Wine Country Thanksgiving

We collaborated with No Ordinary Affair to provide a table display at Zenith Vineyard over the weekend. Thanksgiving weekend is one of two all-out wine tasting weekends here in Oregon Wine Country. (The other is Memorial Day.) Hundreds of wineries host open houses - even those whose tasting rooms are usually not open to the public. Although the wine tasting is a casual affair, Zenith uses the opportunity to showcase their beautiful wedding venue. We were happy to be included in the plans this year.

Networking

Last evening we were at the beautiful Mansion at the Bayou for a meeting of our wedding professionals networking group. Bayou owners Greg and Irmi Brown have done a wonderful job of restoring the historic mansion and gardens as a wedding and event site. Check it out - it's beautiful!



Becky from No Ordinary Affair coordinated the events of the evening and is the energy behind promoting this great group of wedding and event vendors. We all know that Oregon Wine Country has a lot to offer. It is our group's mission to spread the word throughout the area - and across the nation! Wine Country is fast becoming a choice wedding destination, and we want everyone to know that everything you need for a fabulous event is right here.


Delicious and hearty appetizers (dinner!) were prepared by Haagenson's Catering (aka Ribslayer). Indulgent and intensely flavored chocolates were presented by locally produced Majestic Chocolates. The evening culminated with a series of entertaining and artistically arranged video clips put together by Ryan Chaney of Focal Point Digital Media showcasing their extraordinary ability to capture the essence of a wedding experience on video. (Oregon Bride Magazine has just given Ryan the 2009 Wedding Videographer of the Year Award!) Altogether a fun evening, and a great opportunity to get better acquainted with fellow wedding professionals.

Musical Tribute

My very talented floral designers, Gail and Dena, created this amazing piece for a celebration of the life of a local musician. I don't usually post funeral pieces, but this one is very impressive.

It was requested by the man's daughter, and of course I said "Yes, we can." After she left came the "How?"
The piece is beautiful. I have the best staff ever! I hope the daughter finds this a fitting tribute to a father who probably sang and strummed to her all his life.

Things I Love About My Job - #1

The flower truck from Salem Wholesale Flowers is definitely on the list! It's a "wet" truck - which means the flowers are in water and waiting for me to select my favorites. The selection is not as good as the Portland Flower Market of course, but the Flower Market is an hour away. Salem's truck arrives at my back door twice a week! I've been doing business with them for several years, and appreciate their attention to quality and customer service.

I can always pre-order flowers I need for special purposes, but I also love making my selections from the pretty things on the truck. Sometimes I can hear the flowers saying "Pick me! Pick me!" And they're usually right - those are the ones that fly out the door!
Look at this gorgeous selection of fall mums. We'll be getting orders for fall flowers from now until Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. And apparently a lot of other people do too. Thanks Salem!

Fall Wreaths

I just want to post a couple more pictures of our dried creations. These have a fall look. All dried and silk pieces are on sale through October. This wreath is made of real oak leaves, dyed and preserved. They are pliable and long-lasting. They're not for outdoors in Oregon though. Our drippy weather causes the dye to drip onto porches! So keep them indoors and enjoy the little bird who forgot to fly south. Pack them away when you put up Christmas decorations and bring them out again next September.

Change of Pace

It's a slight change of pace from the busy wedding season - and not yet into the busy "Holiday Season!". To bridge the transition we feature all of our dried and silk flowers on sale during the month of October. "Love" is just a sample of the twiggy words we can make. "Relax" was an instant hit, and "Joy" last Christmas was purchased by a charming artist who made a watercolor reproduction for her Christmas cards.


The three-pot piece on the right was made a few weeks ago from kangaroo paw we dried ourselves when it was so spectacular mid-summer. It makes a cute little kitchen piece. Almost all pieces are made in our upstairs dried-flower workroom. We are shameless copiers, gleaning many of our ideas from upscale catalogs. We also will custom-create whatever you want. So bring in your table linens or couch pillows - we'll make pieces to complement them.


The wreath is made from newly harvested hops. Not just for making beer! They are twined onto a grapevine while still fresh and dry quickly. Hops are known for their relaxing and sleep-inducing qualities, so hang the wreath over your bed and nod off to its gentle fragrance.

We ship wreaths and other pieces that are not too fragile. Let us know if you want your own genuine Oregon hops wreath!

Red Roses . . . Beautiful Day!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding at Youngberg Hill Vineyards and Inn, one of Oregon wine country's best sites. The little buckets helped define the aisle, and were transferred to the tables for centerpieces later. Becky, the lovely wedding coordinator from No Ordinary Affair, added red rose petals under the buckets to outline the aisle just before the ceremony.

You get only a glimpse of the view in these photos, but it is enough to tantalize. If you're planning a wine country vacation, you'll definitely want to check out Youngberg Hill.

