Man, it’s hard to do my usual bake-a-thon for the holidays now that I work in a Flower Shop.  Christmas is one of our big holidays and we’re all putting in a lot of hours in getting those flowers and centerpieces and gifts out for you. There’s lots of extra help though, and the busy busy busyness of it all is intoxicating.

I did over last weekend manage to make up a couple batches of cookie dough which I rolled into logs, wrapped in wax paper and stored in the fridge in paper towel cardboards (you save those, right?) so they stay in a log shape and don’t flatten on one side.

I have only packaged one gift of cookies for my friends Mary and Bill, but I’ll be taking lots of cookies to work on Sunday when everyone will be working. After all, what’s a Walter Knoll Floral Holiday without Di’s cookies and spicy cheese wafies?

I’m going to share this amazing chocolate cookie recipe with you, not sure where I picked it up, somewhere on the internet, but these are the best chocolate cookies you’ll ever eat!

Dark Dark Dark Dark Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 100.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Roll dough into 1 to 1-1/2 inch logs, wrap in waxed paper, stuff into a paper towel cardboard and chill until dough is firm, about 1 hour or as long as a week.
When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats. Cut logs into quarter inch slices. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until they just quit being shiny, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

My cool neighbor Joe tests all my cookies out and these dark dark dark chocolates got a big thumbs up out of him!

This tree is in the Lobby of the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St Louis (Located at 1 Metropolitan Square).  This year the tree has been transformed to tell the story of the history of St Louis. Included in the ornaments are 32 large, custom luminaries that were hand crafted by Walter Knoll Florist.  These luminaries show a pictorial history of St Louis.  The luminaries are made from Lexan, a clear polycarbonate that has been cast into tubes that then have historical images from St Louis’ past displayed with back-lit illumination.  Images featured include Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson,  Lewis and Clark, The 1904 Worlds Fair, Charles Lindbergh & the Spirit of St Louis,  the construction of the St Louis Arch and many other Saint Louis historic moments.

Standing at over 45 feet tall, this is the largest Indoor holiday tree in the St Louis area.

This year we added a podium and a book with copies of the images and a description of each photo.

Some Close Ups of the Luminaries

Many of the images came from the Missouri History Museum and  several from the personal collection of Mark Allen from Anmar Photography.

If you are out looking at holiday decorations this season, it is worth your time to go by and see the biggest and best tree in St Louis. The Metropolitan Square Building tree is a great backdrop for a holiday photo.

This tree was assembled and decorated by Walter Knoll Florist and we manufactured many of the decorations as well.

If you would like to ask Walter Sr a question about the decorations click here.

Walter Knoll Florist Holiday 2008 TV Spot.  See our Holiday Flower Selection. Click here to visit our web site for more information.  Click here to request a catalog to be mailed.

This spot is narrated by Walter III, Chuck and David Knoll, 5th generation of the Knoll family, It features Walter Knoll Florist’s Season’s Greetings Centerpiece, Let It Snow, Let It Snow . . .
and Gold & Rubies.

Walter Knoll Florist was honored to prepare the flowers for the 2008 St Louis Zoo’s Marlin Perkins Society Party. This year it was held at the Chase Park Plaza in the Khorassan Ballroom.

Wonderful tropical table centers	An overall of the Khorssan ballroom
A double bubble bowl with tropicals and LEDs	Tall glass cylinder at the bar
Large feature display arrangements set the mood	Small bowl arrangement at a tall cocktail table

Check out these great offerings at the LaSalle & California Garden Center -  There are seasonal mums, and pumpkins and gourds and green and purple kale – even bales of hay – c’mon down, bring your camera!  But, keep in mind, that warty pumpkin has definitely got my name on it!  While you are in the neighborhood, stop into our LaSalle store and check out the Halloween decorations!

We at Walter Knoll Florist we were honored to be able to create the flowers for the memorial service of Stan Kann the organist of the Fabulous Fox on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ.  As well as being the organist for the Fox, Stan was known for world class vacuum cleaner collection, his many gadgets and more that 70 appearances on the Tonight Show. Below is a photo from his memorial service on Sunday October 5th, below that are some you-tube videos of Stan.

Stan Playing the Intro to Phantom of the Opera

KETC Channel 9 Interview with Stan

A tour at the Fox with Stan Kann

Sweetest Day is celebrated each year on the third Saturday of October. Although often thought of by many as a second Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day is actually a day meant to celebrate all the people who make your life special. It’s an occasion to make someone happy, a chance to celebrate and give gifts to relatives, friends, and associates.

Sweetest Day was founded around 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio by Herbert Birch Kingston who was a local candy company employee. Kingston sought to bring cheer and some happiness to the lives of those who were often forgotten. With the help of his friends, he began distributing candy and small gifts to children living in orphanages, those stricken with illness or disabilities, shut-ins, and others who were forgotten.

During the early years of the holiday, movie star Ann Pennington presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for their service to the community. Theda Bara, another movie star of the period, also helped in establishing the holiday by giving away 10,000 boxes of candy to people in hospitals and to those individuals who came to watch one of her films at the Playhouse Square Theaters in Cleveland, Ohio.

Within a decade, the simple idea had gained such popularity that the city of Cleveland officially declared the third Saturday of October as Sweetest Day.

Over the years, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the underprivileged has expanded to an occasion offering us the opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged, shut-ins, and orphans but also friends, relatives, and those individuals whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed during the year.

The traditional observance of Sweetest Day involves the same types of gifts and acknowledgments as Valentine’s Day with the most popular being cards, flowers, chocolates, and candy.

Ann Pennington Sweetest Day is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the northeast. The observance of the holiday is gradually spreading throughout the United States as people relocate to various parts of the country and bring the regional celebration with them to their new homes. States that have the greatest observance of the holiday include Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Cities with the greatest observance of the holiday are Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo. Sweetest Day is an original American holiday that is not based on any single group’s religious sentiment or on a family relationship. It is simply a reminder that a thoughtful word, deed, or small gift enriches the life of the recipient as well as the person giving it.

In 2008, Sweetest Day will be celebrated on Saturday October 18th. Remember to celebrate the holiday and touch the life of someone special with a gift of flowers, plants, chocolates, or an eCard.

And there is sooooo much more!  Stop in one of our stores and see our selections, most of the grains are priced by the bunch,  or order from our Autumn Bouquet selection and you’ll see how creatively we use our trims!  Our Thanksgiving bouquets will be up at the wkf.com soon!

Back in the early 70s, I went to a birthday party for my boyfriend’s grandmother.  She had a huge cereus plant with at least a dozen buds on it, within a few hours of her party starting they all opened up.  It was the first time her plant bloomed for her, there was a full moon, it was her 75th birthday and she thought it was all very magical.  So did I.  She happened to have a little cutting of one leaf in a pot of dirt which she gave to me and 30 some odd years later I am once a year in awe of this night blooming wonder.  Too bad the boyfriend didn’t last this long!

Over the years I have learned there are many night bloomers and many variations of the night blooming cereus.

I had to do some re-potting this year, my plant has gotten quite large although every time I re-pot I give cuttings away.

Over the years and every late summer I watch closely for bud development – I’ve had parties centered around the annual event of this blooming plant.  Many of my friends have been the recipients of cuttings and I love those excited phone calls announcing their plant is about to bloom.

Night blooming cereus are cacti/succulents.  They are easy to care for houseplants here in the midwest where we have real live winter seasons!  They love to spend their summers out doors under a tree or in the shade somerwhere, direct sun will burn the leaves.  Regular potting soil will do, sometimes I add a bit of sand – in the summer when they are growing they require lots of water, but be careful not to overwater during the winter.  They benefit from plant food and seem to produce more blooms when fed regularly during growing season.  Blooms are usually end of August or early September.  The funnel-shaped flowers are mostly white, and extremely fragrant. This scent is one way they attract pollinators, such as bats. The individual blooms can be as large at 10 inches across in the variety I have. The buds are produced along the edge of the leaves.  Cuttings easily root – just push them into some soil.

We have a large selection of succulents, many of them bloomers, as well as a huge houseplant selection, at our LaSalle Street (Florists Row) Garden Center.  Stop in for a visit!

Walter Knoll Florist is being honored at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park as a featured Saint Louis company that is more than 100 years old.  The History Museum has asked for and Walter Knoll Florist has donated the original sign from the 5501 Chippewa store in south St Louis.  The new display at the Missouri History Museum will open in a few months.  We’ll try to keep you posted as we know you want to see this display! While you are there, have lunch, I hear the food is great at the Meriwether Restaurant! They’ve even been featured on the Food Network.

Walter Knoll Florist moved from the Chippewa location in January of 2008 to their newest location just 4 blocks away at 4620 Hampton Ave in the Saint Louis Hills neighborhood.  The sign was put up in the early 60s and features a multi colored art deco logo.  In the 90s the sign was updated with a new roof and new lighting.

This is not the first time Walter Knoll Knoll Florist signs have been honored, this classic neon sign has an been noticed in a Super St Louis Signs Website.
This sign is on display at our main facility at 2765 LaSalle St in our Vanport.  We light it up on holidays, if you stop by just ask and we will light it up for you.