Tiger Lily leads a benefit instrument-making workshop at Chabbad House in Teaneck

Last month our friend, Rabbi Michoel Goldin invited us to Chabbad House in Teaneck to conduct a benefit instrument making workshop with his teen group. In advance we prepared kits for the construction of 35 mbiras (aka kalimbas or thumb pianos) to be donated to the children staying at Shelter Our Sisters - Bergen County's network of shelters for victims of domestic violence and abuse. A speaker from SoS gave a very moving talk about her own experience of domestic abuse while the group worked on their mbiras. Congratulations to Rabbi Goldin for his outstanding work in the community, particularly with this group of teens. Several came to the shop later in the week to help us finish up the mbiras that needed more work. This was a great example of Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world") in action.

Tiger Weddings is up and running. (Like a tiger.)

Our new website, Tiger Weddings, is up and running. We hope you'll take a look at the site and browse our bridal bouquet, centerpiece and ceremony galleries. Let us know what you think. We're looking forward to a busy wedding season with many brides who are trying to create wedding celebrations that are consistent with their values. We take our role in these celebrations seriously, and enjoy the process of helping couples infuse their weddings with a healthy dose of Style + Green. We're still one of the very few shops in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area that is consistently providing organic and Fair Trade flowers for weddings and special events.

Please feel free to send a link to our site to any prospective brides you might know. The Tigers are waiting!

Our thanks to Eddie Pagan from Buddha Beans Web Design for making it happen.

Happy International Women's Day (March 8)!

Happy International Women's Day to everyone!

As the floral industry is particularly dependent upon the work of women around the world, we want to take special care to recognize this day - one that is celebrated or honored in most every country except the US. This especially ironic, as much of the momentum for establishing this as an international occasion came as a result of garment worker's strikes in this country at the turn of the twentieth century. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on NY's Lower East Side (140 women working in sweatshop conditions perished because the doors were locked by the owners) was particularly inspirational for women at that time who fought for women's suffrage and decent working conditions. What a shame that because of such severe anti-socialist and anti-labor sentiment in this country that as a nation we cannot fully join with the the rest of the world in establishing this day as a unique annual and international celebration of women.

One way to promote women's struggles in developing countries is to buy and support Fair Trade. This is can help to ensure that the women working to produce the commodities we enjoy are not being exploited as workers or as women in the workplace.

Tiger Lily Flowers to lead a benefit African instrument-making workshop.

On Tuesday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m. we're going to be leading a workshop for the teen group at Teaneck's Chabbad House. We're going to show the kids how to make mbiras (or kalimbas as they are sometimes called.) They will finish and tune their instruments and donate them to Shelter Our Sisters, who will distribute them to children staying in their battered women's shelters.
The Chabbad House youth group is led by our good friend, Rabbi Michoel Goldin. We're looking forward to it!

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?