So Long Sucker!

That's what I say to worry.  So long, sucker!  Who needs you?!  No one.  Worry is such a time waster!  If you want to get in a rut, worry.  If you want to get depressed, worry.  If you want to accomplish nothing, worry.  Clearly we do not need worry!  What we need is to take the next step and keep moving forward.

​I always tell people Jesus — the greatest teacher — uses flowers to teach me about life, and the list of things I've learned through flowers continues to grow!  Hellebores taught me not to worry.

You see, when I was planning for Anna's wedding I really wanted hellebores.  They are TOUGH to find in the wholesale trade.  Possible, but the kind I wanted, mostly impossible.  They have this wild, yet refined look about them, and that is exactly how I want my work to look — wild, yet refined.  Naturally, I worried they wouldn't be blooming that early since March is really their big month!  And even if they were, where was I going to find them?  Well, I turned my worries into prayers, and man-oh-man, was the Lord ever delighted to provide an abundance for us!  I'm thankful for that.  When he calls you to do something he always provides enough.    

"Don't fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry (Philippians 4:6)."

This lush, hellebore arrangement was for our booth at the High Country Wedding Expo last Sunday, and it was another reminder to turn my worries into prayers.  Picking up and moving a baby business to a new place I knew nothing about was scary, but friends, the Lord has always let me know what the next step is and I just keep walking, one step at a time...​

Press on, and enjoy this good anthem for us as we journey on together!

PS!  Next week I'm going to the Flowerwild workshop in Palm Springs with Kate Holt and Jose Villa.  So follow me on instagram now!  I'm going to be clogging up your feed with tons of gorgeous images!!!!  @kelly_perry

Wooded Romance for Lynchburg Living

Our work was recently published in Lynchburg Living!  Enjoy Sam's dreamy images...

A big thank you to all the vendors who made this photo shoot a success!

Location: West Manor Estate
​Set Design: Max & Dexter {Event Design}
​Photography: Sam Stroud Photography
​Hair: Alison Missiano, Lynchburg-based independent hair stylist
​​Makeup: Cami Smith, Lynchburg-based independent makeup artist
​Lynchburg Living Editorial Direction: Johanna Calfee, Managing Editor
​Lynchburg Living Art Direction: Kathleen Ostrom, Layout Designer
​Cake Design: La Bella Torta
​Floral Design: Philosophy Flowers
​Headpieces: Storm and Stress
​Jewelry: Bowen Jewelry
​Leather Gun Case and Hide Rug: Moore & Giles
​Shoes & Boots: Must Have Shoes
​Stationary: Sorelle Paper and Print

The Hellebore Experiment

I've been postponing writing about my trip to the farm because I've been doing an experiment — the hellebore experiment.  Last month I went to visit Judith, Dick and their friendly dog Holly at Pine Knot Farms in Clarksville, Virginia.  Judith and Dick say the trip is like going back in time, and I'll have to agree.  As I drove down the picture-perfect lane to the farm I started to spot them.  One, then two then a whole slew of hellebores — just happy and growing in the woods.  

Judith and I walked through the garden cutting flowers for the experiment.  Do hellebores hold for cut flower arrangements?  I've heard many say no, but my hypothesis was naturally, "Yes!  We just have to figure out how they like to be handled."  

I have always had really great success with Quick Dip, a hydrating solution that cleans those dreaded air bubbles out of the flower stem and gets water up those stems fast as lightning!  So that's what I did.  Then I kept them outside in the gentle rain until it was time for the photo shoot and Anna's wedding.  They hold.  They hold well!  "Pink Frost" is the queen of them all.  Twenty-two days away from her roots and she looks just as pretty as the day she was picked.

​I love hellebores because they remind me of what I love about people.  There aren't two exactly the same.  They also look a little different and change as they age :)  

​Enjoy the photos, and be mindful of the great art that is involved in breeding such beautiful plants.  Unlike the cut flower industry who breeds plants for vase life and how long it will hold out of water for shipping, the Tylers breed for beauty.  Many, many thanks to the Tylers.  That day goes down in the record books for one of my favorite ones yet!

​If you are a hellebore fan, head to their farm next weekend for their big open house!  We went yesterday and brought quite the spoil home for dad's mountainside garden. :)