Wild for Birds

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by Karen B. in Gardens, House and Home

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Historically birds have always had a place in homes. They add beauty and charm whether in the form of a pet bird, framed prints from the Audubon collection, bronze or porcelain figurines, birds depicted in fabrics and wallpaper, or neighborhood birds enjoying a meal at a bird feeder in your backyard.

I was recently contacted by Audubon Park with a kind offer to provide me with a bird feeder and special seed to attract most varieties of birds in our neighborhood. An instruction book and journal was included. {Thank you, Audubon Park} You may remember our foray into feeding birds from my posts HERE and HERE.

I can share with you that it has been a relaxing and enjoyable experience and we have marveled at the visits by some of the most colorful birds, most we had no idea were in our neighborhood. Should you wish to embark on this peaceful pass time, and with winter fast approaching it’s a great time to feed birds, Audubon Park not only provides these Tips for feeding birds but their site has information on where to buy their premium food and more:

Know your local birds. [We happen to have a Field Guide to California birds].
Feed them their favorite food
Make them feel at home with trees, shrubs, flowers and a bird house
Give them bath and drinking water
Keep them safe: Make sure your seed, suet or nectar is made-in-the-USA and place feeders away from windows and predators

Because I can’t pass up an opportunity to showcase a pretty room, here are some additional ways birds find their way into our hearts and homes.

A chandelier ready for autumn, complete with a pair of faux American Crow perched on attached moss-laden branches…

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Love this wallpaper with birds in flight…

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Hotel Van Zandt, Austin, Texas displays birds made from old LP vinyl records…

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a favorite room by the talented Holly Mathis, dressed for Christmas, features some wonderful Audubon prints…

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Love the needlework peacocks in this bedroom…

How sweet is this flamingo wallpaper for a baby girl’s room?…

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Classic beauty in green and white…

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit to the world of our feathered friends. I’ve definitely had fun bird watching from our kitchen window.

Autumn flora in the home

19 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by Karen B. in Autumn, Fall Entertaining and Decorations, Flowers, Halloween, House and Home, Thanksgiving

≈ 19 Comments

Good morning, my friends! So much for getting back to regular posting, right?!

I am an avid fan of fresh flowers and plants in my house year round. I’ve used branches from shrubs and trees in the yard, and flowers from the market for our home most of my married life. I also have several living plants in my home. Ivy topiary, Peace Lily ‘spathiphyllum’ and a large pothos live in various rooms of the house. When Christmas rolls around I’m happy to use faux garland, embellished with live cedar and pine.

So it was with some hesitancy that I returned the kind email I received from Silk Plants Direct. They were offering me a shopping visit of their site, where they would ship a product of my choice (with a generous pricing limit) for my honest review. Still doubtful, I visited the link and found many of their plants to look very believable. The item I selected reminds me of bittersweet, something that is sold live per stem by florists this time of year in our area. I’ve always loved the look of bittersweet in autumn arrangements and wreaths, but couldn’t always find fresh stems.

I emailed my contact with Silk Plants Direct and was thrilled with the speedy delivery and the quality of the stems. The flowers filled the large porcelain blue and white vases and finished the mantle decor for the season for me. Thank you Silk Plants Direct!

Silk Plants Direct, a Silk flowers and plants retailer, has a user-friendly site and provides a column on their home page that allows shoppers to narrow their search by topics such as category, size, price, color, variety and season.

If you’re a die hard fan of real live plants and flowers, as I consider myself to be, you may be in for a surprise. I urge you to take a look at Silk Plants Direct.

Disclosure: I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The honest opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.

End of summer

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by Karen B. in Family, Gardening, House and Home, Outdoor living, Personal Information, Summer

≈ 22 Comments

I’m back and ready to pick up where we left off—where was that, exactly? Happy Wednesday! Summer is not quite finished yet. The summer weather here in SoCal has been manageable overall. We typically get really hot in September, just when I start to think about cool weather, fires in the fireplace and turtleneck sweaters!

