I want one!

Do you know how hard it is for a total flower lover to keep parting with her creations? Very! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love handing off a beautiful bouquet to a bride, knowing it is just perfect for her, and saying goodbye forever to all the incredible flowers that are in it. But today I took one glimpse at the bucket of leftover flowers from last weekend's wedding, and thought: I WANT ONE.

A gorgeous bouquet, that is.

So I made up this little number, and we have been parading around together all day long. I have to say that carrying a big bouquet of roses around makes you feel mighty special...

These beauties all came from Peterkort Roses in Oregon. I like them best when they are on their very last legs, fully open, about to make good friends with the compost pile, but not before breathing one last breath of gorgeousness into the world!

 It's a lucky life, one spent working with flowers....

Caitlin and Matthew

Caitlin and Matthew were married back in early June, at the South Lake Union Row Club. Caitlin's desires for her flowers were clear: She wanted them red, and she wanted them colorful. (You gotta love a girl who knows what she wants!) So I went to town with a deep, rich color palette of all the reds and deep purples I could find, and was delighted to see these lovely photos from Azzura Photography that capture all the beautiful (and red!) details from Caitlin and Matthew's special day. The delicious desserts were all made by The Troubadour Baker, who also happens to be the groom's brother (lucky, lucky!).

 

It must be noted that almost all of these flowers came from local growers! A huge thank you to all the amazing flower farmers at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market who supplied me with these gorgeous blooms- I don't know what I'd do without you guys!

Many congratulations to Caitlin and Matthew!!! I wish you all the very best!!!

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!)