J Schwanke’s Life In Bloom

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies.

(upbeat music) With additional support from the following companies.

The Ball Horticultural Company.

(upbeat music) Cal Flowers.

(upbeat music) Design Master color tool.

(upbeat music) Golden Flowers.

(upbeat music) Sunshine Bouquet.

(upbeat music) And TheRibbonRoll.com (upbeat music) - Today on Life In Bloom we'll show you how flowers and romance go far beyond Valentine's Day, and how you can treat yourself and your loved ones with arrangements food and drink infused with floral inspired romance.

(upbeat music) I'm J Schwanke, welcome to Life In Bloom.

"Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature."

Flowers can set the tone for romance, today we'll take a look at fragrant and romantic flowers and ways you can incorporate them into your everyday life.

(upbeat music) Setting the scene with candlelight and simple floating flowers at the dinner table, creates a sense of quiet and connection and lends an overall soothing vibe to your event.

Today, we'll take a look at romantic fragrant flowers and ways you can incorporate them into your everyday life.

Romance isn't only for special occasions you can keep romance in your everyday life when you surround yourself with the sights and smells of these beautiful flowers.

(upbeat music) Let's begin by taking a look at the most romantic flower of all, the rose.

(upbeat music) Red roses are considered the ultimate symbol of romantic love and enduring passion, while it's well known that red roses symbolize love what do other rose colors signify?

Yellow, joy, happiness caring and true friendship.

Orange, fascination, passion, desire and pride.

Pale pink, thank You, grace, admiration and elegance.

Deep pink, gratitude, refinement and appreciation.

(upbeat music) Peach, believe me, modesty and sweetness.

White, innocence, purity and loyalty.

Burgundy, undying love and unconscious beauty.

Now that you know a bit more about the meanings behind roses let's take a look at how and where they're grown.

(upbeat music) It's been too long since I've been here at my favorite rose grower in California.

We're at you Eufloria Flowers, to see their romantic garden roses and new spray roses.

(upbeat music) So Chad this is your new garden rose collection.

- Yeah, we have all of our garden roses generally located within certain houses within our operation.

- They're beautiful!

- Thank you.

- [J] They're beautiful.

(upbeat music) - This is lovely hearts probably one of our most popular varieties, with the color it's that coral peach color.

And here you have the caramel antique it's got the light butterscotch caramel color, it is very popular and opens up like that true garden style rose.

- That, just that shape is so popular.

- [Chad] It is, and we find, everybody is looking for that look, that cabbage outdoor appeal.

- They were so fragile when we first started getting garden roses, but these are so durable.

- And we're finding that the breeders are now crossbreeding varieties that have that certain European shape with other varieties, and we're getting that the longevity out of these, and the durability out of these varieties its outstanding.

- Instead of you know the dozen roses that I used to get for Valentine's Day, do you think maybe I'll do like clusters of roses in a vase for Valentine's Day With the garden effect?

- I think so, I mean when these open up they take take up a lot more surface area.

And they're just gonna add that much more beauty to the arrangement that European style arrangement that I think people are dying to see.

- [J] What's the lasting quality on these guys?

- [Chad] Definitely 10 plus days on the garden roses.

- Wow!

- Some even more, just depending on the petal structure that it has.

(upbeat music) - [J] So what's your favorite thing about being a California flower farmer?

- Being able to produce an American grown product and offer an American grown rose to the consumer.

And hearing and seeing the reactions, and to be one of the California growers still producing roses, is definitely very exciting for us.

And we're very excited about the future for California grown roses as well.

(upbeat music) - Flowers can set a romantic tone, and it's not just about couples for a dinner party or patio entertaining, it's perfect to have romantic flowers.

And one of the ways that we can talk about romantic flowers is through fragrance.

Gardenias for example, have an intoxicating aroma.

These are one of my favorite flowers and they're super easy to design with.

As a kid, we grew gardenias in the greenhouse.

If a bride wanted them for her wedding my grandfather would patiently baby them along to make sure that we had them.

So having the smell of gardenias around the house, brings fond memories.

The gardenias that I'm using now are stem gardenias, which means they're cut on the stem.

You might be familiar with seeing gardenias in a little box with just the flower head.

But this way with the stem gardenias, we can cut flowers through in a bud like this and the bud will open up in the bouquet.

