Muse Park

Winter? Fast Forward- Spring

2012-02-23T19:52:00.006-08:00

A sweet arrangement for a mother expecting twins. Ingredients include Garden Roses, Icelandic Poppies, Parrot Tulips, Queen Anne's Lace, Dusty Miller, Fringed tulips, Begonia Blossoms, Fritillaria, Jasmine, Seeded Eucalyptus, White Cherry, Stock and Phlox.

Setting a Proper Intention

2012-02-13T07:08:00.001-08:00

This thing called Cancer is the modern day plague and ravishes our world taking our dearest innocent loved ones in it's path. None of us are spared of this democratically cruel attack upon our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, children and friends.
Yesterday I delivered two altar arrangements for the memorial service of a client's 27 year old daughter-in-law who had passed away after battling cancer. When I arrived I waited as her young husband was in the chapel having his time alone with her. Her wedding photo was on an easel at the entry way. She was gorgeous, radiant and had the most genuinely happy look on her face on that wedding day. Seeing her image brought tears to my eyes. When the young groom came out I went to him and offered my deepest sympathies from the bottom of my heart. He looked into my eyes and felt my sincerity and smiled, thanking me. He was so sweet and his love for her was palpable.
When I placed the arrangements amongst the other "funeral flowers" they somehow elevated the atmosphere and I believe helped her presence be felt.
In the Buddhist tradition the deceased enters a bardo (intermediate state) that can last up to 49 days before the stream of consciousness or soul "comes again" or reincarnates into a new life. From the moment I received the call on Friday for these flowers I felt a great responsibility to transcended the typical cookie cutter funerary pieces. The client explained to me who her daughter was, the colors she liked and how the arrangements should stand apart from all the others. This order consumed my entire weekend and I set my intent to offer this young lady who had rested from her battle the best I could deliver. I imagined her finding her way to a very happy new life and also placed myself in the shoes of her family members hoping to bring them some ease by presenting her surrounded by beauty and not stiff commercially produced funeral stands with the usual selection of flowers.
My client arrived as I placed the two arrangements and she was very pleased. She was immensely gracious and repeatedly thanked me, actually praising my work to the other family members standing there and explaining how quickly I managed to deliver such special pieces.
I do believe that through setting the intention I created an unspoken connection with this family.
Sometimes, when I'm battered by the extreme hard work this work entails or when my own budgeting falls short and my profits on these labors of love are minimal, I feel that this is a thankless job. It's rare that I am reminded how important the work actually is. This was one of those times. I had a realization that the amount of love that I put into my work is love which is not lost on its recipients. As ephemeral as it is, the beauty which flowers and decor offer elevate the most important moments of our lives including birth, death, union and celebration. As a florist and decorator I take my work very seriously and know the inherent value of these earthly accessories- they have the ability to bring meaning to a moment and help us to elevate our thoughts and emotions. As back breaking and challenging as it is, it is meaningful and appreciated.

Still Life Class 2/2/12

2012-02-04T14:40:00.001-08:00

This week was the first Still Life Class at the Studio. It's been years since I have drawn and so the drawings left a lot to be desired but the bug bit me hard! My very dear friend Barbara showed up and we sat for 2 hours drawing from an arrangement of Spirea, Flannel Flowers, Snow drop bulbs and Muscari. I didn't make it easy for us choosing such minute detailed material, but the composition had a lot of movement and delicacy. Today I went back to the scene of the crime and added some poppies to it and attempted a pastel drawing. Needless to say I need a lot more practice. Next session is Monday night for any takers! 8PM at 285 N6th St Williamsburg. Email me at bridget@thedesignersco-op.com to rsvp your spot. I will probably start at 7 and go till 10.

Hope to see some shiny happy faces!

Playing Around With Light

2012-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes something gets into me and I start experimenting with anything I can to create a visual effect. Sunday it was this little opalescent plastic ribbon that refracted sunlight like what I would imaging the Northern Lights might do while taking psychotropic drugs. I might make these into transfers on canvas and try painting over them. Hmmmm.......

Then I found these little multicolored angle lights and futzed around with those and a poppy pod.

That's my idea of having fun :)

This Thursday is the first Flower still life class for anyone interested.

8PM-10PM at 285 N6th St (email first to get my cell so I can let you in) Hope to see any and all!!!

Call for Artists!!

2012-01-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Moth
1946
Grace Albee

This astonishingly beautiful wood cut by Grace Albee inspired me to create a warm hued arrangement with tans, rust and other brown and muted textural elements. I am quite pleased with the color palette and gesture which I'd like to think harks back to a bygone sepia toned memory. She also inspired me to brush up on my drawing skills.
I'm going to host a floral still life class open to anyone who is serious about sharpening their artistic abilities and training to really SEE. This is experimental and the first classes will be free so if anyone wants to join please email me and lets do this!! Charcoal ready! bring self and pad of drawing paper! I really hope to hear from y'all artists!!!

Tender as the Night

2012-01-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

OK so I went over board uploading photos from this sample but I couldn't leave any out. My all time favorite color combination for weddings: blush, white, gray, green with very small hints of pale blue and smaller accents still of hot pink. Above I paired assorted vintage silver vessels with an etched glass mirrored frame and jewel box and crystal candle sticks. For the actual wedding I'm proposing these smaller arrangements marching down the center of a long communal table anchored visually by two tall crystal candelabras. Half of the round tables will have larger central arrangements in the same style with a pair of crystal candles and assorted mercury glass votive holders and the other tables tall silver fluted vases filled with masses of June bush and a few small floral pieces at the base with various votives. Voila! Enchanting!

The Flower Dance

2012-01-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

Anemones remind me of blushing ballerinas in tutus.

This trophy urn took an inordinate amount of time to polish back to life and so, once it's grimy tarnish was removed it was filled with Spirea which is unusually out of season yet sprouting leaves and little blossoms. Weird!

Pussy willow, Eucalyptus Brunia and Queen Anne's lace set the stage for the blown Anemones, Tulips and Peonies. This time of year parrot tulips actually show up pure white. Their tattered edges are so gracefully expressive and graphic.

I was thinking today about what's happening in the floral design world and how exciting it is to see so many truly inspired young designers working with the materials in such masterly ways. At last the bar for floristry has been set off into the stratosphere elevating the craft of floristry into the realm of fine arts. I love it! And I am very grateful to all the young ambitious designers who are not selling out and producing floral decorations not seen since Constance Spry gave the world of flowers wings and the freedom of individuality. I've always tried to stay true to my own individualistic approach and whenever I felt something was verging on gimmicky it was time to move on to something new. The one thing that never gets cliched with flower arranging is the naturalistic style which is not easy to achieve. It takes a designer with a sculptural eye and a painter's touch. It's not something which can be cranked out en- masse and requires thought, patience and sensitivity. The Art of Japanese Ikebana is based on the principles of balance within a triangular shape using "Ma" or the space between the individual elements to create the energy of movement throughout the arrangement. A naturalistic approach to flower arranging resembles Ikebana in that both the materials and the designer come together to simulate the harmony of the natural world. I may be getting too flower-nerdy-esoteric here but it is relevant to the direction my discipline is taking me. As I mature as a designer and challenge myself to evolve the work becomes more layered and sculptural. Of course not every client wants a romantic loose arrangement and I need to deliver the massed classic umbrella shaped mono-floral arrangement as well- which actually has its own set of challenges of creating a clean design that also has movement but with very little space between each flower. Those are the "corporate flowers" as I refer to them and they are quite lush with an impact of their own. It's always fun to mix it up and deliver a well made arrangement in any style but truth be told, my heart belongs to the wild garden approach.

A Family Affair

2012-01-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

After working on so many Winter themed weddings it's refreshing to be revisiting Spring and Fall ideas this week. It's so nice to have a respite from the storm to pull from recently acquired collections of vessels and embark on design directions for '12 weddings. The one above is for my nephew Chase's fiancee who is a real fall gal. She wants deep saturated oranges and reds subdued by paler cremes, whites and grays. Of course Oct will offer completely different goodies but I'm simply pulling together the look and feel and color palette for her to get a visual of what I have in mind.

My sister (Chase's mom) has been amazing gathering all the vintage goblets and copper plating old vintage chalices at Palm Beach Plating. She's also collected vintage fairy lights(not seen here) which will add a cast of warm light to the whole table-scape. Altering tables will have tall fluted copper vases with loose gestural Fall branches, bittersweet and kiwi vine. It's all taking place in a venue in Central Florida so we'll be adding touches of spanish moss to tie in with the St John's River area where guests will be staying. The taller tables will also have some of the collected elements of the lower centerpieces. It's going to be so romantic and gorgeous!!! This is not the first and I'm sure it won't be the last post about Tori and Chase's big day. Our little sweethearts!

Garden Served on a Platter

2012-01-12T10:54:00.001-08:00

I rushed this lovely story over to NY Magazine this morning as they were shooting their Spring/Summer Weddings issue. Since everything has to have a theme these days I chose to serve a garden on a platter including Peonies, Icelandic Poppies, Blush Ranunculus, White Ranunculus, Stock, Snowdrops, Tweedia, Geranium, Helioborous, Lilac, Majolica Spray Roses, Sweet Peas, Begonias, Spirea, Hyacinth bulbs, Serena Roses, Seeded Eucalyptus, Gloden clover, Dusty Miller, Clump Moss, Riendeer Moss, Slate stone, Grape Ivy, broken mossed clay pot and vintage silver trays. These silver trays and doodads are part of a collection I have been assembling for some time. I particularly love the vintage trays with the cut out borders. I've thrown around treatments for them in my head but never actually put them to use. Now that I have I may spend some hours on variations later in the week. Stay posted friends.

