My First Spring Arrangement

I can finally bring cut flowers in from the garden again.  Our Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are popping with color and just begging me to grace our dining room table with their fabulous blooms.



I found my favorite mini-bottles and tucked three stems into each one.  These little glass cuties were purchased at a university surplus store.  They were probably once part of a science experiment, but now fill a special place in my diverse vase collection.

My Favorite Spring Flowers

Though it is sleeting like crazy outside today I am still envisioning perfect flowers emerging from that wet soil.

My all-time favorite is the tulip.  There is something so perfect and seemingly beyond reach about this flower. As a child I rarely saw them and when I did it was amazing.  Even today it is a special occasion to see them bloom and grace my dining room table.

Limit seems to make you appreciate something even more.
How much do we appreciate the dandelion?


Image courtesy of Judy Stalus Photographs

I like daffodils for another reason.  They don't seem as limited as the tulip.  Spring is often graced with thousands of these sprinkled across gardens.  Daffodils were cheerily blooming the week my dad passed away.  It was a sad time, but each year they continue to pop up in April to remind me of how cheery and kind he was to us.


Image courtesy of Judy Stalus Photographs

Flowers and Storms

I was looking out my cloudy window today and thinking about how happy I am that spring is here.  I found this fun photograph by Erin Tyner that perfectly illustrates my idea of this fresh season...flowers and storms.  Both powerful and dynamic.


Photo courtesy of Erin Tyner Photography

A Home's First Welcoming Gesture

I was searching for garden photos the other day and came across this beautiful website for the design firm, Landscape East in Virginia Beach. The stunning photos were mesmerizing and allowed me to imagine the same beautiful spaces in my backyard.

This is such a great example of how your website can set the tone for the rest of your company. Instantly I visualized romantic gardens, air-filled flowery scents, and sounds of trickling water.

It was even more fun reading about the owner, Roy Cutler, and how he went from banker to self-taught designer and horticulturist. He definitely has an eye for good design on several levels.

His designs are based on beauty and function...a man after my own heart. Roy also describes a garden as your home's first welcoming gesture for friends and family. Awe. I just love that.

Fabulous Fireflies

I found this stunning photo today by Kristian Cvecek and just couldn't contain my adoration. Kristian used slow shutter speeds to capture these lovely fireflies in flight. Absolutely amazing.

Cocktails in the Garden

I was attending a conference at the Desert Botanical Garden last week (which was lovely, by the way) and ran into my good friend and fabulous designer Tres Fromme. I love showing his garden ink drawings. He whipped this up for me while there (I'm sure it wasn't mad doodling during an intense presentation...cough).

For some reason we had a lot of discussion about enjoying cocktails in a beautiful garden setting (not such a bad thing). You can find Tres at studioOutside.

My Childhood Garden: The Woods

Yes, my parents left our yard empty, but we did indeed have a lot of fun playing organized games across that open lawn. Openness isn't a bad thing. It does provide a venue for lots of running...and a lot of opportunity to grow tomatoes.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography

But something happened...as children we still sought out that special place filled with trees, water, wildlife and the opportunity for manipulation. What we (the neighborhood kids) all discovered was a woodland. A place where suburban houses had yet to grow. It was a block long and about two blocks deep.

Photo courtesy of Jude McConkey

"The woods" as we called it, provided that sense of adventure, discovery and connection to living things. When we were not playing baseball in our backyard, we were in the woods creating forts, blazing trails, and swinging across creeks.