Which means we get a lot longer vase life so we can enjoy something like this on our table for five or six days.

There's nothing quite like waking up or falling to sleep to the smell of gardenias.

(upbeat music) Another fragrant flower that's one of my favorites is the freesia.

Freesia bulb flower, and they grow up on the stem like this opening all the way out to the end.

They have a very interesting unique fragrance.

As a little kid we grew them in the greenhouse and when the freesia were in bloom you'd go in the greenhouse and that's all you could smell.

Some people say they smell like fruit loops and I think that's pretty accurate.

They come in a wide variety of colors and interestingly enough, the colored freesia are more fragrant than the white, that isn't normally the case with most flowers, but with freesia it happens to be.

(upbeat music) For this arrangement, we have all these little vases and they're attached to the tray.

So I'll fill each one with a different color of freesia.

This is great because you could slide it in the middle of the table, and wherever people run into this they're gonna be able to smell these beautiful flowers.

Having flowers around the house in different spots can also evoke romance depending upon where they're placed.

(upbeat music) The other way to approach romance with flowers is by the shape of the arrangement we create.

These beautiful roses have been made into a heart shape and the heart symbol itself, becomes romantic.

Floating flowers are another way for us to add romance and there's nothing better than adding candlelight to a centerpiece.

So a floating candle, and floating flowers is perfect for your dining room table.

Roses are also romantic, and another way to add romance to your bath is to add rose petals.

I like to choose organic varieties or grow them myself and then place those fragrant petals into the bath.

So you see there's all kinds of choices when we want to add romance to our Life In Bloom.

(upbeat music) Today for flower cocktail hour, I'm joined by chef Jenna, she owns an Italian restaurant with her husband Maurizio, it's called Amore.

(upbeat music) You inspired me for my book.

- Yes.

Fun with Flowers to create rose cello.

- Yes.

- So today, I created a rose infused vodka.

- I'm kind of loving that.

- Right, 'cause roses are romantic.

- So romantic, and it's crazy but they taste good.

- The process for this was that we took potato vodka and I added fragrant red rose petals every day or as often as I could.

I grew them outside so I could govern them, make sure they're organic.

And then, I added them when I had them available pull the petals off, I didn't leave the pollen or the stems on them.

- Okay.

- And mixed it in for six weeks.

- Perfect, look at that color.

- So yeah, so then at that point in time you have, and the petals are inside they remain intact but they lose all their color.

So that's the essence of that red coloration.

- I really like this 'cause the first time we did it we did it with the pink roses and it didn't have that beautiful color that this one does.

- Right, right so you and I both have this thing about processed foods.

- Yes.

- And you use all that local stuff at your restaurant.

- If you know where it comes from, it somehow that tastes better.

- Yeah, and better for you.

- It's way better for you yes.

- So then I used local honey from Michigan and made a simple syrup of Oklahoma.

- I love that, look at you!

- Right, right, so then I add, so we had two bottles of potato vodka.

So 1/4 cup of simple syrup, so 1/2 cup for the two.

And then I just put it in this bottle this is reclaimed bottle that I had.

- It's really cute.

- So then we have it as a cocktail.

When you taste it, it tastes like vodka but it also tastes the way that a rose smells.

- It does.

- That's the best, the best way that I can think about.

- And I found this recipe in a very old book that was all in Italian about homemade liqueurs.

And the little story near it was just about how women would make this and in the afternoon when their husbands would creep out for coffee, they pour that stuff, on their drink.

- I love it.

It's perfect.

- I know.

- So our husbands are away.

- Right.

We're having a little cocktail.

- That's right.

- That's what we do.

- Ice here, there we go all right.

So, I thought a little, a little rose spritzer.

- What's better than that?

- Right?

- It's making me thirsty.

- So two water, well I'm coming.

- There you go, I feel like we should garnish it with like a rose petal or something.

- We could do that.

- Right.

- We can do that hold on.

- Wouldn't that be pretty and romantic?

- [J] It would be.

- Are we gonna have a drink?

- We are.

- Salute!

- Really we're home alone.

- I know right.

(laughing) Wow!

You get the rose right at the beginning.

- It's true.

- And it stays through to the end.

I would drink this.

- It reminds me so much of what you fixed that day you came to visit.

- It's so good with the soda, I love that.

- Yeah, it's delicious.