Labor Day marks the ceremonial end of summer, but there are still a good few weeks to enjoy the season, even after the three-day weekend ends and schools begin their calendar year. This year, the last day of summer is officially on Sept. 22.

As I mentioned on National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday in July), I’ve worked hard on relaxing during my off hours. I know it’s weird to say I have to work hard to relax, but it’s the truth. As my mother used to say, “Karen, sit still!”

This is what I’ve been up to…

I did a lot of gardening, made plenty of time for entertaining friends and family and actually relaxed a little more than usual.

I shared the patio garden reveal back in March. I wanted to update you with it’s progress.

March 30, 2016: Newly planted patio garden

June 22, 2016: My, how you’ve grown!

The heliotrope and Polygala ‘petite butterfly’ have filled in nicely. Yes, I share the garden with a variety of caterpillars who have been munching on the leaves of the heliotrope as you can see on the leaves in this picture. The delphinium are getting ready to bloom for the second time and the iceberg roses are photo bombing this image (in the background). They’re such show offs. 😉

About the time I feel as if maybe I’m pretty good at gardening I try my hand at planting a few tomato plants and this happens. Gardening can keep you humble with the ~~frequent~~ occasional failure.

I don’t usually plant edibles, except for a few herbs. I have only one spot in the yard that gets “full sun”. So this year I planted 3 small tomato plants in the large clay pot (above-right), in the sunniest location we have. Did I over water? Possibly. The leaves started turning yellow and then shriveling up. Experts on growing tomatoes [in blogland] weigh in, please. I’d love to be able to grow a tomato in this planter.

Here are the other tomato plants, they seem to be surviving. They are in the ground. Wish me luck. We’ve already seen evidence of a critter taking the green tomatoes off the vine and sampling them! {Note to self: This is why I buy my produce at the market} 🙂

One of our close friend’s had a milestone birthday and we hosted a small dinner party for him. It was very fun and since he’s the first to hit this “milestone” birthday, we teased him unmercifully about age!

I used the Portmerion Botanic Garden dishes, my wooden handled flatware, and my green and white plaid napkins for the summer party.

The handsome guy with the apron is our guest of honor. We found the apron HERE. It’s a fun gift for a guy that enjoys grilling!

Recipe and table settings for summer entertaining.

We logged in some wonderful family time, complete with our Austin son and family. Seeing the cousins enjoy themselves while the “adult kids” caught up warmed my heart beyond measure. Icing on the cake! Olivia, our 5 years old granddaughter marching and singing, which tickled Fae our 1 1/2 year old! {bottom picture: Fae at our local park—playing at the “cafe”}

We celebrated with long time friends (almost family) at the wedding of their oldest daughter in a spot that is so swoon worthy—add a romantic wedding and I’m a puddle of warmth and emotions.

Congratulations to the wonderful couple and best wishes to our dear friends, Gretchen and Stu!

I read a few books and by far, my favorite was Eligible: A Modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld. It was a fun read that stayed mostly true to Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

This pretty much sums up summer. My day job is great and I enjoy the challenges and the camaraderie it provides. What have you been up to?

Karen♥

The Patio Garden Changes

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Karen B. in Gardening, Gardens, House and Home

≈ 28 Comments

If you read my posts and/or live in Southern California, you’re aware that we are still struggling with a drought. Last summer we maintained the yard ~~as best we could~~, minimizing our watering schedule, mulching the planting beds and removing plants as they died of thirst. As a garden enthusiast I was in denial. I did some research into plants that were drought resistant, but never pulled the trigger on actually planting or buying those plants. I was in a garden funk. Now, determined to make some improvements, I’ve started on the planting bed adjacent to the patio.

