Halloween is coming, and the urge to decorate a pumpkin, throw a party, or just arrange a ghoulish flower arrangement for the entry hall table is upon me. Halloween is the most unserious holiday there is, and that’s why I love it. It is the best opportunity of the year to embrace your inner child: dress in costume, eat too much candy, get silly, and take a night off from the very solemn business of being an adult. Here are […]
I’m pretty sure the Pilgrims were too busy trying to stay alive to think much about centerpieces. In fact, flowers on a dining table didn’t come into vogue until Victorian times. The empty tabletops had to be filled with something when elaborate platters of food began being offered to guests individually by servants (known as service a la russe), rather than placed on the table for guests to serve themselves. And while centerpieces add a festive air to a table, […]
Halloween is HUGE. It appeals to people in such a way that it brings out crazy, feverish, joyous creativity. Pumpkin-carving has reached such a level of artistry that it should probably have a museum, to preserve the art being made with squashes, gourds, and the simple orange jack o’ lantern. Halloween floral ideas are also extraordinary; it’s as if Halloween raises everyone’s creative game for no better reason than because we like it. And the costumes – Sigmund Freud could […]
Last week we had two couples over for a quiet dinner. It was a spontaneous invitation and there wasn’t much time to plan, so I used the simplest china, linen, silver, and glassware. For flowers, I found some pale green zinnias, seasonal and not expensive, and spread them down the table in a series of different-sized glass vases. The china and glassware were from Crate and Barrel, but the napkins were vintage linen with a big embroidered “B” on them. […]
As the season turns, late summer flowers give way to seeds, pods, and other floral features of variable textures – all of which I’m itching to work into more natural floral arrangements. There’s nothing like a few branches of ripening blackberries or a branch of crabapples tucked into a fall bouquet to make it pop. There are so many varieties of fruiting plants available now that can’t be found at other times of the year. The first arrangement features two […]
