Horn of Plenty

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thank you for visiting these pages and for leaving your thoughtful notes all year long. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Third Annual Willow Manor Ball

We have our invitation in hand. I asked my husband, the gentlest Southern gentleman of all, to take me to the Third Annual Willow Manor Ball. He is very happy to be driving the Maserati Quattroporte, carefully chosen by our car-fanatic son.

He thoughtfully made sure that my entire gown, with the coat, made it inside the car. We could have called for a limo, but the prospect of driving this car made him giddy and I couldn’t deny him. We drive past miles and miles of grand properties; which one will be the fabulous Willow Manor?

Is that a giant, dare I say it, willow ball?

I think we have arrived – in every sense of the word!

On our way to the ballroom, we peek into a sideroom, rich with wood paneling. This might be a nice place to take a break later in the evening.

We enter the ballroom. Giant crystal chandeliers illuminate the wood paneling. We see Ken Marten's striking floral creations of Vanda orchids and dogwood branches in glass cylinders at the bars and buffet tables matching the tall floor versions at the entry.

Every table is adorned with this lush jewel-toned centerpiece of hydrangeas, cock’s combs (Celosia), red roses, and leucadendrons by Sue Arran.

I notice, by sheer coincidence, that my attire matches the decor beautifully. What is that you say? You would like to see what I am wearing?

But first, let me show you my undergarments. Pardon me? You would like to skip this step and see my outfit? Please take up your complaints with Lady Ruth, she’s the one who put me up to this. While you are there, you can see what she is wearing to the ball.

Where was I? Ah yes, my unmentionables. Mr. Dior told me “Without foundations there can be no fashion.”

Now I will show you what I'm wearing.

My 1954 vintage outfit was created by genius designer, Christian Dior. Designed during the year of my birth, the red chiffon dress with the Tudor bodice and the matching taffeta coat and belt was instantly appealing to me. Because I had so little time this week, I asked dear Mr. Dior to also accessorize it for me. The matching set of earrings, necklace, and bracelets for both (!) wrists do not overwhelm the ensemble because the red rubies (this is a fantasy, after all) blend in so beautifully. I love my only non-red accessory, the golden dancing shoes. I may actually last more than a dance or two in these.

Speaking of dancing, I must leave you for a few minute because Southern Gent Husband and I would like to take a spin on the dance floor. Michael Buble is singing one of my favorite Henry Mancini songs “Meglo Stasera” from the movie “The Pink Panther”.

Oh my goodness, we can’t leave the dance floor just yet. He’s now singing Van Morrison’s “Moondance”.

I am getting mighty thirsty now. Southern Gent Husband knows just what to bring me: an exotic lychee martini. We both realize that we worked up quite an appetite. As always, Dan McCall Catering has impeccable service and outstanding food. We choose a plate of coq au vin with mashed potatoes…

…and delicious fresh vegetables.

The back wall of the room is lined with the magnificent willow balls like the one we saw in the garden.

We climb into one to savor our food and do some serious people watching. You can view all that we witnessed on Willow’s blog.

Thank you, Willow, for being the most gracious hostess of this grand event. We look forward to attending again next year!

Sources:

• Maserati Quattroporte
• Both giant willow balls by Frances Keenan, first photo from Helen's Manor
• Garden: Hellen's Manor
• Wood-paneled room: Sloane Mansion
• Dogwood and Vanda orchid arrangement: Ken Marten
• Hydrangea, Celosia, rose, leucadendron arrangement: Sue Arran Flowers
• Corset, Red chiffon dress with Tudor bodice and red tafetta coat: Christian Dior, scanned from Dior in Vogue, photos by Clifford Coffn

Black & White with Touch of Tiffany Blue - A Wedding in Houston

Enough about the preparations, now let me show you the flowers at the event. 

Lee created a lovely welcoming landscape of rose petals, peonies, and votives.

The guests entered into a large white tent with two magnificent chandeliers. Please note beautiful embroidered chair covers that the bride selected.

Stepping through the tent to the pool, floating tulip bouquets, à la Ken Marten style, greeted the guests at eye-level.

