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.

Centerpiece whimsy

The shower season has arrived and blumebox.com has a tons of fabulous color-coordinated centerpiece boxes and ribbons to allow you to design a perfect centerpiece and the Hostess loves enough choices to be exacting and ...

glam.

clean and crisp.

matchy-matchy.

There are literally tons of box color and ribbon style choices to complement any table or inspiration.

And placecard choices to coordinate to your theme.

Edible. Reuseable. Centerpiece.

Amelia Occaions. A fabulous idea for cocktail hour: Eat the centerpiece and take the herb pots home.

I have been thinking about flowers and centerpieces as the wedding season is nearly upon us.

Every year at this time I remember a wedding I attended in Panama: A floral extravaganza transformation had taken place in the backyard of the bride's parent’s home around a glittering pool ensconced in a perfectly verdant and undulating lawn. It was quite a small area for hundreds of guests as Panama City is a crowded place, but it was easy to forget all that in the botanical garden the place had become in two days time. There were five foot towers of roses, six display areas showcasing various native tropicals, and glowing chandeliers made of lilies that hung from tree branches high above to just above the heads of the guests. Staggeringly beautiful and wholly conceived, I imagine I will never again live to see flowers presented with such artistry and abandon. I tell you, I was a lucky girl to have witnessed such a thing and its glory marked me.

But, where there is beauty sometimes there is ugliness too. We knew the family well and had been invited to the home the next day for a spectacular brunch on the lanai. In the yard beyond, the previous evenings decor was being removed: One black trash bag after another filled with all these still-vibrant flowers. More than $50,000 worth of flowers, the brides' sister confided. And there it went, into the trash. The small arrangements were sent to family offices but the bulk was pitched. It was grotesque and in light of the world we now live in, deplorable. I don't care who you are.

I love flowers and certainly never wish them out of my life or home but for wedding and event centerpieces, this might be a good time to consider another type of centerpiece for a guest to enjoy at the table or take home: We could potentially help ourselves or someone else with a multi-use display such as these featured below.

Do you have a great edible centerpiece idea? Tell me about it and leave your link.

Martha Stewart Weddings

marthastewart.com

Martha Stewart Weddings

Request: A society for the prevention of cruelty to the Hostess

Can a weekly centerpiece-constructing hostess get any more unlucky than this?


This adorable, perpetually napping night owl is our family cat, Lefty.


This was last week's centerpiece, I was still thinking it over when I went to bed that night... still smiling at the Rosenthal Laughing Bunny (he is totally hip).


And when I woke, the centerpiece, as it always is, was mangled. Lefty is a rose eater from way back.

Flowers fit for a Presidential table

The flower varieties selected for the centerpieces at the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Luncheon.. tonalities of red, and blue... wait, what's missing?


Red Charlotte Rose, Fifty Flowers


The Rouge Basier Rose, myflowerbuyer.com



The Hot Lady Rose, Blooms by the Box



Hot Majolica spray roses, Cut Flower


Blue hydrangea, Fifty Flowers


Purple hydrangea, Fifty Flowers

Beauty and excitement in an unreal horsey place

Centerpiece by Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs, VIP Caters to The Hampton Classic Horse Show.

I am not pretending the Grand Prix tent at the Hampton Classic is a normal place to find yourself. Nor, I am a pretending it is average even if you are a regular Grand Prix attendee. It is above the fray, according to some it is also above ridiculous and outside the bounds of decent human interaction. That is a debate for another sort of hostess on any other day.

In the real world, people do not pay $50,000 to sit in a tent, eat , and watch a horse event. Even in the horse world, one wears polished, horsey, good clothes to watch a Grand Prix, if they watch at all. But at Bridgehampton, it is going to cost dearly, you will wear amazing, sometimes preposterous, couture and maybe a hat, and you will notice some perfectly amazing table settings and decor set forth by the days' hostesses at each table. The Hamptons Classic Grand Prix (always Sunday at 2 at the end of the summer) is the end of summer location, and the tables are the height of summer hostess competition. Not familiar with this event? Here is a piece on The Hamptons and the show (vaguely) which I think might aim to make a lot of people ill with disdain:

...Hilton has just handed a signed copy of daughter Paris’s CD to the towering, super-svelte business mogul’s wife Somers Farkas. Hilton, normally the belle of the ball (hence the Vivien Leigh-like look), is the guest of the gracious Farkas, who annually hosts a $50,000 table (front and centre) along with such bold-name notables as oil heiress Patty Raines and Palm Beach doyenne Terry Allen Kramer.

(It is well known, but unsaid, that prospective hostesses try to outdo one another with the competitive zeal of an Olympian in their table decor, which ranges from horsey topiary centrepieces to Hermès china and chairs.)

The Classic, deems Farkas, may well be the most important social occasion of the year, but it is “not just some frou-frou event”. Casual chic, she dictates, is the preferred mode of dress (the Birkin bag stuffed with Fritz the Yorkshire terrier notwithstanding) and Farkas is duly clad in a bespoke Maggie Norris navy trouser suit and white blouse with tasteful emerald and diamond horseshoe cufflinks and studs.

“Everybody wants to come to the Hamptons,” declares Raines, decked out in a brown suede leather jacket from Ralph Lauren’s fall collection with tight white jeans that have dragon tattoo prints stitched along the side and a Fendi fur shoulder bag.

But, for most, it is an opportunity to sport your summer finest for the very last time. In modern-day Hamptonian tradition, the prevailing style lacks the southern subtlety of, say, the Kentucky Derby. It is unfortunate that some Hamptonites have yet to master the integration of hats and clothing, with notable exceptions being the East Coast’s most potent film publicist, Peggy Siegal, in Gilles Mendel and an age-old Eric Javits straw hat; and Christie Brinkley, who at 53 can still muster starstruck menopausal men to unfurl their pocket Kodaks, tightly wrapped in a black dress teamed with flat Roman sandals and a men’s Panama hat.

“There’s a certain kind of calmness here in the Hamptons,” adds Raines. Perhaps. But the Classic’s white tent is shoulder-to-shoulder, like Ferraris crammed together on the Montauk Highway while fleeing the city on a Friday afternoon.

As Rudy Giuliani and wife Judi Nathan gladhand their way through the fashion-loving frenzy, standing at the vortex of it all is Siegal, who tablehops from prize-winning equestrian Kelly Klein (Calvin’s ex) at one end to the formidable billionairess and Wall Street heiress Terry Allen Kramer at the other. “I had a home here that I sold for $32 million!” growls the raspy-voiced Kramer, while barking to her butler, “Diego, put more silverware down!” ...
- Jeffrey Podolsky for the Times Online, United Kingdom

Are you through puking, yet? Look, the table settings are worth the price of regular admission. And the Grand Prix is exciting, thrilling stuff - I don't care who you are. As for the shallow hostess bit - from Hamptons Classic to NASCAR Grand Prix's, you can find them everywhere. Don't let that nonsense keep you away from a great close your summer experience next year.