Pastel Ranuculus

Beautiful pastel ranuculus in the most luscious sherbet colors of yellow, peach and rose.  I made a small bouquet along with lamb's ears and a little cedar.  The ribbon wrap is 3 colors of peach ribbons zig zagged together. 

My Christmas table

After a busy season decorating everyone else's house I got something together for my own table today.  I made a scaffolding of birch branches on my light fixture and hung some cedar fronds and crystals from it.  On the table itself I made a small tablescape of silver and gold votives with more cedar and pine cones.  It was sinple but pleasing to me.

Holiday arrangement

I made this little arrangement for the Landon School grandparent's party a few weeks ago, I had just gotten my new camera and was experimenting with some settings.  Such fun.  I love those gold Combo roses - at times they cost the moon but they are such a wonderful color. 

Landon Gala samples

Landon School is having a gala in February and I am making samples for them.  They want an orange color story with tropical flowers and this is a first view of what I am showing them.

Asia's Birthday Party Flowers

Asia had a birthday party a few weeks ago.  Her color scheme was blush/gold/silver - one of my favorite combinations.  I used Quicksand roses, blush callas, silver dusty miller, white anenome and silver brunia berries in a gold ceramic square vase.  I think it is very pretty.  This photo was taken with my new Canon Rebel camera with a 50 mm lens - finally, good photos to post!

Pale Fall

Today I made some arrangements for a new client - she has a very neutral house and wanted the color story to be pale fall colors.  I had a lot of fun with this - I used some local flowers, the last of the dahlias for the season, purple queen anne's lace, antique pink dutch hydrangea, Femma and Pink Aubade roses, yellow dahlias, scabiosa pods, millet, hydrangea berries, sweet gum foliage and silver dollar eucalyptus.  

Meridian House Event

Last week I did an event for St. Albans School at the Meridian House, a historic property designed by James Pope, who also designed the National Gallery in Washington.  It is a most beautiful building.
We did 3 different mantle arrangements and made some little tree arrangements for the buffet tables.  For a late fall vibe, we used Rover mums, monbretia pods and Terra Cotta roses.  The trees were made from Sweet Gum branches in birch tubes with an arrangement of roses, mums and greens around the base.

Dinner Party on the Hill

I made some arrangements for a dinner party on Capitol Hill the other night.  The client wanted some subtle cool tones for a hot Washington evening outdoors.  I used pierus, green anthirium, cream roses and some tan/rust dried pods in a trio of little stone urns. 

Charleston Alexander Bridal Jewelry Show

On Aug 17  I was happy to participate in a bridal jewelry show at the Charleston Alexander Jewelers in Bethesda.  I provided an array of bouquets and had a great time making a some different types of pieces.  I used babies breath with a feather collar, a wonderful heart shaped anthirium leaf with cymbidium orchids, pale green anthirium with pink ranuculus, cream roses and silver dusty miller and other combinations.  What fun - I had a lovely time.

Party at the Canadian Embassy

We did the flowers for a party at the fabulous Canadian Embassy last month.  They wanted a tropical vibe and we were happy to oblige.  We used a medley of tropical flowers and greens - oncidium orchids, flax leaves, pink ginger, aralia leaves, orange pincushions, burgandy ti leaves, red anthirium, orange gerbers and heliconia.  Lots of fun to work with this great palette and do something lush.

Charleston Alexander Bridal Fashion Expo and Jewelry Trunk Show

On August 17 2013, I am going to be part of  the Charleston Alexander Jewelry Bridal Fashion Expo and Jewelry Trunk Show in Bethesda, MD.  I am providing bridal bouquets and arrangements for the show and am so excited to be part of this.  It is open from 10 - 7 pm.   Check out the entry on the blog on the Charleston Alexander web site.

Sunny dinner party

Last night there was a dinner party outside on a pool deck.   I did the flowers in a nice sunny yellow with refreshing greens and grey accents to cool things off visually during this hot spell in Washington.

Breakfast at St. Albans

This past spring I made an arrangement for a breakfast at the headmaster's home.  Peaches and creams were the colors and I made a pretty piece for the event.  Ranuculus, roses, cream hydrangea, my favorite varigated pittosporum and a touch of grey brunia to add a little sophistication.

Kissing ball

I had a wedding last week and one of the samples I made for the flower girl to carry was this moss ball covered with birch bark flowers attached with pearl pins.  

Summer bouquet

Sometimes it is fun to just plunk some stems in a vase and enjoy a bright bouquet.  This is what I did yesterday and delivered it to a newly married couple. 

Persimmon wedding

We did a lovely wedding this weekend.  The colors were persimmon and grey and we expanded that to include pinky persimmons and silvery grey and all the persimmon colors in between...This picture is the sweetheart table arrangement.

Two photos of new work - one with orange pin cushions, roses, red hypericum, poppy pods and safari sunset protea.  The other with lavender roses, blooming lambs ears, newly blossoming lavender hydrangea and nigella. 

Daphne's wedding

Yesterday was the wedding of Daphne and Dave.  The were married at a farm in Potomac, MD and we were happy to do the flowers.  They ceremony was in a wonderful barn and the reception in a huge tent.  We used our shutters for the place cards.  In the barn was an old ruined piano that we decorated with plants, moss, succulents and branches.   I found an old piece of sheet music that we propped on the keyboard.   We made some nice loose wild arrangements for the barn with queen anne's lace, grasses from my garden, lime green foliage and a little delphinium.    The reception centerpieces were made with lime green mohito hydrangeas, white gerbera and daisies and ruskus foliage.   After a spate of cold weather they were lucky to have lovely weather for their day.

