Pinestone

Ah, Pinestone. This vase came from the dining room of a home on a ranch that Jon's family owned; Pinestone Ranch. It was located just up the pass from Manitou Springs, a small town we lived in many years ago in Colorado. When Jon's mother passed away we had the opportunity to buy it. For many reasons it wasn't a good fit for us then. A road not taken. Though it wasn't for us, it was too bad it couldn't be kept in the family. But what else is life about but change?  So here's a homage to a beloved family home in the true west bedecked with the most luscious of local roses, amongst other little beauties. What filled this vase before my time with it?

Camilias are in

The most boring flower-not

I didn't expect to be writing about roses in winter. But it is California and there local roses available now that are wonderful. Got to confess;  I think the ubiquitous red commercial rose, that tight red bud plunked on top of a ruler straight stem is boring. I was speculating something along the line of the poor roses being held hostage by corporate floral industry interests. Then just before sitting down to write this, we decided to watch a movie made in the 1930's. In the opening scene the leading actress was blocked by a vase of those rose buds. So there's a tradition to this, eh? Could it be that somewhere along the line someone- men or women, wanted roses to stay that in that puritanically tight form? Maybe a fully open rose was just too..... suggestive. 

Or maybe I spend entirely too much time contemplating such matters.

These red ones have such heavy iconic associations they are rather challenging to use in fresh ways. This kind of challenge makes this work both hair pulling and really,really interesting.

The Flower and The Vase

 http://www.terrestra.com/floral/  

                       The Flower and The Vase 
       Thursday, December 12, 6:30-7:30
       30 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley  $45.

Here's a link to an event I'm very pleased to be sharing with Terrestra, a new store in  Mill Valley that sells many wonderful artisan crafted vases and home accessories. I'm going to be demonstrating some Holiday floral arrangements and talking about the pairing of flowers and vases- kind of a Flower/Vase 101. Registration is limited.

 Contact me at maryannnardo@sbcglobal.net or Terrestra to register.

Friendly Fall Fetishes

Every year, every season, brings a compelling new interest, a new obsession in working with flowers. I decided to look up the definition of fetish- yes, my interests had gone that far.

Fetish: 

1. An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
2. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence
3. Any object or non-genital part of the body that causes a habitual erotic response or fixation.

Okay, yes for number 2- a little of number 1, but not number 3- well, at least not yet. 

This fall my fixations are marigolds, grayed out Ami majus (Queen Anne's Lace, for those who missed that post), echinacea flowers w/o petals and privot berries. I keep using them over and over, trying to get to something, trying to realize something or just trying. But time for that obsession to be over. After this week, no more fall colors allowed. We're straight on into Christmas dream time.

Striped down flowers

There are two flowers in this arrangement that have no flower petals. Hmmm?

Two Bits

Roses continued: There is a
flower grower in Sonoma County,
to the north of us called Neve Brothers
hp://www.nevebros.net.

They are fourth generation flower growers and have been growing some garden type roses recently, roses that actually open.

This is a relatively new development in the floral industry. Roses are mainly bred to stay pretty closed, never quite exploding into full bloom.

Thanks Neve Bros for getting on board.  Growers respond to what people want and people really love the garden type roses that open and have a scent. They are available
at the Marin County Farmer's Market, but sometimes their garden-type roses are only available at the SF Flower Mart.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                           

And this fine little fellow sticking out of this wood vase
is the dried cap of a leek flower. It's a membrane that protects a leek flower 
as it grows. When the flower is ready to open the tissue comes off. They are these fragile little shapes; really cool and weirdly endearing. I've had the dang thing for three years.

The War of my Roses

A bunch of beautiful pink roses in an opalescent blue vase. This little grouping is messing with my mind and stirring up memories.

The first memory is of a drawing I made repetitively when I was little. The elements were always the same: beautiful girls in ball gowns in a landscape of fruit trees with a stream running through. It was the land of perfection in my child's mind.

The second is the memory of a painting I did about 10 years ago with approximately the same colors. The painting took about a month to complete and felt so saccharine, busy, and so... Baroque, I had it sanded down and made a different painting. That's how I feel about these elements. They are too pretty, too sweet for my tastes. Only this time it's simply a morning involved and not a month.

Way back when I was that young girl making those drawings, it was probably Easter time when I stood in the Hecht Company Department Store looking for the annual spring dress my parents bought for each of us girls. I fought with my desire to have yet another poofy dress, and choose one that was taylored and simple. It was a defining moment. That year I went from being a girlie girl (of princess loving and playing house variety) to a tom boy (Fort building, frog catching, woods crawling). In my childhood archetype, the poofy dresses went by the wayside. I kept the love of fruit trees and streams.There is a girlie, girl in there somewhere. Guess she still needs to express herself.

And as for the fruit trees, I present to you an Arkansas Black.

Vase O' Flowers, 3 ways

 These flowers are from my garden and a minor foraging excursion around the block. I live outside our downtown area in an old Italian neighborhood. Almost all my neighbors have some form of garden or other and they don't mind a little clipping, as we trade flowers and lemons. My fairly small amount of flowers and foliage turned into another fun experiment of making an arrangement and changing it slightly. That's about it, except I've been meaning to credit my husband Jon for designing and building the often used vase pedestal/bracket. I had been wanting something small to hang on the wall specifically for vases. We use to build and sell them many years ago and I haven't seen anything like it since.  Thanks, Jonny.

Buddy, mesmerized

 I don't think it's the flowers
that have caused that look. I think there may be crows in the hood. Buddy relates to crows like no other animal. He talks crow talk to them from the window a lot. I have a fantasy that one will befriend him someday. How cool it would be to see him sitting side by side with a big black bird, cackling together. I'll keep you posted.