Happy New Year! I hope that your 2009 is off to a fabulous start. There are some exciting things going on here at The Spiraled Stem Floral Design, and I will be sharing them with everyone in the next few days. My new years resolution is to blog more consistently, so lets see how far I can go before falling off the wagon. And I need my readers to keep me accountable, bug me for new blog posts!

First on the list are new publications… The Spiraled Stem is featured in the premiere issue of Serendipity Magazine, Inspirations for the Asian Bride, and the gorgeous hard-bound, full color book Green Wedding, Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration. Lets start with the details on Green Wedding.

Green Wedding, Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration, is written my Mireya Navarro, New York Times Style Correspondent. The book is available at all major booksellers (I got mine at Borders for $35) in the wedding section, or you can go to Mia’s website www.mireyanavarro.com to order online and view excerpts. It is a beautiful and classy book on how to have a green wedding without sacrificing style, and has tips on everything from food, flowers, decor, attire, invitations, registry, honeymoons, and living a green lifestyle after the wedding.

I was honored to have been interviewed by Mia for the book last January, a whole year ago, and to have contributed photos to the book as well. They printed 15 images of my flowers! Its also way cool that my name is indexed - that’s right - you’ll find me under S on page 206, just below Sasawashi (a sustainable fabric) and just above Arnold Schwarzenegger, our environmental crusader governor who gets scolded for commuting to Sacramento from LA by private plane. Spiraled Stem Floral Design is indexed too! Mia also included me in the acknowledgments as one of the “several pioneers in the green market” who offered invaluable guidance and “are as much educators as they are business people”. Its a privlege to be in that company!

I was also able to point Mia towards one of my green wedding brides from 2008, Katie Malouf. Her wedding has been featured on the blog here and also in our photo gallery here. Katie is featured in Chapter 6: The Decor, Natives or Jet-Setters? and Mia shares how Katie wanted to use grass for her centerpieces before she knew there were eco-friendly, VeriFlora-certified flowers available through me. Be sure to turn right to Page 94 for the story!

I am working on scheduling a book signing with the author to take place here at the studio in the next couple of months, so stay tuned for that! You can pick up a copy and have her sign it here for you. Books would also be on sale at the signing, but don’t wait until then.

As a bonus, I am offering one free book to the first person to comment on this blog post with the names of the two varieties of VeriFlora Certified roses that were featured in Katie’s wedding.

The next new publication The Spiraled Stem is featured in is the premiere issue of Serendipity Magazine: Inspiration for Asian Brides. In 2008 I had the opportunity to work a lot with Caroline Chang from Serenity Events. She was working on launching a new magazine that catered to an underserved market, the Asian bride. This resulted in a beautiful new glossy magazine that will publish twice a year. Several of our favorite bouquets are featured in the Beautiful Florals article on page 38.

They are not currently available in bookstores, so please email me at christine@thespiraledstem.com with your name and current mailing address, and I will get a copy in the mail to you as a gift from me!

We are honored to have been featured in these fabulous publications, what a great start to 2009!

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So the long awaited much anticipated issue is out now – the Architectural Digest Emmy Greenroom feature! These pictures are SOOOO much better than mine, and the Hearts On Fire diamond chandelier is just gorgeous! Enjoy.

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Katie with her bouquet of peonies, roses, tulips, hypericum berries, bells of ireland, and rununculus

Katie was one of our brides this year who was personally very committed to having eco-friendly flowers for her wedding. She had the opportunity to visit a flower farm in Colombia in 2004 and heard first hand from some of the workers there about their plight for improved labor standards in the floral industry. You can read more about Katie’s wedding and see more pictures on her Featured Wedding page in the Floral Gallery.

I was so happy to be able to offer her VeriFlora certified flowers for her wedding! The main colors were orange and coral, and we used ‘Ad Rem’ tulips paired with ‘Wow’ Roses for half of the centerpieces, and ‘Professor Rontgen’ novelty tulips paired with ‘Milva’ roses for the other half of the centerpieces.

Katie’s bouquet featured beautiful coral peonies, bells of ireland, orange rununculus, green hypericum berries, and a mixture of the roses and tulips previously mentioned. It was big and heavy, but I just love the colors and style of the bouquet! The bridesmaids carried bouquets of the tulips and roses, with green hypericum berries to accent. We had also incorporated oranges and kumquats to make it a true celebration of Orange County, CA.

I also loved seeing the images of Katie and her wedding party on the grounds of the Island Hotel (formerly the Four Seasons) in Newport Beach, CA. That is where Darrell and I’s wedding reception was and we also took our pre-ceremony shots in the same place! If you look closely, you can find the elusive Kelly Aguilar from Social Butterfly Events, who got caught on camera doting on the bride and groom!

These images are from Will and Naomi Henshall, whom you can check out at www.henshallphotography.com. Thank you for the beautiful images!

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Today was an early morning and my assistant Esther and I took a road trip up the coast to B and H Flowers in Carpinteria. B and H is VeriFlora Certified and also has a crop of USDA organic gerber daisies, one of the first in the country! Scott Fulton, VP of Sales and Marketing, showed us all of the practices they use on the farm that demonstrate their commitment to producing environmentally friendly and socially responsible flowers.

We saw how they use beneficial pests to naturally manage harmful pests and reduce the use of harmful pesticides, how they grow the gerbers hydroponically to conserve water, the energy efficient boiler that heats the greenhouses, and the water reclamation pond that captures runoff, condensation and rainwater that is sterilized and recirculated into the system. Scott showed us the prototypes for new packaging made from SFI Certified fibers and corn-based sleeves.

