J Schwanke’s Life In Bloom

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following... CalFlowers... Dollar Tree... Sunshine Bouquet.

>> On this episode of "Life in Bloom," we're cultivating a passion for purple.

I'll show you precious violets, easy center pieces, and a regal show-stopper with lilacs.

We'll also visit a clematis farm in Florida and create a lavender martini.

>> I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

Purple is a complex color.

It, indeed, has mystical, magical power.

Historically, it's the color of passion, and also the color of royalty.

There's something very special about the color purple.

Purple is certainly prevalent when it comes to flowers.

So many flower varieties come in purple tones.

My grandpa, "Carnation" Joe, grew violets in our family greenhouses, and we had lilac bushes and trellises of clematis all over the property.

My wonderful friend Leatrice Eiseman, the color guru at Pantone, shared with me that people that love purple love to wear purple and have a tendency to be extremely generous.

People who love purple will often include the color in their interior decor, fashion, and lifestyle.

People who love purple do not shy away from including it whenever possible.

I love the quote from fashion designer Ralph Lauren -- "Black is not as good as purple."

What's your favorite purple flower -- lilac, clematis, violets, passion flower?

Today on "Life in Bloom," we'll look at some of my favorite purple flowers and talk about purple passion.

I had the opportunity to meet Don Garibaldi, a violet grower at the historic San Francisco Flower Mart, who continues his family's fourth-generation Italian tradition of growing violets.

Let's make a visit to Don and his violets.

>> This one of my favorite flowers.

>> And that's nice to hear... >> Yeah.

>> ...'cause we're the only ones left growing them, and it goes way back in history.

>> Wow!

>> 109 years, four generations, and it's a tedious job to pick these things.

I'll give you a little history about this little bunch.

>> Okay.

>> There's 35 in them, there's 15 leaves, and they're very delicate, and they only last about four days.

But you know, every time that you sell a bunch, people come with either their grandmother, grandfather.

They go back in history -- They always had a little bouquet of violets.

And that's nice to hear... >> Oh, yeah.

>> ...'cause we don't hear that very much.

>> Now, how do I take care of them?

>> We start them out by putting them in a plastic bag with a little moisture.

>> Uh-huh.

>> They can put them in the ice box... >> Okay.

>> ...and keep them there one or two days and take them out, submerge them in water, and shake them out well... >> Okay.

>> ...and they're ready to enjoy.

These plants, when we got them many years ago -- my grandfather brought them over from Italy -- we kept the same plants, making new plants every year from that plant.

>> Wow.

>> We continuously plant them every year in May.

>> So they're fourth-generational plants, as well.

>> Fourth generation, yeah.

>> From Italy?

>> From Italy, yeah, so it goes way back.

>> What's a season for violets?

>> The season starts in the middle of November... >> Okay.

>> ...and goes to the end of March.

Now, sometimes with the late rains, we can go as far as about the 15th or so of April.

>> Well, Don, thank you so much for sharing these with me.

This is an important part of our flower history.

>> Yes, it is.

>> Italian violets are harder and harder to come by in today's flower markets.

So let's make a little purple bouquet out of sinuata statice that resembles Don's violet bouquets.

My grandpa, "Carnation" Joe, also tended a bed of violets like Don's inside our family's greenhouses.

To be clear, these violets were not for sale.

Instead, they were simply grown for my grandpa's delight and for him to share.

He would carefully pick bunches of violets every time they bloomed, and he would gift the bunches of violets away to people of his choosing to brighten their day or to celebrate an occasion or simply to be kind.

You couldn't buy a bunch of violets.

That was against "Carnation" Joe's rules.

They were not for sale.

They were only there to be shared.

Those greenhouses and violet beds are long gone, but the great memories remain steadfast.

Sinuata statice is a flower that dries really well, so this little bouquet will dry and last a lot longer than a bouquet of violets.

A little bouquet like this, while not actually violets, is still perfect for sharing and spreading a little kindness.

I love to infuse my own vodkas, and this cocktail has a lavender-infused vodka that I created myself.

It also includes another favorite liqueur -- creme de violette.

We'll start by squeezing half a lemon over our ice.

We'll add 2 ounces of lavender-infused vodka.

Another ounce of creme de violette.

We'll shake it and pour it into a martini glass.

