Homage to our founder, Herman Encke.

Circa 1910, Bogota, New Jersey. The original H. Encke greenhouses on East Fort Lee Road. Standing in foreground: Herman Encke and son, Albert. Herman, a German immigrant, established his business in 1906, growing chrysanthemums and other flowers for the Flower District markets in New York City. He transported his flowers by horse-drawn carriage, taking a ferry to Manhattan from Fort Lee. Encke Flowers is believed to be the oldest continuing retail flower business in New Jersey.

Let us give thanks. Let the flowers be cool....

We think of flowers the way sculptors do.
We can create floral artwork for your feast.

Let us know what we can make for you: a centerpiece for your holiday table, an entry piece to greet your guests or one of designed-to-order organic hand-tied bouquets to thank your hosts for their hospitality.

Special pieces deserve a little time, so please call us in advance to reserve your floral work for next week.

If you have holiday shopping to do, we encourage you to consider shopping local, and shopping Fair Trade. We have a lot of new Fair Trade certified gifts, jewelry and sports balls in stock at our Cedar Lane store.

Encke Flowers and Tiger Lily by Encke are both a part of the growing Fair Trade movement, featuring Fair Trade certified gifts and varieties of cut flowers. Fair Trade certification means that the flowers or crafts were produced in an environmentally and economically sustainable fashion – that is, it is good for the earth and for the people who do the work. Encke and Tiger Lily are currently the only retail florists in the NY/NJ metropolitan area who sell Fair Trade flowers. For more information about Fair Trade and Fair Trade certification, visit http://www.transfairusa.org/.
 
Happy Holidays!

New homepage for forthcoming wedding website

Here is the new look for our forthcoming wedding website. Whatcha think?

Set photos from "Billy Bishop Goes to War"

Here are some images of our set design for Garage Theatre Group's recent production of "Billy Bishop Goes to War". The show closed yesterday. The director is scouting theaters in NYC for another run.

Tiger Lily does theater, too...

You might not have guessed it, but we've got a bit of a background in theater. We just completed a set design for new production by the Garage Theatre Group, based at the Becton Theater on the Teaneck Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. We invite you to see "Billy Bishop Goes to War" opening this Thursday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. This journey follows an otherwise ordinary guy from a small town Canadian town - kind of a screw-up, actually - who became the British Empire's most illustrious flying ace during World War I. His journey takes him from the back woods, down in the trenches, up to the skies, through the halls of Buckingham Palace, and inside the human spirit as he attempts to reconcile his love of flying with the horrors of war. This one-man drama with live musical accompaniment is one of the most successful plays in Canadian history.

Our set includes a replica WWI biplane suspended from the ceiling. (No, it is not made out of carnations.) Pictures to follow!
October 29 - November 15 (Thursday - Saturday, 8:00 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 3:00 p.m.)
Billy Bishop Goes to War
by John Gray with Eric Peterson
directed by Michael Bias
featuring Ryan D. Scott
You can order tickets online at Garage Theatre Group or buy them at the door.
Adults: $37
Seniors/students: $32
We hope to see you there!

Old Timey Flower Shop Blues

Before a packed stadium ...

In front of a cheering multitude....
... an adoring crowd ....

Along with some good friends, our troubador buddy Steve Kelman helped us celebrate the arrival of fall at Encke Flowers in Teaneck last Saturday. Accompanying himself on guitar, mandolin and strumstick, Steve ran through a couple of sets that included some old time blues, bluegrass tunes, his own arrangements of some jazz standards and two of his own compositions. The rest of us grabbed up some of the Fair Trade frame drums and rhythm instruments lying around the shop to accompany him. We couldn't resist.

We started doing these "salon concerts" a couple of years ago when our son was home, studying piano. We still have his upright piano in our shop, and we're keeping the concert tradition going. We hope you get a chance to stop by sometime. If you ever get a chance, be sure to catch Steve Kelman, too. Make sure he plays the strumstick for you.

Drum Circle Welcomes the Fall at Tiger Lily

Rich Reiter led about 20 of us in welcoming the arrival of fall last night at Tiger Lily. We had a terrific time with a variety of djembes, shekeres, doumbeks, tablas, and percussion instruments I've never seen or heard before. When we ran out of chairs, we used upside-down water buckets from the back, and they became drums as well.

Folks just wandered in off the street and grabbed a drum. Nice to put little Teaneck in an uproar. You could hear the polyrhythms up and down Cedar Lane.

On top of it all, we managed to raise some money for All for Africa's "Palm Out Poverty" campaign to promote sustainable agriculture projects across the continent. Very cool.