Prospect Park New Year's Eve

2012-01-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years to you all! I brought 2012 in watching fireworks behind the Prospect Park Boathouse during the final hour of one of my favorite weddings of 2012 :) I guess I can say the New Year started on a good foot. This wedding had a snowy wintry theme with snowflakes and crystallized branches creating a whimsical and magical setting. Danielle from Curtain Up Events provided the wedding party with hand held candles which they lit during the procession as the flower girls tossed snowflakes as they descended the staircase. The bride and groom took their vows under an arch composed of crystallized branches with suspended candles. At midnight the guests exited the boathouse to the promenade and carried sparklers as the Brooklyn NY's Eve fireworks display exploded overhead reflecting on the pond. It was truly a perfect climactic ending to a very special evening.

Above are details of the flowers and venue decor which incorporated pale blush tones, ceyladon and creme with lots of candlelight, fruit still-lives,mercury glass, snow and laser cut details provided by the couple.

Merry... Be Merry!

2011-12-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a gorgeous home which I was asked to decorate for the holidays. Picture perfect would not begin to describe it. It's an alarming contrast to my own little hovel of an apt that I left behind in NY. I have to admit that my face hurts from grinning at the light shows that the peeps down here display in their front yards. I'd go so far as to say Floridians make even a bigger deal of the holidays than North Easterners because of their lack of snow and everything Ho-Ho-Ho.

The day I was scheduled to fly out I felt like the holidays were just a pain in the ass! I was seriously grinching out loud to my favorite local barristas at Daisy Bakery when another customer in line looked at me with disapproval and said, "It should be a kinder holiday".

OH MIND YOUR OWN F%$&*(# BUSINESS AND SHOVE IT! I thought.

Of course, his criticism remained engraved in my psyche like a bad pop song all day and night until the plane reached it's final descent and I looked out the window and saw all the little houses with their masses of twinkling string lights and blow up snowmen on the rooftops. I thought of the effort each occupant had made to bring some spirit to their block and was glad to be home with my family, as dysfunctional as they are, coming together and celebrating another year of our South Florida tradition and family loving.

Scent of Juniper

2011-12-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have seen the studio filled with evergreens and all sorts of white and red flowers. These images are from a wedding we did last weekend. Unfortunately I am limited with my computer which doesn't have photoshop to allow me to correct lighting on other images so you can get a better look at the overall wedding. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and adequate representations will be uploaded. Until then please bear with the photos which make the cut. With the holidays upon us we have been enlisted to decorate homes and weddings representing the season. It's the time of year when Louie and his army at Major are in full swing making wreaths and garlands for all the designers who simple pine bows just won't do. I've seen some beautiful recipes which inspire like variegated holly and dried mountain laurel branches. I ordered Juniper mixed with brunia, and Cedar and was delighted with outcome - both elegant and fragrant. Next post will visit a home we dressed with all the trimmings.

Happy Holiday folks!

Prospect Park

2011-11-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a walk-through at the Audubon Boathouse in Prospect Park and was completely intoxicated by the light and remnants of fall as I made my way through the park. It was as if the most saturated leaves had hung on till the end. Everywhere I looked there was a brightness and intensity of hue against a backdrop of earthen dried foliage making their way into a natural compost for the winter months. My nature hike was brief but long enough to lose myself for a few minutes in nature and the final high notes of autumn.

Winter Whites and Sparkles

2011-11-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

Above is a sample centerpiece made for a wedding at Prospect Boathouse on New Year's Eve.

The ingredients include Amaryllis, Anemones, Ranunculus different variety of white, ivory and blush roses, Dusty Miller, Brunia, Eschevaria, Stock, and Veronica in antique silver pedestal vases and mercury glass vessels. Accents of crystalize twigs lend it a sparkle and a nod to the holiday season.

Non Traditional Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday close friends gathered together to make delicious dishes all day. Instead of a turkey we made a giant pot of Paella. Stuffing was replaced by roasted vegetables like beets sprinkled with Cabrales cheese, cauliflower with Asiago, fingerling potatoes with rosemary, and butternut squash with balsamic vinegar. Our greens were satisfied by a kale sesame salad with shitake mushrooms in a rice vinegar, sesame oil dressing and sweets remained true to the holiday with pumpkin pie from Daisy Bakery, pumpkin cheese cake from whole foods and giant assorted pastries from a Greek bakery in Queens. I fear counting the total number of calories that passed over my fork thinking of all the places on earth where one quarter of those calories could save a life. We are a very lucky crowd to be able to celebrate our lives in such an abundant way. I am thankful for having the opportunities I have had, for the good health of my family and friends and for living a creative life filled with beauty and celebration!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Seafood Paella

Broth:
3 cups water
1 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
Herb Blend:
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Paella:
1 pound monkfish or other firm white fish fillets
16 unpeeled jumbo shrimp (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain rice
1 cup frozen green peas
16 littleneck clams
1 (7-ounce) jar sliced pimento, drained
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

To prepare broth, combine the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.
To prepare herb blend, combine parsley and next 4 ingredients (parsley through 2 garlic cloves); set aside.
To prepare paella, trim connective tissue from monkfish; cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and shrimp; saute 1 minute (the seafood mixture will not be cooked through).
Remove seafood mixture from pan, and keep warm. Add onion and bell pepper to pan, and saute 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, paprika, crushed red pepper, and 3 garlic cloves; cook 5 minutes. Add rice, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, herb blend, and peas. Bring to a low boil, and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add clams to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells. Stir in the seafood mixture, and arrange shrimp, heads down, in rice mixture. Arrange pimento slices spokelike on top of rice mixture; cook 5 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Remove from heat; cover with a towel and let stand 10 minutes.

Merry ABCs and Thankfully Happy Ones!

2011-11-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

This week I had a spell cast upon me by the visual display at ABC carpets. I put the metal to the petal on my holiday cheer and completely surrendered myself to crystal fawns and glass unicorn snow globes. Opalescent vases and "snow" flaked poinsettia leaves lifted my fairy wings right into a crystal encrusted frenzy back at the studio. The floor is now covered in glitter and glass crystals. When will this end! Dec 31st hopefully, when our last winter wonderland wedding goes off as splendidly as ABC's holiday display has! But before then we have that thankful day to honor so off to spin class to get the metabolism in high gear for all the approaching calories!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Lovers of Life!!!

Leaves FALL

2011-11-15T15:03:00.000-08:00

Leaves are covering the ground as the explosion of color makes way for hard silhouettes of branches preparing us mentally for the winter ahead. This week has been warm and sunny and I savor every minute. Above is one of the last fall arrangements coming from this studio. Winter wonderland weddings are taking over. It's a week filled with crystals and branches. Production for the base materials for many December weddings is filling my time and space. Think Dr Zhivago meets a true life ice storm. More about this soon.

The Big The Bold & The Beautiful

2011-10-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

This bouquet was made for the current issue of New York Magazine Weddings. The features editor asked for bouquets made in primary colors, so here is my blue bouquet. Other spectrums will follow.

Delphinium, Monkshood, Passion vine and flowers, grasses, ferns and Scabbiossa pods.

Unbridled Rustic Bouquet

2011-10-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Left overs in the fridge don't stay there long. Today I rummaged through to make a nosegay with a nostalgic and rustic tone. Adding pale blue Scabbiossas, some dried barley from the studio and a few wild peas I had planted out back provided just the right notes that were missing to soften the Echeveria, Heather, Dusty Miller combination we visited in the last post. Copper, gold and gray satin ribbons were a nice counterpoint to the wild roses and magnolia leaves. Perhaps this could serve as the bouquet to the centerpiece whose parts we revisited or simply call it what it is, a well distilled reimagining. I quite like it and may suggest it to a bride I am working with. Hope she likes it as much as I do.

Bright As The Day

2011-10-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend New Yorkers pretended Summer would never end. Skirts short and moods high. This sunny fall arrangement looks more like it wants to belong in the Spring pages. I'll just call it an "Indian Summer Fall Centerpiece". Who said Spring owned bright pinks? Our Dahlia begs to argue all luminescent in a melon pink that turns blue with the light.

Day For The Spirit

2011-10-07T15:17:00.001-07:00

A delivery for a yearly luncheon took me out to the Hamptons Yesterday. I listened to stories about Steve Jobs for hours in traffic there and back and in between decided to drive to some of the local farms. There couldn't have been a brighter clearer day to wander aimlessly through the apple orchards and flower fields! It reminded me of how absolutely starved as a city dweller I am for nature. I can get completely lost in it for hours which I did delaying my visit to a dear friend further down the road in Amagansset.
I finally made it to her place where her perfect husband brought us the most delicious Chai lattes I've ever had. Then she drove me to the Hither Hills Sate Park. We trudged through a sage green smattering of lichen laden pines and made our way up to the top of the dunes. I felt like I was transposed to another part of the world. I imagined being in a desert except the perfect temperature immediately brought me back to an exquisite Montauk fall afternoon. Christine took funny hipstamatic portraits of us with her iphone as her ridiculously low maintenance baby napped in the Byorn sack and we mused on the patterns of the shadows cast by the grasses and exact colors of specific patches of green.
As I drove back into the hard wired city I was filled with gratitude for the healing beauty of nature and how much love it filled with me with. That may very well be why I make a living of working with it's perfect and imperfect products.

Another thing that really struck a chord in me as I drove back were these words,

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."..........................................................Steve Jobs

RIP

Lil' Ol' Country Bukay

2011-10-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a bouquet I arranged for Town and Country's latest Wedding's Issue on stands now :)
Always honored to be in their beautiful spreads!. This fine gal features the ever gratifying Juliette David Austin Garden roses surrounded by (this year's favored foliage) Dusty Miller, feathery dark Agonis leaves, Celosia Specata, Black Scabbiossa blossoms with their pods, Astilbe, Fuschias and Seeded Eucalyptus with foliage.

Cocktails Anyone?

2011-09-24T15:02:00.001-07:00

A mass of Dinnerplate Dahlias in a crystal vase serve as a focal point in the Townhouse residence decorated by Mona Ross Berman.
Mona asked for some arrangements for the cocktail party she hosted at this lovely townhouse on the Upper West Side. She asked me for something lush but controlled. I opted for these flirty Dahlias. In the foyer we also kept it restrained but cheerful and seasonal with Crab Apple Branches and Lace cap hydrangea. There's a time and a place for different styles of flower decorations, the trick is knowing which is appropriate and when.

