Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to "Floriography" - a bi-weekly blog about flowers!  This is the first post in a year-long experiment in blogging!  Today I am kicking off everything with an introduction, Q&A style.  The real content will start next Tuesday!

What is Floriography?

Floriography, or the language of flowers, was a way to secretly communicate using the arrangement of flowers.  Ancient cultures around the world placed meanings on certain flowers for thousands of years.  Flowers were drawn, painted, and written about to symbolize meanings in various works of art.  In the 1800s, floriography reached its peak in Victorian England and the United States of America.  Men and women would carry around floral dictionaries to help them decode secret messages sent to them by their significant others.

Who are you?

My name is Morgan, and this (along with my embroidery blog) is my first venture into blogging!  I currently live in Texas with my wonderful husband (who would like to be known as "Permanent Roommate" or "PR").  After college, I worked in the wedding industry for a couple of years on the catering and venue side of things.  But when PR and I got married and moved back to Texas, I began looking for a way to get back into what I studied in school: floral design!

One of my favorite pieces that I've done.

So, what's the point of this blog?

 I'm starting this blog for a couple of reasons:

1. It gives me a reason to regularly practice my floral design and build my portfolio.  Eventually, I'd like to be able to go full time with flowers for events and weddings, but that takes time, lots of practice, and a rockin' portfolio!  Unfortunately, the florist-hopeful's job market where I live is pretty slim, and most people (rightfully) won't trust a stranger with very little experience to do the flowers for their wedding.  This is a way for me to showcase my abilities, build my skills, and maybe even connect with potential clients! (Plus, I get to play with flowers every other week!!)
2. It also gives me a chance to develop my writing skills.  If you would have told me in fourth grade that I would start blogging in my twenties, I probably would have laughed in your face (but not in a rude way, of course!).  However, in the past few years, I've really come to enjoy writing and I'd like to get better at it!  Blogging on a schedule gives me a reason to keep practicing!

What can I expect from this blog?

I'll be posting on this blog every other Tuesday.  That means two posts per month (sometimes three - yay bonus posts!).  The first post of the month will be based on a holiday that falls in the respective month.  The second will reflect something going on in my life.  It may be a trip we're taking, special events going on, etc.  Basically, whatever is inspiring me at the time.  Every post will include pictures of the final product and of the process along the way.  Also, keeping with the name of the blog, I'll include the historical meanings behind some of the flowers used in each piece.

"Why only bi-weekly posts?" you may ask. Well, as I shamelessly mentioned earlier, I'm also currently writing another blog.  I'll be posting about hand embroidery over there on the weeks I'm not posting here.  This schedule gives me two weeks to develop the content for each blog.  Also, flowers aren't cheap, and since I'm not getting paid to do this, I've got to set myself some boundaries somewhere.

Phew! That was a lot!

Yeah, I know.  I'm sure the rest of my posts won't be nearly this long or wordy and they'll have pictures of pretty flowers.  I'm super excited about this journey over the course of this year, and I'm super duper excited to have you along for the ride!  

P. S. If you happen to be into hand embroidery, too, check out my other blog "Adventures in Embroidery"! This will most likely be the only time I'll cross-reference my two blogs on each other.  This will definitely be the last time two of my blog posts will be extremely similar, I promise!