Tiger Lily and Fair Trade Featured on HouseSmarts TV

We recorded this segment the day after Mother's Day (note Tim's haggard look...) and it aired on HD Cable in July. We only just found out that it was, in fact, broadcasted, so pardon our delay in getting you the link. You can see what we all missed by going to this link on the HouseSmarts website: http://www.housesmartstv.com/#/Green_Piece//  You can access this in the future by clicking on the HouseSmarts "Segments" menu and going to Season 4, Episode 82 under their Green Piece segement.

It wasn't quite 15 minutes of fame, but we're OK with that.

"Palm Out Poverty" in Africa

Tiger Lily and Encke Flowers Join All for Africa’s

“Palm Out Poverty” Campaign

with Benefit Drum Circle,

Solo Blues Salon Concert

and Fair Trade Gift Sale

Drum Circle led by Richard Reiter
Tuesday, September 22, 7:00 p.m.
Tiger Lily by Encke
569 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
$15 donation
201-287-1800


Steve Kelman
Solo Blues Salon Concert
Saturday, September 26, 7:00 p.m.
Encke Flowers and Gifts
281 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck
$10 donation
201-836-1276

Encke Flowers and Tiger Lily by Encke, Teaneck’s Fair Trade gift and flower shops are joining with businesses, foundations and individuals around the country in “Palm Out Poverty Week,” a campaign to support sustainable development in Africa. On Tuesday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m., jazz musician/drummer Richard Reiter will host a drum circle at Tiger Lily by Encke, located at 569 Cedar Lane. All for Africa’s Director of Operations, Diane L. Burstein will be on hand to talk about the POP campaign. There is a $15 suggested donation. Then, on Saturday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m., bluesman Steve Kelman will appear in a salon concert at Encke Flowers & Gifts, located at 281 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. There is a $10 suggested donation. Donations from both events will benefit the Palm Out Poverty campaign. To celebrate Palm Out Poverty Week, Encke and Tiger Lily will be donating 10% of the price of each gift item sold to the POP campaign.


Organized by the nonprofit foundation, All for Africa (http://www.allforafrica.org/) , the Palm Out Poverty initiative seeks to raise money for the planting of palm oil trees in Ghana within 17 Beneficiary Trusts. It is envisioned that each trust will produce $30,000 annually for a number of designated African charities that include clean water projects, education and health care initiatives and reforestation projects.

Rich Reiter, an acclaimed jazz musician and Emmy Award-winning composer has studied African drumming in Senegal, and has led drum circles around the country including New Jersey venues such as the Puffin Cultural Forum, Outpost in the Burbs, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Montclair's First Night. Rich, who is more well-known as a jazz saxophonist and composer, has performed with his ensembles internationally. He was recently acknowledged in a New York Times feature as one of the area's busiest drum circle leaders.

This is Rich Reiter’s second drum circle at Tiger Lily. No musical training is necessary. Rich brings many drums and percussion instruments for everyone to use if you don't have one yourself. Tiger Lily also carries a selection of Fair Trade drums and percussion instruments for those who would like to buy their own.

Steve Kelman performs a mix of blues, bluegrass, rock, and folk. Mostly known for his curation of folk series and festivals for Outpost in the Burbs, the Puffin Cultural Forum and other venues, Steve has also taken the stage, accompanying Hudson River storyteller Jonathan Kruk. Along with guitar, he also plays mandolin and a three-stringed instrument called a strumstick.

Fair Trade Month coming in October...

Fair Trade Month is observed in October. It is an opportunity to ponder, chat, google, text, twitter, email, network, organize and conversate face-to-facebook about the principles of Fair Trade. 11 cities and towns across the country have organized and proclaimed themselves "Fair Trade Towns," seeking to promote the purchase of Fair Trade certified agricultural commodities and goods wherever these goods are imported from developing countries. We support the efforts of towns like Burlington, Vermont, Media, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts in becoming Fair Trade Towns and we look forward to making this happen in Bergen County. Anyone out there interested in helping? To get an idea of what's involved, check out the websites: http://fairtradetownsusa.org/ and http://fairtrademonth.org/ and then give us a call or send an email: tigerlilyflower@optonline.net.

Tiger Lily on the Telly-vision...

We all knew it was just a matter of time: Tiger Lily making it big.

Well, sort of. Last Monday we entertained a film crew from NBC's HD program, HouseSmarts, hosted by the Today Show's home and garden expert, Lou Manfredini (http://www.housesmartstv.com/).

This installment, part of their regular segment they call "Green Piece," will feature Fair Trade and where consumers can purchase Fair Trade products. It will air in late June or early July.