BEFORE:

Note: While I love a good before and after, I’m not always willing to show the before. This is taking some courage on my part to let you see how horrible this flower bed became. (This picture was taken in January of this year) 😦

The Japanese boxwoods were transplants (3 years ago) to begin with. It was a surprise to me that they all survived, but they never truly thrived. Then my gardener decided he needed to hedge them more frequently than he should have. This is the result. It’s my experience that once a portion of the boxwood dies back, even with trimming and cleaning up the boxwood they rarely flourish again. So, a clean sweep was made of the flower bed, except for the Iceberg roses, which have become a mainstay since they seem to be happy no matter what. And I kept my Eden climber, for pretty much the same reason.

I decided to remove the Cecile Brunner rose since it had become so large and very high maintenance. I wanted to plant some sun loving plants below so I removed it. More on that later.

Without the boxwood we needed some bender board. Mr. B. did a great job of installing the redwood bender board I chose (as opposed to the synthetic product). I know there’s more longevity with the synthetic, but I like the look of the wood, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

The ‘to do’ list for this area was:

Remove the Cecile Brunner rose – done
Remove the Japanese boxwood around the patio – done
Amend the soil with an organic compost planting mix – done
Plant a border plant such as Polygala ‘Petite Butterfly’ (this plant is drought resistant and blooms nearly year round here in Southern California.

AFTER:

I confess, while several of my sweet readers asked when I was going to show this planting renovation, I was waiting for the delphiniums to bloom and the Polygala to fill in a bit.

The Iceberg are just about to pop into bloom, the Polygala ‘Petite Butterfly’ are filling in, the heliotrope seem happy and the delphinium need to be staked, always a precaution since they are often top heavy, especially if we get any rain.

The only drought resistant plant is the Polygala, but the delphiniums are going to live only through summer, so I’ll most probably replace them with lavender. The heliotrope may outgrow this space, but I hope not.

Here’s the final plant list:

Polygala ‘Petite butterfly’ – border plant; drought resistant; will grow to 2′ wide and 2′ high at maturity; it’s an evergreen in our zone 10 and blooms most of the summer:

Delphinium: 1-2′; come in a variety of colors, most in purple, lavender and blue shades. Toxic to humans if consumed.

Heliotrope; 1-2′; the flower is scented. The plant is just this side of the delphinium in the picture.

The extra space around the plants are to give them plenty of room to grow, I’ll take pictures this summer and share the progress.

One last garden note, I cut the Cecile Brunner down and it took most of a morning. Cutting is easy but cutting up the canes for the recycle bin, not so much. So we left the stump, which is sizeable as the rose has been planted for years. Now I have 4 pretty strong canes coming out of the stump, my thought is to leave them, see if they’ll bloom and hope that, since the canes are small (like a new bare root rose) that it will be manageable for a year or two. Any experience with this situation? (See it on the far right of the image below?)

Now I think we’re ready for spring/summer outdoor relaxation. Since I’ve prepared for warmer weather, we’ll probably get some remnants of El Niño, which eluded us this winter. 🙂

Any plans for your garden? ♥ Karen

Happy Spring ~ Happy Easter

23 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Karen B. in Easter, Flowers, Gardens, Seasons, Spring

≈ 25 Comments

I’m always excited for spring. I hope you stopped by earlier this month and checked out the vast array of ideas for the season via Project Design Now – Spring Mantles. There are some great ideas for decorating—and not just the mantle from the team of design enthusiasts that participated!

This beauty was one of my favorites…Ciao Newport Beach created the fresh, spring look

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Spring brings some new bird friends to the area…I’ve spotted a blue bird on my walks, not as vibrant as this fellow, but still very pretty and we’ve had up to 6 Robin Red Breasts visit our birdbath at the same time!

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For me spring always means spending more time in the garden. Warm days, cool nights. Sparkling sunshine (have you ever noticed how the light changes with the season. Spring has it’s own special, sparkly light).

The patio bed needed a major renovation. I’ve completed this space and will share a post about it, and other little changes in the garden, later.

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It’s a dream of mine to be able to walk through my garden and come up with a bouquet as wonderful as this! I am growing sweet peas, I hope they provide me with bundles of blooms.

Easter eggs whether chocolate or real are a staple for Easter. There have been some really pretty ideas for dying eggs.