And we'll garnish with a piece of fresh, organic lavender.

This purple passion cocktail really packs a punch.

Sometimes you want a quick bouquet or two for an impromptu dinner or get-together.

A bouquet with a strong color story helps create a theme or look.

Since we're talking about purple, this color-focused bouquet is perfect.

Let's look at a couple easy ways to show off these flowers.

Typically, a nice bouquet can create three arrangements you can place around the house.

I've prepared my three containers.

I have one tall, one medium, and one short.

I've segregated my flowers, so I can work with each flower type individually.

We'll start with the kale.

They're gonna look great in our largest vase.

Here's a trick that I love about Kale.

We're gonna reflex the petals.

The ornamental kale grows in a rosette form, and so, by placing your thumb behind the leaf and gently bending it backwards, it reflexes it so that the ornamental kale starts to look like a rose.

We'll place two of those in our tall vase along with a piece of eucalyptus.

I've got one more piece of eucalyptus, so I'm gonna cut it in half.

I can place one in the medium vase and one in the small vase.

For our medium-sized bouquet, we'll use some of our more interesting flowers.

We have these beautiful purple chrysanthemums and these incredible Hypnos carnations.

It's a new color variety, and it's so beautiful.

We'll tuck in a few of the micro mini carnations.

It's a dianthus called Raffine.

It's perfect inside this bouquet.

Spray chrysanthemums work great for short vases.

I can cut the stem in half so the top is short flowers and then the bottom flowers can be peeled off the stem and placed into the vase, too.

If I have extra pieces left over after making that short cluster from the middle, I can add those to the other two arrangements.

Our little short vase has a nice rim on it, so I can wrap a piece of ribbon around that and tie it into a shoelace bow.

We've taken one bouquet and we've created three arrangements that can be placed around the house or grouped together.

I love clematis, so I was thrilled to visit Roseville Farms where they grow thousands of plants for the garden.

You may have seen them at your own garden center or have planted one in your yard.

Let's learn more about their Florida farm.

So you produce clematis.

>> That's all we produce.

First and foremost, we're propagators.

There are very few clematis propagators around the world.

Those that are generally are specific to clematis because it's a very difficult crop to propagate.

Putting roots on a clematis cutting is quite a bit different than putting roots on most other vegetatively produced plant material.

This is where the whole process begins.

>> Wow.

>> This is where we take the plant material and we make the cutting, and that little cutting is what gets stuck and roots.

We do this between 4 and 5 million times a year in producing these plants for all the different uses of clematis, whether it's a liner for a grower or a finished 1 gallon for retail.

And this is where we take those cuttings that were made in the cutting room... >> Right.

>> ...and what the ladies are doing is they're dipping each stem in root hormone powder and then quickly, they're being stuck into this 50-cell tray.

It'll take between three and five weeks before they start getting rooted.

For the first three or four weeks of their life, they're misted repeatedly throughout the day, and then they'll go from being misted to being watered.

Once they have roots and they can feed on their own from the root, that's when we start watering them.

The trick is actually keeping them alive and getting the roots on them so that they continue to grow.

So, this house, J, has the plant material which is almost finished.

These plants here are in their last week of actual production.

>> So what are they doing now?

>> Well, what they're doing is they're taking the latest growth, which comes above the trellis because they grow very fast, and they're wrapping it back onto the trellis.

As they wrap the plant around the trellis, within a day, the buds actually turn and start growing back up again.

>> So how many times has this plant been attended to by the time it's gonna head out the door?

>> It takes around six week from the time we bring it out of vernalization to the time that we ship it, and the plants are touched once or twice a week.

So, it's between six and 10 times that each plant has been touched prior to shipping.

>> These are ready to go.

>> These are ready to go.

As you can see, the plant is trellis-high, and it's starting to break flower, and you can see all the buds, and that's the key -- is having a mix of bud and bloom.

>> Now, you were telling me about the way that the blossom opens.

>> Yes.

The buds, as they form, when they open up, they actually open up under pressure.

So, they don't don't slowly open up their -- one moment, they're a tight bud, and the next moment they're like this where they pop open.

And it actually will open up in the span of 24-hour period.

It will go from a bud to an open flower.

But of course, they last on the stem for weeks and weeks.

