{"id":200487,"date":"2026-03-02T13:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200487\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T13:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:22:14","slug":"smoke-a-joint-and-get-deep-with-flowers-at-this-guided-floral-design-workshop-in-dtla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200487\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke a joint and get deep with flowers at this guided floral design workshop in DTLA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Abriana <\/p>\n

Abriana Vicioso is the host of the Flower Hour, which takes place monthly. <\/p>\n

(Jennifer McCord \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Each flower carries a personal history. For Abriana Vicioso, the calla lily was her parents\u2019 wedding flower \u2014 a symbol of her mother\u2019s beauty. \u201cShe had this big, beautiful white calla lily in her hair,\u201d Vicioso says. \u201cI love my parents. They\u2019re the reason I\u2019m here. I\u2019ll never forget where I came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flower Hour begins with Vicioso announcing, with a warm smile: \u201cToday is about touching grass.\u201d The florist-by-trade gestures behind her to hundreds of flowers contained in buckets \u2014 blue thistles, ivory anemones and calla lilies painted silver \u2014 all twisted and unfurling into the air. \u201cTonight is going to be so sweet and intimate,\u201d Vicioso says, eyeing the beautiful chaos at her feet. A grin buds across her face.<\/p>\n

Moments before the workshop, participants sit at candlelit tables exchanging horoscopes and comparing their favorite flowers. A mention of the illustrious bird-of-paradise flower elicits coos and awe from the women. Izamar Vazquez, who is from Jalisco, Mexico, reveals her fondness for roses, which make her feel connected to her Mexican roots.<\/p>\n

Vicioso hosts her flower-themed wellness workshop near the iconic Original Los Angeles Flower Market in downtown L.A. In January, the first Flower Hour event sold out, prompting her to make it a monthly series. Vicioso describes the event as a \u201cthree-part journey\u201d where participants are invited to drink herbal tea, smoke rose-petal-rolled cannabis joints and create a floral arrangement. \u201cThe guide is to connect with the medicine of flowers,\u201d Vicioso says.<\/p>\n

\"Rose \"Herbal \"Floral <\/p>\n

Rose petal joints, tea and flower arranging are all part of The Flower Hour event\u2019s offerings. <\/p>\n

The event is hosted at the Art Club<\/a>, a membership-based co-working space. \u201cThe Flower Hour is really beautiful. Everyone gets to explore their creativity while meeting new people,\u201d says Lindsay Williams, the co-owner of the Art Club.<\/p>\n

The idea for Flower Hour came to Vicioso during a conversation with her mother. \u201cWe joke all the time that flowers were destined to make their way into my life,\u201d she says. She works as a florist and models on the side, even appearing in the pages of Vogue<\/a>. Vicioso grew up in a Caribbean household, where flowers and offerings were part of daily life. \u201cIn my culture and religion, a lot of my family practices \u2014 an Afro-Caribbean religion \u2014 we build altars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many cultures, flowers carry sentimental value in her religion. \u201cI\u2019m Caribbean, so a lot of my family practices a Yoruba religion, which comes from Africa. In the Caribbean, it\u2019s well known as Santer\u00eda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

After a difficult year and a breakup, Vicioso wanted to marry her love of flowers with community building. Because Vicioso uses cannabis medicinally, the workshop naturally includes a smoking component. \u201cMy family has smoked cannabis for a lot of reasons for a long time. It\u2019s a really healing plant,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

In the workshop, even the cannabis gets the floral treatment. Vicioso presents her rose-petal-wrapped joints on a silver platter at each table. She rolled each by hand. \u201cIf you\u2019ve never smoked a rose-petal-rolled joint, the difference with this is it\u2019s going to have roses that have a slight tobacco effect,\u201d she announces.<\/p>\n

During the workshop, Vicioso stresses the importance of buying cannabis from local vendors. The cannabis provided was purchased from a Northern Californian vendor. The wellness workshop aims to reclaim the healing ritual of smoking cannabis. \u201cThis is a plant that has been commercialized,\u201d Vicioso says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of Black and Brown people who are in jail for this plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resulting workshop is what Vicioso describes as \u201can immersive wellness experience that is the intersection of wellness, creativity, community and an appreciation of flowers.\u201d The workshop serves as a reminder to enjoy Earth\u2019s innate beauty in the form of flowers \u2014 including cannabis. \u201cIt\u2019s this gift that the universe gave us for free and that I have this deep connection with,\u201d Vicioso says.<\/p>\n

\"Conversation \"LOS \"LOS <\/p>\n

Conversation cards to generate discussion among participants (top, letf). The workshop serves as a \u201cthird space\u201d for Angelenos to engage in tactile creativity and community building outside of traditional nightlife settings. <\/p>\n

After enjoying lavender chamomile tea and smoking a joint, Vicioso introduces the flowers to the group before inviting them to pick their own. She emphasizes each flower\u2019s personality traits, describing green dianthus as a \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d plant. Then, there are calla lilies with their \u201cmain character moment.\u201d It gets personal. \u201cStart thinking of a flower in your life that you can discover,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you\u2019re feeling like you need inspiration, you can always remember that these flowers have stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vicioso infuses wisdom into her instruction on floral arrangements: There are no mistakes. Let the flowers tell you where they want to go, she urges. Intuition will be your guide \u2014 the wilder, the better.<\/p>\n

\u201cHecho in Mexico\u201d reads a sticker on a bunch of green stems. \u201cLike me,\u201d says Vazquez with a laugh. \u201cThey\u2019re all doing their own thing. Like a family,\u201d she says later, arranging stems.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Flower Hour participants and Vicioso, center, chat as they build their own floral arrangements at the sold-out event. <\/p>\n

Two participants \u2014 Vazquez and Rebeca Alvarado \u2014 are friends who run a floral design company together called Izza Rose<\/a>. Like Vicioso, the friends have a connection to flowers through their Latin American culture. They met Vicioso in the floral industry and were overjoyed to discover her workshop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great way to connect with other people,\u201d says Vazquez. <\/p>\n

Alvarado agrees, adding: \u201cYou\u2019re getting to know people outside of going to bars. You can connect in different ways when there\u2019s an activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vazquez uses flowers to stay connected to her Mexican heritage, adding that she prefers to support Mexican vendors. In recent months, the downtown L.A. flower market has struggled to recover from ongoing ICE raids<\/a>. \u201cSome are scared to come back,\u201d says Vazquez.<\/p>\n

\"Hand-rolled \"LOS \"LOS <\/p>\n

Hand-rolled cannabis joints wrapped in rose petals are presented on a silver platter at The ArtClub (top, right). The Flower Hour aims to reclaim the healing rituals of cannabis and flowers. <\/p>\n

Another participant, Barbara Rios, was attracted to the workshop for stress relief. \u201cYou can hang out with your friends, but it\u2019s nice to do things with your hands,\u201d she says. \u201cI work a stressful job, and it\u2019s nice to have that third space that we\u2019re all craving.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this February night, the participants were predominantly women, save for one man. In the future, Vicioso hopes that more men learn to engage with flowers. \u201cThere\u2019s a statistic about men receiving flowers for the first time at their funerals, and I think we have changed that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

To conclude the workshop, Vicioso encourages participants to build lasting friendships and incorporate flower arranging into their daily practice \u2014 even if it\u2019s just with a small, inexpensive bouquet. <\/p>\n

\u201cGet some flowers together, go to the park, hang out with each other and hang out with me,\u201d she says. Participants leave with flower arrangements in hand. In the darkness of the night air, it briefly looks as though the women carry silver calla lilies that are blooming from their palms.<\/p>\n

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