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So if you haven’t dyed your eggs yet, visit HERE to receive step-by-step guidance on these beauties (above) and HERE for a general overview of how to dye Easter eggs.

Spring also brings with it the chance prepare a few more meals on the BBQ and to generally lighten up on the ~~mouth watering~~ calorie laden casseroles. True confession, I still enjoy the occasional casserole even during the summer.

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These lovely to look at tea sandwiches made me want to plan a spring tea party for a few friends!

This meal above is pretty typical of our traditional Easter dinner.

If you saw this recent post, you know I love to set a table. These charming Spring/Easter tables give me some ideas for the upcoming season.

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How cute are these little bunny plates?

One last note, if you haven’t already filled an Easter basket with a few goodies for yourself, I’d like to mention the newest book by Kristen Woodson Harvey, Lies and Other Acts of Love which will be released April 5th. If you pre-order from the Design Chic blog site, you’ll automatically be entered to win a $1,000 gift card to Shop Design Chic their online store.

I’m excited to reviewing this wonderful book on April 5th right here.

What are you doing this season. Special plans for Easter Sunday? I wish you a happy spring and all the “new beginnings” it can bring, and a very happy Easter. ♥ Karen

Gardening through a drought

22 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Karen B. in Gardening

≈ 41 Comments

Tags

drought

I have been a garden enthusiast since I was a child, working beside my mom in our garden was always fun for me. My maternal grandmother used to say she thought we picked up our love of gardening from her mother, my great grandmother. I’m passing my joy for the garden to my granddaughter(s). {Olivia loves working in the garden with grandma, Fae, at 6 months is still young but I hold great hope she will have fun too}.

Olivia and I planted these petunias on her last visit in March. They have really taken off, it’s been fun sending her pics of the flowers as they’ve grown.

Long time readers may remember that a friend and I had a small gardening business for many years. Cottage and English gardens were are speciality. I still love boxwood borders, roses, lavender, penstemon, camellias, all varieties of perennials. Borders of primrose, pansy or violas in the cooler months and impatiens or lobelia in the warmer months were icing on the garden cake. Seasonal bulbs and other plants that catch my eye at the nursery are also welcome.

Changes may be coming to our garden. We are in the 4th year of a severe drought. Many, who study such things, say this has happened before. I remember! Having lived in SoCal all but 2 years of my entire life I can remember carefully cutting back on water usage indoors so that I felt less guilt watering my garden.

I have a neighbor who has taken advantage of our water district’s rebate plan. If you remove grass and replace it with drought tolerant plants, they will reimburse a certain amount of money per square foot. Our water bill is calculated using a tiered plan. If you go over the amount of water usage they have calculated for your lot, you are charged a premium, each tier (overage) raising your rates higher.

Below is a recent pic I took of my neighbor’s yard. There seems to be several plants in bloom each month of the year. The plan she’s installed is thriving and looks good.

Garden, Home and Party: Gardening through a drought

Here’s my issue. I don’t think I’ll be happy with xeriscape, and budget constraints insist I stay the course. I simply need to think “drought tolerant” when I buy new or replacement items. I’ve started a list of plants that will be happy in my garden and crave less water. This is only the beginning…I hope to learn more throughout this season and into Fall. I’ll keep you posted.

For a starter list I visited the Sunset Magazine hit list of drought tolerant plants. I was surprised and pleased to see that for my particular zone ZONE 24: Marine influence along the Southern California coast [as the crow flies we are about 6 miles from the ocean, but there is a ridge of hills blocking us from the full blown coastal influence], I can grow some of the same plants I currently have, in some cases certain varieties are stronger against drought than others, but it’s an easy fix. Such as: Lavandula multifida [a variety of lavender, common name ‘Spanish Eyes’] that will grow 3′ wide.

This was growing in and among the roses last year. I unsuccessfully transplanted it, so I will have to buy another few for the garden this year.