We are very grateful to producer Tina Cowles who found us, Darbi Worley, who asked the tough questions ("Why Fair Trade?") and their crew. They shot lots of B-roll of our Fair Trade products including our FT flowers, sports equipment from Fair Trade Sports, and our recycled materials gift collection. The best part for us was being able to supply photographs of our artisans, such as Orapin In-Aksorn from the Fuen Fu ("Rehabilitation") collective in northern Thailand. We're imagining what it will be like for some these folks to see themselves and their work on television and the web.

We're sending a huge shout out to One World Flowers, Larry's Beans and David Atlas of Artisans Emporia who helped us get our shelves stocked for a tv shoot the day after Mother's Day.

We'll keep you posted on the eventual air time and how you can see the segment over and over and over again on the "innernet."

Tiger Lily and Fair Trade Sports

Fair Trade Sports.





We've seen the exposes about baseballs and footballs made by child labor in Haiti. Seems like a big contradiction to have our 8 year-old Little Leaguers trying to wack a sweatshop baseball made by 8 year-olds in Haiti.


Tiger Lily is now carrying a selection of soccer balls, basketballs, footballs (American) and frisbees created by Fair Trade Sports (http://www.fairtradesports.com/). The quality is first-rate, and even better, their products are Fair Trade certified, vegan, and union-made. Most of the equipment is made by adult labor in Pakistan, using latex from ecologically managed rubber plantations. Emblazoned with the logo, "RESPECT," these balls carry their message where people are serious about their sport.

Stop into our store on Cedar Lane in Teaneck to see our new line of Fair Trade Sports balls and frisbees. Or check out FTS's website and blog for more information. Play on. Fairly.

Spring Greetings from Tiger Lily!

Spring Greetings from Tiger Lily.

(Or Tigers and Lilies.)

The daffodils up are blooming in front of our store, and the forsythia is coming out across the street by the bank. The whole shop smells like hyacinth, and it's definitely not Tim's cologne. Spring is for real.

We are busy preparing our orders for Pesach and Easter, both coming up next week.We have many new Fair Trade gifts at both of our stores, and we're now carrying at least five different varieties of Ecuadorian Fair Trade certified roses. We are the only floral retail shops who are doing this in the entire NY/NJ metro area.

We are happy to offer complimentary delivery for centerpieces or other floral orders for Passover or Easter (-- a $10 value on orders over $35.) You can honor your dinner hosts or family with a centerpiece arranged with the freshest flowers available outside your own garden. And buying Fair Trade means that the families of flower workers in Ecuador also have reason to celebrate.

Call us now to set up your delivery for next week. Or visit us at either Encke Flowers (281 Queen Anne Road) or Tiger Lily (569 Cedar Lane) in Teaneck.

We look forward to seeing you.

Happy Spring!

What we mean by "floral sculpture"...

This image from our portfolio is an example of how floral design is consistent with the principles of sculpture. Some artists refer to this work as "ephemeral sculpture." (We prefer to limit this term to site-specific sculptural works that make use of indigeous flora and found natural objects.)

Like any successful sculptural piece, there must be a coherent design concept, and in interplay of space, form and inferred energy.

I think this particular arrangement "works" for these reasons. The gravity of the black base and dense foliage is an anchor point for the opposing energies of the tulips reaching to the left, and the white roses and dried wheat grass that lift upwards to the right. The curly willow occupies or envelopes an extent of vertical space that also anchors the piece along a centerline that allow the decided leftward pull of the tulips. There is a kinetic tug-of-war going on along this axis that creates excitement for the viewer, and encourages the eye to travel to each of the elements around the circumference of an implied orbit. The yellow gerbera at the center of this miniature galaxy is the focal point, but it is rivaled by the cluster of wheat grass reaching directly towards the viewer. There is harmony in the assymetry.

Artisan Emporia Fair Trade gifts now on sale at Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily welcomes Artisan Emporia to its roster of Fair Trade gift vendors.

From Artisan Emporia's website: "Our mission is to bring unique and beautiful products from artisans all over the world to North America. We work with innovative artists and cooperatives from many different countries to bring you one of-a-kind creations that are exquisitely designed and handcrafted. We work closely with our artisans to ensure that the products are of the highest quality using environmentally sustainable practices. We employ the standards of Fair Trade as articulated by the Fair Trade Federation to ensure that the artisans we work with receive an honest and fair price for their products while sustainably preserving their cultural traditions. Artisan Emporia also seeks to provide maximum transparency between our artisans, and you, the purchaser. To this end, we proudly document our work and travel across the world to share with you, in the hope that together, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of artisans through our purchases and cultural understanding."

