Last weekend was a double header/ town AND country farm dinner weekend! We had the honor of bringing flowers we grew to Green City’s last Big Table dinner of the season celebrating urban farmers in Washington Park. We brought vermillion dahlias with lacy touches of Cottoneaster berries and lemon basil. Pictured above are chefs Sarah …
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trouble in paradise
All has not been sunshine and happiness at Five Row recently. 100 of our cosmos plants developed root rot and have pretty much all died. They were such a sight in their glory; 6 ft tall, with so many blooms it was almost a bore! Root rot is irreversible but I tried to contain it, …
Summer Citrus at The Ivy Room
Absolutely unafraid of color, this beautiful bride chose a sherberty pallette in shades of coral, tangerine, lemon and lime. We employed fresh citrus including limequats in the bouquets and centerpieces as well as dinner plate dahlias and cosmos from our farm. In the gorgeous sanctuary that is the courtyard at The Ivy Room, our designer …
West Side Goats
We met Carolyn Ioder’s Goat‘s, from which she provides fresh milk and artisanal cheese. We helped walk them from her yard in Austin, here on the West Side of Chicago, through the alley to the Root Riot pasture. The pasture is a few open and connected lots a block away. In the mix were two-week old …
Song of Spring
It’s suddenly Spring. I, like many Chicagoans, am stumbling around pasty and shell-shocked, blinded by this gigantic alien orb in the sky. This handful of garden greens heralds as a kind of victory flag over this intensive winter. I’ve heard of massive defections from Chicago due to last winter and I’m fine with it. Fare …
Chrysanthemum redux
Carnations made a such a big comeback in the early 2000s New York flower scene that Vogue ran almost monthly editorials heralding the news, with gorgeous bowls of them priced at $300 and stars in the field bitterly feuding over who was responsible for their redux Now the show stopping chrysanthemum is officially back. ( Joy! …
Action!
For a particularly wonderful family wedding last weekend, we had a dynamite cast of Branchazons putting together huge displays of flowering dogwood and starry lights. In the Light Court of the Rookery building, masses of white French tulips listened, along with guests, to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring as they waited for the breathtaking bride …