May 11
bold Brooklyn palette
Flowers from a wedding I did on Sunday in Brooklyn. The color palette was orange and blue and I incorporated culinary elements like herbs and kale to reflect the bride and groom’s careers in the food and wine industry. Photography thanks to Eric Michael Photography http://www.ericmichaelphotography.com
pretty pics
I received some beautiful photos from a wedding I did this summer. I love this photographer’s modern and stylized approach. Her blog: www.houseofjoulesblog.com
Photo Shoot Bouquet
From the wonderfully talented photographer Melani Lust. www.melanilustphotography.com
2,300 and counting …
That’s how many tulip bulbs I have now planted in my garden!! Over the past ten days Mike, my dad and I have been experiencing tulip fever. We cut back the perennials and corralled them into one raised bed. All of the leftover stalks from my annuals got removed from the rest of the garden. After banishing the old, in came the new. So far, we have filled 2/3 of the garden with tulip bulbs. And so many different shapes and colors, from double peony to parrot to fringe and bicolor! Oh, and I have also saved room for ranunculus, hyacinths, daffodils, tree peonies, and allium.
I have really enjoyed the act of fall planting, especially as it coincides with the changing of the clock. It’s been a nice reminder that although the days are shortening, spring will come again.
September, October ..
The past month has felt more like a week and simultaneously a year. 2 weddings, 1 baby naming ceremony, 1 bridal photo shoot, 2 fundraisers, 1 hurricane, and about 6 farmers’ markets later I am coming up for air only to realize that this is supposed to be a slow month for floral designers and I am actually getting busier by the day. And it feels so good to be this busy! Up next I have hydrangea wreath making, arrangements for a birthday bash, ditto for a rehearsal dinner at Flatbush Farm, and a Brooklyn wedding that I am so excited for. There are Thanksgiving centerpieces to plan and I need to pick all the gomphrena I can get my hands on at Offinger Farm so I will have some dried flowers to work with this winter.
Photograph courtesy of Melani Lust www.melanilustphotography.com
detours …
I feel lucky today. I braved the storm without any damage inflicted on myself or on my garden, besides some toppled over amaranthus which can be resurrected with string and a little TLC tomorrow morning. However surrounding neighborhoods seem to have been hit a lot harder than mine was. After getting lost a thousand times on my way to and from a meeting with a bride in Wilton today, I decided to stop at a plant nursery. The fallen trees and road detours had brought me to a garden center where I just had to pull over and take a look, and I’m glad I did because I found the most amazing flowers there! I love sourcing flowers from unlikely places such as this because I get access to unusual material that I otherwise wouldn’t find in my own garden or at the flower market.
On another tangent yesterday NPR featured the book, ‘The Language of Flowers’ by author Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It sounds interesting. It’s about a woman who communicates through the Victorian language of flowers to deal with a troubling childhood. I may just have to check this one out.
oh hey
Once the temperature cools down tonight I am going to go out into my little studio and start making some pretty bouquets. I have a walk in cooler, but the rest of the studio isn’t air conditioned so my working space can get pretty warm during the daytime hours. A born procrastinator, this is my excuse for late night and early morning working hours in the studio. Tonight I am making bridal bouquets for a photo shoot I am doing for a magazine. The magazine is going to come out in the winter so my flowers and colors are geared towards that season. It felt so weird to be buying ranunculus and anemones from the NYC flower market in August.
At the farmers’ market today I was talking to Sal Gilbertie, whose family used to farm cut flowers for the nyc flower market. Before WWII he said that all of the flowers came from a very small radius — something like 50 or 200 miles within the city — which is so crazy to think about compared to the way it is now. Today, I can order a flower from Europe and – poof – it appears in NY a week later. I have mixed feelings about this. Artistically, it’s amazing to have any variety of flower at my fingertips whenever my whim calls for it. But who am I supporting? And what about all of the other more local flower farmers who have been run out of business as a result, or had to change their focus as Sal’s family did. Either way, I still love growing and using my own flowers when I can.
When I make arrangements for the farmers’ market, for example, using flowers strictly from my own garden calls for its own kind of creativity and ingenuity. I am given a certain amount of ingredients, and I am faced with the challenge of making a recipe that will combine the colors, shapes and textures of my materials in the most pleasing ways possible. I am dependent and in tune with the changing of seasons, the weather, and the garden, and I am ever more appreciative of what my plot has to offer me each week when I pass through its gate with scissors in hand.
rehearsal dinner centerpieces
Photograph courtesy of John Videler Photography www.videler.com
something green
ProDesign 4647 Eyeglass Frame – Designer ProDesign Denmark Eyewear Shop Online.
I am always losing things. This week, sadly, my glasses took the hit. Luckily it was time for a new pair anyway. My pup Dexter had chewed the frames on the old pair and beach sand had scratched the lenses. That’s why I’m so excited for my new glasses to be ready! After trying on glasses at three stores I finally found the right ones. Love the shape and the color : )