Recycled Paper Products, RPP, is a green company that repurposes paper waste into fun animal and exquisite flower shapes as shown in the photo to the right. RPP uses only waste paper – newspapers, magazines, and telephone books – in addition to dyes and household wire to create these inventive, colorful, and practical designs. RPP uses the inspiration it gets from the exotic plant, insect, and animal life found in Southeast Asia to design its products.

Started in the poor Bangkok neighborhood of Din Daeng, RPP currently employs 30 women, many of who are single mothers or in low-income households. In 2003, RPP was honored at the IFAT (the World Fair Trade Organization) Biennial Conference for its “best new adaptation of traditional designs and skills.” Some members of RPP are pictured below:


Within the next few months we will be hosting truck sales by Artisan Emporia and other Fair Trade and American crafts vendors. If you would like to be notified about these events at our shops, please contact us to be put on our email list: tigerlilyflower@optonline.net.

Be well.

Fair Trade Roses! You could just eat them. (Actually, since they're organic, you probably could...)

Wow. These are some of the most beautiful roses we have ever had in our shop. And they come with a Fair Trade label on every stem.

This means that they were raised organically, and 13% of the farm's gate price was returned to the workers for education and health care for them and their families.

Our Fair Trade roses come to us direct from the farm in Ecuador through One World Flowers. We are grateful to Alaina Paradise from One World who is working hard to make Fair Trade flowers more readily available to consumers. You can order direct from them or stop by our stores in Teaneck (Encke Flowers or Tiger Lily) to see what roses are supposed to look like!

(Cartoon courtesy of onebean.com)

Doghouse Extrication Service

If you somehow didn't manage to take care of business on Valentine's Day, we are here to help you.

Encke Flowers and Tiger Lily Flowers are now online with an exclusive Doghouse Extrication Service. Armed with our full array of flowers and fair trade gifts and chocolate to pry you out of the toughest jam. Come see us in Teaneck or visit us online!

Valentine's Day Stimulus Package

Photo courtesy of the Huffington Post. (Brilliant red gerbera daisies, with some guys talking.)

Taking Leadership: Let flowers be a part of your personal Valentine's Day stimulus package.

At Tiger Lily Flowers, we hope to be a part of your very personal Valentine's Day Stimulus Program. (The flowers and gifts part, that is. For the rest of it, you're on your own.)

Stimulate away!

Remembering flower workers on Valentine's Day

Video clip courtesy of TransFairUSA

When remembering your beloved this Valentine's Day, give some thought as well to the women and men who tend and cut the roses you send. Fair Trade farms guarantee their workers a sustainable living (different than a "minimum wage"). This includes education, childcare, and protection from abusive conditions for women. It also means that your roses are organically cultivated - preserving the planet and protecting the health of flower workers, florists and your own family. Did you know that the average rose from a flower shop has been sprayed with up to 200 times the amount of pesticides normally applied to fruits and vegetables? The Fair Trade movement, much more advanced and well-known in the European Union countries, is making great strides in promoting organic farming techniques, biodiversity, and protecting the health and quality of life of the people who do the work.

Tiger Lily Flowers and Encke Flowers in Teaneck, NJ are two of 3 florists in the entire NY/NJ metropolitan area that provide Fair Trade and organic flowers on a consistent basis.

We also carry an extensive line of Fair Trade certified jewelry and crafts. On this Valentine's Day, give a gift that gives back in manifold ways.

Superbowl XLIII: The View from Jersey

The New Jersey Worldview:

After an elaborate warm-up act, the Boss played one of his shortest sets ever.

He didn't play "Rosalita."

The Heterosexual Man's Guide to Navigating Valentine's Day

Here are a few tips for those encumbered with an XY chromosome-induced abnormality that translates into moronic thinking when it comes to relationships:

1. Valentine’s Day may be a Hallmark-manufactured, floral industry-driven artificial merchandizing holiday, but unless you are among the self-actualized guys we sometimes hear of who buy their sweethearts flowers or gifts on a weekly basis, “just because…,” you ignore Valentine’s Day at your peril.

2. Let’s face it: we are emotionally ill-formed and downright stupid when it comes to understanding women.. It goes against our nature, be it chromosomal or socialization (our mother’s fault.) Grasping this truth is the first step to getting it right.

3. If you have just started dating, and it is your first Valentine’s Day, be careful not to overwhelm. Don’t scare the poor girl. Lavish deliveries of 3 dozen roses, large white musical teddy bears, accompanied by boxes of chocolate to a woman working in a small office do not signal “love.” They cry out, “desperate.”

4. However, if you have been dating for some time, and generally things are going well, a delivery of an elegant vase of roses or other flowers to your honey at her place of work says to her (and her co-workers) that she is loved and appreciated. Nice. You don’t need to make a spectacle, just a solid statement.

