“Halloween used to be so simple. You got a punkin, cut off it’s stringy orange insides, and carved a face on it that looked like your brother. But, that just wasn’t good enough for some folks…

I blame the zombies… You can’t swing a dead cat this time of year without knocking a few down like bowling pins, which is not hard to do, considering they move a the pace of a box turtle…

Mostly, I love Halloween because it is the orange-and-black beginning of a season that tumbles into Thanksgiving, which tumbles into Christmas.  And zombies just seem out of place in that…

The iconic image of Halloween should be, as God intended, the punkin. The punkin, carved into faces that are scary only because we want them to be, winking from every front porch. The punkin, cast in plastic, swinging from the hands of knee- high princesses, leering back from department store shelves, until it gives way to tins of butter cookies.

But I fear for the punkin. How long before he is kicked down the street by zombie hordes, booted into obsurity?

Young people tell me that no one- no one- want to dress up like a punkin anymore. All a punkin does, they say, is sit there, and glow.

This may be true, all of it. But, try to make a pie out of a zombie and see where that gets you.”

As seen in Rick Bragg’s Southern Journal article, Southern Living, October 2013.

Our bbrooks member Cebolla Fine Flowers in Dallas, TX, showcases cheerful, textured arrangements of roses, dahlias, bittersweet, miniature pumpkins, and cymbidium blossoms for the Fall season.

As featured in House Beautiful, September 2013 issue.

To create his collection, “Flora”, Nick Knight spent over three and a half years in the herbarium of London’s Natural History Museum mapping the historical movement of flora and fauna – from opium to cotton – in our society.

Initiated in 1993 for his installation of ‘Plant Power’ at the Natural History Museum, London, Flora is a comprehensively daring volume of flowers and plants chosen from the Museum’s six million specimens.

Torryne Choate of bbrooks member, Birch San Francisco, fashions arrangements with dramatic flair in Flower Magazine, Fall 2013 issue.

Featured above is a lush, textured arrangement of peonies, parrot tulips, David Austin roses, ranunculus, fritillaria, vanda orchids, ghost orchids, kangaroo paw, scabiosa pods, geranium foliage and wild wheat.

Eddie Zaratsian of long-time bbrooks member florist, Tic-Tock, is receiving much praise for his new book, “Eddie Zaratsian Custom Florals and Lifestyle“.

To learn more about Eddie, please see  flowerona.com and agoodaffair.com.

These simple, elegant arrangements of Dahlias, Roses and  Montbretia, in late summer/fall tones, add just the right touches of color to Sam Beall’s  rustic-meets-refined dinner party at Blackberry Farm in the idyllic Smoky Mountain foothils.  As seen in Southern Living magazine, October 2013 issue.

“I was so inspired by the gorgeous, ornate details found throughout Alice & Jason’s nuptials I decided to play off the theme and get really artsy for our cover shoot with Brian Marcus of Fred Marcus Photography. So I enlisted the help of Bess Wyrick of Celadon & Celery, who along with Arminé Ohanessian of R-Mine Bespoke created the stunning floral crown I’m wearing in the image below.  (Would you believe we originally connected via Instagram? Amazing what connections can be made on social media.) Head to Expert Style Tips to see how such a unique piece went from concept to reality.”  ~ Ceci

As seen in CeciStyle September 2013.

Claire Marie Johnston, of SF-based Flowers Claire Marie, is praised by her clients in this lovely write-up from August 30th, SFGate online.

“You know when you see a Claire Marie,” said San Francisco Symphony President Sakurako Fisher, who’s had Johnston create floral displays on her front gate for years.

“I’m famous for that gate now,” Fisher said. “I’m on people’s Tumblrs.”

Some brides skip having bridesmaids because they are so concerned about hurting their loved ones feelings.  Katie Dalby chose another route for her wedding to firefighter Norman Gooch: She brought along 80 attendants.  When Dalby, who owns Katie’s Boogie Shoes Dance Academy in Harwich, England, told her students about her engagement, she says they were super excited and some were begging to be included in the wedding.

“It just couldn’t be fair to choose  two or three of them,”  Dalby told the Daily Mail.  “So the only solution was to invite 74 of them – I didn’t want to exclude anyone.”

She also asked her best friend, three sisters-in-law, a niece, and a cousin.

That’s one impressive bridal party!

Creator of thebridescafe.com and owner of JMFlora Design in Richmond, VA, Janie Medley fashions a summery circlet sure to turn heads.

As seen in  Summer 2013 Flower Magazine.