From June

This super romantic bouquet was created back in early June, at the magical time of year when Peonies, Mock Orange, and Iceland Poppies are all blooming at the same time. Oh, the romance! And the fragrance! There is nothing quite like the smell of peonies AND mock orange together. Absolutely heavenly.

Geez purple and pink, why you gotta be so pretty?

I know it's super girly. I know you may gripe and say, really purple and pink??? Enough already with the purple and pink!! But hey, I run the show around here, and I like to do what makes me happy. And this week, the purples and pinks were calling my name...

This weeks subscriptions had so many Botanique-grown ingredients! Sweet Pea Vines, Cerinthe, Daucus carota 'Dark Knight,' and Black Cornflowers. The lovely, pink Dahlias are from Jello Mold Farm.

(Oh, and the first little shoots of amaranth may have found their way in there too, but you have to have a very keen eye to spot them.....)

An Ode to Dahlias

Oh dahlias, how I love thee...

You are just so pretty and summery. And you play so well with other flowers.

I think we will be running into each other a lot this summer....

These arrangements were the latest batch of Botanique Subscription Arrangements. On the ingredient list: 

• Salvia, Hops Vine, Bells of Ireland and Bupleurum from The Botanique Cutting Garden in Seattle, WA
  
• Dahlias and Iceland Poppies from Jello Mold Farm in Mount Vernon
• Viburnum Berries from Charles Little & Co. in Eugen, OR

 Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Enjoying it all

My good friend Melissa of Flying Bear Farm recently reminded me of something so important: taking the time to just enjoy the beauty that we create. I often get so caught up in the tasks and to-do lists of running a business that I forget what business I am in (growing and designing flowers) and just how friggin' lucky I am to be doing such an amazingly joyous and beautiful thing with my life! Sure there are up's and down's (just as there are with anything else) but the truth is that I just LOVE what I do: the flowers, the weddings, the farmers, the clients, the creativity, the watching things grow, the being outside, the design process... I just love it all. Today I lay down in one of the paths in the Cutting Garden (feeling super glad that I made those babies a roomy 3 ft. across!) looked up and saw this: Nigella and Larkspur blowing softly in the breeze, with a gorgeous, perfect summer sky in the background. And (I KID YOU NOT) a swallowtail butterfly and a hummingbird both showed up and did their respective flying around, drinking nectar, etc. WOW. Life is pretty darn good.

Making a mock-up

Normally I don't like making mock-ups- they are typically made so far in advance of the big day that the flowers selections are nothing like the flowers used in the actual piece, thus they are a pretty inaccurate representation of what the actual bouquet will look like. But when the first dahlias of the season appeared in the market today, I was practically jumping up and down with excitement to make this one! (LOCAL DAHLIAS ARE IN- YES!!!!!) Plus, it's for a wedding at the end of this month, so I will be able to use nearly all of these flower selections.

Pretty summery.... (and thanks to my lovely landlady Amy for modeling!)

Boutonnieres and Flower Bracelets

Yesterday, Teka and I made oodles of boutonnieres and flower bracelets. Just for fun, just practicing.

I love this one that Teka made with a columbine seed pod and a just-opening clematis bloom.

Love that bunny tail grass! Grown in the Botanique Cutting Garden!

The little piece of hydrangea in this bracelet wouldn't hold up well for a wedding (they get super wilty really fast). But man are they pretty! Anyone out there know of a good alternative flower that holds up well out of water???

Ombre sweet pea bracelet- the sweet peas are my favorite thing blooming in the garden right now. They smell so good.

Practicing! What a good idea!