Bouquet Of The Day

The Ultimate Is...

A visit from your sister 

A girlfriends Bachelorette

In Chicago no less...

A cousins wedding in Philadelphia

and after 11 years being reunited with friends

A sublime two weeks spent!

Next stop Seattle for the marathon...

Edelweiss

Nothing beats seeing a flower harking from the snowy alps when it's pushing 100 degrees on the barometer. Everyone is damn hot and bothered in this city and I choose to grasp on the thought of snowy Switzerland to make it through the day.   

In Austria, on St. Valentine’s Day, it is tradition for a man to present a woman with a bunch of edelweiss, the implication being that he has risked his life climbing up to where the flowers grow.

Small and white, Clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever

-The Sound of Music

Memorial Day...

...is the old woman on her afternoon stroll in Cedarhurst, Long Island today.

Pushing through with her walker and seeing on her right arm was a faded tattoo of numbers. 

That is a memorial

Lately life has been some version of a rockstar existence between jetting to multiple getaways and taking red eyes back to work full days spent knocking through wedding quotes, only to head back out on the town and entertain in the new digs.

Oh, and train for a half marathon. 

Quiet reflections brighten when walking down our new Fifth Avenue stretch and see the numbers descending to our home of twenty-nine, which ironically is my age. New York inevitably is a young persons place and one is always left thinking when the time for this is up.

In the meantime we get ourselves acquainted with the quirks of the new place. The rickety elevator taking us up to the seventh floor, black nights blindly reaching for the light and mornings spent peering into the neighbors gardens. 

All of this being pretty darn good.

Next stop Chicago and a promise to include flower photos in next post.

xx,

Lea  

 .

Moving Forward...

is the ultimate spring clean. 

 We say goodbye to our sweet abode on Irving Place and tackle a wall of boxes in our new home on Fifth Ave.

It has been one arduous week and we leave the half complete apartment to chill in southern Cali.

See you next week! 

Cloudy Days Call for Flowers

Weeklies

Nothing beats welcoming a client with an arm load of flowers to fill their home. 

Viburnum, Jasmine, Hydrangea & Duchess White Peony

A near bloomed peony ready to burst open is divine. Don't even get me started on this hydrangea, it's insane!
So far Peonies this year ace quality, think it's going to be a good season. 

Fiver Foundation

This Post explains what an awesome organization Fiver is by helping underprivileged children with the opportunity to go to summer camp and school year mentorship. Fiver is a cause I have been, and will continue to be involved with for many more years. This past week was their annual benefit and I helped flower up the place.  

Boutonnieres

Bud Vases

Billy balls, geranium, sweet william narcissus, it doesn't get more summer camp than that. 

Lily of the Valley

My weakness for lily of the valley erupted the first time I saw it tucked away in bucket at the flower market.

Peering in at its small may bells the scent was intoxicating! An old world scent, timeless powder sweet. 

I immediately recognized the flower held by Grace Kelly on her wedding day. I have been haunted by the princess since childhood. Countless hours spent staring at photos in some paperback exposé and watching Hitchcock films on scorching summer days. 

Grace Kelly was nothing like the blondie Kim Novak or Marilyn, her elegance set her apart. 

I was OK with the fact that my appearance was nothing like the princess with my wiry brownish hair and awkward face, but I did see my sister in her effortless beauty and blond locks. Two dolls were given to me through an adequate amount of melt downs inflicted on my mother.

I own Grace Kelly in her sage colored Oscar winning dress and my favorite, her wedding dress. The dolls are tucked away back home to be brought out for a child who can love them as I did.

When engaged I too wanted the delicate lily of the valley flower to mark our occasion.

Even with a 4+ year relationship with market wholesalers, lily of the valley remains an extremely expensive flower. I did purchase five bunches for my bridal shower, of which if my husband knew the cost spent on such frivolity he would see it as throwing my hard earned money into the fire.

One of my girlfriends was let in on my guilty purchase, she appreciated it and left with the bouquets when the party wrapped up. She too is someone who reminds me of the scent. 

This past Friday like many girlie girls (and guys) the Royal wedding was a delight, especially Catherine's homage to Grace Kelly. Her dress the bouquet all such wonderful celebrations for the lovely spring season. 

 

Hats off to the beautiful brunette Duchess.  

May Day

Let us dance around a ribbon filled Maypole for the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers! 

Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets and/or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps. The basket giver would ring the bell and run away. The person receiving the basket would try to catch the fleeing giver. If they caught the person, a kiss was to be exchanged.

Forget the ding dong ditch em' and get yourself a vase filled with fresh flowers to mark the occasion!

Don't forget Mother's Day is the 8th.

Moccasins

Loving these warmer days especially while wearing these Miu Miu moccasins. How big did I luck out having the same sized feet as Lara? Guess I'll never tire of a good ol' pair of sisterly hand me downs. 

I'm also loving to fill my bud vases with helebores and pretty french ranunculus. When a season for a flower is coming a close it certainly makes you want to cherish it a bit more. 

