Flowers in Review
It is a time when we all review, reflect, dream, set goals, and plan. I did one of my favorite planning activities today and started my seed orders. The list of varieties is getting smaller, but the quantities larger. Sort of like a wardrobe, over time you figure out what works for you and abandon the rest.
Earlier today in the bath tub I found on my phone the photo I thought was perfect for this post and then a stream of ideas came to me. They were all ideas that sprouted from the photo. A few hours passed. By the time I sat down next to the stove with the computer to write, the ideas had slipped away. Procrastinating, I looked for the photo on my computer. As soon as I saw it all the ideas all flooded back! I found myself thinking about that feeling, sitting in that big red chair a few stories up, gazing out at a timeless sea of green. A sea of so many variations of greens. I think of this photo when I describe variations of greens to brides. As an artist there are many moments where you see it all perfectly in your head, but can’t describe it to the person sitting across from you. 
We walked for hours with the owner of the this olive orchard and I collected a few items deposited when it was a sea floor long ago. Those treasures now sit in a little dish my Mother gave me next to my bath tub, my own private sea. We sat around the fire tonight trying to recall travel dates from the last few years and of course could not agree, but that is not the part that matters….the part that we value are the memories.
Back to that sea of green…. Why do I do this florist thing, farming thing…
It is the joy it brings to me and to others. I love the whole process of it. I love the seed planning, flower ordering, foraging, meeting the peony farmer in the parking lot for a sale, the wedding day adrenaline rush, the smiles on faces when we deliver an unexpected arrangement. I love bringing home the left overs and watching them decay over time. Florals are ephemeral. There is no better word to describe it! They are beautiful and then they are gone, but this is what makes them so special. How do I tell this to a customer who wants “long lasting flowers” or is upset their flowers are starting to die after a few days…Let me remind you the vase life for many of these amazing beauties is only five days….five days and they have to travel to Alaska in the winter first, so you do the math. The greens are often still there after days and they are beautiful. Back to those greens…. The Pantone color of the year, in fact.
“A refreshing and revitalizing shade, Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings.
Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate…”
The next time I feel stressed in this florist madness I am going to think of the sea of green from this window in Italy. Here’s to the new year. May it be all those things described in the Pantone blurb… zesty, fresh, restorative, fortifying, invigorating….
