Outdoor Decor

so now that Christmas is over and my brain is back in gear I can post some photos of some other things I did for the holidays.  This is an old basket with round dividers - not sure what it is but I love it - this year I filled it with ilex and cedar and it provides a nice bit of color at my inlaws's house across the street...

Christmas Party

For the past 4 years we have participated at various levels for a large Christmas party.  This year we did the entire house and tent decor installation and all the florals.  Here are a few of the things we put our hands on.

Christmas install

Just a simple install at a lovely townhouse on Capitol Hill.  I love the look of roping and traditional red bows.  This year I added a fun glitter and burlap print bow to make the large wreaths on the railings pop....as much I would love to - there is no way to attach wreaths to the front doors...so they go on the railings.

Wedding tablescape

I have a wedding coming up and the bride and groom are bookworms (my favorite type of people).
They want a tablescape of books and this is one idea I am working on.  Such fun to do something a little different!

Thanksgiving Flowers for Frances

I made this arrangements this morning for Frances'  Thanksgiving dinner tonight. 

Landon Reunion

This is Reunion weekend at Landon School - lots of activities for the old boys.  I made a couple of these large pieces for the buffet and used lovely antique hydrangeas, rust mums, Leonides roses,  bright red celosia, green hypericum berries, a few magnolia leaves, sweet gum leaves, hanging burgandy amaranthus and bay leaves that smelled so great.  I like the quiet opulence of this piece.

Dinner party

I delivered these flowers for a dinner party tonight.  The linens were a nice gold and rust brocade and I used Coffee Break roses, warm gold and red spray roses,  some faux Florentine vegetables, veautiful maple leaves and gold filler.  Gold vases and votives added to the warmth of this event.

Claire's wedding

Claire got married this weekend.  Hers was the my last wedding of the season.  The venue was Woodend in Chevy Chase, a nice mansion in a nature preserve.   Claire wanted a bright fall color palette and I was happy to oblige.  I used lots of dahlias, gomphena, solidago, roses, hypericum, sunflowers, millet, broom corn and mexican sage. 

Landon party

I made some small arrangements for a party at Landon yesterday.  I love the carpeting - it is mocha, light turquoise, pink and cream and so pretty, I always try to key the arrangements to it.   For the dining room I used an old Turkish brazier that I have had for years - it is a wonderful piece. 

 I used Juliette garden roses, succulents, bronze mums, Coffee break roses, burgandy foliage, pin cushions, green hydrangea, silver brezillia berries, hydrangea berries, eucalyptus - lots of elements in these pieces.

Queen Victoria's left hand

Found this lovely hand at one of my favorite stores in Frederick, MD called Paul's Great Stuff - he really has great stuff in two locations and you can always find some interesting prop.  My little wrist corsage looks good in it.  I used Red Mikado sprays, gold painted hydrangea berries and a little bling on the leaves...all this on a gold wire base.

Dinner party

We delivered the flowers for a law firm dinner party tonight.  They wanted bright fall colors and I had a great time playing with the wonderful colors and flowers available at this time of year.  I used yellow Duet roses, artichokes, sunflowers, flame celosia, purple ageratum, hydrangea berries, bronze mums, marigolds and millet.  This is my favorite time of year.

Wishing tree

Our latest bride and groom wanted a wishing tree at their reception.  Their guests wrote their wishes for the couple on cute tags and hung them from the branches.  We made it from a couple of manzanita branches rising from a mossed container.  The container itself was decorated with air plants, succulents and other rustic items.

Yesterday's Bride's bouquet

Juliette garden roses, Senorita roses, white astrancia, lamb's ears, Luviana spray roses, and cream lisianthus.....such a pretty combination for a pretty bride.

Fall color

This piece went out last week - lots of deep rich fall colors in here....some garden flowers - limelight hydrangea and celosia....

Peaches and Oranges and Creams

Today I delivered this pretty piece to a good client.  She loves peach and cream but hates roses!  Without roses I am sunk but I found wonderful orangey peach ranuculus (my second favorite flower), pink mink protea, orange gloriosa lilies, peachy tulips, grey dusty miller, cream lisianthus, seeded eucalyptus and my last few blush dahlias.  I love this piece and hope that she does as well...

Quick backyard bouquet

Cafe au Lait Dahlias, Black Dragon Sedum flowers, Caramel coral bell leaves, burgandy coleus leaves, little limelight hydrangea flowers and some peppermint geranium leaves....all from the garden..

succulents

I love this succulent piece - I accidentally broke a little orchid plant and the stem looked just right with the purple succulent in the turquoise vase.  A little dusty miller completes the arrangement.

Today's wedding

Chris and Ed got married tonight at 2941 Restaurant in Virginia.  Such a beautiful place. the restaurant is on the ground floor of a very modern office building set in a park.  There is a large lake and a waterfall and beautiful grounds.  We used a metallic color scheme for the containers and rust, gold and cream flowers. 

Oriana's wedding

Today Oriana married Arzan.  I worked with Oriana's mother Claudia and Arzan for the most part but communicated through emails with Oriana.  We came up with a silver and white color story.  Claudia bought mirrored vases and very interesting votive holders in 3 different styles.    I used lots of great textures within the color range - brunia berries, callas, roses, lisianthus, eucalyptus, dusty miller leaves, freesia, astrancia, anemones, pierus, succulents and more.   It was wild and loose looking and I thought it worked out very well.  I have been working on this style of bouquet for a little while now and like it very much.  The first picture shows the bouquet.

Delivery

Yesterday I took these flowers down to Sidwell Friends School.  I am going to be doing a weekly for them this year and wanted to start out with a bang. I used delphinium, pincushion proteas, yellow yarrow, yellow Billy Balls and Creme de la Creme roses.  I love the urn - I am looking for interesting opaque containers these days in good colors.

Joyce and Joel's wedding

Joyce and Joel got married yesterday at Woodend in Chevy Chase.  We made lots of fun things for them, used some wonderful weathered shutters for the place cards and made some blackboard bird shaped signs for the games area.  The color palette was mint green, yellow and coral and it was a beautiful day.