Here are two of the four head tables with the extra-fancy flocked black and white tablecloths...

...and contrasting Tiffany blue tablecloths. 

The higher-than-expected response rate necessitated the popular bride and groom to add four more tables at the last minute. We stretched out the thousand locally-grown tulips by wrapping each bouquet around five large water tubes.  The other reason we had to stretch out the tulips was that I was hoping for big, beefy Dutch tulips but the Iceland's volcanic eruption prevented any Northern European shipments from arriving into San Francisco. 

Tracy came up with the idea to use the six bubble vases around the submerged tulip inside the tall cylinder to add visual interest for the seated guests.

We had enough flowers and containers to create extra sets of the black glass cylinder trios:

The bride loves lime green and the "Limon" philadendron leaves fit the bill. The biggest cylinder of the trio had a two-inch band of black and white fabric wrapped around the middle to coordinate with fabric used for the wishing tree vignette.

It seemed that everyone had a hand in creating the signage for the wedding. Between the sisters, daughters, nieces, and nephews, all the signs got done with only a couple of panic trips to Michaels and Walgreens. 

But it paid off because quite a few guests left their thoughts and wishes with the bride and groom.

Guests had a choice to eat their delicious meal in the tent...

...by the pool...

...or in one of the cabanas.

And those who wanted to dine in a more secluded and quiet place, they could hang out behind the cabanas in front of the fountains at one of the cafe tables. 

There were 421 floral or candle containers, all but two had water inside. It would have been impossible to create this event without many, many hands with a large helping of team work to set it all up and take it all down at the end of the evening. We are all thrilled that the evening went off without a hitch.  The next morning, a guest clutching a bouquet of white tulips paid us the highest compliment as we waited for our cars to arrive: "We all had a fantastic time. It was the perfect mix of fun festivities with just the right touch of gala."

To the bride and groom:

"May a flock of blessings alight upon thy backs."

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Channeling Ken Marten in Houston

In Houston, doing my best to channel the ultra-talented Ken Marten. Enjoy his favorite works here. 

I will return next week.

Celebrating Spring with Bulbs and Blossoms

Materials used: plum blossom branches, parrot tulips, ranunculuses, hyacinths, spray roses, lemon (salal) leaves, reindeer moss, tree fern.

Merry Christmas

Photos taken at the 2008 Filoli Holiday Faire

Happy holidays to all of you!

European Floral Design Class

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I was feeling well enough to sit at the computer for any length of time. Thank you for your kind well wishes - they made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

The portfolio for my European Floral Design class is due tomorrow. You've already seen the sushi flowers and the pumpkin arrangement, and you've seen my midterm, here's a sampling of other designs we did. The design you see above was one of my favorites. We made an armature of salt cedar branches for the base of this bouquet. Here's a closer look at the "skeleton" of this design:

I still have the armature and I can use it over and over again.

Here is a wreath we made. It is meant to feel like a bird's nest, created with found items.

Here is our class listening to our instructor's critique:

This one is mine:

This fan design is a quick and easy design that requires only a few flowers.

I would like to thank our wonderful instructor, Wendy Pine, for another great class. The College of San Mateo is suffering horrendous budget cuts and the floristry program is in grave danger of being eliminated. It would be a huge loss to the community if we lose this important program that gives students practical, professional training.

Pumpkin Arrangements

I saw in our syllabus for European Floristry class at College of San Mateo that we were to bring a large hollowed-out pumpkin to class. I bought my pumpkin for a pumpkin display on my front porch before our instructor, Wendy Pine, told us that we should bring a medium-sized pumpkin instead a large one.  Due to an e-mail mix-up, I did not get the message that we were also to bring branches and bark to class. Fortunately Tracy, my floral partner-in-crime, tipped me off and I rustled up some just outside our classroom. Though my arrangement turned out okay…

Tracy suggested that I add more floral materials to bring. The arrangement was a little short, given the optical weight of the pumpkin, and the back did not have as much visual interest as the front:

Since I was hosting book club the next evening, and I needed an arrangement with all-around visual interest, I decided to follow her advice. The taller filbert branch from my yard added a more proper height and millet grass with pheasant feathers left over from here added width.