Lissa's bridal bouquet was a very clean and compact bouquet of just red roses. The other ladies carried smaller bouquets of cream roses. Everyone looked beautiful, and I know they had a great day.

Wedding at Portland's Hotel deLuxe

Courtney's wedding was a very elegant affair in the ballroom of Portland's wonderful Hotel deLuxe. She carried a hand-tied bouquet of green flowers and - one of my favorites - Circus roses. Her centerpieces were simple cube vases with four open roses.

This elegant piece was on the bar table in the ballroom. It looked great in the 1920's style decor of the ballroom. The green hydrangea was a focal flower, complemented by bells of Ireland, Circus roses, green cymbidium orchids and trailing amaranthus.

Danielle's Wedding

Danielle chose this very colorful assortment of flowers for her wedding. The bouquets were built around some of her favorite flowers. She wanted them to have green cymbidium orchids and sunflowers, spiked with other very colorful summer flowers. We hope you had a wonderful wedding day, Danielle!

We made 8 of these centerpieces in vases that Danielle provided for us. Originally she was going to do her own flowers, but was happy to turn the job over to us when she found out how reasonable the cost would be. The boutonnieres were made of small green cymbidiums with equisetum. Very nice!

More August Weddings

I love how every wedding is different, and every couple has their own distinctive taste. These are our latest wedding bouquets - plus some newly-made gerbera boutonnieres. The white bouquet was very sweetly scented, with sweet peas and garden phlox. The bridesmaids in the second wedding carried hand-tied bouquets of white gerberas to complement these boutonnieres worn by the groomsmen.The groom's boutonniere was a burgundy gerbera to match these in the bridal bouquet. So pretty!

Wedding at Linfield College

A wedding of all white flowers was the first of our August weddings. It was a beautiful - but hot! - day for the ceremony on the lovely campus of Linfield College in McMinnville. In this photo our floral designer is putting the finishing touches on one of two feature arrangements. They sat atop 5' garden stands. I wish I could have photographed them in place, but it was such a hot day we opted to leave them in the relative cool of the indoors until just before the guests arrived. You couldn't ask for more perfect orchids than these white dendrobiums.Simple and elegant is an excellent choice if you ask me. This bride chose a clean bouquet of just 8 white calla lilies for herself, and 3 for each of her bridesmaids. No greens, no fluff! Flowers as beautiful as these callas make a statement all by themselves.These little arrangements were hung on shepherd's hooks to define the ceremony site. Mother of the bride designated a helper to hang them just before the ceremony, so they would be fresh and lovely despite the 100 degree day. Congratulations to the bride and groom! I know you had a wonderful day.

Tour Our Shop

Your first impression when you walk into The Garden Path might be the wonderful scent. It's a combination of fresh, dried and drying flowers. We often hear, "It smells so good in here!" We love it too. It inspires us and hints at all the things that go on behind the scenes in a flower shop.
A few steps farther into the shop and you'll come face-to-face with the day's selection of flowers. We are fortunate to have several deliveries each week, so the flowers are always fresh and plentiful. We can usually make our choices right off the trucks, and we choose the best of the best!


In addition to everyday flowers like daisies and carnations, you are likely to find some unusual flowers like kangaroo paw. A native of Australia, it has been especially strong and vibrant this summer. If you've received any of our bouquets recently you may already be acquainted with it. We have enjoyed using it in many of our weekly specials the past few weeks.
We love our dried flowers and foliages. The wreath is a combination of salal, boxwood and several varieties of eucalyptus. You know it smells good! We've found we're one of the few places in the local area to carry dried flowers. Most of them are ones we dry ourselves from local and seasonal flowers and greens. Most are simply air-dried, but for certain blossoms silica gel allows us to retain the form and color of the original flower. It's a fun pastime. And drying them is only the beginning. We then make beautiful wreaths, swags and table pieces from them. Good for all the senses!
Our gift assortment is fun and unique. It's mostly things we'd like in our own homes and gardens. My one rule of thumb is that everything has to relate to flowers or gardening. Come and see for yourself!

Introducing The Garden Path Flower Shop

Thanks for dropping into the blog for The Garden Path Flower Shop. You'll find our physical store at 636 N.E. Baker Street in McMinnville, the heart of Oregon's wine country.

First and foremost - we're here because we love flowers! Have you ever seen anything more perfect than these sunflowers? They're field-grown about 10 miles from the shop. We are so lucky to live where we have access to such beauties.

Other local flowers we're using now include baby's breath, phlox, stock (love that fragrance!), dahlias, glads, lilies, hydrangeas - and more too numerous to mention!

I love that these flowers use minimal energy input to get to my shop. Why buy solidaster or sunflowers from South America when I can get them locally! They are fresher and prettier, last longer and make me feel better about my "carbon footprint".