"Breath of Spring" at the Fairfax Backyard Farmer

We gathered together amidst the DIY equipment that Fairfax Backyard Farmer's offers in it's very pleasant storefront. It was inspirational to meet owner Jim Normandi and work in a space dedicated to the soul satisfying home crafts of bee keeping, sourdough fermenting, beer brewing, chicken raising and gardening, etc, etc...!


This workshop generated beautiful pieces.Your practice is showing!

Ode to Purple

Every year I must, must have Frittilarias- especially Frittiallaria Meleagris, it's checked pattern and subdued purple making it remarkably distinct.

Sadly at present the only source in the trade I've found is from Holland. I am not adverse to buying from Holland on occasion, but frittialaria varieties don't seem to travel very well and I often pass their rather bedraggled selves at the SF Flower Mart. Happily, there were some fine looking ones available before Easter. The delicate flowers, the leaves, the curving stems.... I indulged!

And every year, I must have scented lilacs (not all are)-and the Farmer's Market has a great selection.

The vase: paper collage done on a thrift store find.

So here are a few variations using the same flowers.
In my workshops I suggest the idea of reworking an arrangement to create another variation. It's hard to let go of something when you are very pleased with the result, but it's a great learning tool.

 
 

 

 

Carizzo Plains, April 2019

"Come on, let's go a little further", Jon looked back at me. l glanced up the trail, headed straight up the mountain. It was mid-day, hot,and the light was harsh and jutted. A young couple just passed on the way down, warning of two rattlesnakes they had encountered in separate sightings up the mountain. Okay enough. "Nah, I'm turning back. I'll meet you back at the campsite" Though a steep- up hill is never a game changer for me and I'm not afraid of snakes, the idea of seeing a rattler and having to gracefully navigate away on a steep slope made me anxious to turn back. We had gotten into territory where the trail had become scree- uneven smallish stones that are more difficult to navigate when going downhill- for me anyway. 

On the downhill I always feeling like I am going to slip and go crashing down- out of control. My husband and friends who have hiked with me over the years know that I am like a nimble mountain goat going up a hill and have always been the slowest,and (hopefully) dearest grandma on the way down. It is a most peculiar phenomena, sometimes funny and sometimes just embarrassing. But if I were to come up with a less ego bruising reason, it was because I was after wildflowers and they were few and far between (p.s. Jon didn't abandon me. He scrambled ahead to see over the next hill and quickly rejoined me- and I was on my way down as fast as granny gear allowed!)

After all, wildflowers were what we were after. We had just driven 3 hours south into a wildflower storm, a "superbloom" in Carizzo Plains, a semi- arid grassland plain. It is located in the sparsely populated central valley of central California, east of San Luis Obispo and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. 


In very rare conditions of the right amount of rain, no rain, and the right temperatures timed correctly etc., etc. etc., this otherwise arid, mushroom colored landscape bursts into dense, carpeted flower bloom come spring and we had come to see for ourselves. We had found ourselves on the rare trail that presented no abundance of flowers. Hell, leave that one to the rattlesnakes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbloom

 

The Easter Egg landscape was painted in variations of yellows and purples. Blue, orange and white showed up occasionally. Every altitude change, every tiny micro-climate brought surprises and variations of size. 
We found it an extraordinary, life time experience.

 

Bold &Dramatic Workshop at Studio 64

I love the way this group problem solved to create a suitable backdrop for these photographing these beautiful arrangements. We still needed a larger backdrop for these expansive compositions!

And- my a new lens will eventually deliver some nice sharp pictures-when I figure out how to use it properly. I used to shoot and print my own photos-geeze! I will persist.

Because I think documentation is important.
Important as a tool while working as it gives a third eye kind of perspective- and informative when looking back, long after the flowers are gone.  Good for seeing where you have been and where you want to go.

 

 

Flower- Fauxl

Celebration of Fall 2018

You asked why the graceful containers with the pedastal bases were called compote vases, but I didn't know. And I still don't, but I have a theory!

Wikipedia tells us that the word compote is derived from Latin word compositus, meaning mixture. A compote is a dessert originating from medieval Europe, made of whole pieces of fruit in sugar syrup seasoned with vanilla, citrus peel, spices, etc.


Further investigation reveals that during these medieval times, the compoted fruit was served as a special dish, during special occasions- and so it went- before DelMonte started putting it in a can.

So would it be fair to speculate that this dish merited a special presentation such as raised pedestal container? 

And that floral designers, then stole them away for flowers? 

And that is was perhaps Constance Spry, the British Martha Stewart of the early 1900's who first did the stealing? What do you think?


It is with great pleasure that I present your compote arrangements. These are among the most complex we take on. Give yourself 
a hand!

 

Aztec Dahlia Workshop 2018

Last night I returned to the scene of the crime- that is; if flowers, and creativity have been outlawed by the current administration..... Whew, they haven't! So it wasn't a crime scene I came upon, but one of a more benign and curious activity. 

I arrived at Aztec Dahlias at 6:30 PM, as the sun was softening in these shorter days. Buckets were filled with water and flower food in preparation for a big dahlia harvest. Yes, 7oo or more blossoms for various orders. E- Gods, could the field give up that many flowers? Kate had been keeping everyone away from her white dahlias for the past two weeks in anticipation for cutting 250 , which was about what the field had to offer. Three of us got to cutting; pausing every so often to look at this or that amazing dahlia and a short pause to watch the sunset. 

But we were not dawdling. We were racing the light of day. That order was done and dusted pretty quickly- next! Then it was on to other colors of the rainbow. Then it got a bit trickier. How to determine whether a color really was coral in the fading light, was that a cool yellow or warm yellow? We finally put on head lamps to continue our harvest. We were more than half done when I took off,  the rest to be picked at the crack of dawn. I took no dahlias home last night, too tired and too dark to dahlia shop. Kate said that we would be surprised how many dahlias would open up during the night to replenish what we had cut. Truly a field of dreams.

I wanted to share that experience with the 12 of you who came out for our splendid 3rd Dahlia workshop at Aztec Dahlias. You have walked those fields and felt the magic. You were newcomers and accomplished designers alike. Always a good mix as the experienced designers help lift the others energetically.

Thanks to Mary, Diane, and Lourdes for providing some photos. I hope we got everyone's in here somewhere. What a special day.

Daily Vase

Dahlias can be such stand-alone flowers. But a little chocolate cosmos doesn't hurt either.