Episode 107- Out on a Limb- with Fruit and Flowers!

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Host J Schwanke pairs fruit with flowers because it's fun! J gets creative with the abundance of the season, and uses fruit and flowers in simple, unexpected ways in arrangements, recipes, and crafts.Check out even more *Bonus Content- In BLUEFruit and flowers are a natural combination- and I've learned many techniques over the years that I want to share when it comes to using Fruit and Flowers together in your flower arranging projects. There are so many different types of fruit- and pairing them with flowers- increases the texture, color palette, fragrance and more! This Life in Bloom show is dedicated to combining fruit and flowers together!We grew watermelons when I was a kid- and we always had lots and lots as the summer progressed- I guess that was the first time I thought about using them in flower arrangements- and one day I stuck a flower into a piece of watermelon- and the flower did well... it actually thrived- and it suddenly occurred to me- that watermelon flesh and soaked flower foam were a lot alike.  I share one of my favorite summer projects- arranging flowers in a Watermelon. As odd as it seems- it's a wonderful 'container' for flowers- and it's fun and unexpected.Here's one of the first times- I tried out this Watermelon project on Take 5 & Company- Live Television! This Watermelon trick is just one of 365 tips, tricks and ideas I share in my award winning book- Bloom 655 The Essential Guide to Arranging Flowers Every Day- you can buy the book here and we have a special deal- any 2 books for $30. (+S&H)... Check them out here- www.uBloom.com/Books  Get your copy today- it's the best reference guide for Flower Arranging!Check out this video featuring this fun trick from Bloom 365 and a couple others! I use some of my favorite Eufloria Roses (remember Chad from "The Romance of Flowers" Episode-) I use Pink Avalanche and one of he Gem Series Spray roses... I combine them with Grevillia from my friend Mel Resendiz (Protea- Long Lasting Beauty) and some fancy tulips from Lane DeVries- ("Tulips-Year Round Spring") this is truly a Flower Friendly Bouquet!Sometimes we need something that can be the Centerpiece for a Party or Event- and my Delphinium, Rose and Lemon Project is a show stopper. It's a large arrangement with 3 simple components: An Urn, A Vase and Wreath Frame- and combining them together like classic architecture- delivers a Beautiful large scale arrangement.Here's the Complete Delphinium, Rose and Lemon Project on uBloom! Here's another secret - though- you can make this any size- they make small wreath frames too... so it doesn't have to be big- you can use an size urn, vase and wreath frame and get the exact same results- and you can use any type of flower and fruit... just think how fun this would be in small scale with cherries, and roses... or Limes and an assortment of different foliage! The possibilities are endless!The Delphinium in this arrangement come from Ocean View Flowers- located in Lompoc California- they specialize in Stock, Delphinium and Larkspur- you can visit Ocean View Flowerswith me in this link- part of our CA Grown Documentary Series!Woodpicks are a staple in my flower arranging tool kit- and this week I use them in the Lemons in this project- and also share a hint about dipping them in oil of clove before piercing an apple... to get it to last for weeks in your flower arrangements. I found out about oil of clove years ago- and it's a must- especially when I use Apples for Christmas decorating... apples last so much longer when you take this simple step.My website - www.uBloom.com is filled with all sorts of flower arranging projects- I create a NEW Video every week (Since 2006) - that teaches you more about arranging flowers. For our Life in Bloom Viewers- we offer a 50% off discount code- on subscriptions- FIFTYOFF - (all caps no spaces) follow this link to join- www.uBloom.com/Join/Annual - and enter the discount code- and you can watch ALL my PREMIUM Videos- there's over 1800...here's a preview of Fun with Flowers and J on uBloom- and a couple of my BLOG Projects - that include FRUIT!DIY- Fruit and Flowers Centerpiece Project PreviewLemon Centerpiece- Pucker Up Baby! Lemon Wedge Pitcher of Flowers! One of my favorite recipes is for fish- and I'm a huge orange roughy fan... but you can use just about any type of white fish for this simple - easy prep dish- it's something I can fix in a hurry- and a little trip to the garden to get some fresh chives- complete with blossoms! It's not Life in Bloom without some flowers on the plate- and that's the best thing about having an herb or flower garden (even if it's a container garden) outside the door- you can bring the outside -inside.This recipe (and many of my recipes) feature Butter- I watched the French Chef and have been a lifelong fan of Julia Child- so I use butter- and it's one of my favorite ingredients! Julia always used President Butter- it's one of the finest butters- imported from France- and I love it. My local artisanal grocer- Camille- carries my butter- and I feel better when the frig is stocked with my favorite french butter! Delicious! Follow this link for my simple recipe for Orange Roughy complete with Chives -Blossoms and All!Fruit is a great inspiration for cocktails too- so this time #FlowerCocktailHour is inspired by Blueberries- from the glassware, to the fruit juice- to the garnish- the Blueberry Bloom is a refreshing drink- that is spritzer/martini cross- and it's garnished with fresh blueberries! If you know anything about Michigan- you know we're crazy about our Blueberries- we have YOU PICK EM locations up and down the state- and when the blueberries are in season- we find ways to use them in just about everything. Check the recipe for this week's #FlowerCocktailHour - the Bloom of the Blueberry turns into the fruit- so give this one a try!I've been doing Live Television for over a decade- and I've been a Guest on Take 5 & Company turned into "My West Michigan" on the Local ABC Affiliate- WZZM- channel 13. My Friend Catherine Behrendt - the host of Take 5 and My West Michigan, former Anchor Woman, and Now Station Programmer...joins me to create some Fruit Kabob arrangements. We've had so much fun over the years- and if you're on LIVE Television you want to do with someone like Catherine. She's a Pro- and nothing bad will happen when you're with Cath!Here's the Original JTV Episode on uBloom.com that inspired this segment of Life in Bloom!We've had so much fun- and you'll see more of Catherine when we host the uBloom Flower Challenge in an upcoming Life in Bloom Episode- so stay tuned for More Catherine (and Kim Carson too)... in our Flower Power Show! Watch a few more Take 5 appearances with Catherine and I in these links...Citrus Sorbet Arrangement with J and Catherine!Ikebana arrangement with J and Catherine!and visit the WZZM Website to catch my on-going flower segments on My West Michigan! The Featured Flower this week- is used in the Large Scale Delphinum, Rose and Lemon project. Delphinium is named for the Dolphin Shaped Flowers on this Upright Perennial Garden Flower. It comes in Dark Blue, Light Blue, White, Lavender, Purple and even Pink. The gorgeous fields of Delphinium we feature with this flower were shot on location at Joseph and Sons in Santa Maria California- another Flower Documentary we created for the CA Grown Experience on uBloom. You can watch my visit with Joe Ortiz and his family at this link: click here!As stated - Fruit and Flowers are the perfect combination... and I've got lots of inspiration, flower and fruit arranging tips and wonderful friends that decided to join me- Out on Limb this week- that's where the most Delicious Fruit and Prettiest Flowers can be found!