Southern California School Of Floral Design

all i can say is WOW. Phil is outstanding, his work is outstanding, his teaching skills are outstanding, I am impressed with everything he taught and everything I learned. His staff was extremely helpful and also very talented. I’ll definitely be back to take his other courses and cannot wait to continue to expand my knowledge in the floral industry with his guidance!

Phil Rulloda is the embodiment of talent, genius and altruism!
It has been over 20 years ago that I first met Phil in the flower shop while browsing for a stem or two of flowers. He helped me and started talking to me about flowers… at the time I could not tell you the name of any flower. He approached me with such kindness and warmth. He talked to me about his passion for flowers and then he showed me some designs that he was working on. What a feast for the eyes and spirit! These «arrangements» as he called them were like nothing I had ever seen. They were magical and extraordinary! It was a moment I will never forget because it was life changing.
I enrolled in his classes shortly there after and my immersion into design began a transformation that has continued throughout my life. My words can not properly convey the depth of gratitude and admiration I have for Phil. Not only is he phenomenally talented but his magnanimous benevolent spirit will impact your life forever. He is an exceptional teacher full of wisdom, gentleness and profusion. He is forthright in his direction. Any person who has the fortune of meeting and learning from Phil will prosper greatly from the treasures of his benevolence.
Needless to say I could write a book about Phil and how his nurturing has affected my life, my career and my benevolence towards others.
He is the most influential, humble and PHILanthropic designer of our times and I will always be grateful I took his classes. His words, passions for design and teachings reverberate in my daily practice of design.
Enroll in his classes and I can attest to you being permanently transformed!

If I could give Phil and his team 10 stars I would! I’ve attended many floral schools around the country and this is by far the best! I’ve attended 3 courses with Phil and will complete the rest. Absolutely incredible! Phil is motivating and his work is amazing. He’s a fabulous teacher who makes you excited, motivates you and gets you pumped about the industry and designing. Always telling you to «bring it» and to keep going ! This school is worth all the money & has made a huge impact on me. You feel right at home attending and I cant wait until I go back. To anyone who is or would like to be in the floral industry or just wants the knowledge I highly recommend going to this school!

Phil Rulloda is a genius and a wonderful teacher.
I recently took some classes on special events/​décor design. I signed up because I wanted to DIY my wedding flowers next year. I put down a $ 100 deposit when I enrolled, and then I paid the rest of the amount once I got there.
His classes were for 8 hours a day for 3 days in a row, and within that time, Phil has taught me so much about floral work I felt like my head was spinning by the time I left (but in a good way). He is definitely very experienced at what he does, and he is also a very good teacher (BTW~I teach for a living, if that matters). His approach to teaching us floral design was to get us to do everything right the first time around, rather than having to make mistakes and/​or doing sloppy work. This is something I really respect in another teacher.
We started the class with learning how to do tall arrangements with some really cool techniques he developed over the years. He is VERY resourceful and knows how to use the tools around him to work it into his craft in order to make something creative that also works (we’re talking both form AND function). He teaches you to do the same thing, and he shows you how you can take something, like a basic piece of cement that has broken off, and spray paint it in order to weigh it down for a heavy show piece in order to establish some balance. This is NOT your typical floral design class.
He also taught us how to make whirlwind vases, and then some smaller arrangements. He would give us these projects to complete as part of the instruction time, and he would also give us demonstrations as we took notes of other projects we could do. He would sit there and explain, in detail, step-​by-​step methods we could use to come up with different arrangements. He also gave us such useful tips on how to make things look beautiful, how to hide things that clients should not see, etc. so that we could create a name for ourselves as florists who have developed a reputation as being perfectionists who took pride in our work.
We also were assigned group projects, where we were able to work on anything we wanted. THIS WAS THE BEST PART OF THE COURSE. I took this opportunity to try out my centerpiece ideas under Phil’s guidance. What I had in mind was something vintage-​romatnic, with a victorian influence and a sense of grandeur/​opulence. I worked on the project with a partner, and as we worked together, Phil gave us such AMAZING AMAZING tips on what to do and how to approach each step in the arrangement. We were having some difficulty with the floral tape, and he made us redo the beginning part of our project so that we could do it in a non-​traditional, but neater way to make the piece look better. He basically showed us how to put the arrangement together WITHOUT relying on floral tape (and trying to deal with «hiding» the unsightliness of it later). He not only told us what to do, but he made us go through the steps in front of him so that he knew we «learned» how to do it properly on our own. He then let us keep the redo, so that we could remember what we had done later.
Phil also showed us a way to keep the shape of the phalaenopsis orchids without using wires, which was such a neat trick to learn. Many of the things I learned in his class were things I could not find by just looking online. I have spent MONTHS trying to absorb as much information I can about keeping flowers alive, making arrangements, etc. but if it was not for Phil’s class, I would have made so many terrible mistakes on my wedding flowers and I would have wasted so much money on flowers to create nothing but a hideous, unstable mess.
I am very glad I took this course, and would recommend it for anyone truly interested in becoming a «master florist». My partner for the project also was so happy as she left because she had learned everything she wanted to from Phil. Even though she was an experienced florist who used to work in a nursery making arrangements and had worked independently on weddings, she also said she was able to learn a lot of new techniques through this course. When we left, we both walked away feeling like we had DEFINITELY gotten our money’s worth.

I can’t say enough about my fantastic experience with Phil Rulloda AIFD. As someone who had worked in the industry for 15+ yrs I wanted to increase my skill level. I wanted to achieve more in an industry that I love. So I choose a school with a schedule that fit my busy working life, with a teacher that would expect the best out of me. I wanted to learn techniques and methods that would set my design apart from everyone else, yet remain my own.
I got that and more from Phil’s school and all of his instructors and staff. I took everyone of his courses. While the skill level was different from student to student, he was able determine each students skill level and taught accordingly. And always asking us to stretch ourselves.
I can’t thank Phil enough, for having confidence in me and expecting the most out of me.
Since his instruction, I was named one of California Top Ten designers (2 of my Rulloda classmates beat me out, taking 1^st and 2^nd), I won the Sun Valley Cup, I’ve been inducted into the American Institute of Floral Designers and am the current President of the Northwest Chapter of AIFD.
I had a great experience at Phil Rulloda’s school and insisted that my assistant attend classes with Phil. My life is better for having done so.

Phil Rulloda might have a good name in the industry, but I’m shocked that he’s allowed to stay in business actually. Two weeks of basic floral design is all I could take at this «school». Phil is verbally abusive to his staff and he degraded his students with sexual inuendos daily. And we’re his paying customers. I cannot refer anyone to him. He wasted much of our time with ego stories. I chose a new floral design school and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Do not waste your money on this school.