Structures and Biedermeiers

So, here's the Biedermeier the Flower Lady made on Saturday, sitting on our coffee table:

Go ahead, take a closer look:

Done in sand, of course, the FL's favorite Biedermeier medium. The FL has a busy week coming up, helping Longwood host internationally acclaimed floral designer Marie-Francoise Dupre. Tomorrow she will be helping Mlle. Dupre knock out some structures for upcoming demonstrations. Structures are very big on the Continent, you know. I'm almost positive we have some pictures of floral structures on hand, but the FL figured it would be simpler to make a new structure than go through our digital picture archives. And you thought the computer was going to help you get organized!

The one on the left was designed & constructed by the Flower Lady. The one on the right was designed & constructed by Jane Godshalk, AIFD during one of her presentations several years ago. It was won by the Flower Lady during a silent auction which followed the presentation.   

Welcome, Fall!

Earlier today, I asked the FL what time it was and she replied, "Six minutes till fall." She's a big fan of the cooler weather; me, not so much. I took in the garden hose.

The blueberry leaves have treacherously turned crimson. 

One of the reasons the Flower Lady likes fall are the classes she gets to teach. This week she's doing Biedermeier style. Here are some things she's come up with recently:

Enjoy the season and the flowers thereof!

Class is in session! The Flower Lady is once again disseminating Floral Knowledge to all registered comers, ably assisted, from time to time, by yours truly. It looks like an exciting semester is on tap. Here's the FL in her new educational digs.

 
The FL cut some roses this morning. We're still getting some nice ones.

Turtleheads-- think it's easy to get them to grow like this?



Always like to end with one of the FL's creations. The FL made this concept test bouquet for a class she did on the Flowers of Spain. It's meant to suggest a mantilla, made with carnations, the national flower of Spain. Ole!

 

The Flower Lady's Wedding

No, not that one, the one she just did flowers for. The Flower Lady lent her own special grace and class to the world of intense, high-pressure floral design by doing a wedding on Saturday.  The FL not only did the flowers, she picked them herself!

Here's the flower girl pomander with the flowers now attached:

Here's the unity candle:

Bridal bouquet.

 

And these are for the reception. The containers are refried bean cans! There were 18 cans! The bride's family was really tired of beans!

 

All in all, a great success. And this is what the Flower Lady's workshop looked like afterwards:

 

Around the Old Homestead

Well, it's Labor Day Weekend and the end of the summer. It's been an exciting week full of guests, domestic and imported. Now they are gone. The jet planes overhead sound sad when they take people you love away, and the Flower Lady and I are left all alone.

But there are always things going on around the old homestead. The Flower Lady has a wedding to do on Saturday and she is hard at work even as I blog, working at present on corsage rings. Here's a pomander she made for the two-year-old Flower Girl to carry. Cute!

The FL has the week carefully planned out. It looks like a perfect week to pick zinnias, of which she will need many. Word is the harvest is ready.

We've had a good year for strawflowers and turtleheads, too.

And it's been so wet, these guys are loving it! Get out the fry-pan for these beauties!

Just when you thought it was safe to go down to the compost bin:

To end on a more elegant note, here's a centerpiece the FL made for dinner with our international guests: