This past week I got invited by my friend Alexandra to a flower arrangement workshop hosted by Erica of Chicory Florals and Spruce Street Commons at The Touraine in Rittenhouse. The event was held in a part of the building that is in the process of being renovated into a cafe, which served as the perfect rustic backdrop to the evening of wine, cheese and overwhelmingly beautiful flowers!

Erica and her business partner Andrew started what would become Chicory Florals in the spring of 2014 when they started growing flowers as an experiment in a vacant 1/4-acre vacant land in the Mantua neighborhood of Philadelphia. The semi-raised beds that Andrew a few volunteers put in proved to be the perfect home for new buds!

Just a couple of years later, Erica and Andrew are harvesting truckloads of flowers from the same lot, as well as from a 1/2 acre space at the Schukill Center and wholesale them to florists around the city. They also create unique floral masterpieces for weddings and special events.

At the workshop, Erica instructed an intimate group of creatives in arranging our own floral pieces of art. We were provided clay urns, buckets of flowers and greens and other materials, along with wine and nibbles.  I love how mine turned out, and have been experimenting at home with the leftover flowers I took home!

You can learn more about Chicory Florals here!