5. Roses are cool, but they don’t show much thought or inspiration. There are other flowers out there. Work with your florist and use your imagination. Think for a bit about the flowers that she likes. Pay attention! A dozen red roses is almost the token minimum, saying, “At least I remembered.” You won’t get major points, although in some cases you could get serious deductions for not hearing her when she said she loves yellow roses.

6. If you’ve been together for several years (living together or not) and you still haven’t gotten engaged, you are treading on dangerous ground. Most men in this situation, direly scared of commitment (face it, you can’t even pronounce the word without stammering: “commmi..mmii…mmnnuh..ment”) have convinced themselves that not getting engaged is “what we both want,” and “she’s cool with it…” It is the rare case among the enlightened and self-actualized that this is actually true. 99% of the time this is pure male self-delusion. Our capacity for convenient thinking is unbounded. It may also be chromosomal, a tiny gene residing on the Y chromosome next to the gene that keeps us desiring Harleys or Corvettes or that keeps us leaving the seat to the toilet up. If you are in this relational netherworld, be warned: Valentine’s Day is still important, and unless you are about to use the opportunity to pop the question, you better make it good.

7. If you have been married for several years, a single rose will not be considered romantic by your wife. It is romantic only if accompanied by a set of stunning diamond earrings, or if you are suffering dire economic straits. For married guys, a single rose on Valentine’s Day for the wife more often says, “I’m cheap, and I know you know, and I don’t care that you know.” You’re lucky she let’s you sleep on the sofa.

8. The flowers are important, but The Card rules. Don’t rely on Hallmark or stock VD verses to convey your message. Three or four ungrammatical, misspelled sentences that say something real about how you feel is more important than anything material that you might give to her. She might dry the roses and they could stick around until spring cleaning, but the card will go into her best drawer. That card may save you someday when she’s seriously considering changing the locks.

9. Be kind to your florist. Order in advance! You cannot order flowers on Valentine’s Day itself and expect the delivery to get there when you think it should get there. Even FedEx (the authors of just-in-time expectations) require 24 hours for a delivery. If you are good enough to order flowers for delivery on Valentine’s Day, be clear with your florist if there is a definite delivery time. And don’t assume that they will get there during business hours if you haven’t been clear the address is a business. If she works in an office, make sure you give the name of the business, the floor number, the suite number, and find out if there is security in the building that a driver might have to contend with. That stuff is really helpful.

10. Shop local. avoid ProFlowers.com and their ilk that are being pushed on sports talk radio. ProFlowers will send the roses wrapped in paper along with a vase next to them in the box. Your wife or girlfriend will then get to do the arranging, which she may not know how to do or enjoy doing. ProFlowers also sends via FedEx who will simply leave the box on the doorstep if she is not home. In weather with temperatures below freezing, your sweetie will come home to frozen, brown-edged roses that will die as soon as they thaw.

11. Buy Fair Trade/organic whenever possible. You don't want to bring pesticides into the equation. They might further damage that precious Y chromosome.

12. And finally, don’t shop for your wife and your girlfriend at the same flower shop. Don’t put your florist in that position. In this situation, message cards have a strange way of getting themselves mixed up.

Fair Trade Roses

for Valentine's Day

-a gift that gives back.

Valentine's Day is coming fast! Although we aren't particularly crazy about artificially-induced, overly commercialized and super-hyped holidays, St. Valentine was, after all, a prisoner, and the day is, ostensibly, about love. It is possible to do the right thing by your sweetie, as well as by the people who do the work.

Tiger Lily is one of two retail florists in the entire New York/New Jersey metropolitan area that sells Fair Trade certified and organic flowers. Fair Trade is an internationally recognized certification that guarantees that the flowers were produced on farms that provide their workers a real living wage, child care, education and training, and secure the rights of women. It also means that they are either using exclusively organic farming techniques (sparing their workers and us from pesticide exposure) or are making demonstrable progress in that direction.

We order our Fair Trade roses from two farms in Kenya. In high-volume seasons such as this, we must give the growers two weeks notice since our flowers are cut to order and shipped to us within 24 hours. It doesn't get any fresher that that. If you would like to order Fair Trade roses for Valentine's Day, give us a call or email us with your order to ensure that we have your flowers in stock.

We also carry a full line of Fair Trade certified gifts and jewelry at our Cedar Lane store, along with a whole range of flowers from around the world.We look forward to hearing from you.

And we also hope that you don't find yourself in the store on February 15th for our "Doghouse Special" (3 dozen roses for a whole lot of money!)