Power Dial

2011-09-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Flower arranging is an art unto itself with elements of painting, sculpture and collage. It fills the senses with color, shape, fragrance. If I had to rename it I'd call it sculptural collage and if it wasn't as ephemeral as it is we would surely visit exhibitions of Flower Artists with long articles written by critics over the success or failure of the displays.
Collage is the closest thing we have to a waking dream state. Have I ever mentioned my favorite medium? Photo collage. It invents it's own symbolic language. This collage snapped at 1st Dibs reflects the feeling I get with every job, every call, every proposal. All engines engaged! Let's make it happen! Only wish I looked as fair, pretty and seductive as the young gamine shown here. I want her hair too!

A Rainy Spring Afternoon.....Earlier this year

2011-09-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Photographs by Roey Yohai

These photos are from a wedding we produced at the Chelsea Mansion this past June. The setting was spectacular and the flowers that time of year were a celebration of color and delicacy. I was hoping to have this wedding chosen for an editorial spread and therefore hadn't posted the photos earlier. But as promised, here are a few. More can be viewed on Flickr. Our very talented team adorned the tent in swags of dense garland made of bush ivy and tree fern which were twirled around the the central poles and masses of Autumn Clematis, Lace cap Hydrangea and Mock Orange added which plumed out over the tables below. Antique cloche votive holders were suspended from the swags and illuminated the tables which were laden with various styles of arrangements ranging from towering candelabras cascading with Jasmine, Passion vine and Eucalyptus over an assortment of antique silver vessels all with the choicest of seasonal specimen (Garden roses, Lupine, Peonies) to groupings of mercury glass candle holders and tiered glass dishes or wrough iron urns. Over the top would be an appropriate description but over the top with an uninhibited and tasteful approach. The inspiration came from the old Dutch Masters paintings hanging in the parlors of the mansion. We aimed to honored those painters with our sumptuous tabletop displays and I certainly feel it was personally a Pièce de résistance in my floral decorating career. I hope you enjoy the beautiful photos taken by Roey Yohai.

Autumn Herbal Wedding

2011-09-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my absenteeism toward my blogging duties. Actually, I'm not really sorry- I needed a break and it was a rather slow start to the week which accelerated from 0- 60 midweek and has landed me back into the familiar wedding flower frenzy!
I have to admit I was also a bit blue. But all that changed yesterday when I started playing with the fall goodies for a wedding this weekend which will be a play with herbs and garden roses amongst other berried friends.

Sentimentalia

2011-09-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things just don't go the way you really want and it's hard to pick up your bootstraps, put on a bright face and march on, but that's all you can do if you want things to change. This little mush pot is my touchstone to all that is sweet and tender and every single day she reminds me that having a love connection is the most important aspect of living. I am so grateful for Boo's presence and the presence of all the loved ones in my life!
I know this is a bit sappy but it is important for me, especially on days when another's perspective is all you need to bring you 'round, even if it is a delicate feline licking your arm.

Ripe N Juicy

2011-08-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

On my way back from a week in Florida where I ate a lot of fruit and generally lazed about in the air-conditioned home of my parents, missed the earthquake, missed the hurricane and grateful to not be returning to a national disaster zone. Although sudden swarms of locusts wouldn't surprise me upon my arrival.
I did take a trip to Central Florida which I posted about briefly and will follow with more on that soon. My Nephew announced his engagement to his lovely fiancee who might be choosing that region for their nuptials so I had my designer cap on as we boated through the Spanish moss laden Cypress corridors of the St John's River. This wedding will be "in development" until Oct 2012 so it's very likely this will be the first of many ruminations of how we will do it up!
Back to NY in Autumn and plums and peaches and herbs and warm sexy blood reds and rusty oranges, and Burning Bushes and Crab-Apples, and Acorns and Golden Maples!

These photos were taken last week before I left and I couldn't help but hold my excitement for the approaching season. The plums were so sweet and explosive they splattered my face when I ate them. Seriously, nearly a sexual experience!

An herbal, fruity wedding ahead next week, orders to be placed, preparations to be made- Thankfully, business as usual in NY :)

Glad my little island was spared! And my little hood in the big borough too!

Fall Posy

2011-08-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a small Marigold posy which was featured in this year's Fall /Winter Issue of Bride's Magazine. Each Marigold was hand wired and then assembled and tied with a burgundy gross grain ribbon.

Marigold

2011-08-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Marigold
by Nirvana

She’s there ’case I want it all
He’s scared ’cause I want
She’s there ’case I want it all
He’s scared ’cause I want

All in all the clock is slow
Sits color pictures all in a row
Of a marigold

She’s there ’case I want it all
He’s scared ’cause I want
He’s there ’case I want it all
He’s there ’cause I want

She’s there case I want it all
He’s scared ’cause I want
She’s there case I want it all
He’s scared ’cause I want

Garden of Eden

2011-08-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

This morning my sister took my mother and I to some little curiosity shops in Deland Florida. Mostly there were junky little bric a brac collectibles. It was oppressively hot and I had a splitting headache so we headed back to her house on the St John's River. As we stopped at a light I saw this beautiful vine covering trees of an overgrown woodsy lot and exclaimed, "STOP!". I ran out with a knife and started hoarding these lovely trendlils that looked similar to sweet pea. Then I got greedy and pulled down some branches laden with Beautyberries and saw a shiny black slithering movement. Holy crap!!!! A big snake!!!!!
I was so spooked I ran back with my stems and jumped in the car while my sister was laughing at me. It was a harmless garden snake and it was actually quite beautiful but it gave me a startle.

When I got back I borrowed one of her Hall vases and my brother in law said, "That's Kudzu."
It's so invasive throughout the south that scientists have been investigating it's uses as a biomass feedstock which can be converted to ethanol except that harvesting it in the wild would be difficult and growing such an invasive plant dangerous to indigenous ecosystems.

The vine works very well as a cut flower and holds up beautifully. I'd love to be able to use it in large quantities on a ceremonial arbor or even in delicate specimen bottles or bouquets. Surely there's an untapped market for the Kudzu flower. We could certainly use it for Summer weddings up north!

Summer Dreamin'

2011-08-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Cut to:
Being whisked off in a Carmen Ghia (surprise gift) to Big Sur for a weekend filled with hikes along the scenic cliff sides, long massages at Esalen proceeded by evening canoodling in a cozy cabin brightened up by Blackeyed Susan's (another gift) after serenades of Van Morrison songs set the mood.

Hey, a girl can dream.

In Florida for Mom's birthday. Hot as a mo-fo here but it's always achingly sweet to be with family who spoil me rotten when I'm around :)

Orange Fudge

2011-08-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Rudbeckias are surprisingly varied in their color sizes and shapes. This variety is called "Orange Fudge" and compliments the rosy/rusty Coleus and Andromeda nicely. Some dried wheat was thrown in for a little added texture and echoes the gold tones of the large brass goblet. Could use a some beautiful Corn Husks but alas, none in the kitchen.
Brace your inner country bumpkin 'cause you'll be served bushels of Rudbeckias this week!

A Match Made in........

2011-08-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

I am the proud mother of two sunflowers which I raised from seeds! Shown here in the first photo the delicate Vanilla Ice Sunflower that looks more like a lemon yellow cosmo and the third macro shot of the Mammoth Sunflower which really doesn't measure up to it's name but lovely just the same. Sunflowers are really dramatic on thier tall stalks and hog up all the sun from the neighboring plantings. Not sure I'll plant them from seeds again but there is something a little more delicate about the homegrown varieties and it was nice to use them in this summer mix of Black Eyed Susans (from River Garden at Union Square), Eucalyptus and Dusty Miller.
This vase had been sitting in my studio now unused for a good 5 years. NEVER used! I was so bored with my other vessels and from the back of the shelf it's long crackled teal ceramic with delicate yellow floral patterns begged,
"Me, me! pleeeeeeze.... I'm the right color, and I'm special TOO!"
So I gave it a whirl and low and behold, I find myself in love!

It's true, it happens when you're least expecting it and with the most unusual suspect.

Pick Me Upper

2011-08-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

A blogger can't afford to be dull or bored or any of the darker things that one naturally experiences in the ebb and flow of life. Truth be told I find myself completely unmotivated this week. It must be related to my absence at the gym. I find that my desire to make anything is dramatically increased by a good sweat. It's amazing how that works, but I miss a few days and nothing stirs me.

These poor neglected beauties were scavenged from the fridge at the studio today for a little pick me up-visual candy.

When asked this week by an ex who just became a father, "Are you happy?"
I swallowed my complaints and said, "I'm happy to be alive."
JEEZE, I could have spared him the passive drama and just said, "Oh Sure."
There's really nothing serious for me to complain about except my presently self-indulgent ennui and about 800 calories in the Pistachio Gelato which I now need to work off at my hateful spin class!
I spin cause I'm not thin, don't hold it against me.

Heaven Scent

2011-08-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

Found this photo while sifting through old files. A close up shot of an arrangement made in 2008 for a client who wanted fragrance to be the dominant quality of the arrangement. The gardenias were water tubed and added to groups of hyacinths, garden roses and tulips, (the only flowers without fragrance of the lot). Silk leaves soaked in geranium oil were sunken into the interior which made for a heavenly secret scent.

Worth the Wait

2011-08-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the McQueen show today at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It took me 4.5 hours beginning to end. I guess I deserved it for waiting till the last week of such a masterful exhibit. The actual show was not as large as I imagined. It was the detail in the work that was staggering and the unharnessed imagination that produced these pieces sprung from the realm of the unconscious, and simultaneously casting you into a melange of present, past and future. These costumes come sculptures come fantasies weave unbelievable tales evoking emotions from the most sublime, delicate and magical to the most grotesque, loathsome and frightening. McQueen flourished through extremes, marginality, the surreal and in delving into the darker aspects of his psyche. He fearlessly provoked his audience to experience both discomfort and transcendental epiphanies.

