sandy

so sandy sucked, a lot.

we made out relatively ok, but some didn't and my heart goes out to them.  the power went out on monday night and our cell service followed pretty soon thereafter.  our apartment building did a good job regulating the water supply but now there's no water for the higher floors (that would be us).  traffic lights aren't working, no subways and the buses are overloaded with people.  we showered once in three days (ew -- i know).  hence, we're now in massachusetts today and until the weekend.

UPDATE:  as i was writing this, i received a robo-call from ConEd that our power is now restored.

flowers from earlier this winter -- tulips, star of bethlehem, ranunculus, poppies, creme de la creme roses, blackberries and ivy....

tulips, star of bethlehem, ranunculus, poppies, creme de la creme roses, blackberries and ivy



batten down the hatches

bouquet of juliet garden roses, cafe au lait dahlias, golden amaranthus, chocolate cosmos, persimmons,
queen anne's lace, privet berries, umbrella fern and dried wheat

hurricane sandy is coming tonight (supposedly).  no MTA service until the storm is over.  likely, no anything else too:  whole foods, duane reade, the flower market or even walks outside....  we've stocked up on water, food and batteries and, if you're in the area, we hope you've done the same. 

(anna) here's a sneak peek into a project that i've been working on.  i didn't want to leak any of last weekend's images until everything was done; however, editing much higher resolution files on an outdated iMac certainly has its challenges....  i guess new camera = new computer -- yikes!

killing frost


and so it happened... a killing frost fell upon my dahlias last night and now there are none.  so it goes.

i've been quiet this october, only my full-time work and renovating my parents' kitchen to occupy the time.  next weekend pete and i will be in western MA to dig up the dahlia tubers and the annuals.  we plan on seeding the beds with winter rye if it's not too late.  hopefully, the rye will take root before the winter and protect the beds from the cold and windy days to come.  in the spring, we'll till the rye into the soil as green manure.  this is the plan anyways.

our car needs a break so we've stayed put in the city this weekend.  we're on track to rack up 18,000 miles on a 10,000 mile lease -- yikes!  and what do i do when i'm home?  well, i should be cleaning the apartment, paying bills and sorting through the piles of mail that are here, there and everywhere, but instead i made an arrangement or two, took some photos and tinkered in photoshop.  pete joined in the fun too, playing the photographer for some of these pics.

the flowers are cream yves piaget roses, cafe latte roses, poppy pods, cream cafe au lait dahlias, burgundy dahlias (sorry don't know the name), pink astilbe and chocolate geranium leaves.


cafe latte roses, cream yves piaget roses, pink astilbe, cafe au lait dahlias, poppy pods and chocolate geranium leaves
cafe latte roses, cream yves piaget roses, pink astilbe, cafe au lait dahlias, poppy pods and chocolate geranium leaves









congrats Anna + T!

today i'm even more speechless than sunday.  i'm so grateful that anna & t gave me complete floral license for their august wedding and that i had the opportunity to work with the super-talented photographer, Maggie Harkov!  Maggie was sweet enough to share some of her wonderful photos.

anna & t are, perhaps, the cutest couple ever.  when they're together, their glowing faces can't help but show their love for each other.  anna is simply gorgeous and t can never stop smiling (so cute)!  when I saw anna holding my bouquet, i audibly gasped -- ask pete.  imo, the bouquet paired with her dress so beautifully and together, they conveyed the vintage, romantic aesthetic that anna wanted.

oh, and i audibly gasped when i first saw maggie's images and i'm sure you will too....


the bride carried a bouquet of garden roses (caramel antique, romantic antique & juliet), cafe au lait dahlias, white astilbe, white snowberries, japanese andromeda, blushing bride protea, hydrangea and jasmine vine.

the bridesmaids carried nosegays of garden roses (maria teresa, juliet & toulousse lautrec), pink sweetpeas, coral ranunculus, touche dahlias, pink astilbe, lady's mantle and jasmine vine.


for the name table, i created a centerpiece filled with white snowberries, white dahlias, tuberoses, more garden roses (caramel antique, romantic antique and ivory garden roses) and loads of passion vine.  


and finally, the reception centerpieces had touche dahlias, maria teresa garden roses, white majolica spray roses, cream lisianthus, billy balls, white snowberries, ranunculus, dusty miller and seeded eucalyptus.  each centerpiece was accompanied by six bud vases filled with several stems of the various blooms.  


