creative gifts

 Simply roses was H.'s solution to the many holiday something-somethings we have to come up with each year. For each school teacher, co-worker and lucky friend she created a beautiful and unique arrangement of roses in a vase. In just two hours her very creative hands transformed 325 roses in plastic buckets to 14 beautiful arrangements, stricking combinations, complete with gold ribbon. Notice the wonderful dozen and a half red freedoms in a tall fluted vase - wonderful accomplishment for someone starting out doing her own flower arranging.

the wow effect

every once in a while a combination of flowers comes together that is simple and flawless, interesting and very real. this thanksgiving it was the way the 'mumbo' roses and the mini fuchsia callas opened simultaneously and in complement, the perfection and shine of the english ivy and the 'summer meadow' look of the wheat that gave this bouquet its exclusive, delicious and timeless look.

Thanksgiving centerpiece class

I thank my very talented students for coming to share their time and original visions. We had a very productive evening with low clear glass containers, decorative kale and calla lilies, roses and snapdragons, mini gerbera daisies, lysianthus, wheat, thistle and solidago, even carrots, parsley, burlap and ivy.... A thanksgiving decor according to all our different personalities, traditions and tastes. Lovely combinations, great choices. The flowers lasted well. Some in my studio are going on two weeks. Great work, ladies.

Local is both beautiful and sustainable

Hydragea, dhalia and a touch of grass - all from a local New Jersey farm in Bernardsville. A stricking, simple and lasting arrangement that just about anyone can put together. Vase life of flowers increases exponentially relative to distance reduction in travel. Dhalias will have to be disposed of but hydrangea and grasses can successfully move on to a dry arrangement and easily last through the winter in a vase, swag or wreath.

A glass square (my personal favourite) filled with blue ageratum (flossflower - also comes in purple and white), celosia (cock's comb) and helianthus -sunflower buds (which are much more subtle to design with than developed flowers). All from the Honey Brook Organic farm in Pennington. A perfect vibrant autumn centerpiece, a coffee table or mantle arrangement. Not only will it last for at least a week... if one is patient and refills the vase with fresh water, ageratum will root and successfully transplant into the garden after a few weeks.

flowers as a business gift

To make a great first impression or to say thank you to a colleague, a client or a partner - a lasting and tasteful arrangement of tropical and seasonal flowers for a stunning effect. Cymbidium orchids in green, bi-color calla lilies, dhalias and blue thistle in a timeless white urn. Always classic choice - design in threes.

raspberries from the honeybrook organic farm

we love our csa

speak easy wedding

casa blanca lilies, white roses, white callas... a speak easy wedding at a secret location in Brooklyn with a password. it was dark so white flowers really stood out.

Featuring Wisteria

There are many reasons to love this time of year - the new growth, the promise of the unknown, the freedom of warmth... This arrangement includes pink andromeda, mock orange (or european jasmine), wisteria and orange roses - i love the fact that it takes 4 minutes for these stems to make it from their plants to the vase. Vase life - 4/5 days, if you are ok with artistic petal drop by the wisteria.

Plant and Bake sale at Crossroads featuring flowers from a local farm in Bernardsville NJ.

sending kind thoughts - flowers for a friend

Here is an arrangement in pastel colors, snapdragons, ranunculus, hydrangea, lilac, flowering cherry and seeded eucaliptus. All wrapped and ready to go...

A dinner party

Yesterday was a perfect day to work with flowers and a busy one at that. These below were arrangements donated for a special French style evening of dining through the Art Council's benefit last year. Hyacinth, lilac, dusty lavender spray roses, frayed red parrot tulips, French double lilac, seeded eucaliptus...it looked lovely on the dinner table atop a hadnstitched tablecloth.

this was the coffee table piece, in complement to the centerpiece yet different and with its own sensibility; featuring burnt orange spray roses, white hydrangea and green viburnum, plus charming greenish orange inside perfectly round parrot tulips.Gentle and delicate plum blossoms don't really show on the photo, but they were wonderful to work with. This arrangement for the bar has hybrid translucent purple hydrangea, french parrot tulips, lilac, oncidium orchids and a touch of French lilac to tie it all together. Black river stone at the bottom of one of my favorite vases grounds nicely such a top-loaded arrangement in a tapered vase.

Floral design class

We had a lovely class on a beautiful Saturday, featuring hybrid Holland hydrangea in mauve and violet, three different colors of snapdragons, spray roses, ranunculi in bold colors, parrot and frayed tulips, deep raspberry color dendrobium and yellow oncidium orchids, plum blossoms, viburnum and seeded eucaliptus. 

The ladies opted for a presentation this time, which turned out very nice for me - it is easy to talk about design as you are working with an arrangement, explaining reasons for choices and illustrating different trics and techniques. Before everyone left, we talked about color combinations and personal preferences and sensibilities and everyone took home a bouquet.

white casablanca lilies

Tom and I had a disagreement about these lilies. He thought they would not open, but I was optimistic. They sat on the counter of The Gramercy Park Flower Shop, then they almost ended up in a trash can, then they were on a train for 2 hours... but then they enjoyed a fresh cut and went into warm water, lovely vase and on top of my mantle... where the continued to open and be beautiful and fragrant for close to 2 weeks. I am forwarding this picture to Tom.

ranunculi and roses

Can i will spring into being? Maybe. If anyone can, it should be a florist. Here are gorgeous magenta and pure white ranunculi with the their little baby buds still opening perfectly on the 5th day in the vase. Visually, they are a smaller, non-fragrant version of a rose or a peony.... oh so gentle cut down short - here with the backdrop of the blue stone floor in my studio. Easter and Passover will be here before you know it - order your holiday centerpieces early.

A small square vase with a bear grass ring inside for added effect and for anchoring the roses - a great way to use up little fallen angels of the rose. Just make sure that the water level in the vase is high so little darlings can drink up and open to their hearts' content. That they will do, as these tiny 'Limoncellos', shaken off by a lovely spray rose in transit.

The beginner floral design class at Princeton Adult School is going well so far. I'll have to post pictures after next and last session - we'll be making stylized arrangements in clay pots and bowls, and whatever other interesting containers the students come up with. Stay tuned.

Cyclamen & Cat

Cyclamen or Alpine violet is a wonderful winter bloomer. The leaves are round with intricate bi-color leaves and often a fringe all around. The flowers, on the other hand are plentiful and will keep blooming well into the spring. I love how intimate this picture is.