SEASONAL FLORAL ARRANGEMENT IN BURGUNDY

      CMC Design has designed floral arrangements for over 20 years for weddings, parties and corporate events. This piece was a thank-you to a special client who donated her time to the CMC effort. She has a rich personality and loves sumptuous textures so I wanted to create something elegant and somewhat extravagant. I picked the fall grasses and millet as the mainstay center of this piece and took the color pallet from the millet. From that burgundy palette I picked other flowers and grouped them in clusters so they would stand as clumps and create a texture unto themselves. The greens of the kale and hydrangea act to step off the darker background reds and pop in the front. 
     The container, chosen to accentuate the natural and somewhat wild aspect of the arrangement, is made up of wood rounds tht are attached to a solid fiberglass pot that holds water.
       The final touch is a personal card that is created from a rendering of a pear that I did in my journal and photocopied and then colored with pencils once again in the same burgundy color palette.

PLANT NOW FOR SPRING BLOOM, THE BULB

FALL BULBS

PLANT NOW FOR SPRING BLOOM

THE BULB

This picture of Biltmore in April says it all, the man in the foreground has stopped in his tracks at the site of thousands of Tulips, Hyacinths and Pansies in bloom. While this may not be practical for most gardeners there is lots of room to layer bulbs into our borders. Mixing them in with ornamental grasses is a great way to extend the season of interest, when grasses are cut low to the ground in early spring the bulbs are just starting out and quickly fill in. 

  

These snowdrops are coming up through English Ivy in an untended garden and bringing cheer to a dreary late winter day. Bulbs in ground cover is another good combination as long as there is enough sunlight. I have Alliums that come up through my Ivy. 

Here is a great combination of tulips and Hellebores at Great Dixter in East Sussex England.

The small shots of color stand out against the sculptural masses of yew topiary.

Here someone has planted a child in this field of Daffodil at Great Dixter, as the dillies fade the orchard grass will take over and the dying leaves of the Daffodil will be covered and the whole thing can be mowed by June.

The best part about Daffodil is nothing eats them! 

Not even children.

Seasons Changing Fast

Seasons Changing Fast 

We are rocketing through October
Here are some Halloween highlights........

The lifelike tootsies were a big hit.

Black cats like skeleton 
soup.
















Eyeballs and parsnips look otherworldly floating in a milk bottle of water!


.....and they smell bad after 4 days too!

KALE SO GOOD

KALE SO GOOD

Kale, frilly like petticoats and brilliant in colors. How is it a cabbage can fascinate me so entirely?

These tough plants are a boon to any fall landscape, and the ones I've planted here in New England show color well into January. Not only are they beautiful but they're edible too, and very good for you, in case you haven't heard. These I spied on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, two varieties nestled among the ivy in concrete planters.

 A member of the brasica family makes these a cold season crop and therefore great for fall and early spring planting. With last winter's mildness ours overwintered well and reseeded new babies.

They aren't without pests though. Slugs, snails and the Colorado Bean beetles all ate ours this summer.

These little Zebra caterpillars love my organic kale.
Check them out in Garden Insects Of North America
by Whitney Cranshaw. Great reference for what is eating your plants.

KALE CHIPS

There are varieties that are for eating, and varieties for looking at. Get the culinary one for this recipe. 

Pick and wash kale in a bucket of water, (the frills tend to hold the dirt)

Rip the stems out and dry leaves with a paper towel.

Lay on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons good olive oil

Toss to coat.

Lightly salt.(Kosher salt seemed too big and heavy, I pulverized it and put it on thin)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until crispy.

Eat them like potatoes chips, kids love em too!