On New Flower Varieties
How do you view flowers? What's your relationship to them?
A delightful graduate student interviewed me recently and asked what my favorite flower was. I replied that there is no favorite- that's like asking me to choose one "best friend" for my whole life. I mean, my best friend at age 5 was a girl I met at the skate rink named Beverly, which I pronounced "Bubberly." My point is, while some friends stick around longer than others, we normally move through seasonal friends as well.
The pictures in this blog post are taken by a new friend: Julie Andersen. She reached out to me via Instagram to photograph my flower arranging process, and I'm so glad I said yes. Turns out, we chatted about everything from our love of Scandinavian decor to how to be simultaneously generous and protective of our creativity.
On the surface: Stranger Danger!
In person: total kindred spirits.
Plus, she's a wildly talented photographer and teaches FREE yoga classes in Baltimore! Click here to find her.
My current interests, which have dictated who I'm spending my time with, include renovation projects, motherhood, being a #girlboss, seltzer water and lipstick, and clean yet indulgent eating.
The florals in this post were for Cake 'n Whiskey, a nationwide women in business networking event, also known as the perfect opportunity to get creative and use some non-bridal blooms: palm leaves, terra cotta anthuriums, and copper cymbidium orchids.
My take-away: don't limit yourself to only the flowers you know, because that will limit what you know about yourself.
Here's to hoping you stumble upon a new bloom this week.
xo,
Mary Ellen
Invincible Summer
“In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
I don't sit around and read Camus.
Most of my encounters involve being hit over the head with one of his quotes when I'm reading something a little more...tangible. This is a case where I'm taking a quote entirely out of context and using it to talk about flowers.
Winter arrangements are some of my favorites, because they so perfectly depict tension. Tension between fall and spring, light and darkness, life and death, grit and grace, whatever your pairing of choice is.
No other season permits "dead" foliage, barren branches, and negative space. Spring, summer, and fall usually involve easily accessible farmer's market bouquets, zinnias and roses in gardens, and petunias on restaurant patios. Flowers can seem commonplace.
But blooms in winter are a delicacy, a nod to that "invincible summer" that is apparent in the buds plumping on every bare branch, and to the lingering evergreens still decking some halls in mid-January to remind us that all of the presents might be unwrapped but hope, expectancy, warmth, generosity-- everything encompassed by a trite phrase like "holiday spirit"--never dies.
Kind of like the wedding industry. We're an industry of dreamers. It might be snowy outside, but we're already thinking of spring and fall, imagining how we will use our medium to tell our clients' stories and capture their own "invincible summers."
Take this December photo shoot, for example. You would never guess that it was created with freezing temps outside just a week before Christmas. It was a last-minute shoot yet the professionals involved conjured up a healthy dose of serenity, warmth, and beauty.
I'm feeling enormously grateful that I get to work with dreamers such as these:
Photography: Renee Hollingshead
Location and Dress: Garnish Boutique
Calligraphy: Poppy & Scooter
Hair & Makeup: Behind the Veil, LLC
Dress Design: Tatyana Merenyuk
Model: Sydney Chance
Wishing you all an encounter with your own invincible summer this week.
xoxo,
Mary Ellen
Marigolds
This was our first year growing marigolds. We wouldn't have purchased them, but farmer Ben from Irvington Spring Farm gave us leftover seed, so we figured, why not?
They're the farm version of carnations- scorned by most for their commonality but loved by a few for their hardiness and cheer. I must say, their vase life was impressive. I put some in a vase on our patio for a birthday party, and they still looked good 20 days later when I finally got around to disposing of them.
I was particularly fond of the yellow ones. But, the FOLIAGE:
Need I say more? Yes, because unfortunately computer screens aren't scratch 'n sniff, yet. They smell like a musky, tangy, Christmas in July, minus the body odor.
I found myself chopping the blooms off and using just buds and greens for a more subtle design element.
Did you know marigold flowers are used for organic dyes? Hurricane Joaquin left us with two decapitated beds in September, and we were able to pass the heads on to Claire and Ashton at Wax & Wane fiber company. I think they used them to dye scarves.
Finally, marigolds are safe. I don't have to worry when Lola gives them a smell and a lick.
Not only are these cheerful flowers not dangerous, they used to be widely used as to remedy: fever, smallpox, measles, congestion, and scrofula, ( not looking that up because my google history is already embarrassing enough- comment below if you're in the medical field.)
Wishing you all an encounter with a tangy, musky, seasonal scent.
xoxo,
Mary Ellen
And we're off...
I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of talented people over the years.
As an employee, I've gotten positive feedback about my "critical eye" and my "strong opinions." While I think it's important to remain critical, it's much easier to criticize than it is to create. It's easier to discern than to develop. Easier to jump ship than to commit.
Soooo, I'm committing.
I've been wrestling lately with the difference between doing things you're good at and doing things that make you happy. There's definitely a link- but as a new mom, in a new city, I want to have my cake and eat it too. These are the truths on which I will build:
1. I have an appetite for flowers I can't shake.
2. I respect people who balance children with work, and I want Lola Rose in my life on the reg. I used to think keeping children out of day care was "best for the child," but now that I'm a Mom, I realize it has very little to do with Lola, and very much to do with me. Being a Mom makes me kinder, more patient, and more vulnerable. I think it would do me good to bring that into my business.
3. I'm a watcher. Of people, of nature, of trends. A job that encourages me to pay attention to the world is a job I want.
Wishing you all blue skies ahead.
xoxo
Mary Ellen
