Philly Pflowers

Debbe Peck bought this vase at the Philadelphia Flower show today, and I bought these flowers to put in it. Hotel windowsill. See the snow on the roof in the background?

blue hibuscus holder?

Had fun yesterday at Joyce Caldwell's house looking a birds' nests. Also noticed this "vase" in her living room. Not sure it was intended to be a vase, but it looks like a hibiscus holder, and, we discovered, holds water, so we added a couple of flowers from outdoors--a budding Lenten rose and a sprig of daphne--then moved it to the windowsill. Fun seeing the snow outside and remembering how freezing cold--stiff even--that Lenten rose stem was!

Blooming alstromeria--finally

On February 11, I'd have sworn this little snippet of alstromeria would never bloom. In fact, at one point in February, for an arranging workshop, I was trying to get several dozen stems of alstromeria flowers to open and they wouldn't. Gave them hot water, moved them into bright light, positioned them inside by the woodstove, sat them in a sunny south-facing widowsill--but they refused to open. We pretty much used the unopened buds as greenery. Now, though, this one little stem that I kept at home has opened and it's gorgeous. Better late than never, but this would have been so beautiful in those Valentine's Day arrangements!

green rose, variegated aucuba

These are materials I really enjoyed pulling together--some small aucuba leaves so variegated they were practically yellow and a leftover green rose from the florist. The latter was paper dry by the time I got around to using it here (I'd already used it in two earlier windowsill arrangements), but, even dry, it's still beautiful, and believe it or not, still fragrant. I'm hoping everyone who attended the workshop where my daughter and I offered these roses is still enjoying them, because this one I held back because its head broke off has cheered me for a over month!

snow on the roof, green leaves on the pussy willow!

Good thing I checked this vase today, because it was out of water. Also discovered the black pussy willow had put out fresh green leaves. Thank you, pussy willow!

slender twig, bodacious boot

Love my bodacious boots, which were required for a walk in my neighborhood today. Crunchy snow and roads covered with ice. I found the twig on my walk. As I post this, my cheeks, which I tried to protect by wrapping my scarf around them, are still numb.

green rose--again

Well, it's still around--a green rose I first used in a windowsill arrangement on Feb. 5! Here it is again, this time paired with some aucuba and alstromeria foliage.

common mullein in contemporary vase

This is something I thought I had posted earlier in the week. Must have forgotten to do it. It's just two common mullein leaves collected from a roadside plant tucked into the opening little contemporary vase. The grey,wooley leaves provide a nice contrast to the metallic finish of the vase. LOVE the vase! Not sure this is the best way to use it, but it's one way.

rosebud and pussy willow--as they landed

I love this because I didn't arrange it--it just happened. Because Kate and I held an arranging workshop this week, hundreds of dollars of florist flowers passed through my house, but by this morning, this was all I had--a few tiny pussy willow twigs I couldn't throw away because they had rooted and a tiny pink rosebud that landed in the same spice jar. I shuffled them not at all--just left them the way they were and when the light hit them this morning, they looked so pretty. See the reflections of the rosebud in the window?

air plant with catalog in jar

Here's the air plant I hung from a ball jar with a catalog in it. It would take me FOREVER. to explain how these materials landed together!!

assorted stuff

I pushed all this material to the side today, so that I could display an "air plant on jar with catalog in it" today. When I looked at the result, however, I liked this stuff  I'd pushed to the side better.

green rose in wine glass

I bought some leftover green roses at a meeting yesterday (great price from Potomac wholesale), and I'm hoping they'll stay alive until next week so I can use them at an Arranger's Market workshop. As I was conditioning them, though, one flower broke off, so I started looking for a way to display it. This was my best shot.

poinsettia on pedestal

I'm still harvesting flowers from my Christmas poinsettias, because there is little else of color blooming inside our out. The poinsettia flower is in a water tube with a great, curving piece of holly fern. You can't see it in the photo, but the underside of the holly leaf shows, and it's covered with dark reddish sori--clusters of spore cases.