Monday was St. Barbara’s day and although I am not religious, I track the world’ holidays for their symbolism, intent and beauty. A custom for St. Barbara’s is to bring in branches of flowering trees and shrubs and “force” them, or put them in a warm environment to trick them into blooming. Like forcing narcissus, […]
This week with the rain and wind, I wondered what I would find to feature. The answer was in the kitchen – a bunch of persimmons ripening indoors. Now I realize I’m featuring garden persimmons quite a lot, but I’m coming into a major scrounge time of year in the garden. I feel lucky that […]
I have had this vessel for years. It looks like a squash, very organic. It makes a good container for the Thanksgiving holiday arrangement. The finished product contains the “fruits” of the garden, the fruits of harvest. I’m grateful there’s enough still available that I can put together an appropriate table arrangement. Rose hips, […]
Capturing the autumn colors. The materials this week are all from the garden. Hydrangea heads, Autumn joy sedum, and branches of persimmon. Materials to be gathered are getting skimpier although we have not had a frost yet. When that happens the dahlias will be all gone. I am also getting ready to do a […]
I’ve been too preoccupied with getting my piece ready for the Lan Su Chinese Garden floral display, as a result the arrangement for this week features only a few garden or wild foraged items, the mums are from our local flower market where I purchased my supplies for the big arrangement. Look for a bonus […]
Although I’m determined to highlight seasonal flowers and foliage from my personal garden, I was in the Midwest for most of the week and needed to resort to purchased flowers as my mom doesn’t have much of a flower garden. The sunflowers were from a local grocery store and greens picked from my mom’s yard […]
This week features a pottery vase from the Van Briggle company, an American art pottery maker since the late 1890s. Although the company was making pieces into the 21st century, my piece was probably made in the 40s. Any week now our temperatures will be cold enough that the floral material in the garden […]
There are a surprising number of pink and purple flowers in the autumnal garden and I’ve taken a selection of these and grouped them into a tablescape arrangement. I have had this collection of small vases in greens and ambers that I typically use individually. They make a nice grouped arrangement. A close up of […]
The sun is weakening when it is not hidden behind the clouds which form regularly. The temperature is dropping. Rain splatters the plants pushing them into the dirt. I still have plenty to pick in the garden: roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, fushias, a smattering of other things. This week I wanted to highlight an antique glass […]
Using a remaindered vase I echoed the mosaic colors (yellow, pink and a little blue) with late summer flowers from the garden. Flowers include: Dahlias, faded hydrangea heads, Japanese anemones, clematis. Our average first frost doesn’t typically come until November, but October days can be damp, dank and cold, shutting down flower development. So we’ll […]
Rooms in Bloom 