Hot summer color

What to order from the florist for dinner parties this week: Blue salvia, zinna in hot summer shades, and colombine, among others.

Here in Middleburg we are lucky to have a florist who grows her own colombine. Just ask a few questions of the local flower purveyors and you may find a resource for something new, easily had, and beautiful.

Photo credit: southernaccents.com

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Practical magic

Muscari, lamb's ear, lily of the valley, andromeda, helleborus, thyme, rosemary, sage, and scented-geranium foliage; check the yard, most of it is there. Old things, newly conceived.

Photo: marthastewart.com

Jenny Fitch remembered

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878


For years my mother tried to teach me how to compose arrangements and even rooked me into helping with helping with the creation flowers for the numerous tables in the restaurant. I only wish I had paid more attention when I had the opportunity to learn by her side. She was famous for being the woman in the roadside ditches cutting weeds, only most did not realize she was collecting joe pye weed, iron weed, and Queen Anne's lace for arrangements.

It was with great joy this morning I opened an email forwarding me your blog. Thanks for sharing her talents with a larger audience.

Keebe Fitch


Jenny Fitch has long been an inspiration for you and I here at Blushing Hostess, moving silently in the back of the flower and garden posts and always in my mind as I am thinking of the glory of wildflowers and the best ways to highlight vibrant seasonal vegetables. When I wrote to you of her beautiful book, The Fearrington House Cookbook, I was unaware that Mrs. Fitch was no longer among us. I learned this from this note from her daughter, Keebe, in response to my post The Wisdom of Fearrington House. It is with belated pause that I note the passing of Jenny Fitch and hope you will find inspiration in her work and in Keebe's note; surely one of the most cherished things to have come of this blog. Again, I would encourage you to seek out a copy of The Fearrington House Cookbook, for both food and the flower arranging inspiration; it is the perfect place to begin in every season.

The household Wednesday table arrangement here at Merryvale was assembled from curbside weeds, lawn volunteers, and the last of the pale daffodils, for Jenny Fitch.

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In the world of interiors blogs, the first rule of thumb for maintaining readership might as well be, "Don't throw Pottery Barn pictures up on your page." There is a half dozen reasons at least but the top one has to do with that catalog being in every chair-side magazine rack in the $50,000-$1 million income demo range in the nation. Follow? You are not telling your readers anything they do not know. Readers only want posts on things they have not thought about or already recycled that day, trust me.

I am in that group. If you show me pictures of dining room tables from Pottery Barn, two sure key strokes and a sigh later, I'm history. So, without further delay, the dining tables of Pottery Barn... well, sort of.

This is a risky thing, perhaps, because you have all seen their products. But they could be selling six day old trout on saw horses for all I know; I'm a little obsessed with the tabletop styling. If you are still there (are those crickets?), come with me.

Armfuls of two-tone tulips, finally artfully avoiding the characteristic droop which is normal for the flower. Reminded me of something commenter LPC noted last week, "The other option, of course, for those of us with no patience, is to buy 3 dozen of the exact same beautiful flower - tulips, peonies, yellow roses - and jam them into a silver pitcher and be happy." In glass bowls, but much the same idea. Beautiful.

Captured in a huge vase and next to a huge bunch of hydrangea in an patina'ed bucket.

Hydrangea, tulips, asparagus, thought given to spring green and white, garden urns pulled into an otherwise more formal indoor room, touches of yellow against white and dark woods: Striking.


Sophisticated, calm, and luxe: Huge, fearless, white hydrangea poms mashed into modern vessels against breezy white curtains, creamy walls, and dark woods.


Alice Water's centerpiece perhaps? I love a fruit and vegetable centerpiece, the Italian soda's help the color along for the shot but in a real home, those earthly gifts need no assistance.

Daffodils: Just everywhere, interrupted by the mischievous glances of a poised rabbit. Normally I don't go in for kitsch on a table or anywhere else but this one gets a pass, for now.

Tonally matched calla's in a boat-shaped vessel. I would clear-tip the stems in water to help them survive, then cover the tips with a little moss. Otherwise: Dead flower centerpiece, pass.

Hands off the key board please, darlings, this is not a permanent feature.

Lean back

And take a good long look at MODA Botanica's shipping crate exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show. More images from the show here, and MODA's ever-inspiring blog can be found here.




Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist.

- Thomas Disch

Flowers 101: Courage, thorns, and the wisdom of Fearrington House

When we lived in Boston I ordered flowers when I wanted them in the house: While Winston Flowers is infallible and talented, they were also staggeringly expensive. In the seasons when the garden there was not producing I dreaded ordering flowers. And flowers very much should not create dread.



I started to take notice of the sometimes remarkable varieties of cut flowers available everywhere: The corner store, the grocer, the cost club, and the on-line wholesalers. Without much confidence but full of inspiration, I began to deal with cut flowers. These days, I am steady from practice and a couple of indispensable resources (the arrangements in various posts on this site are mine). While the beauty of the arrangements leaves a lingering touch of luxury in our spaces, some part of me equally prizes the luxury of holding a coffee cup in one hand as my wellies hit the wet floor of the flower market and I spend some time bent over flower bins, looking, sniffing, matching, and thinking. I find just as much pleasure in cutting blooms around the house in the growing season. These places number in my quiet sactuarys now.



