INTERIOR HORTICULTURE PART 2: FLORALS
I love to have flowers on the table to brighten up the apartment, but they're so bloomin' hard to find without plastic (er, no pun intended)! Unfortunately this is how flowers are sold in Park Slope:
Look at all that shiny plastickiness!
There doesn't seem to be a florist nearby selling loose flowers, but it did just so happen to be beautiful spring outside when we first arrived. With no other immediate solutions, I took a walk around the new 'hood and came back with a few freebies that I turned into decorations:
NB: if you're hoping to do the same, make sure you get permission from whoever's tree you're snipping from first!
This wasn't really a long-term option though, particularly as spring turned into summer and most blossom turned into big heavy leaves that won't sit so nicely in a vase.
We've managed to get around the problem a few ways now. Wholefoods in Gowanus has a load of plants in metal, glass and ceramic pots. Some have plastic tags sadly but it's a start:
Succulents in glass terrariums
I also got a few lovely plastic-free birthday pressies - my husband got me some aloe vera and my friend managed to grab some roses before the shopkeeper wrapped them!
And when I'm walking along in the street, I'll always keep an eye out for snapped-off branches with fresh leaves.
Speaking of leaves and flowers, I bet you're wondering how I decorated my wedding three months ago (see, I just know what you're thinking)! Well, sadly I couldn't do it entirely plastic-free without it being totally bare, especially since it was mid-winter, but I tried to minimise waste by buying flowers in bulk.
Having said that, I did manage to save a load of money and plastic by foraging for most of our foliage. My mum had a large eucalyptus tree that needed to be chopped down, and we walked around our local woods for ivy and other greens.
Winter foraging
Foraged leaves and wedding flowers put together by my very talented mum
We were also very lucky that there had been a wedding at the venue the night before and I caught the florist taking down some of her decorations. I bargained with her and got some beautiful second-hand flowers. Although not totally fresh, they were very pretty, they matched our own flowers and very importantly, they were plastic-free. Small victories, guys, small victories!
Second-hand wedding flowers
#flowers #interiors #wedding #plasticfreeNewYork #NewYork #easy #fun #horticulture #environment #natural #zerowaste #planet #reducingplasticwaste #plentymoreplasticinthesea #noplastic #Brooklyn #peas #achievement #celebratory #plasticinthesea #sustainability #doityourself #sustainable #plasticfree #plasticfreeUK
