MAGNOLIAS AND MORE

Evergreen magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), parrot tulips, rosemary, Japanese fantail willow and bare magnolia branches in bud fill one of my favorite white vases.

A sweet detail of those luscious tulips – don’t they play nicely with the rusty side of the magnolia foliage?

Ingredients:

Design 101

Proportion and Scale: These two related principles are among the most challenging to pull off correctly – in interiors and garden design, as well as in a vase. Proportion usually refers to size relationships within a composition, such as how each of the botanicals in this tall vessel is visually powerful. There are no wispy ingredients and the height of the arrangement is equal to the height of the vase. Scale indicates size in comparison to some constant, such as the human body. That’s where the terms “small scale” or “large scale” come in, since they refer to the out-of-the-ordinary size of things. With that in mind, think about the ideal interior setting for this vase. I think it would look stunning as the welcoming urn in a grand foyer or at the center of a large buffet table.

TULIPS & TWIGS

My cover shot, a perfect way to kick off springtime! Tulips, willows and camellia branches – all contained in a brilliant, matte green urn.

Ingredients:

12 stems red tulips and 10 stems yellow tulips, grown by Alm Hill Gardens

6 stems curly willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’), grown by Oregon Coastal Flowers

8 stems Camellia japonica, from my garden

Vase:

5-inch tall x 6-inch diameter matte green urn with handles

From the Farmer

Water lovers: Unlike most floral design ingredients, tulips and willow branches seem to keep growing in a vase of water. You’ll notice that the tulip stems elongate a little each day. Some designers prefer to take the arrangement apart and re-cut the lengthened stems, but I like to observe the changes that occur. Willow is a water-loving plant, so you may discover that it sprouts tiny white roots under water and that small green leaves will push open, as if it is growing in soil. Enjoy a few days of this ever-changing dynamic.

A detail of the colors and textures of springtime.

NOTE: Each Sunday of this year, I will post my photographs, “recipe” and tip for that week’s floral arrangement, created for my new book, Slow Flowers. Enjoy the floral journey through 52 weeks of the year~

 

SPRING: Two types of pink tulips, Oregon grown; plus pelargonium foliage, white ranunculus & deep purple-blue anemones from California

I came home Sunday from a weekend in Portland, where I lectured about “Slow Flowers” and demonstrated eco-floral design techniques at the Yard, Garden and Patio Show. It was a great way to kick off the 2013 flower & garden show season, thanks to the very warm and supportive welcome of the Portland community.

I enjoyed a very special treat because some longtime family friends, including Donna Davey and her husband Bill Davey came to the event. In 1984, Donna designed the flowers for Bruce’s and my wedding. Pretty amazing for both Donna and me to reminisce about her influence on me . . . 28-plus years later! The bridal bouquet she designed used gardenias and I will always associate that wonderful fragrance with our marriage.

Live demos always have their surprises and this one was no different. My tulips had very floppy stems and they did not cooperate. It was my intention to recreate the bouquet on the cover of Slow Flowers, but the tulips I procured from a local Oregon grower the day before didn’t play nicely with my scheme.

READ MORE…

Yes, I have her signature in my used copy of “Flowers in House and Garden,” published in 1937. Signed in pencil, the inscription is dated February 1939.

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about the first celebrity floral designer, Constance Spry.

The famous Mrs. Constance Spry

If you haven’t heard about her, check out the newish biography called The Surprising Life of Constance Spry, by Sue Shephard (2011). Mrs. Spry was at her peak of popularity between the two World Wars, and I loved reading about her magnificent cutting garden that supplied her London studio and shop called Flower Decoration in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

Speaking of Flower Decoration, that is the name of a volume that Mrs. Spry wrote in 1933. Re-issued in 1993, you can find it online used, filled with her strong opinions, witticisms, and black-and-white photographs of floral arrangements. These are a little dated, of course, but what stands out to me is the eclectic lineup of ingredients, which includes many flowers, foliage and edibles that today’s hip floral designers think they’ve popularized.

Guess what? Mrs. Spry did it first!

The rest of us have just discovered the ingredients with which she created lush, naturalistic, unfussy bouquets. Cherry tomatoes, grape clusters, gourds, fig leaves, sea-kale, agapanthus seed heads, amaranth, rhubarb and artichokes are wonderful floral elements showing up in couture bouquets and magazine spreads. But Constance Spry used them first – and that’s quite fun to RE-discover.

READ MORE…

“A Blue Bowl of Blooms”

Two completely different flowers – vivacious tulips and intricate witch hazels.

Michael Tortorello, a gifted writer whose work regularly appears in the NYT Home section, set up a phone interview with me last week. Due to time zone differences, his travel and my own travel schedule, it turned out that between the two of us, we could only find one hour that worked for a phoner! I was literally seated in Stephanie Clevenger’s SUV, which was parked in front of The Red Barn – the gathering place for Yakima Master Gardeners. The minute Michael and I finished up the Q&A, which he recorded, I dashed into the barn and gave a Container Design presentation to about 75 MGs . Whew.

I immediately thought of the brilliantly beautiful Pike Place Market stall operated by Alm Hill Gardens (Gretchen Hoyt and Ben Craft, owners). This is the single best place in Seattle for organic tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, lilies, and other amazing crops that come later in the year – like lilacs and peonies. Their farm is located in Everson, Wash., close to the Canadian border, and Alm Hill is a gold-standard flower fixture at the Market. My go-to source! Plus, since we have a 2-page spread on Gretchen and Alm Hill in The 50 Mile Bouquet, it seemed fitting to take the photo there.

I met freelance photographer Kevin Casey at the stall on Monday afternoon. My flower-seller pal Max Clement was working, as he does most Mondays, and he indulged us by stashing Kevin’s gear and my stuff while we did the photography. It was certainly less painful that I thought it would be, thanks to Kevin’s easygoing style and also the way he let me know what “worked” and what didn’t. Do I smile? Do I look serious? Ugh!

But I had a chance to turn the tables on Kevin, too. I asked him to pose with me for a photo that Max shot with my Iphone. We look goofy, but who cares? It was way fun and an unforgettable experience. Turns out, Kevin is an old newspaper staffer like me, so we compared notes about editors and writers with whom we’ve both worked in the past. It really is a small world.

Last evening, I received an email from Mary Robson telling me that she’d seen the story on the NYT’s web site. It’s also fitting that I first heard from Mary, a dear friend to so many gardeners and readers from her days as a popular columnist with The Seattle Times, and as King Co.’s Extension Agent who trained hundreds of Master Gardeners over the years. Mary and I co-authored The Washington-Oregon Gardener’s Guide in 2004 (and Lola was our publicist then – see what a small world it is?). What a treat to hear it first from her – the best co-author a girl could ever have.

This morning, the “real” print edition arrived in our driveway. Bruce went out to get it first and used the edge of the Home section to tickle my face and wake me up at about 6:30 a.m. Later in the day, friends texted and emailed their own photos taken of the story in the print edition and Ipad version.

I know that the 24-hour high is about to wind down, but then again, maybe not. There is something called an after-life for stories. I know because when my own articles are posted online I’m always surprised to see that they have an extended shelf life, sometimes for years.

For now, I’m just grateful and happy to have been part of the experience. Something great is coming from the combined creative efforts of two people who adore and admire flower farmers and floral designers. So as my friend, the late Linda Plato, would have said: “It’s all good.”