Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Birthday Greens

The Flower Lady added Christmas things to the greens from her birthday roses. Looks Edwardian.

A Little about Me

Yesterday I had to get my car serviced. Usually in the waiting room, there are a couple of ladies watching standard daytime fare on the TV, soap operas or Oprah or, at best, CNN. I took a newspaper to be forearmed. I walked in, and there were eight guys in there. We watched "The World's 10 Best Military Helicopters" followed by "The World's Greatest Assault Rifles." A good time was had by all. As the author of a flower blog and Husband of the Flower Lady, I just wanted you to know that I have the requisite male gender bonafides.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Case Closed!

The Flower Lady has completed her civic duty. Case closed, now on to Christmas. The FL is behind on everything. Right now she is at work, poor dear. I'm supposed to be wrapping presents, at which I am very bad, but I wanted to get something Christmassy up at the top of the blog. Herewith, one of the FL's gifts for her coworkers, a Christmas mug packed with Christmas goodies (The Flower Lady bakes, too!). Merry Christmas, everybody!

[To the tune of "Good Christian Men, Rejoice!"]:

Christmas Eve is here again,
We don't know how, we don't know when;
Last we looked it was Fourth of July,
Now two thousand and ten is nigh,
Two thousand and ten is nigh-igh,
Two thousand and ten is nigh!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Hiatus

I'm afraid there'll be a break in the flower-arranging and holiday decorating action: the Flower Lady has jury duty. And she's on a tough case with a mean old judge with no end in sight! Right now she's in the bathroom in front of the mirror practicing her "court face." Evildoers, beware!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

World's Foremost...


Inside, in the conservatory, things were pretty darn beautiful too. The conservatory has a large central hall where the Main Tree is placed. You can see how much sunlight is coming through. An enthralling symphony of Nature and Art! The nice thing about Longwood is that there are features that remain the same year after year, and things that change. There's always a Big Tree, but it gets decorated differently. Last year, and I think they have this on their website now, the area in front of the tree, which can be filled with water, was covered with a floating mass of cranberries. This year it was a mosaic of plants, moss, and natural materials, filled, as the whole gardens are filled, with many details (like the painted pine cones) which enchant the floral arranger's eye.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Fooled the Flower Lady!




We fooled the Flower Lady! My plan worked to perfection, thanks to FL's boss, who concocted a clever cover story and stuck with it. She even had FL believing she would have to deliver the flowers herself: FL had her coat on and was ready to set out before the boss handed her the card (with my sensitive and touching note). Happy Birthday, Flower Lady! We love you!!

Pictured above are the flowers. I chose roses, for reasons dear to FL's heart and mine. The picture is a little dark, but I think you will agree The Flower Lady did a splendid job! (And she enjoyed being gently surprised.)

Friday, December 4, 2009

It's the Flower Lady's Birthday!

Well, on Sunday, that is, the 6th. But here's what goes down today. Despite working all day with flowers, The Flower Lady nevertheless loves getting them as gifts. Now, this means I can either (1.) order flowers from a shop and get an arrangement she could do so much more beautifully herself, or (2.) just buy a bunch of flowers and have her arrange them, which doesn't seem quite right either. Though the FL would never think so (really, she loves flowers!), it just seems like more work to me. So...even though they do mostly corporate work at her day job, I called her boss and ordered flowers through the company. The Flower Lady will make her own gift and get paid for doing so! Plus, her co-workers get to surprise her.

"You're so smart!" the Flower Lady says to me sometimes. And sometimes she is right.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

How the Class Went, part 3


And this is her finished product. "Not bad," said The Flower Lady. She kind of uses odds and ends from the flowers, preferring that the best stuff goes to the students, and creates while demonstrating and lecturing. I think it looks quite grand, myself. Everybody had a good time and created their own unique arrangement.

How the Class Went, part 2


I distributed the greens. And-- I sorted the Christmassy gew-gaws. By color! The Flower Lady had a whole box of stuff! Look at these cardinals--are they retro, or not? Look at that box: is that from, like, the 50's or something? The box says "Made in Hong Kong."

How the Class Went


First, the Flower Lady made a little tablescape so the class could see how their arrangements looked in a dinner setting.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Holiday Class Nite



So, at left, the base for the holiday arrangement. We are going to use sand, but you will note we have opted for a Lomey dish instead of the gold charger. (I told you there would be changes.) The charger is wider, but the Lomey dish has a lip which makes it easier to keep the pine cones which will ring the arrangement in position; otherwise, the Flower Lady would have to teach the class how to wire the cones together, and we only have two hours. (Thanks, by the way, to our old neighbors who graciously leave a sack of beautiful pine cones on our porch each autumn.)
Above, the flowers, already neatly packed by the FL, are carnations, mini-carns, Matsumoto asters, and poms. The FL had a pack of beautiful burgundy roses at the wholesaler, but she decided on carnations because they last longer, and she was hoping her class would thus be able to keep their arrangements longer into the Christmas season.
Wish us luck!