lively up yourself

it's friday and it's as good a reason as any, no? 

posh chocolates were a present from a lovely couple i did wedding flowers for, with instructions to eat them all myself. and who am i to argue with that kind of advice...

was delighted to see this article on thierry boutemy in british vogue this month. love him so bad, what a guy. there's a bit where he talks about working on the shoot by mario testino for american vogue avec gaga:

mario called me and said "bring some flowers and we will work it out when you get here". this is the best method: have a stock of flowers and then improvise in harmony with the place and the people you are working with.

which pretty much nails it.

cecilia paredes

a.k.a. how to disappear by peruvian artist cecilia paredes

onwards and upwards

weddings and valentine's day DOWN, not without accidentally dropping placing my laptop onto the floor and smashing the hard drive to smithereens, taking with it the vortex that was my iphoto. hence the lack of pictures of antics from the past few days. remember my dream? maybe they do come true after all...

at least you've been backing up reguarly my husband thoughtfully suggested. and therein lies the rub.

bad girl

a little friday record for you. i'm off to make some flowers. feel free to talk amongst yourselves. 

Q&A thursday: erin benzakein of floret

how/why you got into the flowers

we moved to the country some years back and after cramped city living i was chomping at the bit to spread out and plant a garden. a neighbouring farmer tilled up a HUGE plot for me in the middle of our property and i set about filling it with food. 

that year i grew over 50 tomato plants, corn, peas, beans potatoes, broccoli, salad greens, zucchini, cabbage, kale, pie pumpkins...and while the experience was absolutely amazing, the most memorable crop of all turned out to be a double row of sweet peas at the far corner of the garden. 

having planted far too many to cut and enjoy myself i started sharing the fragrant blooms with friends and family. word got out and someone ordered a jar of flowers for a friend. i'll never forget that day when i drove into the fancy housing development to deliver the flowers. i was so nervous, sweating, not sure i had filled the jar full enough with blooms, wondering what i should say when they opened the door. did i charge too much? not enough? but when the door opened and i clumsily handed the woman her flowers she took one whiff and tears welled up in her eyes. in that moment she was transported back to a time of happiness, to hot childhood summers, her grandmother's garden...and i was forever changed. seeing such a simple thing (a jar of sweet peas) have such a profound impact on a person, i knew i had found something worth doing. so the following season i tore out the veggie garden and restocked it full of every flowering plant i could get my hands on. 

since that time the garden has grown dramatically but the core of my little business is still the same. it's all about sharing the magic of nature and opening peoples hearts with it. i know, cheesy, but it's true. i believe flowers can change the world.

on your current playlist

david mallet, adele, eminem, U2, a ton of crappy pop music, the NPR series "this i believe" and many children's taking books (i have small helpers with me a lot!)

savoury or sweet?

super sour

best ever flower (for this week at least)

right now i am LOVING dahlias. with half an acre in full rolling blooms, it's impossible to not be totally in love. last month i was swooning over our massive oriental lilies (many as tall as me!), the month before roses, before that sweet peas, ranunculus, heirloom daffodils...there are just too many to choose!

tipple?

i have been informed that i am very uncool and immature since i like girly drinks that don't taste of alcohol. it's true, i'm a weenie, i drink whisky sours.

your most unappealing habit

it's a toss up. i swear like a trucker (loud and far too often) but i am also a terrible procrastinator.

couldn't live without

strong coffee with loads of cream, haflinger slippers and my down coat.

favourite website(s)

ariella chezar blows my mind. her flowers are from heaven, living art. i dream of one day meeting her and seeing firsthand how she works her magic...sigh. sarah at saipua kicks some major ass. she is crazy talented and i adore how she incorporates so many unusual and seasonal elements into her work. she's certainly paving the way for a new generation of floral designers. have you seen amy merrick's new site? holy crap! a word of warning: you will need adequate time to sit and soak in it's beauty.

what makes your heart sing

people who are real, my hilarious and VERY alive children, fresh eggs, a mailbox full of cheques, bantam chickens, tiny seedlings pushing up through the soil, garden roses from peter kort, chubby nursing babies and fried zucchini in olive oil.

tell me a secret

i write nearly all my articles the day before they are due. i read celebrity gossip when i am stressed, i can't spell to save my life and if i weren't working with flowers, i would be a midwife and help women have their babies at home.

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floret is a flower design company and organic flower farm just north of seattle. erin's beautiful and inspiring blog lives over here. 

funny weird not funny ha ha

been feeling right off my game recently. knitting like a demon (always a surefire sign there's a baby on it's way), watching mad men (again) and trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of unease. i dreamt last night that i dropped my camera and smashed my new lens to smithereens. could this be an omen?

back on the flowers at the weekend. perhaps that will knock me out of my reverie. 

{ben giles} collage

love these: collages by ben giles. flickr page here.

Q&A thursday: belinda norrington of wild acre

how/why you got into the flowers

moving to a barn that had half an acre of field, untouched by trowel or spade, and wanting to create a beautiful garden is what got me into flowers. piet oudolf was, and probably still is my biggest design influence, the use of grasses and natural looking drifts of colour really suits the rural situation of my patch. once the garden got going i wanted to learn how to grow gorgeous flowers to fill the new garden with colour and scent and also to cut them for our house and to give away. i grew so many that i started selling some of them.

on your current playlist

fleetwood mac and a bit of elvis costello (oliver's army). weird combo!

savoury or sweet?

carbs - good bread, hot-cross buns, chocolate cake are hard to resist. have just discovered a clotted cream and blackcurrant ice-cream that is bliss! so i guess sweet. but then a zingy thai beef salad with lots of chilli and lime and coriander has just popped into my head, so i suppose it depends on my mood.

best ever flower (for this week at least)

i have a weakness for really pure looking flowers, so white scabious (caucasica, 'miss wilmott's ghost) and the lovely japanese anemone 'honore joubert'. both float and bob about so elegantly over long wiry stems just to make the florist's joy complete!

tipple?

very cold prosecco in the summer and whisky mac in the winter.

your most unappealing habit

saying bugger when i'm cross. oh and offering to share a pudding and then eating it all myself, my husband has refused to ever share another one with me!

couldn't live without

rose tea by twinings. well i could live, obvs, but the morning would be a struggle.

favourite website(s)

apart from l and bloom you mean, fawn, fawn (?!!) okay then for more flowers - floret, sarah raven. for housey stuff - re, labour and wait, radiance. for handmade lovely - etsy and bigcartel. for jewellery - junkaholique, the goldensmith, satomi kawakita. oh, and pinterest is sucking me in! others for food, clothes, art, photography...um, what DID we do before the internet?!

what makes your heart sing

seeing my kids all get on together, big open rural views, the sea especially the far side of blakeney point - an island off the north norfolk coast. my flowerbeds weed free, breakfast in bed, a lime tree in blossom, really original and well designed jewellery.

tell me a secret

when i try on a new outfit, i have to stand in front of a mirror and sing and wiggle and click my fingers before i can tell if it looks nice. oh dear, so tragic but i bet i still do it when i am 80!

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wild acre is in hertfordshire. belinda's lovely blog lives here.