flower ID: allium

pretty allium from my garden. I had planted the bulbs in the fall with Raquel and we were excited to see them bloom so lovely and purple for a few recent weeks. Raquel's preschool asked each child to bring in a flower from their garden so they could make teacher's appreciation day garden bouquets. We snipped a few allium and gave them along with some of our hosta leaves.

Allium is also gorgeous when they are used in a landscape mixed and mingled sporadically in a garden like here and here.  Sooo, think about planting the bulbs in your garden this fall. I look forward to seeing them each spring now.

summer succulents

 busy, busy, busy! spring time is so busy for me. i've been working with dried flowers for my shop, with fresh flowers for mother's day free lance, my container gardening business and tonight I will be making a million corsages for a junior prom. I have so many photos to show you of the fun I've been having container gardening. These succulent centerpieces are for a client we did yesterday and they will last her all summer in the sun of her backyard. We scattered them about her tables and poolside. More photos to come when I have another breather.

Speaking of summer sun, i love this song... definitely a favorite for this summer!

see you soon.

container gardening season

A few postcard designs I came up with. I ended up choosing the last one. Which one is your favorite?

Every season I do container gardening in the Short Hills, Millburn, Summit and surrounding areas of New Jersey. It's so much fun and I love doing it. The season will be underway as soon as mother's day passes. If you are interested, please contact me at flowersofthesun {at} gmail {dot} com.

for more of my container gardening look here.

blooming corridors

 african violets, grass, heather, mums, orange tulips, white mums, white tulips  more orange tulips and orange begonias

A four day public art installation called bloom was done in the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston.  After 9 decades of service, the building was slated for demolition. They sought artist Anna Schuliet to help memorialize it.

"After an initial tour of the facility she was struck not with what she saw but with what she didn’t see: the presence of life and color."

She chose 28,000 potted flowers to fill every nook and cranny of the MMHC, hoping that the visitors, former patients, and employees would see the color and life that really came from these corridors, stairwells and offices.

Words left by a former patient in a guestbook for Bloom: 

“My mother told me, 36 years ago, ‘Hang on. They’ll find a cure, I was suffering alone until I came to MMHC. And today… oh so grateful…beyond any words, so grateful. Lives and sufferings have been redeemed here… Today, we flourish.” 

 another entry...

 “I walked through Bloom with a close friend of mine who has spent a great deal of time inside similar hospitals. He was close to tears and repeated said he felt the desire to jump into the flowers, sum bold for the freedom and the celebration of his own growth and healing. We recognized that Bloom brought beauty and wonder to what has always been an inherently taboo subject matter.”


images taken by Anna Schuliet and found here,  another article here