Our farm’s theme this year is fragrance, we are growing lime basil, chocolate and pineapple mint, lavender and the like. I like to bring old fashions back in floral design whenever possible, and these days people rarely encounter scented flowers. There is no aromatic luxury quite like working out there after a heavy rain, …
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Persephone Months
Elliot Coleman, progenitor of four season farming refers to these winter months as “the Persephone months” when the only growth that occurs is in cold frames and their movable greenhouses. I always think of that greek myth as one the greatest feminist stories. As her daughter was abducted and taken to the underworld, Demeter, goddess of the …
Festive Elegance
Last December, we had the honor of decking out this incredible home for the holidays decorated by legendary interior designer, the late Nora C. Marra of Nora Marra Interiors. In deference to her brilliance and the understated splendor her work, we kept the adornments to silvers and aquas with dashes of gold, citron and fuchsia. …
violet hour
Loveliest couple this this weekend- they met through Twitter. While she was cracking her friends up with her devastating wit, he began following her and fell under her spell. She was in Chicago, and he in London, so he made up and excuse to be here and flew in just so he could see if …
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 …
Big Table Dinner at Garfield Park Conservatory
Some clearly brilliant women from Green City Market’s junior board are hosting a series of farm dinners in honor of urban farmers this summer in Chicago’s most incredible parks. Our friends from The Chicago Honey Co-op were on the list of course and by donating flowers from our farm we were lucky enough to tuck …
Mud madness
Our plants were all knee high by the fourth of July! Some of them were so tall that they were snapping off at the base and a mad staking party in a flooded field was held. We started out with mallets up on ladders, then post drivers and finally figured out that the ground …
flower farm news flash
We had our first harvest this week! We cut all white cosmos including this one above that thinks it’s a dress designed by Issey Miyake. We’ve had stellar luck with regular rain, which has been key because it turns out you are supposed to put landscape fabric down after the irrigation tubing. More on that later….
Shanghai Terrace
We had the happy luxury of jamming tea tins full of blooms in fluorescent shades on Friday. Exotics like long stemmed Rothschild lilies, Icelandic poppies and parrot tulips mixed well with old-timey bee-balm, begonias and geranium on the Shanghai Terrace at the Pennisula where our spectacular bride greeted guests for cocktails on the eve of …
Donut vases at the New Modern Wing
We were recently asked to create decor for a donut themed breakfast, and these “clean, elegant” donut vases emerged! After having 300 donuts arrive at the studio in waves over the past few weeks, I learned that donuts are not an everyday food. Finally, I had to tell Kristin to tell me that they were “all” …