From the mysterious to the masters of their craft, "This Job Rocks" is where I'll walk in someone else's work shoes. On Twitter and Instagram #ThisJobRocksYVR.
Nestled between Beta 5, Commissary Connect and Metro Commissary on the 400 block of Industrial Ave, a dog is barking. What's the commotion? He’s just stumbled onto Fat Cat's turf. Fat Cat being Garden Party Flower’s one and only guard cat. He’s been large and in charge since long before owners Amy and Caley opened Garden Party Flower's original location in Kitsilano.
Inside the shop, a talented team of floral designers have started their work day with their typical summer morning routine — preparing the coming weekend's wedding arrangements. And today, I'm joining them behind the scenes.
The infamous, Fat Cat.
Donning an apron, I'm put straight to work, pruning. These Novia, Rokoko, Wanda and Juliette garden roses are destined for one of this weekend's four weddings.
Fact: wholesale roses do not come trimmed. It took us an hour and a half to dethorn, clip and pluck the petals of 3 large buckets of roses. Within that short span, Amy shares her self-taught lessons on roses:
1. No two thorn's prick the same. Case in point, a Wanda roses has hooks that barb you. The trick is to use the tip of a square tipped knife, and working your way from the head of the flower, gently scrape each of the thorns, leaving a clean stem.
2. Warm, not cold. To revive flowers, trim and submerge stem in warm water. These roses travel all the way from Kenya where “room temperature” is much warmer.
3. It's in the ratio. 1/3 of the stem should stand above the vase.
4. Guard petals. To reveal the perfect rose, remove the outermost bumper petals (and use those petals to sprinkle down an aisle).
5. The fullest bloom. When the base of a flower is soft, it's bloom is fully awake. A hard bud means the flower still has room to open wider.
Amy Hu poses with a bloom.
With so many summer weddings and an increasing number of corporate clients, project management and delegation are crucial to keeping the shop running smoothly. Above the shop, the mezzanine serves as office, workshop and consultation space. Amy and I sit down over mango tea to assign tomorrow’s arrangements so the team can prepare ahead. Boutonnieres for Claire, table settings for Natalie, and Sweetheart table for Lisa.
Having graduated from denser thorns, Amy decides I am ready for something more challenging. My task: twine together a 5 foot garland of salal and eucalyptus. As I work, we chat about what has driven her all of these years.
Since she was a teenager, Amy has been working in flower shops. She tells me that above all, it’s always been about making the experience memorable for her client. Whether it's manifesting a bride's dream or contributing to a business's aesthetic, Amy's vision, creativity and resourcefulness shines through in all of Garden Party Flowers' arrangements.
She recalls the story of a girl calling the shop to order flowers for her Sweet 16 birthday. But it's no regular request. It's a tea party, and at the centre, the birthday girl's wish is to have a flower enrobed tea pot suspended in the air pouring petals into a cup. Up for the challenge, Amy experiments with a myriad of ways to construct this defiance of gravity and succeeds. And she's been doing this ever since. Last year she designed the most beautiful and sentimental bridal bouquet for me, building my father's handwritten poem and grandmother's necklace into the bouquet so I could walk down the aisle with both nearby.
The garland I created for wasn't bad either. According to Amy, it held it's own at the wedding it was destined for too.
If you want a taste of being a floral designer yourself, Garden Party Flowers hosts workshops. And of course, you can always go visit Amy and her team anytime the shop is open. The orchids, air plant terrariums and Fat Cat are reason enough.