No one can know the real reason behind his choice to end his life or even if the choice was clearly made. In order to have produced the shows in the high art manner that he did he had to have "Given" more than is humanly possible for the average person. The year he died, the two people he aimed to impress most in his life and his central support system were taken away. My theory is that he hit a wall, which is only natural given the volume of g enius work that he produced. He didn't care to express himself further since their realiza tions would not be shared with neither his mentor nor his mother. The dialogue ceased to be in his mind and therefore he had no desire to continue.

On a brighter note, I saw so many children in the line and thought what an amazing inspiration he will be to these kids! Alexander McQueen left a legacy whose fecundity and influence is yet to be truly measured but I do believe that we are experiencing a creative renaissance with the advent of technology and information and that the artists coming up now will take the license he provided them with to carve out their own individual artistic language for expressing themselves in their work.

BRAVO LEE!!!!

God Save Mcqueen

2011-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow without fail I will get my sorry ass to the Met to see this show that I'm told hemorrhages inspiration! I can use some about now. Not sure if it's the heat or the down time of July/August but I need a hardcore injection of visionary genius apparently sitting on the bruised mannequins at The Metropolitan Museum. Mcqueen turned the art form of fashion on it's head, my only question is why is Sarah Jessica Parker the show's narrator? Only in America guys! I say they missed the boat with Tilda Swinton. Hope to be back swiftly with a report.

Summer Scents

2011-07-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

Summer, although limited in range, has it's own charm with it's wildflowers and grasses and drought loving herbs. Now is the best time of the year for the fragrant greens with their tiny blossoms conjuring all types of uses making you both hungry and thirsty at once. You'll be seeing a lot more on this blog in the next few weeks so get down with it cause I'm breaking into it them all and the mini pears, apples, figs and beautiful vegetables that come right alongside them in the crates at Union Square.
Lest we forget, it's also Zinnia, Dahlia and Cosmo time! I love the lovely flirts how can one not?

Tree of Heaven

2011-07-25T19:24:00.001-07:00

There's an invasive tree growing everywhere and having lovely giant apple green pods that turn fleshy pink. It's called the Tree of Heaven or Ghetto Palm or Stink Tree. It was the tree that Betty Smith wrote about in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And yes, it certainly does! All over Brooklyn!
Apparently it was brought over from China when Chinoiserie was all the rage. It's overly zealous ambitions to spread quickly made it unpopular as well as it's noxious odor which I thankfully have yet to experience- perhaps the trees I have encountered are all female( the male species emits a foul smell to attract insects for pollination). Needless to say the tree gets a formidably bad rap and deserves it but here the pods have been mixed with apple branches, dusty miller and garden roses in the company of other citrus lime/yellow parings. It's a nice cool summer mix calling to mind lemonade and lemon ices but it was the rain that ultimately made me happier today.

Artist's License

2011-07-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Beau Chamberlain

Breathing Was the Easy Part

Beau Chamberlain
Apartment Living 2008

Beau Chamberlain is an wonderful artist that shares a studio space on the same floor my studio is on. He was throwing out this large cardboard that he has used to paint his whimsical paintings on for years. I grabbed it from him and asked if I could have it as a backdrop. I think he was a little tickled and shared in the appreciation of it's random paint marks, a direct product of his perfectly executed compositions of fantasy organisms in universes all their own. I thought I would dedicate this post to him and sought to make a still life reflecting his worlds because each of his paintings inhabits their own individual cosmos.
Then as I searched the fridge for specimen and went foraging in the 100 degree heat for unusual flora that might live in his paintings. A whole new palette emerged for me. Flowers I would never think of mixing somehow worked together in a lyrical circus of color and shapes.
And then as I photographed them the light in the room and the colors reminded me of another artist whom I was lucky enough to have known and called a friend.
Loren MacIver was the first woman to be asked to show at the Venice Biennial in 1962. When I met her she was 86 years old. The last of a breed, Loren lived in a truly original bohemian studio on Perry Street. She told me stories of Billy Holiday visiting her there with EE Cummings and playing the piano for her and her husband, the poet Lloyd Frankerberg.
They were tight with Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore and Dylan Thomas to name a few. Loren would tell me stories of her time in Paris. About the "white" dinner of potatoes and cauliflower that Dubuffet would send up to her studio in a bucket hoisted by a pully.
We would watch old black and white films and she would share her favorites like Jean Cocteau, Marcel Marceau, and Jean Harlow.
How do Beau and Loren coexist in the same blog post? I suppose they both used a similar palette of colors since his painting board and my flowers brought me to recall Loren's paintings.
And that palette enabled me to break out of my usual and bring together photography and flowers in ways I would never have thought had it not been for Beau or Loren.

Thank you for helping me see better!

The Self-Serving Passiflora

2011-07-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Antique medicine bottles with Agapanthus, White Brodiaea, Passion flower vine and Cypress Vine

The passion flower is as evasive as the emotional state it's named after. How many times have I taken on the risk of buying them for an event only to spend days hoping and wondering if the expensive bulbous buds will open? The day comes and more often than not, I use it's expressive foliage but no flower. I swear it has a mind of its own! The next day I'll come into the studio and sure enough there it is composing an epiphany all it's own.
Selfish little bastards!
Still I must admit the thrill I get when they open and grateful for the privileged of witnessing it's lusty show.
I've noticed it seems to open best when cut and placed in hot water then left alone in a moderately cool environment. It's all a game of timing and patience like most of the best things in life.

Violets are Blue

2011-07-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Delphiniums, Anemones, Passion Vine, Lavender, Agapanthus, Phlox and Geranium in a broken clay pot set into an iron urn,

Summertime

2011-07-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's hot and sweaty in the city and the plum trees are relentlessly dense with burgundy leaves. I began with a study in dark burgundy which morphed into a purple and magenta story. It made me think of Billy Holiday, all bruised, sleepy eyed and woozy- where blood and tears collide and the mood is dark and saturated with longing and foreboding shadows but not without hints of innocence and fragility.

Cy Twombly RIP

2011-07-09T17:57:00.001-07:00

curious insect markings on a lovely weed on n6th - willyburg

Plum Crazy!

2011-07-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Arrangement of Early Summer Plum Branches, Chippendale Garden Roses, Peonies and Begonias

Rainy days don't get me down. I spent the day cleaning the studio and finally making this arrangement to share with you. Flowers are so pretty in the rain. These were placed on the fire escape while the water pattered down on it. It looked like a micro garden. Speaking of which, I just got a call from The Brooklyn Queens Land Trust and I have the official go ahead to start tending a local community garden which has been neglected!!!

Yippeee.
Yes Sirree!

HELLO
Northside Garden!

A lovely patch of land run by the BQLT on N5th St and Driggs. This rain should make weeding much easier and satifying!!

The new chapter begins......

Give 'em Romance

2011-07-06T14:29:00.001-07:00

Feels like I haven't had a chance to breath between back to back consultations, samples and appeasing the gods, (that is the clients that be). But I say this in a spirit of appreciation! The studio has been host to a few fantasy maquettes of installations that are being proposed for next year. I'm officially on the bandwagon with the vintage "do- it yourself" design paradigm that is currently saturating the bridal blogosphere. It's sweet it's romantic and it touches a nerve of comfort that the event world has been craving for some time now. Martha of course has been doing it all along with her crafty throw backs which are always so quaint and frankly all American- something I am certainly not. But I love martha, spelled in lower case because I speak of her, not personally, but as an aesthetic.
I am working with a bride on a wedding for next year. She proposed that we use hand made paper flowers as accents in a garden like environment. I suggested that we string garlands and lanterns and have the wispy flowers loosely "growing" from the greenery. On the table we assembled a still life of antique bottles, lanterns, candles, etc... All in all, a very whimsical effect was achieved.
The other images are from the treatment for an escort card table blanketed with Plumosa Fern and Ivy and Illuminated by various pewter candles.
These are not original ideas but they are beautiful and resonate with the new sentimental romantic bride.

Williamsburg Glories

2011-07-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

Morning Glory: Love you

2011-07-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

The seedlings are starting to show blossoms! Morning glories are greeting me as I arrive to the studio. Here I caught a few before the day gave way and the small glowing trumpets shriveled up before my eyes..... But all is not lost, the flower of affection will love again tomorrow morning.

Girly Girl

2011-06-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Some pics from a sample presented this week. The bride loved a palette of cremes, lavenders and gray so I tried my best to steer it away from an Easter Egg hunt as I could by injecting some darker tones and a variety of textures. It's just a girly thing.

Glimpses

2011-06-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken at the wedding we decorated at The Chelsea Mansion. I'm holding off on bringing out the guts of the flower story until they have been published elsewhere first. The lavish centerpieces, a nod to Maria van Oosterwick and the Dutch Golden Age, in my opinion, were the visual equivalent of eating a trio of sorbets made of the freshest and ripest tropical fruits finished off with a fine Madiera. There were three styles of centerpieces surrounded by satellite floral curiosities in antique vessels, venetian glass jewel boxes and mini urns. Every treatment was an expression of delicacy and whimsy and sometimes simply utter abandon. The room was dripping with candlelight and gorgeous garlands which wrapped around columns and exploded in giant sprays of Mock Orange, Spirea and Lace Cap Hydrangea. Needless to say.... the over all effect delighted me and made me a proud momma.

...Will revisit in the near future.