Happy Easter

 Lara & Lee Lee circa 1985

Clean

There is something about a new season and the in-between of a closet switch over when you simply want to throw it all in a big heap and start with a fresh clean slate. 

*Vase by Glamour Preservation Society

The idea of having a bleached out existence, one so perfect in theory requiring near saint like restraint to not re-clutter it back up with colorful knicknacks and doodads. 

I instead curb this near zen like desire with splurging on our wedding album, after all it's white. 

* Wedding Album by Smythson   

  I would then gladly take on this darling pup to muck up all of my white world wants. 

Hyacinth

There are not many flowers I balance between liking or loathing as I do with the hyacinth.

Popping from bulbs in early spring the hyacinth along with the daffodil perfectly evoke the Easter Season. They smell sweet, their big heads flop over and they last for a glimmer of a moment in the earth. As any florist can attest hyacinth stems are questionable, do you cut the stump and risk loosing the leafs or keep it on? Either way it's a short round pungently sweet thing edging into the common category as it parades its way into more deli's.

I guess it's as debatable as finding Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet) from Keeping up Appearances hilarious or annoying. 

I say deliciously hilarious. 

The Hyacinth has also been a flower of some great importance. Named after a charming mythological tale of a young person who, dying in the springtime of life, is fittingly changed into a flower. 

Poor Apollo accidentally lobbed off his dear companions head while throwing a discus. Alas, the jealous Zephyr from the west wind was believed to be the true culprit of Hyacinth's death, something of a homosexual lovers triangle if you will. As horror struck Apollo held the injured Hyacinth he watched as the bloodstained grass bloomed a wondrous flower, hence the hyacinth. 

by: Peter Paul Rubens [1577-1640]

© Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Mozart that little whiz wrote his first true opera at age 11 based on this myth.   

Suppose I just need to show this flower the respect it deserves. 

Bouquet Of The Day

 peony, chamomile, ranunculus, cherry blossom, veronica, tulip & crab apple

c/o: Sprout Home

rather fitting for the spring season

"The Process of Art Matters"

Don't you love when you get those forgotten rolls of film developed and happy accidents are discovered? 

This was from my trip home to Tucson, AZ this past Fall. 

Then in a fit of nostalgia your phone rings and it's dad. He tells you of an article in Sunday's paper in which he is the feature. Like a parent brags of ones child, I could not possibly be more proud of him.

*Photo by: James Perkins of  Flatt Magazine

The Process of Art Matters 

Jatropha Flower

Jatropha, an unusual flower that resembles noble red coral. Renaissance collectors believed coral was a flexible plant that turned into stone once removed from the sea.

The blood red coral was also believed to have come into existence when Perseus, flying over the sea on Pegasus, held up the decapitated Medusa's head, which dripped blood into the water with hissing sounds, causing the coral to grow.

* Perseus with Head of Medusa By: Celini

Today, the plant truly has some powerful properties having the potential to develop a new bio fuel industry, particularly for jets.  Read this Business Week article and this site from the Jatropha Alliance.   Pretty spectacular! 

Curiosities

Terrarium fascination is and has been at fever pitch with no signs of waning in the plant world.

I see it in the classes I teach at Sprout, while my floral classes dwindle with a few students, the terrarium classes are jam packed. Classes and questions constantly being added and answered.

I totally see the appeal and satisfaction one feels getting together for a plant party and creating an enclosed world of ones very own.

Snow Cat Globe Terrarium By: Melissa Gorman

I especially think terrariums attract a NY'ers sensibilities, easy to maintain, (practically neglectful) small, a perfect green environment one can longingly peer into like the dollhouse a child wishes to call home.

Doggy Globe Terrarium By: Melissa Gorman

Since I completed my decorative arts midterm today I got to thinking... 

Myself and the other pained students are not the only ones who are going to learn this stuff.

So, may I please expound a singular decorative art thought as I hope it relates nicely to terrarium fever?

It was called the Kunstkammer, setting: Netherlands, date: 17th century

This was an age of exploration and discovery particularly for the affluent Dutch. (Don't get this confused with tulip mania, that was a century later) A fascination with the natural world and widespread interest in observing the strange natural beauty through scientific instruments: 

*Celestial Globe with Clockwork By: Gerhard Emmoser ca. 1579

precise renderings of flora and fauna:

 * A Study of Butterflies & other Insects By: Jan van Kessel ca.1655

and a desire to collect the exotic and unusual:

 * Nautilus Cup By: Jan Jacobsz van Royestein ca 1596

The goal of ones collection was to contain a microcosm of all that existed in the universe. The idea that God had placed man at the center of the world and had provided him with the means to achieve universal knowledge. All of this fascination lead to the study of natural magic, but by the mid-18th century scholars further classified the natural, human and spiritual wonders. Thus creating our separation of the arts and sciences. 

Back to my point...In a world of chaos isn't a terrarium a perfect way to gain control? While none of us would admit such delusions of grandeur as the 17th C. Dutch it sure is nice to have our own microcosm of a most perfect world. 

By: yours truly

Bouquet Of The Day

While you're out and about take a stroll up 5th Ave to see the Sonia Delaunay show.