Misty, Rainy May

Smokebush

 

 

Central Park 5/22/12

Ta Da! And Summer begins

Went through the park yesterday and wistfully bemoaned the reality that this year's long Spring has ended. Here I revisit an arrangement form a previous recent post of young peach branches from a good friend's backyard with Tree Peonies, some Euphorbia, Viburnum, Lambs Ear, Parrot Tulips, Lily of the Valley, Passion vine and a few sprigs of Columbine as a farewell to this year's most unusual long winded season. Repetitive, perhaps but non the less pretty. Have a wonderful Memorial Day Holiday lovelies!

Emotional Life

 

 
Roses are everywhere now. Rambling up through Maple Trees, weeping over garden gates and climbing up brick walls. The border garden behind the studio offered some great long branches that I combined with flowers left from the fundraiser we donated flowers to this week at the NY Botanical Gardens. (St Christopher's Inn Org.). The affair raises over $100,000.00 and I was very happy that we could contribute in some form. It's a very special and needed organization.

With a few Azalea and Smoke Bush branches, Peonies and the roses from out back I assembled a somewhat discordant jumble of reds and whites shown above in the silver urn. This arrangement reflected my own inner emotional workings. Sometimes things just don't come together the way you'd wish they did but it's all a part of the whole and not necessarily good or bad. Tomorrow is another day with another set of battles and emotions and another chance to make another arrangement.

The Question of Color

More of the same.....
more Tree Peonies, Heleborus,  Begonias, Bleeding Hearts, Passion Vine, Camelias, Poppies, Jasmine,Columbine. More was more last week.
One of my fellow flower enthusiasts once gave me a very touching compliment. She said that I used color the way the English do- unabashedly. She said the Brits always have this confidence to combine bold colors in ways that work.
Ironically, my color choices are never something I over-think. I just choose those which makes me feel happy and alive. I know they're not always the most popular or trendsetting choices but they appeal to me and perhaps they resonate with a deeper memory of the tropics of my childhood in West Palm Beach where flowers meant brightness- Corals, Reds, Pinks, Orange, and Chartreuse. Sometimes, I feel like making a moodier palette but this is one I always return to especially in the Spring. Hopefully they lift other people's spirits too.

"I Just Adore A Penthouse View"

Today a good friend of mine asked if I could help thin out the young peaches on his tree. It was quite an undertaking and helped me appreciate the amount of work that day laborers on farms are subjected to. Of course I squandered off with a few fallen branches of my own and raided the studio fridge for a few choice specimen left from earlier this week. Tree Peonies, Columbine, Viburnum, Lily of the Valley, and blossoming Passion vine held court in this tangle of Peach branches, cushioned in Geranium, Euphorbia, and Lambs Ears. If arrangements had addresses (and they do) this one would surely be an UES belle.

Spring Antiques Show at The Park Avenue Armory

This week was the Spring Antiques Show at the beautifully restored Park Avenue Armory. I had the honor to decorate the show with our oversized floor arrangements as well as providing flowers for vendors. My amazing crew managed to artfully install 28 bales of Crabapple, 9 bales of Lilac, 6 bales of Viburnum and three bales of Peonies. Imagine the fragrance as guests entered through a forest of Spring branches finished with masses of Jasmine and Lilac! The challenge of this job came after the opening festivities when the heat from some 60 booths lit with high powered spot lights created a toasty environment for all that splendid material to live in. Daily watering, spritzing and pruning helped keep the arrangements looking fresh for the duration of the show but not without much TLC. Tonight we break it all down and I can take a deep breath. Mission accomplished!

Soaring and Weeping

Confetti of Cherry petals have wilted and gone but the colors that remain on it's branches have a richness all their own. Young rusty growth against the teal green mature leaves and reddish brown bark offer remnant filament of the flower stamens on their black hips a backdrop to dance on like a miniature ballet troupe. Ok, flower dork in da house!
Sometimes I simply have nothing to say and I start rhapsodising about nature in a gag-me kind of way.
This arrangement is a style I particularly gravitate toward for centerpieces. The pedestal on the iron birdbath acts as an elevated platform for both a weepy effect allowing for the composition to simultaneously project upward giving the leading "lady" or flower in question the spot light while cascade over the plate's edge creating graceful arcs of movement and texture. Feeling the "Flower nerd" coming on again strong!

Ok, here's a tip, when working with Japanese Maple cuttings for an event store the cuttings wrapped in wet newspaper in a dark garbage bag, with ends crushed and in water, until hours before the the event especially in the warmer months when the tips will curl and dry before your eyes.

Riverside Park Sunsets

New York is such a hard place to live with so many demands and distractions that one often forgets of it's many sanctuaries. Yesterday I took a stroll along the Riverside Park river's edge as the sun was setting and immediately was swept away by the the way the sunlight sparkled diagonally across the river. This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park retaining the English gardening ideal of the times.
My eye was drawn to the golden light reflecting through the decaying black moorings that look like tombstones and bouncing off mica in giant granite rocks lining the walkways.  Something about water and sunlight has a way of easing mental and physical tension, giving one the ability to breath deeply and gently surrendering to beauty and nature.
Spring's grand show is waning but there's still much to see in terms of blooms. Lilacs and azaleas are front and center and the bells of Solomon Seal are ringing everywhere!

Central Park 4/16/12

Spiraea prunifolia

Amelenchier tree

Bluebells and Young Fern in The Rambles

Silverbell Tree (Halesia Monticola)

Wandering with my camera through the Central Park last week before the heavy rains passed through I was lucky to find blossoming trees which caught my fancy and were unfamiliar to me like the Silverbell Tree and the Amachelier Tree which was at the end of it's blooming cycle with it's rust leaves and tiny wistful Magnolia-like blossoms.  The park's inhabitants were also out and placing themselves in plain sight. I spotted a cardinal in Strawberry fields and the usual suspects through the Rambles and the pond.