Another plant that caught my eye off the Sunset list: Salvia Clevelandii [common name ‘Winifred Gilman’] This beauty really doesn’t want it’s feet to be wet so it must be planted in well drained soil or even on an embankment (we don’t have an embankment, but we do have one sunny spot in the back yard that drains very quickly). You can order this plant from Annie’s Annuals.

There seems to be a recurring theme of purple…I guess I’ll have to search out alternate colors to mix things up a bit. Next on my watch list is: Agastache rugosa [there are a wide array of plants in the species and in a variety of colors] The plant is know for attracting hummingbirds. All good by me! 🙂

Garden, Home and Party: Gardening through drought

Since this post is already longer than most, I’ll share one more plant that looked promising: Nassella tenuissima [common name ‘Mexican Feathergrass’] This grass seems to blend beautifully with other blooming plants and I may need to try some proven winners in this drought condition.

Garden, Home and Party: Gardening through a draught

If you would like to check out Sunset’s list visit HERE. Otherwise, maybe I’ll just do this:

I’d try showering less time each day, but I don’t think that would be nearly as much fun as the Champagne idea!

Easter with Beatrix Potter 2015

01 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Karen B. in Easter, Flowers, Holidays

≈ 42 Comments

No tricks, even though it is April 1st. I’ve never been very good at pranks.

Easter is on my mind. I’m not hosting Easter this year {Thank you, Sarah and Kevin} I still enjoy putting out a few Spring/Easter decorations.

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I set my table using my grandmother’s china…it reminds me of my grandma, and the violets are such a pretty representation of spring. The runner was made for me, and the fabric seems like it was made to go with these dishes. {Thank you, Gretchen}

With two granddaughters in our family, my thoughts have gone to Beatrix Potter and her cast of wonderful rabbits. When our sons were very young I collected, obviously more for me than for them, many of the Beatrix Potter Royal Doulton figures from her stories, as well as a complete set of her books. I would pick them up when I could find them at thrift stores or used bookstores. I eventually collected the entire set, although the final 4 needed are the new white cardboard covers rather than the little green books with slip covers, that I love.

The concrete planter is made to look moss-covered. I planted sweet pea, violas and lobelia to create the center piece. I move the planter to our atrium during the day to keep it happy, and provide a little sunshine. It lasts several weeks and then I plant the plants in my yard. Dual purposing, always good, right? 🙂

The little silver bell is Peter Rabbit and has the sweetest ring. {Thank you, Debbie}

Last year we had Easter at our house and I put together this 3-tiered tray of goodies for family…

This year’s version of the little rabbit tags can be found HERE.

The little galvanized cups holding the violas are from Trader Joe’s. They held something else a few years ago and I saved them, glad I did! 🙂

Happy Easter, my friends. I hope you have wonderful plans to be with family and friends. May the sun be shining on you wherever you are.

{Garden} Inspiration for the garden – Chelsea Flower Show

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Gardens, Outdoor living

≈ 70 Comments

Tags

Chelsea Garden Show, Garden Tours in England

RERUN ALERT: I shared this post at the end of April but I couldn’t resist re-posting so that I could join Anita over at her beautiful blog site Castles Crowns and Cottages, where she’s inviting all of us to share our favorite destination. England captured my heart years ago and I will share a bit about the Chelsea Flower Show. I’ve never been but it’s a dream! Because this post coincided with an eye to spring in the garden I am sharing additional inspiration for creating a pretty garden. I hope you enjoy and will stop by for a visit sometime. ♥

Here we find ourselves on the last day of the month of April (where’s the time going?). There’s been weeks of activity in the garden if you are an enthusiast and if you happen to live in a climate like my neck of the woods, Southern California. Gardening is pretty much a year-round hobby here.

Still, there’s always interest for me to see what others are doing to their own yards and as usual, I gain the inspiration I’m seeking to create a new corner or change out a fledgling flower bed, from fellow blogging friends and international gardens posted on the internet.