I am overjoyed to report that the very shy Michael Jackson just gave me permission to let you know that he resurrected himself just to come to book club at my house. Here's proof:

Eat your heart out, National Enquirer!

Since everyone at book club enjoyed the pumpkin so much, I decided to make more for gifts. This one had a more ikebana feel to it:

I planned to make one more using a green ironbark pumpkin, but some kids stole it from our front porch on Halloween night. I looked for its remains alongside the other smashed pumpkins on our street, but there was no trace of it. Note to self: bring pumpkins inside next Halloween night.

Gerbera Daisy Bat Mitzvah

I ran into an old acquaintance at a high school function a couple of years ago. As we briefly filled each other in on our lives, I told her that I was taking floristry classes at College of San Mateo. She asked me if I would be interested in helping her out with her daughter’s upcoming Bat Mitzvah. Though I had often provided flowers for friends, family, and charity functions, I had never accepted a professional job before. I would only have my second floristry class under my belt by the time the event came rolling around in nine months.

Then she sent me this e-mail:

Diana,

...  I have been meaning to follow up with you. Quite seriously, you simply MUST let me hire you for ******’s bat mitzvah.

I am generally dreading the planning of this celebration; thank goodness it's the last of three.

If I know that you will be helping, I will actually look forward to it. Amazing.

You could do whatever part of the celebration you prefer, although I would like you to do everything you feel competent at -- so maybe not the DJ part.

Invitations, flowers, decorations, table settings -- anything that requires a highly sophisticated yet playful sense of style. For years, ****** has been saying that she wants great decorations, but I have been refusing. On the other hand, if you take over, that's a different story. It could be a great way for you to experiment with some of those amazing, creative ideas of yours.

… Please say yes!

How could I not?

The best decision I made was to select classmate Tracy Lou as my partner for the event. Tracy had a one-year head start in taking floristry classes and was taking two classes per semester. Since we both studied computer science, at rival schools, I knew we spoke the same language and had a similar work ethic. We laugh when we use engineering terms to describe our floral creations but in truth it is a convenient shorthand between us.

Since our thirteen-year-old client chose pink and green for her color scheme, I suggested using the youthful and cheery gerbera daisy as her primary flower.

We finished making the last triple-decker daisy centerpiece at two in the morning. 

They looked eager to go to work on their way to the temple:

The reading (called a haftarah) for this Bat Mitzvah was about Moses parting the Red Sea, a name which some believe to be a mistransliteration from the "Reed Sea". We created a diptych-like arrangement for the bimah. Two containers were placed in a "V" shape to symbolize the parting sea.

We chose the tall green papyrus reeds because they grow along the Nile River where Baby Moses was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter. The purple gladiola provided a great contrast to the green and brown base colors. 

The occasion marked a double bat mitzvah with two girls celebrating this coming-of-age ritual on the same day. It was convenient that there were two containers. After the service they were placed farther apart on the dessert table..  Each family had an arrangement for their individual dinners. The arrangements had versatility and longevity. They lived their fourth lives as the families hosted their out-of-town guests in their homes over the following days.

The luncheon at the social hall is informal, with just a few flowers:

But dinner was more formal, complete with handmade placecards for the guests:

We were proud to transform the stark, all-beige social hall with its towering ceiling into a more intimate, welcoming, and festive atmosphere by using green and white paper lanterns. The Asian effect of the lanterns is a nod to our client’s Chinese heritage. 

We made gerbera daisy topiaries for the buffet table:

On their way out, guests hanged Mazel Tov greetings on these Manzanita trees: 

Our first big event came to an end. We were exhausted but overall we were pleased with the outcome. My friend wrote us an e-mail the following week:

"You and Tracy created a magical space in the room and even in the foyer. Thank you so much! I can't wait to see your next projects. Take good photos for a portfolio, and make sure you always give me credit for being your first official client!"

We will absolutely always give her credit for taking a chance on a couple of new floristry students. Tracy and I were so blessed that our first official client was a dream.