Out and About

 Under the headings of "I need to get out more" and "I love my customers" come these two charming  photos courtesy  Sue Prichard.  Sue holds a special place in Passionflower history because she was the real estate broker who first walked around the dirt floors of what was to become my first little store down by the train station.  I think it's fair to say, Sue was there from the start.  Plus Sue has a great eye and she travels and lots of times she sends me photos of storefronts from her trips. How lucky am I?

 Above, a pretty little florist shop display of hydrangea, sweet william and green trix from her recent trip to Austria and Germany.  Plus,  I love presenting flowers in a box.  To me it's perfect wabi sabi - something living and green inside something manmade and recitlinear.

 

 

And despite the glare from the window, I am completely intrigued by this beautiful  homespun display of dried fruit. I love the way traveling can open our eyes to new things.    And I love all the travelers we've been getting coming through the store.  I want them to send pics to their friends too, saying ," check out these photos from my trip through Eugene"

photos courtesy  Sue Prichard

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What to get the Happy Couple

It's beginning to feel a lot like wedding season around here!  (Trendspotting tip here - coral is hot, hot, hot for bridal flowers.)  And we are chock full of great wedding gifts.  I made you a little facebook album with wedding gift suggestions. The album is only a smidgeon of what we have, but hopefully enough to entice you to do some wedding gift shopping chez Passionflower.  Take a look here.  And we'd love some comments about what have been the favorite wedding gifts you've received.

Happy Solstice

 Well it's Summer Solstice today and a happy Solstice to all.  The official first day of summer, the longest day of the year, and here we are in Eugene.  While the rest of the country might be enjoying summer, it's overcast and we had some showers yesterday.  I'm trying to decide between wearing a sweater or a raincoat.

But who am I to complain?  Because, while it might be hot and sunny in the rest of the country,  this weather is just right  for fresh picked, field ripened, Oregon strawberries.

And that's like biting into a big juicy, warm, summer day.

The strawberries are coming to an end, the cherries are early and it won't be long until we have raspberries too.  Must be summer after all.

Raising the Vibration of a Room

 Nothing like a beautiful candle

Or a pretty little vase with a single flower to light up a room.

Loving these new dutch inspired thick, foggy, glass vases -

so easy to find a perfect little stem for them.

 I like cutting the flower low and  letting it rest on the lip of the vase.

And I purposely left these vases  without a flower so you could use your

beautiful imagination to conjure what you might do with them.

Hidden Treasure

 

A little rock/art/poetry vignette at the store.   Because art matters.

Summer Robes at Passionflower

  

And perhaps a new summer robe to go with the new fluffed up bed?  

Loving our selection right now.  Here's a detail of a classic cherry blossom pattern.

A little Love for your Bed that does so much for you

Time for throwing the windows open and fluffing up your summer bed?  I am thinking so.  Lots of fun bedding at the store - sheer linens, crisp sateens, colorful chenille throws and pillows, and any day now we're expecting the satin pillowcases from Bella Notte back in stock.  Plus, our handpicked selection of handstitched, one of a kind, Pakistani dhurries has never been better.  Find something great  for your bed.

wedding jitters

 Sometimes before a big wedding comes up, mostly in the planning stages, I get a little anxious.  It's just my process.  I accept it. I always find taking a little twirl out and about in the yard  makes helps me feel better and  get into the groove a bit ....

 This wedding party is all wearing black except for the bride.  So I put a few clippings on black paper just to see.

It was fun and got me pumped about this wedding I'm working on.

Self Soothing

Words from a wise sage.  When I am upset about something I try to remember this.  

I want to see the beautiful side of everyone.

More Plant Love

My inner plant geek just loves this deck of cards.  It has lots of fun factoid and pretty pictures too.  It's .fun to take camping or play games with your kids...

 

And I like to use them to embellish gifts.  Just use a hole punch in the top left corner and tie with twine or ribbon.

Summer's Here

 

Cannot wait for the lavender to start blooming.  In the meantime, there's always lavender water which makes a great spritz in your iron or sprayed on your sheets.....there's just something about lavender - it's relaxing and invigorating at the same time.

