Seasonal Cuts of the Day

Two blooms for today!

 

Stargazer Lily (right)

It’s an easy to grow, showy, fragrant perennial. The name Stargazer was given to this hardy lily because unlike other lilies, their blooms gaze up at the sky.

 

Limelight Hydrangea (left)

This tree perennial blooms in late July and keeps the show going through fall.  Chartreuse and white blossoms shift to shades of pink and magenta when the cooler air of fall hits.

 

Combine the two, add a little pink Lisianthus, blue Sea Holly, Eucalyptus leaves, and a few sprigs of Curly Willow, and you get the arrangement of the week!

Seasonal Cut of the Day

 

Astilbe

A long-lived and hardy perennial with fern-like foliage and showy blooms.

Space Shift

We recently completed the make-over of a small front yard in Waltham, MA.  The homeowners were looking to remove mowing from their chore list and replace the weedy grass with a low maintenance garden sanctuary.  We designed a courtyard-like layout in shades of lavender and white, all centered around a circular patio.

 

Before

In need of a makeover!

Step One

A larger crew came in to do the real heavy lifting: removing the lawn and shrubs, and installing a 9’ radial cobblestone patio.

Step Two 

We came in and installed the larger shrubs. First to go in was a staggered series of Arborvitaes the will grow into a privacy screen by the roadside.  A line of Lilacs (a favorite of the homeowners’) flanks the retaining wall that separates the neighbors’ lawn.  A large columnar Arborvitae grows up by the doorway and two lace-cap white Hydrangea mark the entrance from the driveway. The larger plants are rounded out with several Boxwoods, a large white Hydrangea, a Beautyberry Bush, a Cavatine Japanese Andromeda, and a fine-leafed Rhododendron.

Step Three

In the final step we added all the small perennials and groundcover: Blue Paradise Garden Phlox, Comb Speedwell, Grapeleaf Windflower, Lucerne Blue-Eyed Grass, May Night Sage, Montauk Daisy, Obsidian Coral Bells (Heuchera), Omega Skyrocket Stokes Aster, Palace Purple Coral Bells, Plumbago, Snowflake Moss Phlox, Varigated Japanese Iris, and Violet Dawson Peony.

As the plants fill out in the next few months and through the next growing season, these homeowners will have very little maintenance to deal with.  What was once a bothersome patch of grass is now the envy of the neighborhood!

Kristin & Chris – June 12, 2010

Finally a post about my own wedding!  Between getting settled after the honeymoon, trying to weasel our way back into Kiera’s good graces (our black lab), and diving into new Ideas in Bloom projects, there just hasn’t been the time. 

Despite the rain, the day was perfect.  We had such a great support team behind the scenes who made everything fall into place.  The Smith Barn is beautiful in it’s own right, so with the addition of planted containers, hangers, and fresh flowers, it was breath-taking.  I’ll have to dedicate a whole other post to the floral elements of the day!

Take a peak below at all the personal details that made our wedding so great!

Decorations had to be repurposed since our planned outdoor ceremony was moved inside due to the drizzle.

Many friends and family members pitched in to help.  Thanks to my grandfather, Dave, for refurbishing this beautiful old weathered frame for our menu board.

My father spent many hours with me in the workshop creating barn-board signs (stenciling coaching by my grandmother, Nan), escort card logs, and the log pieces that adorned the dinner tables.

Close-up of the trivia cards.  Each table had two bits of farm trivia paired with vintage-like fruit prints that served as table “numbers.”  Some of the many, many things my right hand woman, Pam, helped bring to fruition!

Joy made us a beautiful plate for everyone to sign in lieu of a guestbook.

The AMAZING cake by my wonderfully talented grandmother, Denise, who just happens to own and operate Tastefully Wright. Four delicious layers (lemon with raspberry filling, chocolate on chocolate, and pink champagne) coated in light buttercream frosting in a textured finish and topped with the most perfect sugar peonies.  Loved the rustic base complete with cleverly hidden battery operated mini lights.

She even found the time to pull off a surprise groom’s cake (butterscotch) for Chris.  Of course it had to be a replica helmet from his beloved Pats. 

My brother hand-crafted these matching bride and groom’s chairs for us. Beautiful oak with a “fume” finish which he managed to finish between fixing up his first home and training his adorable puppy.  How neat is it that these chairs were the first we sat in as husband and wife and now will forever be a part of our dining set? Of course, we will now have to commission the remainder of the John Thomas original set.  To see more of his handiwork, visit the Condon&Fox website.

My brave uncle Greg (center) agreed to marry us.  He did such a great job!  He used the perfect mix of levity and serious sentiments.  It was so important to us that we be married by someone we knew and respected and we are so glad that he agreed.

My cousins, Aidan and Lauren, rang cowbells at the end of the ceremony (a nod to the Irish “make-up” bell.) They kept cool and collected, even when Chris and I, caught up in the excitement, processed out ahead of them!

Our attendants were awesome.  MOH, Vicki, and best man, Gabe, flew in from Seattle and Denver respectively.  They are such important people to both of us.  Vicki did a great job making sure I was properly fed all day and Gabe got Chris to the barn on time.  Their toasts weren’t bad either!

Dancing to the great Irish Band, lead by Ronan Quinn.

Aurora Photography captured Chris’ sister, Kelsey, singing “At Last,” accompanied by brother Tyler on the guitar, as my Dad walked me down the aisle.  It was so special!  I also couldn’t find a picture of my aunt, Amy, reading the poem she chose for the day (The Longly-Weds Know by Leah Furnas).  Aurora snapped that one as well.

I could go on and on, but you would loose interest. It was a perfect day and we couldn’t have imagined anything better.  Most importantly, it was a true celebration of family. 

Nora and Troy of Aurora Photography did a great job capturing the day and you see all the photos here, or a select few on their blog.

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I borrowed all these photos from friends and family.  Don’t you love Facebook? 

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