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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Saved by the Eryngium
Seduced again by tulips, an amateur flower arranger reaches for something rubbery and something wild.
Pittisporum, tulips, and (praise be) eryngium
Photo: Human Flower Project
Hubris, failure, luck: The annals of amateurism are filled with these.
May we add another chapter? Today is a friend’s monumental birthday, a milestone we have yet to reach. Another great chum and world-class hostess is having the quasi-surprise party, a dinner at her home, and we volunteered to bring the flowers. Earlier in the week we hit “Family Thrift” and the St. Vincent de Paul store looking for some low, matchable-ish vases and today set out at noon to shop for flowers.
The hostess’s domain is saturated in bold rich colors: black, deep purple, reds, greys and dark greens. We had those regal shades in mind browsing the plants and flowers at the market. Five big purple and white orchids would have been swell but we pulled back. They’re pricey and so tall guests would be craning for conversation during the meal. The market was especially well stocked — many shades of roses, proteas buds (looking a bit too much like medieval flame throwers), lilies, lots of berries, even big purpling bouquets of kale.
There were also loads of tulips—white, red and purple—some tear-drop tight, other beautifully open. That was it. We bought five bunches and, on added impulse, several stems of a thistle-looking plant. As several tulip petals flew off in the wind on the way to the car, hubris began chafing.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
At Home with Chaos
The Obamas are poised to hire a new First Florist, a fan of chaos and French style.
Laura Dowling, said to be the top contender for post of White House florist
Photo: Parisian Events
The latest presidential rumor here in the U.S. is human-flower gossip. Washington Post sources say that Laura Dowling, a Francophile from Alexandria, Virginia, will likely become the new White House florist.
“In June, chief florist Nancy Clarke retired after 31 years in the mansion, and there was speculation that Michelle Obama wanted a more contemporary look for flowers. Two weeks ago, three designers slipped into the White House for a tryout: Each created a state dinner centerpiece, flowers for the Oval Office, etc.—and Dowling’s romantic French look apparently won the day.”
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Matchmaking on the Wedding Day
Georgia Silvera Seamans and other family members of a lucky bride and groom take on a human flower project the morning of a summer wedding.
For a Pittsburgh wedding the bride’s mother, a professional florist, guided the other women-relatives in making bouquets for the whole wedding party
Photo: Joe Seamans
I had watched my mother make bouquets for my brother’s wedding and even helped to wrap the stems, but I had never constructed a wedding bouquet on my own.
This gap in my resume was filled at the wedding of a cousin-in-law this August. A cousin of my husband’s was marrying the daughter of a floral designer. Not only is the bride’s mother a working florist, she’s a great teacher. She and the mother of the groom organized a bouquet-making class for the women relatives to take place the morning of the wedding. (Prior days’ activities had included cookie making and Bollywood dancing lessons at the bride’s mehndi—though the bride is not of Indian descent).
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Flowers Raise the Bar for Art
To mark the end of summer (please!) an Austin gallery goes lushly avant-garde.
Mario Gaitan’s arrangement of carnations, coxcomb, yarrow and ducks makes a quizzical counterpoint to
Tony Saladino’s abstract painting.
Photo: Human Flower Project
“Today’s the last day!” we chirped.
“…the last hour of the last day,” Judy Taylor replied. Taylor’s Gallery Shoal Creek capped off an excruciating Austin summer with a four-day show of floral installations. While the city has been withering in record heat and drought, Taylor mounted “In Bloom” in defiance.
Many fine art museums – including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Milwaukee Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts – have arranged these jutxaposition/exhibitions for years. Other art galleries have likely tried it too, but this August—as even the lantana shrivels – seeing a fence of long-stemmed calla lilies and a diorama with golden yarrow trees and hillocks of red coxcomb has a greater power to shock than Chris Bearden or Andres Serrano. In a drought like ours, flowers are avant-garde. (See a slideshow of the whole installation here.”)