Sunset at Montmajour

A Norwegian man hid this grand painting, Sunset at Montmajour, he was told was not a Van Gogh for six decades in his attic. Details of how it was discovered were not shared but this long lost painting has been authenticated by letters, style and the physical materials used, and a traced history. The Van Gogh Museum director described the discovery as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" at an unveiling ceremony. The Van Gogh museum had rejected the painting themselves in 1990 as it was not signed by the artist. A two year investigation and new research technologies convinced them otherwise. It is now on display at the Van Gogh Museum starting on September 24th, 2013 in Amsterdam.

credit here and here

flowers for all!

Have you heard of flowers for all.com? If not, listen up!

I was contacted by flowersforall.com to see if I would try out some samples of their flowers. I went on their website and found out they are a well-known and respected high end flower company that grows luxury flowers on their farms in South America. They cut the flowers fresh for orders and ship them directly to you! They have high credentials when it comes to using environmentally responsible practice and also ongoing commitment to work practices that protect the environment and their workers which is an important aspect in the floral trade. Because they are shipped directly from the growers, they are exceptional in appearance, quality and longevity and at the same time, affordable.

I picked out a box each of white roses, peach spray roses and bright yellow alstomeria. They were delivered by fed-ex directly to me from South America. As the fed-ex man handed one of the boxes over, the scent of fresh flowers caught my attention and he said "enjoy them!".

I couldn't help but open the boxes up right away. They were packaged lovely for gift giving, wrapped with a satin ribbon and a kind note. I cut them and let them drink up. Already, even without designing and just snipping them all the same length, they were beautiful! I waited a few days for them to open up before designing.

My favorite of the samples I received were the peach spray roses. They bloomed so lovely and were full of ruffled petals. I left them in my girls' room and they would not stop sneaking sniffs because of their lovely scent.

the vibrant alstromeria:

After the flowers opened up a few days later, I picked out a vintage milk glass pedestal to design in and used my trusty kenzan (the proper japanese ikebana term for a flower frog). I snipped some mint that grows wild, myrtle, citrus branches and lengthy wandering jew vine from my garden and started designing.

I loved the results of my garden themed design. Each of the flowers were top of the line and opened up beautiful. Just look at those white roses!

My apartment smelled wonderful for days as the citrus, flowers and mint all mingled together. I am confident that you will enjoy your experience ordering from flowersforall.com for any floral occasion and I am grateful for the chance I've had to share their beauty with you!

New York Botanical Garden - with kids!

The New York Botanical Garden invited me to explore their gardens so this past weekend I took up the opportunity and went with my husband and 3 little girls for our first visit to it in the Bronx. A first of many visits for certain!

Elegant autumn toned dahlias grew in the seasonal walk

I could not contain my excitement and I think it rubbed off on my girls as we excitedly went from garden to garden. As we walked up to the conservatory, my husband saw the sign "A world of Plants" and knew without words that I would want a picture in front of it.

 so many lovely green textures.

I really enjoyed the different hanging baskets of Apocynaceae plants native to Indonesia and Malaysia:

 

riding on the tram!

 The flowering 'sweet autumn clematis' were a sight to see:

Naturally, we spent the most time in the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. My girls loved seeing the massive critters designed using different plantings.

They also enjoyed a scavenger hunt that had them searching for medicinal plants. They even got to plant and take home their own medicinal plant to put on mosquito bites. At the time, I missed what seed it was that they were planting, but we will find out once they start to sprout!

 

overflowing hydrangeas

The garden grounds were so much larger than I expected! For any horty like me, I would recommend spending a full day at the gardens to fully enjoy each area without feeling rushed. There are many things I would love to go back and discover more about that we did not have time to see, especially the Mertz Library. It is one of the world's largest and most important botanical and horticultural research libraries, with over one million items such as books, journals, original art and illustration, seed and nursery catalogs, architectural plans of glass houses, scientific reprints, and photographs. I think that alone would take a whole day for me to enjoy.

As for my girls, they loved it and asked the next morning "when can we go back?!".

Eddie Zaratsian's new book: Custom Florals and Lifestyle

Tap tap tap, is this thing on? I had a nice summer break and with the cool weather slowly approaching, the start of school and all that's good that comes with the Fall, I'm back again. 

 Eddie Zaratsian has a new book Eddie Zaratsian: Custom Florals and Lifestyle that is due to be released September 26, 2013 and I am excited to share some of the exquisite images with you!

In a floral industry that has recently been taken over by the lush garden, Baroque style designs, it is nice to encounter some west coast contemporary design.

I was intrigued by the great attention to detail, the use of so many textures and natural botanical material that that Eddie uses. It is no wonder that he is a Florist to the stars of Hollywood. He has a style that is heavily influenced by contemporary European floral design. Eddie's talent has teamed up with Restoration Hardware in their Beverly Hills store for their first floral galley boutique where his modern textural floral art mixes and compliments their styled line of furniture and accessories.

The book hosts many vivid photographs of floral eye candy paired with some of Eddie's favorite floral quotes, its every flower fanatic's must have. 

  "I have always been adamant about creating a beautiful art book, one that could rest on your coffee table or in a common room while the blend of texture, color and unusual combinations of flowers became an affirming inspiration." -Eddie Zaratsian,in the book's preface.

  

photos copyrighted by photographer Marianne Lozano