One of the most intriguing aspects of our visit was really understanding the difference between USDA organic and VeriFlora, which is a very common question asked by clients and florists. I will be uploading a ton of pictures and going into this topic in-depth on the Sustainability Program page. Here is a preview of some of the things we saw on our tour today, check back for more content on the Sustainability Program page in the next week or two.

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I was honored that Architectural Digest Magazine invited me to return for an encore floral performance in the Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. I first spoke with AD100 designer Mark Boone in August, when he described the diamond aesthetic for the room in honor of the diamond anniversary of the Emmys. The palette was very neutral with silver, platinum, and clear glass that would accent the focal point of the room, a diamond chandelier! The flowers would be sitting on a “shattered” glass table directly below the chandelier, as well as accenting the cocktail tables.

My original thought was to use ‘Amnesia’ roses, which are a beautiful silvery gray, mixed with dusty miller and lambs ear. About a week out I found out that I wasn’t going to get the roses I wanted from a VeriFlora certified farm. I desperately started calling and emailing the VeriFlora certified rose farms in Equador to confirm that I could get three sets of 100 ‘Amnesia’ roses over a 10 day period for the three installations I have to do to accommodate the filming (last Friday), press day (Wednesday), and the actual Emmys (Sunday).

I wasn’t able to get them for Friday’s installation and used ‘Sterling’ roses instead, which are much too lavender and didn’t work well enough with the room. Later that day I scoured the flower market looking for at least one bunch of ‘Amnesia’ to take back to the Greenroom to test the color, but its not a common rose and was nowhere to be found. I must have looked a little crazy as I was walking the streets of downtown LA asking the vendors “Do you have Amnesia?”

In my enthusiasm in calling the farms to get the ‘Amnesia’ roses I needed, I ended up with two sets of the order from two different farms! Then we made a last minute decision to go another direction altogether and use ivory roses. I am so glad we did, as you can see from the slide show below. Finally seeing the diamond chandelier was simply breathtaking, how exciting to have the flowers I designed underneath something so spectacular! I have also included the press release that has more information about the AD Greenroom, and of course watch the Emmys on Sunday. I really hope Mary Louise-Parker wins Best Actress for Weeds, I am certainly addicted!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Christine Saunders

September 19, 2008

714-632-6885

christine@thespiraledstem.com

ROSES AND DIAMONDS: QUINTESSENTIAL HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR IN THE ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST GREENROOM AT THE 60^th PRIMETIME EMMY® AWARDS

Sustainably Grown Flowers and Conflict-Free Diamonds to Shine Brightly on Emmy® Night

Anaheim, CA – September 19, 2008 – In an encore appearance, The Spiraled Stem Floral Design has been selected to create the floral arrangements for the Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, which airs Sunday, September 21, 2008 from 8:00 to 11:00 pm (ET/PT) on ABC, live from the Nokia Theater L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles.

Architectural Digest AD100 designer Mark Boone was inspired by the diamond anniversary of the 60^th Primetime Emmy Awards to combine the romantic and sculptural qualities of the rare mineral with the glamour of high quality sustainably grown roses. The focal point of the room is a spectacular Hearts On Fire® Diamond Chandelier, made with over 3,300 perfectly cut diamonds from conflict free sources totaling 1,000 carats.

Resting just below, on a “shattered” glass table, is a sparkling white floral centerpiece, designed by Christine Saunders, featuring more than two dozen VeriFlora Certified Sustainably Grown ‘Amelia’ roses, lisianthus, and tulips in a clear square glass vase. Hydrangea, freesia, and snowberries complete the monochromatic color scheme while seeded eucalyptus, scabiosa pods, lambs ear, and dusty miller add just a touch of silvery green to the palette. Accent floral pieces abound on top of Mimi London’s cocktail tables fashioned from reclaimed walnut wood.

Christine Saunders, owner of The Spiraled Stem Floral Design, is a leading expert in green floral design and uses environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional products, materials, and practices available in the $20 billion floral industry. A cornerstone of her green practices, she sources VeriFlora Certified flowers – grown, harvested, and handled using practices that improve farm working conditions, protect eco-habitats, conserve water and energy, and yield fresher flowers – which help to protect the environment for generations to come.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Christine Saunders to develop the floral concept for the Greenroom,” says designer Mark Boone. “Christine’s floral designs add elegance and romance to the space. Diamonds and roses are an irresistible combination!”

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, produced by AEG Ehrlich Ventures LLC, airs live on ABC on Sunday, September 21, 2008 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT).

About The Spiraled Stem Floral Design

The Spiraled Stem Floral Design specializes in environmentally sustainable floral design and offers Green Flowers. Available in Every Color™. Owner Christine Saunders’ dual passions for floral design and sustainability were recently merged when she decided that The Spiraled Stem would “go green”. She uses organic and eco-label flowers, eco-friendly containers, alternatives to traditional floral design tools and materials, and more efficient office and studio practices. Christine has quickly become a leading expert in green floral design, and has been featured in Florist’s Review, Plenty, OC Metro Business and Orange County Home magazines.

Press Contacts

The Spiraled Stem Floral Design

Christine Saunders

714-632-6885 christine@thespiraledstem.com

60th Primetime Emmy® Awards/Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Robin Mesger, The Lippin Group

323-965-1990

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