Lily of the valley

We have a nice bed of lily of the valley in front of the house but I have never had a bride at the time it was blooming (except for my daughter who got married this weekend - but in Chicago and that is another story).

Anyway, this is a nice picture sent from a friend in NJ who takes lovely photos and makes interesting art works, Mark Nolden.  You can google him and see what he does.

Busy

I am so busy that I can't even remember what these pieces were for - maybe for the Canadian ambassador's wife's lunch, but who knows?

Anyway, peaches and cream - 3 pieces that work together....peach roses, white tulips, white veronica, peach hypericum, cream roses and apricot ranuculus, I love this color palette.

Harry Belefonte

Harry Belefonte !

received the Eleanor Roosevelt award at the Women's National Democratic Club last week and I was happy to do the flowers and to attend.  My sister in law arranged the event, she and my mother in law presented the award, and one of the speakers was a long ago high school classmate.  Next year we should do the catering as well!

Anyway, the flowers were pinks, corals and lime green, a little touch of tropicals mixed with roses and other flowers.

Harry Belefonte was every bit as elegant and stately in his 80s as when he was younger.  He told some stories about the things that propelled him toward a life as a civil rights activist and about his friendship with Eleanor.  It was a wonderful evening. 

Today's ikebana arrangements

Today at ikebana class the teacher had a huge bucket of double cherry blossoms which we were lucky enough to use in our arrangements.  Such fun to find the perfect arc of a branch to express the ideal of this particular botanical.  A calla leaf and pink ranuculus completed the piece.  The second piece was a little more playful - I used curved pussy willow, dried calathea leaves, looped lily grass and a calla leaf.

An arrangement for Ducks

Today I did this arrangement for a reception for Ducks Unlimited.  I wanted the piece to evoke a marsh so I used some dried grasses, purple Queen Anne's lace, Sahara roses, pale yellow ranuculus,

blue scabiosa, seeded eucalyptus, grevillia greens and a small protea.  I put everything in a birch bark lined glass vase.

Winter wonderland (in May)

Today I worked on a sample for a winter themed lunch in May - this is the first iteration - a few more ideas to follow.  White anemones, white roses, grey brunia and dusty miller, seeded eucalyptus and white astrancia in a birch covered vase sitting on a branch section.

Calla lilies

A new take on the submerged flower idea - calla lilies in and out of the cylinder with calla lily leaves wrapped around the interior stems...

Wedding arrangement sample

Today I am messing around with some ideas for a wedding at a winery in Charlottesville in June.  The bride wants bold bright colors, I want to bring in some idea of the winery - we will see how they like it.  I used the flame callas, orange roses, Blue River delphinium, green hypericum, and yellow Mokara orchids that she liked, as well as some dark fuschia stock and fuschia wax flower.  Instead of my usual round flower bomb I tried an assymetrical piece with the callas spilling over the side, the various in flowers in tight groupings and curly willow (standing in for grapevine)  rising from the vase and sheltering the piece.  This is just an experiment and we will see how it goes.

Long low arrangments

Here is another long low piece - peach roses, hellebores from my garden - Ivory Prince, flat ferns, white Eskimo roses, ranuculus peach hypericum, pussy willow, white parrot tulips and varigated greens. 

Dinner party

Tonight I did the flowers for a dinner party at Landon. I am doing lots of long low pieces these days - for this one I put three small glass glass squares together.    I used 3 color of parrot tulips - a dark red, a tomato red and an apricot, Euphoria roses and a tomato red ranuculus mix.   It was a nice bright piece.

Ikebana

I am a sporadic student of ikebana - it is all dependent on my flower orders.  I always learn so much when I go and I think it is having a positive effect on my work.  It is a study for a lifetime and occasionally I get a glimpse of what it is all about.

Anyway, yesterday the practice was shoka shimputai.  3 different types of materials in a line, front to back with a couple of inches of clean stem showing above the rim of the vase.  I bought some wonderful arrowhead shaped anthirium leaves and had the yellow ranuculus on hand.  My teacher grows black pussy willow which I am trying to root so I can grow it myself. 

The large leaf is of course the star, but the pussy willow and the ranuculus are fine supporting players.

Woven twigs

Another experiment.  I was working with some birch twigs - I always have a lot on hand - my neighbors in back have a row of river birches that shed their branches constantly.  I was going to do a french weave on the inside of the vase and instead hooked the twigs onto the rim and had the longer sections fall outside.

I filled the inside with carnations and like how their fluffy soft look contrast with the spiky twigs.

Experiments

Today I am messing around.  I saw an incredible arrangement on Facebook and am shamelessly lifting from the design.  I made a wall of red twig dogwood sticks around the perimeter of the gold vase and then put a garland of flowers on top - I love this idea.  I used green cymbidium orchids, and green spider mums on the top with some seeded eucalyptus and philodendrum, aspedistra and ruskus leaves.

Luckily I have a stash of dogwoods at the house and have now chopped them all as low as I can to get the sticks I need.  I may have to head across the street to my in-laws to get to more.

CARE reception

Last week the people from CARE had a reception at the French Embassy.  They chose orange and yellow tablecloths and I used pink and coral flowers to make it all a bit spring like.  I used pink roses, green spider mums, pink and apricot carnations, pink and yellow alstromeria and yellow button mums with a touch of silver blue eucalyptus to tone it all done a bit.