FLIGHTS OF FANCY

A summer bouquet for my friend Stacie Crooks’s annual garden girlfriend soiree.

This charming arrangement is even more interesting when viewed from the top as the gooseneck stems appear to be flying in all directions!

Ingredients:

7 stems Dahlia ‘Coral Gypsy’, grown by Jello Mold Farm

15 stems white love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

5 stems chartreuse Hypericum perforatum (a florist’s variety selected for its colorful fruit), grown by Jello Mold Farm

7 stems goldenrod (Solidago sp.), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

11 stems white gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides), grown by Jello Mold Farm

20 stems burnet foliage (Sanguisorba obtusa), grown by Charles Little & Co.

Vase:

6-inch tall x 4-inch diameter glass vase 

Eco-technique

Transporting bouquets: Save your arrangement and your car with a smart stabilizing trick I learned from flower farmers who make frequent bouquet deliveries. Use a box that is at least half the height of your vase; seal the

top and bottom so you have an empty “cube.” Using a utility knife, cut a large X on one side of the box. The cuts should be approximately the same size as the vase diameter. Push the bottom of the vase into the X-opening. The

triangular cardboard flaps created by the cuts should bend inward to hold the vase securely while you drive.

Just look for the hand-painted lavender sign when you’re driving down 26th Avenue Southwest in Seattle. There’s plenty of places to park on the street . . . and then you’ll wander down the long drive to the nursery.

Earlier this spring, I had the delightful experience of giving a floral-design workshop at Village Green Perennial Nursery in West Seattle’s White Center neighborhood. This place is like a secret garden, although there are many, many customers who have been in on the secret for years. This is a plant-centric business, one neighbor to the next. 

Village Green Perennial Nursery was founded by Teresa Romedo over 30 years ago. In 2003, she passed the torch to Vera Johnson, who has owned and operated the nursery ever since. 

Vera Johnson, plantswoman, horticulturist, designer, educator and artist, presides at the helm of this magical destination. Her mission is to inspire the neighborhoods of White Center and West Seattle by providing the very best resources available to create sustainable outdoor living spaces, one block at a time. As a little garden center with big ambitions, Village Green is known for high-quality customer service and healthy plants. It has evolved as a community center that showcases local artists, musicians, and events. 

Vera has just announced her first farm-to-table event, scheduled for August 31st. This has the potential to be an unforgettable moment in time, an experience that celebrates food, wine, plants and flowers. Tickets are $100 per person. Order yours here.

Take a virtual tour of the beauty at Village Green Perennial Nursery – and save the date for a fabulous event! I hope to see you there!

READ MORE…

STUNNING SUCCULENTS

The rose-shaped echeveria pairs beautifully with the garden rose.

A beautiful green Aeonium rosette and cactus-style summer dahlias

From the Farmer

Heavenly Hydrangeas

A simple bouquet of hydrangeas – one of my favorites in this book

The details are quite sweet!

Ingredients:

A favorite out-take from Slow Flowers: Our dog Zanny decided to pose with the flowers.

It was fun to visit the newsstand yesterday and pick up three new magazines with my articles.

When you see them in one place, it might feel like I’ve been super productive. But there is a back-story about each, and I have to be honest with you. Sometimes it takes YEARS for a story to see the light of day.

Case in point: The Southern California garden owned by Cheryl Bode and Robin Colman, featured in the July-August issue of Horticulture, was photographed in 2009. Since then, it has often seemed to Cheryl, Robin and me that the story would never appear in print. When I finally saw the issue, just out on newsstands, I understood why. The photos are incredibly disappointing. I have so many wonderful photos of their garden and the magical feeling one experiences when visiting there was simply not expressed in the Horticulture magazine. Click over to my articles page to read the story and see my photos rather than the ones printed below. Theirs is an inspiring story of two homeowners who yearned to bring an old house back to life, along with its garden. To physically walk through it is truly special.

READ MORE…

Welcome to the Slow Flowers Dinner

Imagine a table set for 40 . . . inside a flower-filled greenhouse. Vintage vases overflowing with just-picked blooms adorn the table and a locally-grown menu is served.

Last month I joined with the California Cut Flower Commission to host a “Slow Flowers” dinner as part of the 2013 Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers Open House & Tour.

The table was set for local food and local flowers.

We called it “Farm-to-Table; Field-to-Vase” and held the dinner in the gerbera-filled greenhouse at Kitayama Bros. Farms in Watsonville, California. The event was a gathering of like-minded persons. Each of us — farmer, florist, media, community advocate — cares deeply about the role of American  flowers in the greater agricultural environment. And everyone in attendance contributed an important voice around the table, a table with locally-grown food and locally-harvested flowers.

READ MORE…

I’m very excited to show off the backdrop that I recently created for DIY floral video projects.

If you look closely, you’ll see some of my favorite things gathered on the garage workbench. Vintage ceramic vases and metal urns, French flower buckets, frogs of all types, Mason jars, botanical artwork, salvaged goodies and more.

A floral designer’s work bench – and perfect video set.

Here’s another view – with the weathered picnic table in front – the ideal surface for bouquet-making.

Another view, featuring the weathered picnic table in the foreground.

How on earth am I pulling this off? Making a video, I mean!

I am fortunate to have a young filmmaker here for the day. Her name is Hannah Holtgeerts and she is a college friend of my son Ben’s. Hannah jumped into this project with total enthusiasm. A talented photographer, videographer and documentary filmmaker, she really makes things look effortless. Aaah, YOUTH, CHARM AND TALENT~ Too bad that Hannah is heading back to Chicago where a post-college job awaits her this fall. But for now, I’m thanking my lucky stars. The video will be pulled together soon and I promise to share it here~

Hannah Holtgeerts – at work editing the video we shot this morning.

Looking over Hannah’s shoulder. What a pro!

AMERICAN ROSES

There are three sultry-smoky elements to this simple bouquet: roses, smoke bush foliage and a type of Queen Anne’s lace.

When all three colors, forms and textures are seen together – up close – it’s simply beautiful!

Ingredients:

I was on the road last week, working in Oregon for six days (counting 1,000-miles of travel). My companions were James Baggett, editor-in-chief of COUNTRY GARDENS magazine and photography team Laurie Black and Mark King of Laurie Black Photography.

James Baggett, showing off the many titles he creates with coworker Nick Crow, his art director. It’s simply mind-boggling to grasp their huge productivity – and it’s an honor to be one of their writer-producers.

Wherever I can discover locally-grown flowers, that’s where you’ll find me!~

We spent the week photographing awesome landscapes, inspiring new plants and a fabulous farm-to-fork dinner (complete with locally grown, organic wine, food and flowers). A busy schedule, but filled with great experiences. It will be my privilege to write the stories to accompany Laurie’s photos for publication in 2014.

I’ll keep this short. I mostly have photos to share.

READ MORE…