Fleurida

2011-06-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Back from my brief hiatus in the sweltering heat of the Florida summer. Yikes! I never fared very well in that heat as a kid and still don't. Always hated having to expose my less than cheerleader perfect thighs in school and with no recourse since no one covers their legs in the Florida heat. A few decades later and I don't really care so much about showing older and even less appealing legs. One's vanity wanes with time.
What actually brought me down there this time of year was my father's 82nd Birthday and Father's Day. I may not have been born with a silver spoon but I certainly was born with an amazing father. Can't ask for much more. The first day I went with him to his farm and tended the young bulls he has recently acquired. Eating machines they are!!!
Spent the naxt day thrift shopping with my mom and sister. Florida has the best thrift shops! Brought back all sorts of interesting vessels!
This is the time of year when the trees are filled with flame colored flowers down there! My favorite tree is the Flamboyant or Royal Poinciana and it was everywhere as showy as a ornery cock. Speaking of which, my father was given 6 chicks which my Mother became completely smitten with, tending them like a mother hen. Only one will grow to crow at dawn, the others will hopefully supply my folks with eggs year round.
Wandering around I recognized sweet little weed blossoms that I remember picking as a child. Back at their house I gravitated through the topical fruit laden trees past the poisonous Angel's Trumpet tree and the fragrant gardenia bushes towards a wild foresty area and again found this vine that also took me back to childhood. It has pods with bright red hard berries, some of them with little black eyes. I still feel guilty for what I did next. I ran inside grabbed my florist knife and proceeded to prune the gardenia bush and cut down a very long section of the flourishing wild vine with berries. It was the perfect material for making a wreath with and nearly made itself. The plant is called the Rosary Pea or properly Abrus Precatorious. It's seeds are very poisonous if ingested and in some cultures are strung into necklaces to ward off the evil eye.
Didn't realize it at the time, may have been channeling my Cuban heritage creating some type of Santeria Relic.

Flower Muscle

2011-06-15T16:38:00.001-07:00

Jasmine Flower Girl Crown

Writing to you from Florida where I came to recover after an intense week of production on a mammoth floral heavy wedding. Truly an iron florist's marathon! My A-team busted their tushkas delivering a dream world of flowers fit for royalty. I will post more photos from the event down the line. For now, here are some glimpses of the studio in full swing filled with branches (Mock Orange, Spirea, Mountain Laurel, Black Cherry, Camelia and Lace Cap Hydrangea), Garden Roses, Lupines, Jasmine, Reindeer Moss, Gloriossa Lilies, Geranium, Lambs Ear Nibs, Autumn Clematis, Every type of specialty fern I could get my hands on, etc...etc.... The wedding reception was held at The Chelsea Mansion in Port Washington in front of a lily pond which looked like the model for the great murals of Monet. Stay posted for the real money shots! Florida is captivating me right now with it's exotic flora and watermelon sunsets. It's HOT!

2011-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Bouquet of Early Summer David Austin Roses

The Tree of life

2011-06-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I saw The Tree of Life at the Sunshine Cinemas across the way from the Liz Christy Community Garden. The film is a sprawling existential masterpiece on the meaning of life. It's sparse and expertly crafted script, astoundingly exquisite cinematography, beautifully melancholic sound score and genius editing left me so overwrought with emotion that it's difficult to digest at once. All I can say is that it wraps the big question mark of our existence in a simple and symphonic story of family, love, birth, life an death.
A week ago, I took these photos at the Liz Christy Garden across from the Sunshine. The garden is one of the first community gardens in the city. I remember when I first moved to the city there were vegetables and corn stalks in what now has evolved into a very cared for woodsy garden. The tree trunk stepping maze in one of the parcels is playful and imaginative, and the wild anemones under the shade of a massive tree felt ofr a moment as if I was transported to a forest. Terrence Mallick's film made me think about what I was missing not having been a parent but then I thought about gardening and seeing my seeds sprouting and blossoming as simply another version of the cycle of life. So if I never have children yet lovingly tend a garden who's to say that my life will not be complete?

Bunny in the Garden

2011-06-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Bunny in the garden

A nature lover who epitomizes grace and generosity.
Leave her alone.

Suddenly Summer

2011-06-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Water

Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble
pricked and the green thread
nibbled away, the petal fell, falling
until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons
from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

......Pablo Neruda

Rose brambles on Driggs Ave

Spirea Gone,
Ranunculus Gone,
Wisteria racemes Gone,
painted toes appear.

Little bells of Mountain Laurel sweetly ring their summer hymn
and Philadelphus mocks our tender wishes to extend the mild femininity of Spring.
Soon Autumn Clematis will have it's 15 minutes of fame and dahlias will reign supreme.

Hello NY Summer!

2011-06-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

photo by Hannah Davis

It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision

.....Helen Keller

Laguardia Corner Garden

2011-05-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Laguardia Corner Gardens
at Laguardia Place and Bleeker

It was a sweltering Memorial Day and I held true to my self-assigned task of visiting community gardens. To my chagrin Laguardia Corner Gardens at Laguardia Place and Bleeker St was actually closed to the public so I wandered around it peering through the chain linked fence with my lens. Unfortunately NYU which owns the supermarket next to the garden plot plans to build a high rise which will block the sun needed for the flower beds! Currently the garden land is owned by the NYC Dept of Transportation and members have tried to have it transferred to the Dept of Parks and Recreation (makes sense) which would protect the gardens. For some reason it hasn't come to pass. Hmmm, who's your daddy NYC?...... NYU?

I digress...I felt like a kid locked out of a candy store. The gardens looked so lush and well cared for. Eventually I spotted a lone loyal gardener, Diane, who I asked to let me in to photograph for my flower blog. It's funny how saying you're a blogger now has nearly equal clout to a certified press pass!

Moral of the tale: If you wait long enough, you'll get in.

Which reminds me of my dear friend Sara Jones- florist and NYer extraordinaire whom I met while working at Greenwich Orchids years ago. Sara knows that rule only to well, having played by it at Studio 54 back in the day. Although I doubt she had any trouble getting in being the original hipster/singer/artist and a Warhol darling. Sara tends a parcel of the Laguardia Garden and has done so now for 15 years. On the concrete promenade alongside the garden Sara has also painted a torquoise mandala and I witnessed three young tourists meandering through it to pose for a photo once they reached the center. (see video).

I asked Diane where my friend's area was and she pointed to a shady spot under a tree. What struck me in general about this community garden was how lived in it looked. Truly, a gardener's garden attributing to it's unique charm. Under Sara's tree I found this fantastically weathered antique wheel barrow. with a wilting iris resting it's head on the wheel and plants growing up through the spokes. The rose bushes were just past their peak but it was still glorious in color and show.
Bravo Laguardia gardeners! Bravo Sara Jones!

People's Garden

2011-05-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

People's Garden

at Riverside and 90th st

This weekend I am visiting as many NYC Community Gardens that I can and bringing it back to you before the hot days of summer wilt away these achingly beautiful sights around town. The photos above are from the People's Garden at 90th St and Riverside on the promenade. The small plots each have a distinct style of their own (or their proprietor) like the rock garden, or the small and perfectly manicured boxwood topiary garden and the wild flower section. You can walk through the small stone paths and discover unusual and enchanting specimen. The handful of NY volunteer gardeners that make this possible are painstakingly dedicated and obviously know what they are doing.... and I want IN!!! Just wondering which one I'll be luck enough to have a piece of-yes, I'm doing my homework. Spring will be over soon enough, I hope you get out there and see some of this and if not, enjoy my small contribution- sharing the love.

Crisp, Classic and Natural

2011-05-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Every client, event and locale require appropriate treatments for table top flowers. Approached by one of our blue-chip clients to design a summer event in Newport R.I., I immediately reached for the silver julep cups which are classic, timeless and work in a pinch when seeking vessels for events that require less frills and still aim to impress. Pictured above is a trio of various cup sizes filled with monochromatic crispy white summer flowers. The smallest cup is filled with grasses and wild flowers and the two larger ones alternately display solid and generous arrangements of peonies with viburnum and lisianthus arranged in a loose style which retain the classic mushroom shape and staggering the stems at different heights for more of a naturalistic aspect.

Coral Compote

2011-05-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting these dolphin compote dishes with the hope of using them at the right event. They are the perfect height and size for a pedestal vessel and imbue the table with nostalgia and romanticism.

Compositional Studies

2011-05-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Frozen stems

A whimsical summer arrangement of wild flowers, peonies, lisianthus, scabbiossa, dusty miller and grasses in an iron urn along with a curiosity from the fridge encrusted in ice.

Garden Roses from the Garden

2011-05-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Today I looked down at the rose bushes in my beloved border garden and the first roses of 2011 were holding court. Unfortunately, not for long. I nearly tripped running down the fire escape to grab my paws on them. Here they are with garden roses from the market and other specimen in antique bottles.

Rambling On and On....

2011-05-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

The weather was absolute perfection today. My sister and I walked through the park and I took her through the Rambles. I hadn't gone there in so many years that it was hard to recognize with all of the fenced pathways. Every time we saw a little side path we'd wander off the designated ones. I explained the history of as I knew it,
" It used to be where the guys would meet for unmentionable rendezvous hence nicknamed in the 20's as "the fruited plane"- then it became quite dangerous and several tabloid murders occurred there."
Personally, it was always my favorite destination in the park and I'm glad I experienced it before the fences were put in. When the park was originally designed Fredrick Olmstead created this as ........"as a woodland walk through highly varied topography, a "wild garden" away from carriage drives and bridle paths, to be wandered in, or to be viewed as a "natural" landscape from the formal lakefront setting of Bethesda Terrace or from rented rowboats on the Lake. The 38-acre (150,000 m²) Ramble embraces the deep coves of the north shore of the Lake, excavated between bands of bedrock; it offers dense naturalistic planting, rocky outcrops of glacially-scarred Manhattan bedrock, small open glades and an artificial stream, The Gill, that empties through the Azalea Pond, then down a cascade into the Lake. Its ground rises northwards towards Vista Rock, crowned by Belvedere Castle , a lookout and eye-catching folly.

