dahlia friends

Look at these guys, look at how great they are! 

Just ready to launch into another round of strip poker.

Fun dahlia facts- These are the national flowers of mexico, and once apron a time, they used the stems as pipes or as utensils to mix up their milo. And Frida Kahlo used to eat them for breakfast. AND Sometimes Dahlia flowers grow to be as big as your face! 

the countdown is on!

One more sleep and I will be starting my first day working in the flower drum semi permanent pop up shop! Special guest stars in the shop will be Darling Dahlias, Marshmallow Lilies, Rambling Roses, Manic Magnolias, and plenty more nice smelling things! Heres a little sneak preview, if you want to see more, you will just have to come and visit! Cant wait to see you! Watch out for the flower bombs! x

The Flower Drum @ The Sugarmill, Pittwater Rd, Narrabeen.

Opens 31st of Dec -7th Jan. And then every Saturday after that!

Special orders are very welcome, and so are you.

tip top hydrangea

I love hydrangeas, I love them so much. I would have to say, out of all the flowers that people grow in their garden, hydrangeas are really right up there. The best even. And you know what makes me mad? The fact that I have to buy them. I drive home from work and I see hundreds of their little mophead faces, and they all yell out to me, 

COME AND STEAL US. But I don't, because I would be devastated if somebody did that to me. I don't grow them, so I have to buy them. Sad fact of life.

While I was holidaisy'ing in intertropical melbourne, I was educated on a very tricky trick 

I am going to share it with you. FAFA notebooks at the ready!

Are your cut hydrangeas starting to look a little wilty? 

Do they look the way you do after too many G&T's?

YES?!

Fill a vase with hot water from the tap, SNIP the stems and pop them into the jacuzzi 

(by jacuzzi, i mean vase) 

Go on do it.. and leave them there. As the water cools to room temp you will notice the flowers looking all schnappy and happy to be alive. Just like you do after a nice hot bath.

LONG LIFE HAPPY FLOWER. 

on broadsheet

A while back, we had some nice words with an even nicer lady named amanda from Broadsheet. We interviewed, we emailed, we laughed, and of course we talked about FLOWERS.

read the full story here BROADSHEET

THE FLOWER DRUM SEMI PERMANENT SHOP

I HOPE YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION. 

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT TO BE READ. 

THE FLOWER DRUM SEMI PERMANENT SHOP IS OPENING 

I know, i didnt even warn you... 

----------------------------------------

One time, a miracle happened. A nice guy named chongy was born. He grew up and started getting awesome at lots of things, and then some time later, a few years ago we started working together. I didnt know what his deal was, but I decided to make it my goal in life to make him feel uncomfortable. I flipped the keys up on his keyboard and moved them around, I stuck pins in his chair so they would stab him through the pants. 

I did all sorts of things. 

You see, when new people come along, I dont like it. Not one bit. 

Somehow, chongy managed to get through the barrier. I have a real soft spot for people who love things that I dont mind. ANYWAY

Years on, in a bid to take on the world, and just a small part of Narrabeen, chongy devised a plan. 

Name of the plan: THE SUGARMILL FINE SURF EMPORIUM. 

Annnnd what does every fine surf emporium need? A FLOWER DRUM POP UP SHOP! 

Surfboards, tick! Swimsuit, tick! Coffee & milkshakes, tick! Vintage Dresses, tick! Art, tick! Fresh Flowers, tick! 

    

me and chongbuster in the soon to be flower drummerised flower shoppppe

There will be a lot of rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty until the transformation is complete. Right now it is just a little bud, but it will be ready to pop soon, and I promise you. Its going to be so great.

 I dont want to go spoiling many more details on this quest for world domination. But I will tell you this. The Flower Drum Semi Permanent shop within a shop will be opening on the 31st, through to the 7th of Jan. AND THAT MEANS WE CAN TOTALLY HANG OUT NOW! 

Visiting us address- Pittwater Rd, Narrabeen. Sydneys Northern Beaches. 

happy toxic city

Today I have reached new realms of toxicity. 

After a dash to the flower markets with mylee and little hobo tatianna (who incidentally secretly speaks italian and captured the tickers of every flower flinger out there) I came home to get bizzy on some mexicano daisy of the dead style arrangements. Armed and ready on my unfenced balcony I sprayed up some real doozies. whaddaya mean?

My friends at Koch & co have this nifty flower spray paint. whaddaya mean???