LOVE!


thanks again, maggie, for sharing your work with me and my readers!

beyond words

september has been one heck of a month for me.  i'm reaching a lot of goals that i've set for myself years ago and now searching for what's next.

one goal was to start a garden this year to try to learn some things.  the garden is slowly coming to an end and we have just a few more weeks for the dahlias.  i'm planning for larger dahlia beds next year and maybe over the next few years add in a peony field.  yup, field.

i only know how to dream big.

cream cafe au lait dahlias, hydrangea, sedum, black eyed susans and baptista foliage





late summer, early autumn + dahlias

waiting for autumn; now that we have a car it will be foliage, foliage and more foliage.   

in the meantime, i'm hoping for another month of dahlias before digging up the garden beds and laying down cover crop.  the dahlias below aren't from the garden but i happened to walk by the union square farmer's market this morning and couldn't resist.  







sea + sand

here's a little something-something to close out the unofficial end of summer.  with the help of my beloveds, i put together a beach-inspired photo shoot.

the setting is a couple celebrating a very special date, the day after wedding or perhaps a one year anniversary with an intimate picnic.  the tablescape, flowers and clothing have been inspired by the sea + sand.


location:  crane's beach, ipswich, massachusetts
flowers:  bouquet and centerpiece consist of snowbound dinner plate dahlias, white ball dahlias and another white decorative form dahlia, combo roses, garden snow roses, baby blue tweedia, cream lisianthus, white astilbe, white button matricaria, dusty miller, oregano and mountain mint
dress:  alice + olivia (belt is from anthrolopologie)

floral crown

always wanted to make a floral crown and i finally tried this weekend.  it wasn't my intention to model but my sister was caught up in traffic so i stepped in and had pete take the pictures.




late summer's gift

you've seen hydrangeas from this tree before.  i've mentioned its flowers in some of my posts too.  and shame on me for never giving it the spotlight that it so deserves.  

time and weather has tormented this tree; it once broke in half from frost.  yet, it remains fantastically stubborn.  once a year, the late summer air awakens its blooms, turning bare branches into little white florets that fade into cream flecked with tones of rose and rust.  






azteca

dahlias (azteca, dot com and one other), chartreuse zinnias, globe amaranth, scabiosas and seeded eucalyptus




some more dahlias for you -- all from my garden except for the seeded eucalyptus.  the sole bright red one is called azteca and the medium-red ball dahlia is called dot com.  and the purple one?  i don't know the name.  that's the problem dahlias -- too many varieties (not a bad thing), too many names (comes with the territory).

cafe au lait


a cafe au lait dahlia with late summer hydrangeas, bride to be dahlia, white and charteruse zinnias,
globe amaranth and seeded euctalyptus leftover from this weekend's wedding





i'd been waiting all spring and summer to meet my cafe au lait dahlia and she's more beautiful than I could ever imagine.  pete and i made a spontaneous visit to western MA on monday and we found her in my garden.  i swooned and fell in love all over again.

corals, pinks and yellows & turquoise glass


arrangement for the sweetheart table:  passion and jasmine vines,  touche dahlias, maria theresa garden roses, sweet peas, coral and light pink ranunculus, limoncello spray roses, blushing bride protea, cream lisianthus, snowberries, seeded eucalyptus and dusty miller








for a little 500 square foot apartment studio, we managed to hold a lot of flowers but needed to have our A/C on full blast.  and after living and particularly sleeping in the freezing cold (it was brutal), we need a better solution -- a floral fridge or a spare room is on my wish list.

some things learned from this weekend's wedding:  always have a clock visible because time gets away; always buy more flowers than needed and always have an extra set of hands, if not two extra sets so someone can take pictures.