And during that time, they keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

Now, if we hadn't touched this plant, these stems would be five or six feet tall.

>> Okay, gotcha.

>> It would be that long, so these plants are constantly being wrapped around the trellis and finished at this height.

When this goes into the garden and the customer plants it in their backyard, they're gonna let it grow up over that trellis, onto the fence, into the tree or the garden that's behind it.

>> Right.

>> You know how they ramble up.

Whatever's there, they're gonna grab on and they're gonna grow.

>> Purple is a prevalent color in the world of flowers.

There are many purple flowers to choose from.

Let's make a couple of flower arrangements using purple flowers.

The first one is quite easy to create using the clematis we learned about earlier and a large cylinder vase.

It's impressive and dynamic.

Place long tendrils of clematis into the tall cylinder.

The end of the stem sets in the water and the stems appear to be intertwined inside the vase.

Be sure each stem's end reaches and resides in the water at the bottom of the cylinder.

Now let's create a centerpiece using purple ornamental kale, stock blossoms, and more clematis.

I filled a low tray with soaked flower foam.

I've reflexed the kale blossoms again and placed them front and center.

Lavender stock offers a pleasing clove fragrance to the arrangement.

The delicate Lepto flower is a wonderful textural contrast to the clematis flower vines.

It's helpful to place larger flowers first and then fill in between with accent flowers.

Remember to relax and enjoy the flower arranging process and experience the calming effects it provides.

Using different tints, tones, and shades of purple flowers creates dynamic visual interest in the arrangement.

Placing a bubble bowl with a purple candle in the middle of this arrangement makes it perfect for a dinner party or evening picnic.

Exotic passion flowers, also known as passion vine, look as though they're tropical plants, but they can be grown almost anywhere, including much milder areas.

Passion flowers produce regular and usually showy flowers with a distinctive corona.

Passion flowers are usually trained on a trellis, fence, or other vertical structure.

In regions where they're not hearty, passion flowers are often grown in pots and moved indoors to overwinter.

Passion flowers generally need at least four full hours of sunlight a day.

The early common name of maypop was derived from the way it just seems to pop out of the ground in May.

The flowers are extremely attractive to butterflies and other pollinators.

I love when the lilacs come into bloom.

It's a magical time.

It means that winter is over, officially, and spring has arrived.

And I love the fragrance.

Who doesn't?

There's so many flowers that bloom along with lilacs, and sometimes it's fun to make a big arrangement of flowers just because you can.

So how about it?

Let's make a big arrangement that includes purple lilacs.

This is a great amethyst-colored container.

I love the purple color because it's powerful and it's passion at the same time.

It also allows me to put a big block of foam in there so we can create an arrangement that's nice and tall.

So my friend Barbara sent me this beautiful tulip tree.

That's just an amazing branch, and we'll use that as the focal point in this arrangement.

We've got those pieces, then, that'll frame and give us our height.

At the same time, our other flowers can go in the central area.

Putting those in first ensures that we've got good placement with those and they're secure, and then the other flowers go in around those stems.

Grouping flowers together, side-by-side, gives great emphasis, too.

The same goes for foliage.

Two Ti leaves together is great.

And three...helps create a focal area that draws our eye in.

Using purple and yellow together is a complementary color scheme.

Those two colors opposite one another on the color wheel create excitement for us.

Are you feeling a new passion for all flowers purple after this episode?

Start living the life of royalty by enjoying flowers in your life as often as possible.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

>> We've had a lot of nice compliments... >> Okay.

>> Elizabeth Taylor really enjoyed them.

They had called us for her funeral, but we didn't have them at the time.

But one year, she bought 600 bunches for her birthday.

>> Really?!

>> That was a big order, I'll tell you.

>> [ Laughs ] That was a lot of putting together little violet bunches.

>> Yeah, you got that right.

It was a lot of work, but we enjoyed it.

>> Yeah.

For her violet eyes.

That's amazing.

>> Right.

Yeah.

I told my son, "Whatever you do, if you decide to retire, the plants go with you."

[ Both laugh ] He said, "What do you mean, Dad?"

My dad told me, my grandfather told me, so that's what we -- If we quit the business or retire, the plants are retiring.

>> Oh, wow.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following... CalFlowers... Dollar Tree... Sunshine Bouquet.

Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit ubloom.com.