Summer Vacation

 

 

Leaving for a long weekend at  Malheur to do a little birdwatching - this trip has been on my list for years.  I've only been there once and saw a whole field of sandhill cranes.  Have always wanted to go back.  Pretty excited. Sorry I will be missing the Wolf Child graphic tee opening at Passionflower during First Friday tonight...but chances are you won't even miss me as my amazing staff is there to hold down the fort.  Have fun and get yourself a great new summer tee.

Summer Dining

I heart my customers....especially when they help me see something in a new way.  Have been loving these big beautiful serving bowls from Terra Firma ceramics for a while.  Love them even more now that a customer told me how she's going to use it to serve one meal in.  Picture a bed of rice with a circle of roasted vegetables and big juicy chicken in the center....or a bed of salad greens with  splashes of  roasted asparagus and potatoes  and a piece of pink salmon on top.  Such a chic way to serve a simple meal. And the low open nature of this bowl is just right for that.

Thursday Morning

 

Judy Jackson oblong pottery with one of my favorite John Derian trays.

Pretty little detail from the store I wanted to share with you.

June Flowers

 An embarrassment of riches...

flowers from the yard....it's paradise out there.

Dreaming Away on a Cloudy Day

I can be a bit of a dreamer....I've been known to spend weekends driving up the McKenzie to look at houses falling in the river and spent many a Sunday morning driving out to an old schoolhouse (complete with original chalkboards) on River Rd wondering how these might be best restored.  Sometimes I think instead of being a florist, I ought to have gone into historic preservation. And maybe I still will. :) To my mind, there's just something inherently  wonderful about preserving an old building with lots of stories to tell.  And here's my latest fantasy/ developer's  dream. It's a little old church down the street from where I live.  It's just about the most iconic looking farm country church ever, isn't it?  The congregation is willing to give the church away to the right group.  Seems like it could make a wonderful restaurant/gallery/community space/art center/ farmer's market  or about a zillion other wonderful things.  Thought I'd post it on the blog, because it might be your dream too.
I've blogged about this church before. 
Photo courtesy AJ Fisher

The Direct Emanation of the Moon

 I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Tradition in Chinese floral lore considers  the peony to be a direct emanation of the moon...

And I believe that too.  Especially the part about how they start out in such tight balls and end up to be something like one of the biggest flowers I have ever seen.  This one here is called coral charm and it also

radically changes color as it opens...starting out very true coral and changing to all shades of peach and pink and yellow.   That's an interesting signature for a plant - for it's flower to change color as it grows.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll have another two weeks of peony season.  

Always good advice

We're expanding our card selection at the store.  Which makes us pretty excited.
72 new spots to find the perfect card.
 

Favorite new card - courtesy Rifle Paper Company.

Drawing Leaves

I've been meaning to show you some pics of people's work from the botanical illustration class I took.

There's a lot of measuring involved...as you can see above.

My fellow students really blew me away.  There was a lot of talent in that room and especially among the young ones.

 

And,  unusual for most of the adult ed art classes I've taken, there were quite a few men in the room too.

Here's a geranium leaf and a wild rose leaf  above- pretty good drawing if I can tell what plant it is from the drawing.  Which is the whole point of botanical illustration.  You're supposed to be accurate enough that one can ID the plant.

It's the perfect blend of art and science.  Thanks so much to LCC and the Native Plant Society for putting this workshop on.  It was challenging and difficult but I learned a lot.  Not least amongst them is that LCC has a very cool herbarium and a great plant lab with all kinds of cool specimens of cones and mushrooms and pods and all variety of plant inspiration.  Plus now I want a microscope!

Summer's Here - Time for a new Graphic Tee?

Okay folks, hang on to those vintage Poppy & Moe tees you may have in the closet because they are no more.  Sabrina Concertina has rebranded and is launching her new line Wolf Child this Friday at Passionflower during the Artwalk.  Same great style, slightly different message....and you'll have to come visit to check it all out.  In keeping with the graphic tee vibe, it'll be Ninkasi brew and music by Piano Truck to

round out your First Friday chez Passionflower.