The Park's most varied and intricately-planted landscape was planted with native trees— tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), American sycamore, white, red, black, scarlet and willow oaks, Hackberry and Liriodendron, — together with some American trees never native to the area, such as Kentucky coffee tree, Yellowwood and Cucumber magnolia, and a few exotics, such as Phellodendron and Sophora.^[1] Smaller natives include Sassafras. Aggressively self-seeding Black cherry and Black locust have come to dominate the Ramble.^[2]

The 20-acre (81,000 m²) Lake unified what Calvert Vaux called the "irregular disconnected featureless conglomeration of ground".^[3] It was excavated, entirely by hand, from unprepossessing swampy ground transected by drainage ditches and ramshackle stone walls.^[4] Through the low-lying site the Sawkill flowed sluggishly from sources under the present American Museum of Natural History and in the prospective park south of Seneca Village, originally exiting the park under Fifth Avenue about 74th Street, where Conservatory Water lies today, on its way to the East River.^[5] To create the Lake the outlet was dammed with a broad, curving earth dam, which carries the East Carriage Drive past the Kerbs Boathouse (1954), at the end of the Lake's eastern arm, so subtly that few visitors are aware of the landform's function. After six month's intensive effort, the Lake was ready in the winter of 1858 for its first season of ice-skating. Its center was seven feet deep, with terraced shorelines to lower levels for skaters' safety.^[6] Originally, in other seasons a tour boat picked up and dropped visitors at five landings with rustic shelters: four have been rebuilt and rowboats are rented at the boathouse.

...wiki

Applied Arts

2011-05-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

You Can Get It If You Really Want

2011-05-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Japanese Painted Fern and White Garden rose

Climbing Garden Rose Bush

Sweat Pea Seedling

Clematis and Wisteria amongst Hydrangea and Peony bushes

Finally I was able to work on my border garden behind the studio. It was a perfect day for it with the cool damp air beckoning oncoming showers. I went to Crest Garden Center at Crest Hardware in Williamsburg on Metropolitan where I loaded the cart with all the essentials and more and more and more! Some people have a problem when they go to the mall, my impulse shopping is in its full glory at the flower market and garden centers.
Let me start by explaining that my backyard border garden is not really "MINE". It's the closest thing I have to a garden in NY but it does me well. When I moved in I immediately spotted two abandoned and polluted borders below the fire escape in the car lot that had a few hostas and sedum tragically making the lamest show one could ever imagine for any border- even for a back lot to a raw industrial building.
One summer I made friends with local construction workers nearby who told me there was a garden up for grabs before they levelled it with a bulldozer. I threw my back out on that one uprooting heirloom climbing rose bushes, peony bushes and even a large pear tree. The only survivors of the lot were the climbing rose bush which is now a monster invader and the small peony bush which has yet to show it's potential. Both must love Williamsbug in any of it's toxic soils. My loft neighbor explained that the ground that I was so lovingly tilling and planting was contaminated from the building's former life and wished me luck. That was several years ago. I never gave up and kept hauling bag after bag of fresh new garden soil. Since then I have made homes to two more rose bushes and hydrangea bushes. The past month I have been germinating seeds and nurturing them into seedlings which are also in residence downstairs. Today I fed and pruned the rose bushes and tied them up to start training them over the door and eventually into an arbor to shame all arbors! I cleaned the ground and transplanted the sedum to make way for some haut toit members of the crew which include wisteria, clematis, Japanese painted fern and lace-cap climbing hydrangea all obtained from my favorite neighborhood garden center(Crest Hardware) where Finn the bird always talks to me and the staff know their shit. It's an exciting day at the car lot!!!!!!

As Jimmy Cliff says:

You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Try and try, you'll succeed at last..........

............Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the hotter the battle you see
It's the sweeter the victory, now..........

.............You can get it if you really want - I know it
You can get it if you really want - though I show it
You can get it if you really want
- so don't give up now

Sea, Sand & Stars

2011-05-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

I spoke to my mom early on Mother's Day. Her spirits were high as she and my dad were in a rush because they had a day ahead of celebrating her and the other mother's in my family. She was most excited to be going to the beach and I was happy that the day ahead was filled with family , sun and her favorite thing which was to watch my brother's dog go nuts in the sand and water! After talking to her I went to the studio reading a Constance Spry book. I felt inspired to make something with both her spirit and related to my Mother's Day. This is was my long distance gift to Mom with love. I hope she had a very happy day!

To: MOM

2011-05-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

A few gift arrangements delivered today for Mother's Day- tomorrow. I love you mom!

Late Long Loving Spring

2011-05-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Central Park

Allegheny Mountains; NW PA
Photo by Paco Rodriguez

Jersey City back yard and massive old magnolia tree.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.~ e.e. cummings

You Were All Yellow

2011-05-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

coldplay

I swam across
I jumped across for you
oh what a thing to do
'Cause you were all yellow......

MAY DAY

2011-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Maypole Dance

Here Comes the Bride

2011-04-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

The bouquet is a shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth. The bouquet was designed by Shane Connolly and draws on the traditions of flowers of significance for the Royal Family, the Middleton family and on the Language of Flowers.

The flowers’ meanings in the bouquet are:

Lily-of-the-valley – Return of happiness

Sweet William – Gallantry

Hyacinth – Constancy of love

Ivy – Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection

Myrtle - the emblem of marriage; love

The bouquet contains stems from a myrtle planted at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, by Queen Victoria in 1845, and a sprig from a plant grown from the myrtle used in The Queen’s wedding bouquet of 1947.

The tradition of carrying myrtle begun after Queen Victoria was given a nosegay containing myrtle by Prince Albert’s grandmother during a visit to Gotha in Germany. In the same year, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House as a family retreat, and a sprig from the posy was planted against the terrace walls, where it continues to thrive today.

The myrtle was first carried by Queen Victoria eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, when she married in 1858, and was used to signify the traditional innocence of a bride.

The Church was decorated with seasonally occurring blossoming branches. Almost 30-thousand flowers are to be used for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday, and most of them were taken from the Royal Estates at Windsor Great Park’s Valley Gardens in Surrey

Cake designer Fiona Cairns has been chosen to make the traditional multi-layered fruit cake for the Royal Wedding.

The flowers on the cake are all based on ‘The Language of Flowers’ and were chosen by Kate herself.

The Bridal Rose symbolizes Happiness.

The Oak and Acorn symbolize Strength and Endurance.

The Lily of the Valley symbolize Sweetness and Humility.

The cake will include the English Rose, Daffodil, Thistle for Scotland, and the Shamrock for Ireland – the four national plants.

Cairns incorporated the Lambeth Method to decorate the cake a technique which is derived from a style of decorating that was popular in England where chefs and decorators would use a lot of intricate piping to create 3-D scrollwork, leaves, flowers, and other decoration on a cake. The Lambeth Method is still popular today and is frequently used by wedding cake designers and decorators to create ornate wedding cakes. A cake decorated in the Lambeth Method and accented with fresh fruit or flowers is the wedding cake of choice for anyone who wants a traditional looking, elegant wedding cake.

Flemish Inspiration

2011-04-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Inspiration for Samples below

Easter Sunday Part II

2011-04-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yellow Magnolia Trees and friend

Bed of Candy Colored Tulips and a young Birch Tree

Bleeding Hearts in the Brambles

Mock Orange

Viburnum x carlcephalum ( Fragrant Viburnum )

Williamsburg Sky

After sleeping in late today my best friend stopped by and we took a walk to the park. It's nice how it's blooming bit by bit this year. Everytime I go there's something new to see. Today the Yellow Magnolias at the entrance of 72nd St were at the height of their regal elegance and the Willy Wonka epiphany of candy colored tulip beds around the perfectly white peeling birch trees was delightful. Bleeding Hearts, Lady's Lockets, Snowdrops, Blue Bells and Forget Me Nots were hosting their own party for fairies by invitation only.
A little deeper in the mock orange was making an early appearance. The leaves are so beautifully textured this time of year, they call to mind Mary McFadden dresses. And finally I ran down the slope from Strawberry Fields as the rain set in to see a splendid display of fragrant viburnum. Oh the scent of these clusters are so powdery and feminine as I inhaled I felt like I was immediately cast back into childhood! Then the droplets began and although we hadn't made it very far into the park we were satisfied with our little flower fix. I hopped on the A train and headed back to the studio to finish a ridiculously early delivery for tomorrow for my favorite client.
Back in Brooklyn the sky was so pretty with a gilded sun peeping out through pale blue patches swallowed by smoky cloud puffs. At mission control, the Easter Lilies filled the air with an intoxicating intensity! It was a lovely fragrant and colorful Easter.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T00:22:00.000-07:00

Easter Lilies

Holy Wednesday! It's almost "Maundy Thursday"!

2011-04-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Great Nettle 1854 William Bradbury

"Maundy Thursday" is also known as Holy Thursday, among other names, which commemorates the Last Supper. In medieval times people took to bathing and washing their clothes on "Clean Thursday". In German traditions it is referred to as "Green Thursday". Greeks dye their Easter eggs a bright red to represent the blood of Christ and call it "Red Thursday". In central Europe folk customs include recipes for green soups made with Spinach, Kale, Leeks and herbs including Nettle (see print above). The Eucharist serves as an important religious symbol for Maundy Thursday so I included a print of a Eucharis Lily and a bridesmaid's bouquet with the same flower in it.

Promises Promises

2011-04-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

Promises are meant to be broken but I couldn't help but keep mine. Here are the photos from an event earlier this week that I promised. Working with these materials is absolutely euphoric. I feel like the luckiest gal in the world this week to have my fridge filled with to the rim with everything light and splendid! Tomorrow I'll play a little more with what was left from this fashion launch. It will be my Sunday!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

2011-04-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

Peonies, Stock, Viburnum, Chrysanthemums, Geranium, Queen Anne's Lace, Azalea, Dogwood, Ferns Jasmine

Delivered this bright and cheerful get well gift of mixed spring white flora this afternoon.

More being More

2011-04-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

The studio is such a fragrant disaster today after the whirlwind of flying azalea branches and rose bushes that formed the architecture to showcase the peonies, ranunculus, parrot tulips, garden roses and 2000 other ingredients for these arrangements last night. A case of MORE being more in what I think a very good way- promise to post more from this event later. Too tired to organize today so I went to the park on this most perfect day and took me some pics (see post below) to share the beauty around and get everyone packing their picnic baskets for the weekend! If it weren't for Central Park this city would be regrettably undesirable. My body is sore, my hands swollen but tomorrow I'll be back in the studio, my treasure chest of perishable colors to play play play!