THIS IS WHAT I MEAN. 

So I'm hanging out with creedence clear water revival and mazzy star, and im spraying away in a frenzy of delight, making once was pink- now black and white. Later, im in the chair at the salon bleaching my hair within an inch of its already fragile life. 

Then back home to spray my heart away once more on some more roses I dont like the colour of. (remember here friends, design master spray only changes the colour of flowers, it doesn't turn gerberas into peonies, ok?)

Right now im writing to you, after about.. I don't know, one hundred coffees. The bleach has seeped into my skin and maybe I should have been wearing a mask while spray painting as to prevent me from thinking it might be a good idea to rip the neighbours christmas lights down to decorate my own lounge room. On lighter news, theres a cactus in my kitchen that squirts me with cacti juice every time I try to move it.

ps. cactusii 2 is hugging cactusii 1. cute.

the flower bucket files

Ive started a new online filing cabinet. 

Its called the flower bucket files

come and visit. or not.

ding ding

fleur wood takes mylee grace from flower drum temporarily

Mylee has gone all Dolly Parton, with her blonde hair and shes working 9 to 5�
Im not happy about it. AT ALL.  HOWEVER, where is she now staging place is soooo cool, 

it makes me think that maybe im not mad, maybe im a bit jealous. 

You can find her belting out your old favourites Jolene AND My Tennessee Mountain Home at the beautiful Fleur Wood pop up shop in Avalon. Pop in on a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday and give her hair a pull, its not a wig.

oh my god

I am 100 % crazy stupid cant eat my dinner in love

with peonies

ps. mylee and I have blonde hair now, more on that later. OK ill show you now

 

cool stuff and tanqueray

Being inspired to do things for no particular reason takes up a lot of time.

The other day, I started making this thing. It was looking really cool. And then I thought, what am I going to do with this cool looking thing? It's sort of getting dark now.. And I have no use for a jungle archway. So I started to make this other cool thing.. a delicious drink.

I feel a bit sad that I never finished the cool thing, its just lurking around now, sort of dead and kind of beautiful. 

 

 

Got 20 bucks?

Get the garden looking good and dead just in time for Christmas.  Ozzie drew this, and I think it was inspired by mylees new found love for lawn mowering. shes absolutely crazy about it.

Speaking of blogs, i dont know how or why, but I've started another. Its not like im busy with work every day, getting my nails did,  weighing out the ups and downs of making both my hair and mylees hair platinum blonde and doing the dishes.. BUT, the days are getting longer, which can only mean one thing. More time for the internets. Come and visit...SOON. its not ready yet. while you wait, you can watch this -

US in the U.S.A. from the dope city on Vimeo.

Its titled, US in the USA, which is misleading, because I didn't go to the USA. But mylee went, and we look similar. So its the other US (ozzie and mylee the crazy lawn mowerers)

OHARA beginners school

I'm no ikebana expert, but im pretty sure gerberas weren't used back when ikebana started being the hip happening thing, some 500 years ago. You could only imagine my face after I unwrapped my surprise newspaper covered flowers. 

Gerbs, hydrangea leaves and some other green ferny things. 

"WHAT AM I MEANT TO DO WITH THESE, apart from throw them in the bin?"

I know just like new born babies, all flowers are beautiful blah blah.blah. BUT when it comes to gerberas, im not interested.

Luckily, we were learning some really cool stuff and having a real hoot, one of the guys in our class was a skin specialist, so we were getting dermatology advice while turning and placing things on 30/45 degree angles.

me and  lady sensei matching outfits. still about 60 %  mad about the gerberas

See, just like in the diagram

no gerbs in this book

Secret SECRET flower tea house

My trip to japan was fun. I walked a lot. I walked so much that I could have walked around the earths belt. Twice. While I was walking, I saw some of the most beautiful little flower shops, and one time, when I kept walking though a flower shop, I ended up inside an outside turned inside flower shoppe tea house. Nearly everything on the menu was in Japanese, except for what I ordered. I ordered a lemon tart, because it was the only thing not written in Japanese. 

 Walking through into secret parts of shops is not uncommon in Tokyo. Another great place to stumble upon is the Forbidden Fruit cafe. After polishing off some wild berry ice cream, pretend you've dropped something really important and collapse to your knees looking for it. When no one is looking, scurry behind the counter and regain your composure as you speed walk down the spiral stairs into the top secret avant-gothic bunker complete with dinosaur size terrarium.

