for barbara

[A little order i made this afternoon with ranuncula, anemone, arabicum, tulips, eucalyptus and astrantia.]

Today Eric announced "I HATE FLOWERS," and threw a dead helleborus at me.

We need a vacation...so we'll be closing next week - reopening on April 17th. During this time off we're planning on doing things that normal people do. Do normal people get massages? Just say YES, and let me know if you have any recommendations for a NYC masseuse.


I'll post again before then --
In the meantime here are some things I looked at today:

Finishing Salt
Roasted Asperagus Soap ..i mean Soup
Ariella Flowers - always wildly beautiful flowers. She's really the top...
Design for Mankind

......I just remembered; I had a dream about Angela Landsbury last night. We were cohorts in a plot to stop developers from sabotaging an ancient Mayan ruin located on top of City Hall. (They thought there was money hidden inside.)

It didn't work, so we walked home together and I told her all my problems.

xxo
sarah

Dear Abby; a sweet dog we're watching. A sweet dog that cries in the night. All night actually.

This is what 4:30 AM looks like. Approximately the time I decided, To hell with it! I might as well get up and go to the flower market.

Darla; a sweet cat that is A.) Confused as to why I'm getting to work so early B.) Concerned I may have brought Dear Abby with me C.) Attempting to learn Finnish by night using Tape 1 of "Berlitz : Let's Go to Finland!"

Some of the loot: Parrot tulips, ranuncula, sarafina (pitcher plants)

do-dads

Playing still with the leftover flowers from last week this morning. This little bird vase is sweetly creepy. Gonna bring it (and it's twin sister) to the Brooklyn Flea this Sunday. Hope some of you will stop by and introduce yourselves!! Eric and I have to boogie and get some things together...we're planning on selling soap, small bouquets, and a selection of the best do-dads.

Below are some shots of the purple sample re-worked this morning with peach and orange ranuncula. These ranuncula from NJ open to reveal the most beautiful yellow center - unlike those from Holland.

banana legs and more!

Today I was thrilled to come across Tomato Bob's website -- the best site I've found for heirloom tomato seeds. It's an incredibly comprehensive collection. You have to visit it just to admire the crazy names of different varieties (My loot includes: Mortgage Lifter, Mexico Midget, Korean Love Apple, Yellow Pear and Black Zebra varieties!!!)

In 1893 the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the tomato would be classified as a vegetable (Nix v. Hedden). This however is not technically correct. Botanically, the tomato is a fruit (specifically a berry) because it acts as the ovary (together with the seeds) of a flowering plant.

If at this point you are wondering if I am procrastinating, you would be correct.

Viola Arvensis. Or Field Pansies. I got a slew of them last week and have been planting them every day since in pots, old metal pails, coffee cans, window boxes etc. One of my absolute favorite flowers. It's markings are so concise and striking...its an elegant springtime flower that blooms before almost anything else, and folks - most importantly - its edible.



Some of you may have seen how Martha Stewart coats them in egg whites and sugar to decorate some type of cake way beyond my baking league. More my style would be adding them to a fennel salad or pressing them in between the pages of a dictionary, never to be seen again...

I'm actually thinking of trying to incorporate some in a sample bouquet tomorrow -- we'll see how they last once they are cut. I got the idea from a this bouquet I saw on Birch's website in San Fransisco. Gorgeous styling...I can't wait to see more of what they do.

In other news, on Sunday I bribed Aaron to act as my assistant and we drove out to The Foundry, a perfectly restored 19th century cathedral-like building located right under the 59th Street Bridge in Long Island City. We've been getting a few wedding bids for this venue so we decided to do a full investigation (and a walk through with the bride of an upcoming wedding). Thank you Aaron for the photographs.

Ode to hellebore and moss in 2 acts.

HELLEBORE: (LEFT WITH BLUE MONKEY)

Poisonous beauty, I will not eat you - because you are delicate...like a sensitive flower. I mean, you really are a delicate flower....Wait...

MOSS: (ENTER STAGE RIGHT)

I found you strewn amidst the lawn...you with aspirations of terrariums and orchid blankets... I thought to rescue you from the claws of cats and weedkillers. In fact I left you in the back of the truck, rolled in tissue paper until you dried up and died.
What have I done???

[A recent visit to the NYC Opera has provided mild dramatic motivation.]

wed-DING-DING

The start of our wedding season has begun and I'm busy meeting with ladies, gentlemen and mothers all weekend. Its really fun. Everyone has different ideas and it brings me to new ways of thinking about how flowers can influence the mood of a party.


That being said, I've done a little bit of practicing over the past week. Below is a picture of a boutonniere with thistle, jasmine and muscari...top and center some shots of a sample bouquet for next weekends wedding with garden roses, tuberose, helleborus, cymbidium orchids, astrantia, ranuncula, tulips and lisianthus.