Taste of Spring

2011-04-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

We've had a late start this year but the trees in Central Park are finally starting to give way to the new season. Some of the cherry and magnolias are bursting but it's still a few weeks away from the peaking epiphany of Full Spring! Not complaining though! It's time to get out and breathe the cool air and feel the warm sun on your face. Simply perfect!

Family Jewels

2011-04-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Photo by Hanna Davis

Azalea, Peonies, Hyacinth, Phlox, Grape Ivy

I'm so 3008.....

2011-04-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Bride with Black Calla Lilies
2007

Black Beauty Roses, Ranunculus, Cymbidiums, Lady Slippers, Scabbiossas and their Pods, Begonia Leaves, Majolica Spray Roses, and Lotus Pods
2007

......I like that boom boom pow
Them chicks is jackin my style
They try to copy my swagger
I’m on that next shit now
Im so 3008
Your so 2000 and late
I got that boom boom boom
That future boom boom boom.....
......Fergie(Black-Eyed Peas)

This made me laugh when I came across these old pics in 2007 when calla lilies were all that every bride wanted in their bouquet and I thought about Black Eyed Peas song but of course remembered the self deprecating version of the lyrics in my head and not the real lyrics above. All I remembered was,

You're so 2008.... I'm so 2000 and late.

Actually I think the photos still hold up despite their age so maybe not so late after all :)

Little Sneak Peak at Summer

2011-04-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

Summer bouquet of wild garden roses picked from our own bushes, corn flowers, phlox and silver dollars.

The Democratic Eyes of Fashion

2011-04-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just came from watching the film "Bill Cunningham New York" a documentary by Richard Press about the legendary man on a bike that signals trends and fashion insights before the editors have had a chance to consider.

My personal rules on when to clap at the end of a film.

1. When the film makers or subjects are in the movie house
2. At a premier screening
3. When it's about a New York personality who could be discreetly sitting in the audience and either they or the film merit an applause

I have always admired the inspirational Bill Cunningham- the world's democratic eye for style and self expression. Seeing him race around town while I was a student at Parson's, or discreetly meandering through the crowds at fashion week or buzzing through the bluebloods at the galas for the past 25 years has always given me a thrill, like spotting an endangered species or a rare bird.
Once I had the great thrill and honor of speaking with him briefly when he was fact checking a photograph he had taken of a tabletop I designed for the NY Horticultural Society Gala. When I hung up I found myself skipping around cloud 9 for days!!!! Alas!!!! Something I made was shot and would be featured in a Bill Cunnigham spread!!!!!!. I'm not fashionable enough to make onto his film but my designs are! Yes!!!This particular smile lingered for a while!
A feeling many of his subjects have undoubtedly shared.
Enough about me and that little tiny thumbnail image that made it into his article, more about him and the film that reveals the darling human being that he is and the commitment he has for his "play"- not work as he says! I love you Bill!!!!! Marvelous Bill!!!!!

"I just try to play a straight game and in New York that's very.....almost impossible. To be an artist and straight in New york that's like Don Quixote fighting windmills. Shut up Cunningham! Lets get this thing on the road! Get up and work!"

...........Bill Cunningham

APPLAUSE

Flower School 06 Winter Aconite

2011-04-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

The Winter Aconite Fairy published in London by Blackie,
1944 in Flower Fairies of the Garden

Lithograph Familiar Wild Flowers (circa 1890)

by Frederick Edward Hulme

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

A tuberous perrenial and an early Spring bloomer who likes moist soil and will be amongst the first show of color( bright orange/yellow) at the break of winter- often seen bursting through mounds of snow. Great for bringing a bright spot to a mossy ground cover as it grows on short stems 2-3" with lovely buttercup shaped blossoms and bright green ruffled collars (bracts). Sweetly paired with other early bloomers like snowdrops and primrose. May easily be divided to form new colonies once the bloom has faded. Simply dig up the tuber, wash, divide and replant to settle into new parts of the garden. Not commonly used for cut flowers but if you want to introduce it into a bridal bouquet a longer stemmed variety(E. tubergenni) could facilitate this purpose better. The blossoms can be wired by applying a wet cotton swab to the stem's ends and sealing with floral tape- a tedious job but possible and rewarding for it's originality. It's lifespan will be limited so be sure to wire directly prior to delivery for this special occasion.

Your Individuality Makes You Beautiful

2011-04-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

The Curious Case of the Four Legged Chick

Chick's head is a sunflower, calla lilly and button mum bouquet
featured in Town and Country Weddings this month.

Martin Johnson Heade

2011-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Tropical Landscape With Ten Hummingbirds 1870

letter to Sarita Brady

My photo-editing "exacto-blade" impulse is comletely thrown out the window with the works of Martin Johnson Heade! You can see his "complete" works. I say"complete" because his works are still found in the oddest places around America including rummage sales. Many accounts of people buying his works for a few dollars then reselling for hundreds of thousands keep occuring due to the fact that he often sold his paintings to the middle classes. If I found one of these gems I'd never part with it! But then again you can always order reproductions from China (make sure get the size right). His romanticism not only shows in his work but in his writings. Above is a letter from him to Sarita Brady. Why don't men like this exist today? And if they do, why aren't they straight! I guess it wouldn't matter, he'd charm me without the need of removing said pants.

Flower Symbolism

2011-04-03T08:20:00.001-07:00

photo by: Hannah Davis

In the late 19th, early 20th century there was a revival of the use of symbolic meanings of plants and flowers. Nature seemed to be a forest of symbols, and flowers were saturated with deeper meanings.

Jewelry was often imbued with the meanings of the times. The romantic facet of ivy is based upon its tendrils which attach itself to a wall, a gold necklace made of ivy might be given to a coutesan while saying,

"Je m'attache ou je meurs" which (freely) translates to "I will cling to you or I will die"....

During the Renaissance, nature was viewed as a reflection of the divine. Botanical symbolism was included in much of the religious art of the day and medieval gardens were often created with both symbolic and spiritual meanings. In the late Middle Ages, depictions of the Virgin Mary in an idealized garden were common in Flemish and German paintings. The flowers in these gardens symbolized Mary’s virtues and significant events in her life. Some churches began creating actual gardens devoted to Mother Mary for worshipers to visit for meditation and prayer. Flowers that could be grown in such “Mary Gardens” included the following: Christmas rose-purported to have flowered on Christmas Day; daisy-symbolic of purity and simplicity; iris-the blade shaped foliage denoting the sorrows that ‘pierced her heart’; lady’s mantle-likened to a cloak for the Blessed Virgin; lily-associated with the annunciation of the birth of Jesus by the angel Gabriel; marigold-’Mary’s Gold’, golden gifts offered to the Virgin by the poor. Although the legendary associations and religious meanings of flowers have existed for centuries, the specific symbolic meaning of particular flowers to represent emotions was developed to a high degree during Victorian times. Due to the strict protocol of the times, emotions, wishes and thoughts were not openly expressed between men and women. Instead, an elaborate language based on flower meanings was developed. Both gifts of single flowers and bouquets conveyed clear messages to the recipient. With the increasing complexity of the language of flowers, handbooks were written to guide the understanding of flower meanings. The first book written on the subject in modern times was Le Language des Fleurs by Madame Charlotte de la Tour in 1819. The most popular book on the subject, which remains a prominent resource today, is Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers (1884).
Flowers are still used today to convey feelings in a more general way. Modern flower meanings include the following: bluebells-symbolic of humility and gratitude; foxglove-symbolic of both healing and insincerity; lupines-symbolic of the imagination; marigolds-symbolic of passion and creativity; poppies-symbolic of beauty, magic, and eternal life; sweet peas-symbolic of bliss and delicate pleasure; zinnias-thoughts of absent friends, lasting affection and constancy.

An extensive list can be found on Wikipedia "Symbolic Meaning of Flowers"
and
Flowers Symbolism List from Collier's Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information and Treasury of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, compiled by Nugent Robinson. P.F. Collier, 1882

Flower School 05 Acidanthera bicolor

2011-04-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

photo by Eduard Sjoukes

Chromolithograph by Guillaume Severeyns after painting by H.G. Moon 1895

The Acidanthera bicolor is a late summer(mid August- mid Sept) blooming bulb perennial which likes to be planted in the spring and grown in clumps on a sunny southern facing border or bed in the garden with excellent drainage. It will reward with a heady scent and delicate contrasting blossoms of pure white petals with dark maroon centers. Commonly mis-named peacock orchid, the Acidanthera (Gladiolus Callianthus) is actually a gladiolus and a distant relative to the Crocosmia.
Conditioning: since blossoms occur one at a time, deadhead any that are wilting and place stems in a generously filled container of water.

Grey Sky Mornings

2011-04-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Some grey sky

mornings refuse to

give up their form

until they've been

perfect vehicles for

our thoughts

.....R. Cowans

photo by Hannah Davis

Bouquet is composed of lemon scented geranium, scabbiossa and tweedia.

Fower School 04 Achillea (Yarrow)

2011-04-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Photo by Hannah Davis

Achillea growing wild in a field

History: Achillea belongs to a genus of approx. 85 flowering hardy herbaceous perennials. The genus name refers to the mythical Greek hero Achilles and a thousand leaves refers to the leaf cut into a thousand parts. During the battle of Troy it is reputed that Achilles may have healed many warriors after being instructed in the yarrow’s ability to staunch the flow of blood from wounds hence common names of "allheal", "militaris" or "bloodwort". Yarrow was also used in an herbal tea to reduce fever, fight cold and cure indigestion. It may also be used as an insect deterrent by burning the leaves on hot embers and it's essential oils contain more of this powerful anti-inflammatory compound than chamomile. Yarrow essential oil is used for women's problems such as irregular and painful periods and to reduce excessive menstrual bleeding.
The ancient oracle of the I Ching is traditionally cast with Yarrow stalks which are thought to represent the Yin and Yang forces of the Universe in perfect balance.