{Charlotte Moss}

{Restoring our 1890 Victorian, Victoria Elizabeth Barnes}

Above, I’ve added Helebores to my wish list when they’re available. Below, don’t you love this clever use of grass and concrete squares. Not to mention, it would be so great to have an outdoor fireplace.

{5th and State}

Tone on Tone just published a great post on his blue garden, published in Southern Living magazine. I’ve made a list of blue flowers for my own garden.

{Tone on Tone – Loi’s beautiful blue garden}

This year my friend, Carla, happens to be going to the Chelsea Flower Show (May 20 – 24th). With the show’s 100 year anniversary behind them (2013), I’d guess this year may be an impressive show of innovative and unique gardens. Maybe it’s that way every year, but I like to think there’s always a wave of extra talent after a big anniversary of something as wonderful as the Chelsea Flower Show.

The first year (1913) Chelsea Flower Show was introduced there were 244 exhibitors, last year there were over 500. The show attracts over 150,000 visitors each year. It’s on my bucket list. I know I’d love it

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…and for those of you who would like to have their very own folly…here is a company that will build it for you. They entered the Chelsea Garden Show with this little gem.

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Since we’re speaking of gardens in England, this past fall the Los Angeles Times travel section featured a list of gardens you can visit more than once per year in England. The Stone House Garden in Cheltenham, Goucestershire was appealing to me for the home as much as the grounds. Started by a garden hobbyist, Katie Lukas, she developed her garden on the 2 1/2 acres surrounding her Cotswold home.

{photo by Nan Sterman}

No surprise, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire offers a learning experience in addition to the wonderful gardens presented. There’s a garden where plants are grouped by the era in which they were introduced to the British Isles. I selected this image since I was surprised the garden features our own California Poppy!

{photo by Nan Sterman}

What would a garden tour be without a garden by a castle? Broughton Castle, Banbury, Oxfordshire is a 700-year old castle. There are sheep on the grounds (wouldn’t it be great to look out your window to green rolling hills, dotted with sheep? {Maybe I’ve seen one too many period piece movies and PBS presentations?} Climbing roses, “lushly planted garden borders” and more, this one is on my list. To read more and to get ideas for your garden visit HERE.

My own garden can always use a little tweaking. I hope to work on the area under the bottle brush tree (the red blossoming tree in this picture). The roots are so prohibitive to digging and such. I am currently doing some homework on finding plants that need next to nothing but will grow and thrive in spite of adverse conditions. Any suggestions?

Have you started planning / planting your garden? Any new projects on the table?

{Party} Wedding bouquets

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by Karen B. in Family, Flowers, Personal Information

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

wedding bouquets

As June is traditionally considered the wedding month, I thought I would share some images from our son and daughter-in-laws December 2012 wedding. I have published posts on the build up HERE and HERE. Unfortunately, the photographer had to be coerced into finally delivering on the photographs. We received the full set of pictures in August of 2013.

Rather than share with you a host of pictures, like the overzealous traveler who shows you slides (did I just age myself? I meant digital images) of their latest vacation, I will show you a few of the pictures and zero in on the topic of wedding bouquets. Like most brides, my DIL is a talented designer and had a specific vision of how she wanted her wedding to be. For the reception, the 100 guests were all at one long table, candlelight was used over traditional lighting. [This is why getting the pictures from the photographer was essential, most photographs taken by friends were taken with a phone and were too dark]

DIL’s vision was extraordinary by it’s unique blend of ‘winter wedding meets English castle’ feel to the setting, and thereby all components of the evening. The wedding was staged at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Dinosaurs were abundant. The wedding ceremony took place in the African Mammal room and the reception took place across the hall in the American Mammal room. Her attention to detail transported guests and the feel of the rooms was magical.

Sarah’s bouquet complimented the theme, as did her maid of honor and bridesmaid’s bouquets.

{Sarah’s bouquet, held by her mom, during the ceremony. Note: The bouquet probably weighed in at 10 lbs or so}

{Bridesmaid bouquet}

After seeing the first picture of the wedding (top of post) my bff blog friend, Victoria, suggested I do a post about wedding bouquets {thank you, Victoria}. I’m always eager to have a suggestion for a post since I’ve been known to have dry spells, creatively speaking. So here are some beautiful examples of wedding bouquets I found online.

