, the end result is the same.  The person with the disease is no longer able to care for themselves often relying on family and caregivers.

“We were so fortunate to have Briarwood to care for mom, but especially my sister, Gala, who showed up every day,” said Chris.  “Gala was a great source of comfort to us.”

We’re all aware of memory loss and “Oh, I lost my keys!” (forgetting where you put something) as symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease, but carriers can also suffer from disorientation, poor judgement, problems with abstract thoughts, difficulty performing familiar tasks, changes in mood, behavior and personality, as well as loss of initiative.

If you or a loved one are exhibiting any of these symptoms, visit with your doctor. While there is no one test which can definitively determine if you have Alzheimer’s, early intervention and some drugs can help treat many forms of dementia.  This will also help your doctor prepare for treating common side effects such as anxiety and depression.

“Having experienced the disease first hand with my mother, I wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through this with their loved one,” said Chris.  “I just really encourage people to continue supporting Arkansas Alzheimer’s so that we can find a cure for this dreadful disease.”

To order the My Loving Louise Bouquet click here

Feeling down? Flowers are a natural pick-me-up

Hand-tied bouquet of fresh flowers
Hand-tied bouquet of fresh flowers. Photo Courtesy Society of American Florists www.aboutflowers.com

You probably don’t need a scientist to tell you that receiving flowers makes people feel good. But did you know that there’s a scientific research that backs this up? It’s not necessarily the gift-giving that boosts your mood but the flowers themselves that are a natural mood enhancers.

Jeannette Haviland-Jones, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director director of the Emotions Laboratory at Rutgers University has spent a lot of time researching the way that flowers make us happy, as well as make us generally more satisfied with life.

“Common sense tells us that flowers make us happy,” says Dr. Haviland-Jones. “Now, science shows that not only do flowers make us happier than we know, they have strong positive effects on our emotional well being.”

A study by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, found that people feel more compassionate toward others, have less anxiety, and feel less depressed when they have flowers in their home.

“As a psychologist, I’m particularly intrigued to find that people who live with flowers report fewer episodes of anxiety and depressed feelings,” Dr. Etcoff says.

What does this mean for you? If you are feeling blue, buy some flowers! You don’t have to wait for someone to give them to you. Keep a fresh arrangement or two (or more!) in your house not only to beautify your house but to for lasting mood enhancer.

And if you know someone who is feeling down or just had a bad day, give them the gift of a better mood. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, a simple bunch of fresh flowers will do the trick!

 

Modern Bouquet

The second in a series of three wedding-bouquet tutorials.
Chris Norwood, AIFD and VP of Tipton Hurst, creates a “modern” bouquet that focuses on the concept of “color blocking.”
Next in the series: a bit of a twist on the “traditional” bouquet.

Diary of a Bridal Bouquet

Generic BouquetHave you ever wondered what goes into creating a beautiful bridal bouquet?  We recently followed one bouquet designed by Tipton Hurst’s Chris Norwood, AIFD, from the cooler to the photoshoot.

“It’s great to give your florist guidelines and inspiration photos, but let the experts be the designers so that you get the freshest flowers arranged in the most artful way for your special day,” suggests Chris.  “Our bride wanted all white flowers with one caveat, no roses.  Those are perimeters I can certainly work with!”

Chris peruses the assorted white flowers available, looking for the right textures and color contrasts.  Lilies, carnations, mums, daisies… so much to choose from!  That’s be beauty of the Tipton Hurst cooler.  Our wonderful Ms. Freda keeps it stocked with all the good stuff.  Chris selects creamy white hydrangeas, peonies, lisianthus, and white orchids.

Cooler white

Hydrangea BaseIf you’ve never seen Chris work, try to catch him on one of his live TV segments on KATV or KATV.com or one of his great video blogs here at tiptonhurst.com.  He is fast!  Quickly assembling a base of hydrangeas into a round mound, he has the form for his bouquet.

“I like to start with a hydrangea base on round, clutch style bouquets because it gives you a structure for supporting the rest of the blooms,” Chris explains as he works away bringing the bouquet to life.

The designer then adds in peonies, a favorite of our bride.  These peonies are in various stages of bloom so the ones that are fully blown out are frilly and show faint hints of pink inside while the ones that are still tight look more ball-like, giving a completely different contrast to the white hydrangeas.

inserting bloom

Opening DoorThe lisianthus also benefits various stages of bloom.  The tighter the bloom the more green you can see in the flower, but the more open ones have an ivory tone to them that’s charming.  Bright white orchids are plucked individually off the stems and wired and wrapped.  Orchids are long lasting blooms and are lovely in an arrangement such as this white-on-white textural mix.

Chris finishes with a collar of greenery and an ivory ribbon wrap before the bouquet is loaded in the delivery truck and taken to the salon where the bride is having her hair done before her photoshoot.

Moved to tears, the bride receives the bouquet and expresses her delight.  Thumbs up!Thumbs Up!

Then it’s off to the photoshoot (and no, we’re not giving the dress style away).

Only a few days left until this young lady’s big day and Tipton Hurst is so proud to be a part of her wedding.

 

Bouquet Photoshoot