Gardening: Easily grows in North Eastern temperate zones and can thrive in moderately irrigated soil and can sustain drought. Will bloom through summer and fall when deadheaded.
The bright yellow color against it's gray foliage can provide nice transitions in flower beds as well as arrangements to cooler hued less saturated parings.

Conditioning:This flower should only be cut when all the tiny flower heads are open then slice the stem vertically 2.5" remove lower foliage and place in clean cold water with a bactericide or biocide(needs to be re-cut daily and placed in fresh water for shop use). To preserve dip heads in powdered borax and hang upside down or place in a vase with very little water. This is actually a flower that is preferable to use when dried because of its tendency of corrupting the water for the accompanying stems and hasting the overall lifespan of the entire arrangement.

Sophia Emma Magdalene Grieve (Neé Law)
(also known as Margaret, Maude, Maud or simply Mrs. Grieve)(1858-1941)

According to the Principal and Founder of The Whins Medicinal and Commercial Herb School and Farm at Chalfont St. Peter in Buckinghamshire, England, Mrs Grieve, girls determine whether their loves be true by sticking a yarrow leaf up into their nostrils while reciting the following rhyme:

Yarroway, Yarroway bear a white blow
If my love, love me my nose will bleed now...

Title: Flower School 03 Acer (Sycamore, Maple)

2011-04-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

(Fig. 344 from E. Gilg and K. Schumann, "Das Pflanzenreich. Hausschatz des Wissens.", ca. 1900 published by Kurt Stüber

Various examples of Acer (Sycamore Maple) used in decorative arts :
Antique Botanical print of Acer Sycamore
Maple Leaf (pricked with design in reserve) Made in Switzerland ca. 1835, Unknown artist
Porcelain painted in overglaze enamels, early 19th century, Inuyama, Japan

Fall Wedding at The Foundry

The Sycamore Maple was often confused for the biblical Ficus Sycomorus because of their similarly shaped leaves, hence the name. A mature tree grown in deep soil can grow up to 130' high with a width spanning 6.6' or more. The Japanese Acer palamatum is a dwarf tree which can grow from 2'-32' depending on the variety and is closely associated with the high art of oriental gardens. The Japanese common names for their shrub varieties are "hands of frogs" or "babies" because of the delicately pronged leaves. The first Botanist Carl Peter Thunberg also named the species "palmutum" for the same reason.
The many varieties of trees and shrubs in the Acer family are especially showy in the fall when their leaves turn vivid warm colors. This makes them ideal and valuable for areas in the garden where shrubbery is called for. It's also a worthy investment to plant a suckling maple tree in a featured spot which will grow through the years to enormous heights and add a sentimental entity to a family's yard.
In arrangements the blossoms will not survive long after being sheared but the Acer japonicum aureum "Full Moon Maple" (chartreuse in the spring and into the summer) will do better than others and the "Norwegian Maple" A. platanoides, carry bright green blossoms on ebony branches in early spring with moth shaped seedpods which add unexpected texture and a touch of the woodlands to compositions. A. pseudoplatanus "brilliantissimum" (pale coral to lime green in the spring, bright green in the summer and golden orange in the fall) provides luster and a jolt of saturation to any landscape. Hammering the stems of this variety and peeling the bark at least 2" before it drinks will ensure a long lasting life unusual for all other maples. In the fall nothing beats the fiery colors that some varieties offer although they will dry out quickly so should be used immediately for special occasions.
Conditioning: Hammer ends very well and peel bark back then place in warm water. To help sustain the life of specialty varieties for fall themed events place wet newspapers around and through the bundles securing a large plastic bag over and sealing it at the trunks. This technique coupled with refrigeration will keep the leaves fresh for many days.
When preserving the leaves, wire the spine and seal with floral tape for use in future arrangements.

Flower School 02 "Acanthus"

2011-03-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

Acanthus (Bear's Breech)

The myth goes that Calimachus, a Greek architect and sculpture had visited a grave site and happened upon the grave of a young girl which had been adorned by a votive basket which was filled with her dolls. The basket was covered by a tile to protect the dolls from the elements and and Acanthus plant had grown around and through the weaving of the basket. This sight was the source of his inspiration for a beautifully ornate column which is referred to as the Corinthian Column. The plant can bee found growing lavishly wild around Greek and Turkish ruins. The Leaves of the Acanthus have been used throughout history for ornamentation of interiors, textile prints and all types of decorative detailing.

The Acanthus is a hardy perennial which does well in full sunlight.
Conditioning :
The stems are best cut when all flowers have blossomed, then their ends should be placed in boiling water for 30 sec and after placed in deep cold water for a few hours. The flowers can also be dried by being hung upside down. The leaves should also have their stem ends dipped in boiling water watching not to let the steam damage the leaves. After, they should be completely submerged in water with a little bit of starch for half a day.
Since they do so well in August or September they are perfect summer flowers for larger bold arrangements combining well with other naturally occurring flowers of the season like Sunflowers, Olive branches, Dahlias and Thistle-(whose foliage closely resemble the Acanthus).

Print depicting the origins for inspiration of the design of the Corinthian Column

Acanthus
Frank Oliver Call

Beneath the sculptured marble portico
Of a Greek temple, white against the sky,
Carved capitals on pillars rising high
Gleam like great blossoms in the noonday's glow.
Proudly each column in the stately row
Its crown of beauty wears; the sunbeams die
Among acanthus leaves that nestling lie
Where they were carved two thousand years ago.

Eternal Beauty, thou wilt not be bound
By time-forged fetters, but dost find a home
Where Gothic pillars rise acanthus-crowned
Beneath gray northern spires or southern dome,
Eternal Beauty, Everlasting Truth,
Thou hast the secret of undying youth.

Savage Tropics

2011-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Detail of large escort table arrangement composed of various tropical foliage,
wild blossoming smilax and masses of cascading Hawaiian dendrobiums.

Another Time

2011-03-30T12:06:00.001-07:00

photo by Hannah Davis

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of Consent&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Age of Consent
Amos Poe

A palm frond, the awkwardness of coming of age and feeling out of place in a world where your romanticism doesn't match the world your in. The utter abandon and freedom of youthful self discovery. A time when all is possible if you believe it. This video took me back in my own personal history to this period in my life. The wind swept shore above -an ode to my home town, West Palm Beach where I spent this part of my life and New Order somehow made the angst and heartbreak of first love worth suffering through. Funny how emotions were all that existed and drove me. Glad to have survived it and grown into a more manageable human being with a place in this world.

Mocha Flavored Inspiration

2011-03-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

There are better ways to start your day
but none will tell you all the sweet lies you want to hear...........

"You're completely happy"

"You're brimming with energy"

"You're going to accomplish everything you need to for the day in the next 3 hours"

and most importantly,

"You're damned sexy!!!!"

............like the frothy and artfully made Mochaccinos at Gina la Formarina

Please don't delete my blog from your bookmarks when you order the second one and throw your body rhythm off for days ahead!

Charles Spurrier/ Margaret Thatcher Projects

2011-03-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

(detail)Pigvision

Charles Spurier 2011
Margaret Thatcher Projects

Had a lovely day visiting galleries in Chelsea today. Above is a close-up detail shot of an art work that caught my eye. The artist, Charles Spurrier, used packing tape and cutouts from Christie's catalogues to make this assemblage. The final product looks like a flat two dimensional surface until inspected closer where the layers are barely visible. He has burned holes into the tape and then continued adding more tape and necklaces. The burning creates a nice smokiness to the transparent areas. This photo doesn't do it justice. Hopefully I can acquire art like this in this lifetime!

Central Park- Almost there

2011-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

The buds on the trees in Central Park are an auspicious sign of the burgeoning Spring. This weekend the only dashes of color came from forsythia and the bulbs ( daffodils, crocus and bluebells). It was still sweet to see the young leaves breaking their way through to new season. there was also a nice show from the andromeda bushes by the boathouse which were tender and abundant. Give it another three to four weeks and then visit your local parks for the full effect. The magnolias and cherry trees are chock full of buds most certain not to disappoint!

Flower School 01 "Acacia (Mimosa Wattle)"

2011-03-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to write the first of many posts to come encompassing the history, disposition and manner to treat and condition specific flowers (A-Z) as well as suggestions or examples of incorporating them into arrangements. The sum total of these posts will eventually make up the contents of an encyclopedic resource for you flower buffs out there to reference when arranging or caring for cut flowers. I am overcome with excitement and inspiration about this new project and hope to be helpful to all you flower enthusiasts! Please feel free to post comments or any specific questions that you might have and I will do my best to answer in an timely manner.

Acacia (Mimosa Wattle)

The Acacia is said to have over 1300 varieties whose genus have been divided into five. The name Acacia is reserved for those coming from Australia and South East Asia, and the remaining four are classified as the European Vachellia and Senegalia and the Acacialla and Mariosousa of the Americas.
The Silver Wattle ( Acacia dealbata) is an idea tree for landscaping with it's bright yellow flowers, lovely glaucous foliage and the sweet fragrance of it's flowers. It also serves as a protective barrier as the branches have very dangerous thorns from where the name was derived of the Greek term for spike "akis". Tannins and gum are both products widely used from the tree as well as it's strong and beautiful wood used in furniture designs.
Freemasons used the acacia to symbolize purity and endurance of the soul and the
perfume industry uses Acacia farnesiana for it's strong fragrance which has a steep history in the bible often mentioning the burning of it's wood as incense.
The acacia blossoms have a tendency of turning brown and hard when exposed to the air, therefore they are shipped in special bags to preserve the fluffy yellow blossoms. Once the cut stems have been removed from the shipping bags, immediately submerged them entirely under cold water and then dip the end of the stems in boiling water for 30 sec. Place them in warm water until the flower puffs have dried. This technique will help prolong its life. Because of it's temperament this is a flower that should be used for an event and not expected to last beyond a few days. The flowers are charming when combined with daffodils or other early spring varieties like tulips or viburnum for centerpieces or bouquets. (see "Bright and Daffy" post).