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In my day the trend in wedding bouquets was all white flowers. I love the variety of unique plant material that is added to bouquets today,and the color variations of the flowers.

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Ranunculas and Roses, with petite daisies and the sage green leaves of a eucalyptus branch makes for a beautiful bouquet.

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The beauty of planning a wedding in today’s world is that there are literally thousands, if not millions of ideas floating out there. Between Pinterest and dozens of blogs dedicated to weddings, you can be inspired and possibly confused by the abundance of ideas.

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I can imagine using Sunflowers for a late summer / early fall wedding. I love this bouquet.

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This bouquet is right up my alley, peonies, roses and ranunculas, all in soft ballet slipper pinks and whites…sigh. Aren’t they beautiful?!

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The lavish use of gardenias, such a delightful choice. I once heard of a wedding where on all of the windows at the reception hall, there were fresh gardenia wreathes hung. The fragrance would be fabulous. Hopefully, none of your guests would have allergies.

{enchanted forest wedding photo by Emily Steffen // flowers by Johnny and Dottie via Pinterest}

The tree ferns in the bouquet above give it a magical fairy-like feel.

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I really like the bright orange flowers with dusty miller and the purple thistle in this bouquet. I also like the diminutive size of the bouquet.

If you were planning your wedding today, what would your wedding bouquet look like?

{Garden, Home and Party} Celebrating Spring with Roger’s Gardens

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Karen B. in Flowers, Gardening, Gardens

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

Rogers Gardens

Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach, California is a favorite stop any time of the year. To say it’s a unique and special nursery might be an understatement. I was recently invited to their Spring Celebration (along with hundreds of others) and their interpretation of the best of SPRING did not disappoint. I visit the nursery regularly [HERE and HERE] for the inspiration and creativity it supplies. Roger’s is like the Disneyland of nurseries.

During my visit I used my iPhone to capture some of the beauty of the flower arrangements and the grounds…no one does spring better, well except Mother Nature! There are also some photographs saved from Roger’s Gardens site. *This is not a paid write up. Pictures really don’t do this nursery the justice it deserves. A visit is a delight for the senses.

The room below is part of Roger’s gift gallery. For this special event all of the flowers you see are real. It was stunning to enter this building and take in masses of hydrangea, tulips, ranunculus, and roses, to name but a few of the many fabulous spring blooms on hand.

This blue and white planter caught my eye, filled with white hellebore, I would have loved to take it home with me. Unfortunately, it was out of my budget.

There were nests and cut branches everywhere, including on top of each of the display cabinets in the gallery.

Everywhere you looked, including this orb, sported live flowers. Even the chain holding the orb to the ceiling was wrapped in ivy.

There were inviting tablescapes loaded with inspiring ideas for your next spring luncheon. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to gather a bouquet like this using flowers from your yard?

The fragrance of pink jasmine and other blossoming plants gave your senses the expected scents of an ideal spring day.

We then moved to the floral studio. This part of the nursery presents (and sells) floral arrangements of all kinds. I confess, I’ve purchased a few of these beauties, sometimes as gifts and a couple of times as a gift to ME! 🙂

Isn’t this charming? Roger’s finds decorative items that often look antique, even though they’re not. These cute bunnies were metal and quite heavy.

White hydrangea, ranunculas, lisianthus, roses, white stock, and dusty miller are but a few of the flowers filling this footed vase.

This arrangement caught my eye, that’s right, that is lettuce growing in the basket filled with seed for growing carrots and beautiful spring flowers. What a great hostess gift this would be.

The sweet peas were so fragrant, they were selling them in bunches…I wanted the entire crate.

The grounds are displayed with antique props (often for sale) and many pre-planted planters are for sale. I’m sure you can see why visits to Roger’s are as much for a shot of inspiration, as they are for actual purchases.