Ina Garten is a firm believer in singular color arrangements. And I believe in this like I believe in black clothing, to a practical point: It never fails aesthetically, and it is not difficult to find or arrange.



But the world would be less a place of beauty for me if tonalities of sweet peas did not spill over baskets in spring and brambles of hot shades of roses did not crowd one another in the foyer in the sweltering heat of long hot summers. I don't know about you, but I'm not in life to avoid the challenge of coloring it (you have been viewing some of my inspiration for this season courtesy of marthastewart.com).



Those who love beautiful, artistic arrangements and have no experience in creating them may chafe the first time they take a clipper to two dozen stems. They will be reminded to be careful when the first blood is drawn by a rose only suggesting it is regal and to be handled carefully, but in the end it will be worth overcoming fear, thorns, entitlement, and inexperience to be able to afford better, more creative arrangements than one might find at an FTD franchise, say.

One of the best simple references is the unassuming Fearrington House Cookbook. The Fearrington House Restaurant and Inn rest on hundreds of acres of their own growing land in North Carolina. It is now the only five star bed and breakfast in the state, although they were still on their way when the book was published in 1987.

The cookbook is full of the secrets of the farm as they relate to event planning and entertaining and in my opinion, indispensable, although not for those who relish photos or overt instructions. If a few minutes is spent reviewing Fearrington's website, you will be assured of their experience and aptitude on the subject matter, however.

One of the best early guides I had was this single line diagram and set of instructions from Fearrington, I hope it helps you in turn (although one might just order the book, its very nearly free on Amazon).

Building a Mass Arrangement



Regardless of weather the the flowers to be used are tall and spikey, rounded or sparse and in need of supplementing with greens, there is a single system for building the arrangement.

Begin with the placement of the first flower in the center. Fill in around the center according to the numbers in the diagram. Angle and force flowers forward and backward. The placement of the first nine flowers has now formed a basic skeletal structure which may be finished and filled in any manner. This same technique applies to both flowers and greenery.

Once the basic shape is achieved, stand back to view the arrangement. Fill the vacant spots with a variety of flowers and greens that offer differences in textures and shapes.

- The Fearrington House Cookbook, Jenny Fitch (Verdana, 1987)


What are you arranging this season?

Harvest Home Celebration Floral Inspiration

If you are considering hosting a Harvest Home supper this year, here are a few floral concepts you may find useful in that regard.






Not quite Thanksgiving, but most definately autumnal...



Photo credits: southernaccents.com, countryliving.com, southernliving.com, countryliving.com, marthastewart.com

Divine magnolia

I know it is early. Maybe you are not ready to consider this. But I, for one, cannot help but love these magnolia wreaths, mantles, and garlands at Charleston Gardens.

I know a few porches which are already awaiting their glossy green magnolia swags, be sure to order early.

Dahlia: Centerpiece workhorse

The dahlia is plentiful in this season and blooms in every shade and size one could wish for, making it, in my book, one of the best flowers for centerpieces. My grandfather grew dinner-plate sized lavender dahlia on a largely shaded corner hill of his home. Each year at this time, I note all the dahlia's in magazine arrangements, think of that remarkable patch of earth, and wish I had those bulbs. Luckily, it is not difficult to get equally as spectacular cut dahlias from the market florist when I grocery shop. Here is some of the inspiration I am using for centerpieces this fall.

What is in your vase this week?

Credits: apartmenttherapy.com, countryliving.com, marthastewart.com

Florals: Centerpiece envy

My goal is to get an arrangement of this nature on to my entry hall sideboard this week.

"This arrangement includes roses, daffodils, ranunculuses, calla lilies, tulips, and hypericum berries in fall colors -- yellows, peaches, and shades of orange."
- marthastewart.com

It may not be the easiest set of blooms to put together in this part of the world this season, but we will see what comes of it. I saw, and foolishly did not buy, some sparkling votive candle holders at Homegoods last week that would have been fabulous here... one more trip might be in order...

Blushing Hostess tips for this floral centerpiece:

To lengthen the life of your pumpkin-vase, melt some candle wax and use it to coat the inside of the pumpkin. The coating will delay (not prevent) rotting from the inside out.

For using pumpkins as vases: Get a large enough pumpkin to hollow the pumpkin out and place a smallish vase or vessel on the inside to hold your flowers in water. Allow a small bit of candle wax to drip to the inside bottom and place the vessel on top to hold it in place.

Finally, do not forget to put a drop of bleach in the flower water to hold off premature arrangement decay.

Brighter days ahead

Wedding flowers and reception ideas

We are expecting more snow. As a small consolation in a seemingly endless winter, I thought we might visit the blooms of spring. You remember spring, don't you? Seems a long way off now but you've got to have hope. Fields and fields of hope and tulips.


marthastewart.com

marthastewart.com

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