(upbeat music) Why do you think people think that Italian restaurants are so romantic?

What's the connection?

- In general, Italy is romantic place and it's always been kind of, especially if you haven't visited Italy you just picture it as a beautiful romantic place.

If you see movies or the models that you see and all the magazines and everything.

And I think a place called Amore is already romantic.

The reason we called tt Amore is because that's what Maurizio and I call each other.

Like it's our pet name.

And we didn't realize how awesome it was, that it was Amore because once we were in the phone book we were number one on the list.

Because alphabetically, we came up, we were like, "This was a double bonus!"

Because if we're at an event or anything Amore comes up first.

- Right, right.

So Jenna, I have a tradition.

- I love traditions.

- With flower crowns, which you know about my flower crowns.

- I love, my profile pic is a flower crown your flower crown right now.

All right you'll have to position it for me.

- Oh, it looks good.

- Like that?

- Oh yeah!

- Okay.

(laughing) - Mama is in the house.

- I know, right.

- Right, right.

- It's perfect.

- Okay, so cheers.

- Cheers to flower crowns.

- And to Amore.

(upbeat music) Another romantic flower is lavender.

That smell is wonderful, and we can use lavender when we cook.

Whether we make an elixir that can be added to cocktails or we can actually use the flower buds in cookies.

So today we'll create some romantic cookies using lavender buds and lemon zest.

(upbeat music) Keep your flowers away from the fruit bowl, fruit gives off ethylene a ripening hormone.

this causes flowers to age more quickly.

(upbeat music) When I think about fragrant flowers, I think about the phrase, stop and smell the roses.

I think it's important for us to take time to smell the flowers, and it's wonderful when the flowers smell as beautiful as they look.

Many people claim the phrase stop and smell the roses dates back over a century or more.

The story goes that two ladies were standing in their yards one was discussing how much labor went into creating the garden that she had, the other neighbor suggested that she perhaps step back and look at the beauty she had created with all of that labor, and take time to stop and smell the roses.

The phrase gained prominence again in 1957 in Walter Hagen's biography.

The golfer told us don't hurry, don't worry and be sure to stop and smell the flowers.

So everything we have on the table today is a fragrant flower.

We've got stock, we have lilies, roses, wax flower and a couple types of foliages that also have fragrance as well.

This bouquet will certainly fill a room with fragrance.

(upbeat music) First we'll start with senagrania, I love this 'cause it has a wonderful minty fragrance.

(upbeat music) I like that the stock has an herbal smell as well.

It smells like cloves, some people say cinnamon.

(upbeat music) This wax flower has such a unique fresh fragrance.

(upbeat music) This some melaleuca foliage and what's interesting about this is, when you strip down the foliage it has almost a eucalyptus type smell.

It smells real fresh and clean again, it matches really well with the clove, the cinnamon, the mint.

Now it's time for our roses.

(upbeat music) What's interesting about the rose itself is that the thorns are associated with the fragrance.

(upbeat music) I'm gonna drop a few beautiful lilies down inside here too.

(upbeat music) That's a beautiful arrangement sure to fill an entire room with fragrance.

(upbeat music) As you can see romance can be a part of your day-to-day life through arrangements, self-care food or drink.

Flowers are ready to bring their fragrant beauty into your living space.

For Life In Bloom, I'm J Schwanke, see you next time.

(upbeat music) (mumbles) - [Crew] Ready?

- Yep.

- It's so romantic, it was perfect too, it was so much fun.

- Yeah, it was a whole lot of fun.

- Okay Chris, I need to get flower crowns they are in the other preparation.

Okay.

- Will I have another drink?

- Go ahead.

- Yeah, that's about it.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Day drinking, hashtag day drinking.

(laughing) To flower crowns.

- And to Amore.

- Almost got the petal stuck to my lips.

- [Narrator] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is filmed in Grand Rapids Michigan.

- [Narrator] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies.

(upbeat music) With additional support from the following companies, The Ball Horticultural Company.

(upbeat music) Cal Flowers.

(upbeat music) Design Master color tool.

(upbeat music) Golden Flowers.

(upbeat music) Sunshine Bouquet.

(upbeat music) And TheRibbonRoll.com (upbeat music) Closed caption funding provided by Chrystal.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects and more information visit uBloom.com (upbeat music)