Sweetest Thank You!

About a week ago we hosted a celebratory private Home Restaurant.  At the end of the night we always send guests home with goodie bags.  Sometimes–– warm bread, cookies, flowers...  When Home Restaurants coincide with large flower events guests often leave with big bouquets of flowers.  Last week at the end of the night we passed out warm bread and a bunch of brightly colored flowers left over from a wedding the night before. A few days after the dinner I received a card from a guest at the dinner that was an amazing paining of the flowers!!  It made my day, thank you Susan.

thank you card

Pear Blossoms

Gorgeous pink cherry blossoms get all the attention this time of year.  The pear blossoms are a favorite of mine.   I always get excited when they bloom maybe in part because I know that the cherry blossoms are just around the corner.  Maybe because the blossoms are white and I am always partial to white flowers. John and I spotted these and a bunch of others on a walk a couple days ago.  Even though there are tons in our neighborhood I still miss the huge 5 trees that were recently cut down because of the construction on P street between 7th and 9th streets. pearblossom6 pearblossom8pearblossom3

December Roses

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Nearly 15 years ago we planted Madame Alfred Carriere climbing roses thinking they were white with touches of cream and ivory.  They are pink, which we probably would have not chosen intentionally but they have continued to supply buckets of the most beautiful, fragrant, cuttable roses year after year.  The largest crop comes in late spring/early summer, more come in the fall and most years we even get some late fat gorgeous blooms in early winter.  These photos are from this morning!!

Garden Flowers/ Sugar Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just got back a few photos from photographer Caroline Tran of a mid-April wedding at the Mandarin Oriental.  Impeccable planning by Ritzy Bee resulted in all sorts of fun floral details that I will share when I get the photos back...

In the meantime I am loving these two photos together of my flowers and sugar flowers created by the talented Maggie Austin.

Mid May Wedding Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The northern hemisphere peony season is winding down (I can usually get southern hemisphere peonies starting in late November).  These photos from a mid-May wedding at Dahlgren Chapel and The Cosmos Club feature local peonies at their peak.  I was excited to work with the photographer Brian Tropiano for the first time, thanks for the photos.  And, thanks to Arney from Pineapple Productions for coordination.

Tree Peony– gone until next year

The fall before our daughter Martin-Lane was born, nearly 13 years ago, we planted a tree peony. The first flower bloomed on April 16, the day she was born, and on her birthday for the first 9 years of her life.  A couple years ago a cool early spring delayed the flowers opening until the end of April. This year they bloomed on April 5th.

Tree peonies have larger and more delicate flowers than more common bush peonies. The trees grow slowly and prefer not to be moved. Tree peonies buds are formed above the ground on the woody stems during the fall so take care not to prune in the fall or you will not have any flowers the following spring. With bush peonies next years buds are also formed in the fall but in the underground rhizome so cutting leaves will not affect the next springs flowers. Tree peony flowers only last a few days on the tree or in a vase.  Like all peonies if you want to use the bloom as a cut flower cut as soon as the bud feels like a marshmallow, before the flower actually opens. Place the cut stem immediately in cold water, most likely the flower will open in a few hours.