 OWOW

we're baaaaaaack!

All is right in the world again. I am back from Japan, associate flower enthusiast US Amalia is back from America.. And we are ready to get photosynthesizing. 

HARAJUKU sunflowers

USAmalia's floral adventures

In the past, holly and I wouldn't go near a fake flower, let alone stomach touching one. The thought of a fake arrangement in a vase would actually force our faces into the expression you do after a shot of whisky. Recently, as you probably know we've become more open minded towards them. The flower drum was recently commissioned to create extravagant faux flower bombs to Razzy Dazz the windows of Alannah Hill. Holly instantly felt honoured yet shocked to the core, How was she going to make friends with such synthetic profanities? Although much blood sweat and RSI tears were suffered, the finished product in the glossy windows of Alannah Hill is more than impressive, especially since she created 50 billion bombs virtually on her own! If asked, would she like to see another ever lasting flower again she'd probably Scream NO WAY MAN! Although, I have a sneaky suspicion she's formed some kind of bond while spending a ridiculous amount of time alone with them. While she was breaking the fake flower bomb making record I was in the USA having my own experiences with fakies. It seems fake breasts and tans aren't the only thing that's popular around here. Iv'e spotted numerous shops dedicated to ridiculously real looking  ''lasting art". Shop keepers are even taking it as far as spritsing 'floral' perfume everywhere to give the illusion you're in a genuine florist. So before you go getting dazzled by my photo's and order a faux bouquet for your 'big day' remember to ENJOY FAKE FLOWERS RESPONSIBLY. Don't go wearing a fake flower headband just because Katy Perry did or one of those trendy silk flower necklaces. If you want my advice, take advantage of the times we're living in. The real thing is abundant NOW and it doesn't have to cost $3 a stem. Owning your own piece of delightful scented nature could be as easy as planting some seeds, or  discovering your local market, or even more exciting, putting on a balaclava and taking some scissors for a walk around your neighbourhood.  
Signing off, Mylee G. Abroad 

Ellen Rogers

While Mylee has been overseas (for ages), I have been contemplating a replacement BFF (kidding), during my search (still kidding) I stumbled across Ellen Rogers (not kidding). Photographer from the UK, who creates beautiful images that trigger a new way of life mental check list-

* stop wearing clothes

* start eating forbidden fruit

* stop looking happy & start look awesome

*install pastel tinted talc diffusers everywhere

and the winner is.....

CONGRATULATIONS KP!

The other day my friend asked me, "hey flower drum, how do you pick the winner for this competition?"  I sat there stunned. I had not figured out how the winner was actually going to win. Would their answer be picked and pulled apart for grammatical errors? Would their favourite post have to be my favourite post? Its really been stressing me out. 

KP, you are the winner because: your answer made me go "ohhhhhhhh" and then happy face.   happy face = free flowers. Please reveal yourself via - holly.hipwell@gmail.com or 0412 14 1129 to claim your winnings! (before tomorrow!) 

happy fun celery times

Do you sometimes feel like whiney whingypoo and whinge " i have no flowers" 

"whhyyy no body bring me flowers" ?  well you can either 

A) enter the flower give away that is closing in less than 48 hours or 

B) cut the top off some celery and put it in a vase

Its up to you. The clock is ticking flower bombers

ashish 2012

WHAT! I cant believe I didnt think of making heavy delicately dutied sequinned sunned flower dresses to wear with floral attacked combat boots FIRST?! Whhhhyyyyyy! WHY!

Happy Bomb Day - Flower GIVEAWAY!

Today The Flower Drum turns one year old! One year ago today, I had the scent of spring inspire me to leap into bloggy world and fill your eyeballs with flower fun. 

Never in my wildest daydreams did I imagine that my outrageously sickly love for flowers would lead to mass flower pollination domination. 

Thank you for coming back to check up on us daily, weekly, monthly, however often you visit.. So to celebrate we are hosting another flower giveaway!

      

So now i want to give back to you, to say THANK YOU for being such great flower enthusiasts!
I will be giving away a special little Flower Drum "something flowery" prize. 




To go in the running simply comment below with your favourite post featured on the flower drum and tell us why its your favourite . You must be in the Sydney city area, so I can drop them off to you (unless you want dead flowers in the post?) Winner will be announced next friday! And flowers will delivered the following day... Get blooming petals!