Tallulah Rose Flower School: My Immersion Course

I spent the past week participating in a 5 day immersion course with Tallulah Rose Flower School hosted at a local flower farm, Petal and Pitchfork. My inspiration for taking the course was to explore floral design & try a variety of arrangements to help me determine if this is something I would consider pursuing as a secondary or side career in the future. Floral design has always brought me so much joy and I love to bring the beauty of nature indoors. This post will summarize my experience and what we did each day as part of the immersion course.

Day One

Introductions: We started the course off with a welcome and introduction to Rachel, founder of Tallulah Rose Flower School and how she came to floral design and transitioned into teaching. Each course participant introduced themselves and what they were excited and/or nervous about for the class. I was most excited to learn new sustainable techniques (no floral foam) and to work with locally grown flowers. I was most nervous about being too slow and taking too long to finish my designs (which thankfully wasn’t a problem at all)!

Low Bowl Arrangement: We were each given a low bowl with coated chicken wire inside and secured with pot tape and a table full of stunning flowers grown at Petal & Pitchfork or by other local flower growers taking the course. We were given design tips and then plenty of time to create our design. Rachel and her assistant, Meghan with Twisted Bramble were always available to provide feedback as we created our arrangements.

Photography Lesson: Rachel provided SO many wonderful photography tips during this session and throughout the entire week. We were given plenty of opportunities to practice these new techniques while exploring the flower farm and as we photographed our floral designs and installs.

Day Two

Hand Tied Bouquet – This was by far my favorite to make and it was fun to explore what a bride may be looking for on her wedding day. This was also my first time using an armature (a supportive framework) for the bouquet and how to use it. We were also taught how to tie silk ribbons in a corset pattern and each of us were photographed with our bouquets.

Farm Walkabout – We were given an assignment to use our new photography and video skills while exploring the flower farm. It was such a treat to watch the flowers blow in the breeze and experience the space Stacy has created on her farm, Petal & Pitchfork. It truly is such a special place to spend the week.

Meadow – Each student was given a low rectangular vessel with coated chicken wire to create a “meadow” arrangement. The goal of this was to make the arrangement look like it was growing in place and to not create blocked tiers that would look unnatural. This type of arrangement could be used on a mantle, window ledge, many placed down a wedding aisle, or down the center of a table.

Costing – We spent a good amount of time talking about costing and how to charge. Rachel shared with us a template for her costing worksheet and how to manage expectations on setting minimums for large events and how to set communication boundaries. This was a helpful and practical discussion.

Day Three

Urn Demo – Rachel started the day off doing a large urn demo for us from primarily foraged materials. It was incredible what she was able to create from foraged greens (raspberry, blueberries, gooseberry, elderberry, native ocean spray) she sourced from around the farm.

Packaging – We learned the good (branded brown craft paper), better (wrapped in farm burlap), and best (fabric & ribbon) techniques for wrapping your bouquets. Rachel also shared how to keep the stems moist using Swedish dishcloths, a square of parchment, and then your fabric & ribbon for longer transport times. Simple touches can make the bouquets stand out and help create a look for your floral design brand.

Basket – Creating a basket was not on the course agenda but it was a really interesting technique to try. We were each given a wicker basket filled with wet moss as the base. Greenery and flowers were then inserted into the moss to hold them in place – these are popular designs for baby showers & celebration of life services. The moss needs to be watered and the flowers spritzed to stay hydrated.

Day Four

Large Install – We started our day with a large installation project. We were given assignments and placed into groups (wheelbarrow, swing, tree, meadow, and fence line) and the goal was to create an installation that looked like it belonged there. This was good practice for what it would be like to do a large event. While I was assigned to the meadow section my favorite end result was the wheelbarrow.

Social Media Lesson – Rachel provided some Instagram tips to the class and while this didn’t apply to me (I do not use social media for a variety of reasons) it was still interesting to hear her tips, tricks, and advice on how it can be a tool to grow your audience and business.

Broken Arch Demo – This is an installation that would be done on site for an event and it was a large solid branch wrapped in coated chicken wire. Rachel started with two types of tree branches to create the foundation and then interspersed sweet peas and Grande Dame roses throughout – the end result was stunning.

Spiral Bouquet – A fellow student asked Rachel to give a demo on how to make a spiral bouquet and how to rotate the bouquet as you make it. It was a really sweet white, yellow, and pink bouquet she made.

Day Five

Hanging Install Demo – We started our last day of class with Rachel leading the design on a dried flower cloud and three curly willow balls hung from a tree. Rachel started the cloud and then we all worked together to complete the design. It was very challenging using all dried flowers, many of which were delicate and hard to insert into the bottom of the willow balls.

Tablescape – We were given a wide variety of vessels and floral frogs to design small arrangements to be placed down the center of the tables for our family style lunch later that day. With 18 people in the class the end result was incredibly gorgeous (lunch was delicious too) and beautiful cherries and plums were scattered throughout the arrangements.

Floral Crowns – This was what I was most excited about for the course so I was very eager to learn how to make floral crowns for our last lesson of the course. Rachel showed us how to wire individual flowers, leaves, and greenery and then how to add them to a wire base. We were given headbands with an armature woven on for our designs (much less time consuming than a wired design). This was SO much fun and we all enjoyed getting our photos taken by Rachel and celebrating the creativity of each design. It was the perfect way to end the course.

Next Steps

So you may be asking what’s next for me on my floral design journey… this week I made some wonderful local connections to floral designers & flower growers. I have let a local floral designer on Bainbridge (who also attended the course) know that I would be interested in freelancing to continue to grow my skills. Freelancing means I would be hired at an hourly rate for studio or day of the event work. This will allow me to continue to build my portfolio and support other local businesses. Many events take place on the weekend so I can continue to focus on my marine mammal conservation career. Win win!

This week was such an incredible blessing and I feel so honored to be part of this course. Stacy with Petal & Pitchfork was so wonderful to open her flower farm to all of us and Rachel was incredibly generous with her time & knowledge – this is an experience I will always cherish. I know my Mom’s loving presence was with me throughout the course and I am a grateful heart.