Tuesday, November 27, 2012

flowers, always, and always

"i must have flowers, always, and always" -- claude monet

white festiva maxima peonies

some lovely white peonies given to me on my birthday earlier this year.  very humbly arranged -- i wanted nothing more than to watch them open and let their fragrance fill the studio.  simple pleasures, really.

white festiva maxima peonies 
white festiva maxima peonies 
white festiva maxima peonies



Thursday, November 22, 2012

happy thanksgiving!


my favorite holiday of the year!  i love the gathering of family, the good food to eat and an opportunity to reflect on the things i'm thankful for:  life, family and good health.  oh, and for the new england patriots.

my sister and i put this arrangement together.  with all the crazy preparations for dinner, we couldn't stop by the flower market so we rushed to our local trader joe's on thanksgiving eve for some flowers.  something is better than nothing and no holiday can go without flowers, not at least in our home.  i hand-tied this budget-friendly bouquet of ilex berries, eucalyptus, roses and alstroemeria.





 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

woodland terrarium


i posted a picture of my humble woodland terrarium in my last post.  sue wanted to make one and i love anything woodland-themed, particularly one that reminds me of a new england woodland.

what we set out to do was simple, really; something green to keep indoors and something made from the backyard.  we gathered materials from the woods -- princess pine, ground cedar, partridge berries and moss from a fallen log.

princess pine, partridge berries, baby fern and ground cedar

the materials we used were:

- big glass bowl purchased from a yard sale
- leftover rocks saved from a flower arrangement
- potting soil
- foraged materials

and we put everything together in layers:
- first, a layer of rock
- add a layer of soil (not too much)
- add the plants -- place as you wish and press them down into the soil
- add a layer of moss around the plants (tear as necessary to cover the plants; moss should be gathered with some of the tree bark attached to it)
- add some rocks here and there
- mist with water, not too much but just enough to get everything covered
- and cover with lid or plastic wrap after a day (it should be uncovered for a day once every 3-4 weeks or so)


Monday, November 12, 2012

into the woods

my weekend in the woods and later this week, my woodland terrarium made with foraged plants.


Friday, November 2, 2012

sandy

so sandy sucked, a lot.

we made out relatively ok, but some didn't and my heart goes out to them.  the power went out on monday night and our cell service followed pretty soon thereafter.  our apartment building did a good job regulating the water supply but now there's no water for the higher floors (that would be us).  traffic lights aren't working, no subways and the buses are overloaded with people.  we showered once in three days (ew -- i know).  hence, we're now in massachusetts today and until the weekend.

UPDATE:  as i was writing this, i received a robo-call from ConEd that our power is now restored.

flowers from earlier this winter -- tulips, star of bethlehem, ranunculus, poppies, creme de la creme roses, blackberries and ivy....

tulips, star of bethlehem, ranunculus, poppies, creme de la creme roses, blackberries and ivy