There is something so romantic and European about a visit to the French Quarter flower shop Flora Savage. At the little cottage, located on the corner of Royal and Barracks, owner Suzy Black throws the shutters wide, and customers step up to the open windows to order.
Inside the single, small room, buckets bear a riot of colors with whatever is fresh and in season, be it grand peonies or blood-red roses, soft yellow tulips or blooming lilies.
Black has decades of experience in the field of flowers (pun intended), although she no longer does weddings or large events. Instead, she relies heavily on her online presence, offering same-day floral delivery. And, of course, people stop by the darling shop to select a few stems.
“If you like arranging, we say our store is for you,” she laughs.
If you do like arranging flowers at home, this spring, Black advises rethinking your standard vase. So many things in your house can work as a cool alternative – even something you might otherwise throw away.
When first planning our arrangements, and deciding on whether we want tall and skinny or round and low, do you have any guidelines? I find low and wide is harder if you are an amateur. Tall and skinny is easy. It’s just getting the right flowers with longer stems for that. When you are going with low, wide arrangements, chicken wire is a great trick. You can also use rocks to hold stems.
If we want to think-outside-the-box on our vases, does anything work? As long as it can hold water, it should be possible. If it’s not waterproof, I suggest lining it with plastic or a trash bag, and then putting in your floral foam, chicken wire or rocks. Chicken wire will be easier if you are doing a really weird shape. You can also fill a vase with Mardi Gras beads.
What are a few unusual containers you have used? We once created a Mardi Gras wedding, and we used old Café Du Monde coffee cans. It was so cute and used something someone might have just thrown out. We have used Mint Julep cups, Grecian busts, and upside-down drums. We’ve used shoes for the Muses parade week. For those, we lined them with plastic and used floral foam. And we did a Halloween arrangement once, where we made the shoe look as if bones and blood coming out of it. The bones were just bleached sticks, and the blood was red amaranthus. For that, we used a men’s dress shoe. It was so creepy and cool.
What if we want to lower our own environmental footprint by using an unusual vessel? Again, things like old coffee cans or broken pitchers work great. You can go to Goodwill and find a ton of inexpensive stuff. We have used half a watermelon before, and that’s great. You don’t need foam. Simply cut the watermelon in half and stick the stems into the flesh. They stay put and stay hydrated. However, a watermelon arrangement is only good for a single event. It won’t keep more than a few hours.
What are you most excited about this spring in New Orleans? Flower-wise … tulips are my favorite. I always get excited for this season. Cool hybrids have come out this year and I cannot wait to use them in arrangements. I’m also excited about a new wholesaler in the city. Mayesh is an online wholesaler, and they are opening a warehouse in town, out in Jefferson. And, of course, I’m always excited to see our customers who stop by the shop or call us. Flora Savage is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., all days except Sunday.
