For the Love of Flowers

If you ever want to "butter" me up or get out of the dog house with me, flowers and copious amounts of them is a good start.

My love of flowers is intense with a capital I. They inspire my work and make me truly happy. More than once I've thought about opening a little flower and garden boutique. Trust me it's on the list of things I want to do in my lifetime.

My love of flowers started with my family, my parents but most strongly through my grandmother. Her abundant flower gardens at the farm were my delight as a child. When I'd play Miss America and pretend I just won, I'd go out to the garden and pick a great big bunch of gladiola's and bound back in the house proclaiming that I'd just won and look at my pretty bouquet! Even today Grammy still has a great flower garden at the farm and I can't wait to see it in a couple of weeks when we visit.

Gardening and having flowers around have made the homes that I've lived in across the country havens. I'd much rather be planting a garden and sitting down in front of it either sketching my next collection or photographing flowers than be most anywhere else. When my husband and I bought our first house in Southern California it looked like the cutest little cottage. It had the basics of a cute little garden but then I went through my rose phase. Over the course of three years I planted 75 bare root rose bushes and planted hundreds of other plants. I loved the smell of the night blooming jasmine with the smell of blossoming orange trees. I loved the smell of gorgeous roses that I could go out and pick anytime. My husband and I would take adventures out to remote places just to visit great nurseries. By the time we sold our little cottage many Realtors referred to the house as "the rose house".

When we moved to Seattle, flowers in many ways were my salvation. Seattle is known for great gardens and nurseries in addition to all the rain it gets. But the summers were beautiful. I loved going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival each spring because it was my reward for surviving the winters. The Seattle Garden Show was my delight in the middle winter and one of the events I think my husband cringed at. For all the fabulous displays, plants, flowers, and plans that would run through my head, my poor husband probably heard nothing more than the KA-CHING of a cash register a million times over. But at least he was a good sport about it. Molbacks's Garden center in Woodinville, WA became my home away from home. I'd go to buy plants, I go to cheer myself up just looking at the gorgeous plants and flowers when I was feeling blue, and I'd be inspired for that place was my nirvana. Lord only knows how many thousands of dollars I spent with them but it was worth every penny.

By the time we sold our home in Seattle we had completely redesigned and relandscaped the yard. I'd planted twenty rose bushes, 12 hydrangeas, 1,500 daffodils, 500 tulips, had probably 20 hanging baskets (not all at one time), and a thriving container garden going on the back deck too. Unfortunately I didn't get to really enjoy the landscaping job because around that time we were transferred to South Florida. So the new owners (who recently sold the house again) and my old neighbors have enjoyed my work.

Not only was gardening there a passion for me but because of the more often than not grey skies, gardening and flowers enhanced my feelings and perception of colors. Not just colors but the way colors change, their vibrancy, the texture, but the subtle and stunning way Mother Nature works her magic paint brush. For that lesson, I'll always be grateful.

Now that we live in South Florida my garden has been slower evolving than I would like but I've also now added two children to the mix so the garden suffers a bit more than I would like. As I sit at my desk I look out on colorful pentas (Egyptian Stars) in shades of red, pink, white, and lavender. My hibiscus is starting to fire up again for another bloom fest and the out of control potato vine I once thought that was dead has come back with a vengeance and threatens to take out my poor jasmine bushes. Right now we're officially in the rainy season here, not only is it hurricane season but rainy season here be explosive. In the month of May we had 26 days of straight rain, we're talking real rain not some little sprinkles. We're talking major downpours that can turn our little street and yards into rushing little rivers. According to our new digital rain gauge in a 14 day period in May we had over 24 inches of rain. Yikes. My plants of course love this after the winter dry season. You can practically see them grow while it's raining. It's insane.

My recent love though is my container herb garden. I have lovingly tended my pots of rosemary, basil, chives, flowering herbs, arugula, thyme, and mixed greens. They've added quite a kick to my cooking and my daughter loves to eat basil blossoms now and make sure that the herbs are watered and cared for.

Last Saturday, June 13th was my birthday. One of my treats to myself was a bouquet of my all time favorite flower, peonies. I can't get enough of them. I remember living in Seattle I would go to Pikes Place Market and buy just armful loads of them. Peonies, combined with lilac, and sweet peas, OMG, there's no better fragrance in the world!

I'm a little sad today, my bouquet of peonies is finally dying. I'm sad to see my favorite blooms go because we don't see them very often here and when you do find them they are expensive. But I have two new little basil plants to plant today. So that is my silver lining for the day.

Lesson for the day, treat yourself to some flowers and be grateful for Mother Nature's work. For it truly inspires us all.

Back at it!

Hi Everyone,

March though now has been a complete blur! My son turned one at the beginning of April and 31 days later my daughter turned four. Between birthday parties, school parties, a retirement party for my daughter's teacher, and playdates, I have to say I've been wiped.

I have been in the studio creating more work for licensing and for pieces that will soon be going up on my etsy store.

I'm working on a top secret project that I hope you all will enjoy. We hope to unveil it in by the end of the year and it has my creative entertaining and creative lifestyle juices flowing.

In the mean time it has been not just rainy season here in South Florida but should be renamed monsoon season. Recently we had a 14 day stretch were we received over 24 inches of rain. But that is summer for you here. It's the best place in the winter and the place you want to escape from the most in the summer.

Now that things are settling down again I'll be posting more regularly. Please keep in touch!

Have a creative day!