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- [Narrator] J Schwanke's Life
In Bloom
is brought to you by Albertsons
Companies.
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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
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- 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.
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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.
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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.
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Let's begin by taking a look
at the most romantic
flower of all, the rose.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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- 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.
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- [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.
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- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Today for flower cocktail
hour, I'm joined by chef Jenna,
she owns an Italian restaurant
with her husband Maurizio,
it's called Amore.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Keep your flowers away
from the fruit bowl,
fruit gives off ethylene
a ripening hormone.
this causes flowers to age more
quickly.
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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.
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First we'll start with
senagrania,
I love this 'cause it has a
wonderful minty fragrance.
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I like that the stock has
an herbal smell as well.
It smells like cloves,
some people say cinnamon.
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This wax flower has such
a unique fresh fragrance.
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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.
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What's interesting about the
rose itself
is that the thorns are
associated with the fragrance.
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I'm gonna drop a few beautiful
lilies down inside here too.
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That's a beautiful arrangement
sure to fill an entire
room with fragrance.
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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.
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(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
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