Ruminations

I just love the New Year, it just seems so fresh and  full of possibilities and like starting with a clean slate.  After (un peu of )the holiday excess, it's like clearing the palate.  Getting ready for a post holiday reset at the store.  And I can hardly wait.  Like I have a whole new story to tell - the story of the New Year!

To Tree or Not to Tree

 Brrrr....it's cold outside, like frosty the snowman cold, one of the coldest days we've had in a year or so....and so I am  wishing I had been more attentive to my potted plants on the porch.  Probably the geraniums won't make it but I am hoping the succulents do.  In the meantime, while my jasmine would probably have easily survived a freeze, I'm glad I brought it inside a couple of weeks ago. 

 It became my de facto Christmas tree with lights and ornaments and tinsel.....and no needles to drop and no tree to dispose of......sort of perfect solution for me during extra busy time of year.

 

Plus it's on wheels so I can move it from room to room!!!  Anyway I am smitten with this because I love the conservatory feeling and enjoying big tall plants in the home during the winter.  But I am still learning.  It's so tricky bringing plants inside, like last year this jasmine (aka Christmas tree) got covered with  some kind of mealy moth bug and almost died.  I just read in this very informative article from Portland Nursery  some excellent tips for helping your semi hardy outdoor plants make it through the cold winter times. 

Ringing in the New Year

It's all happening....so full of hope for the New Year!

 

Pantone Color of the Year looks good in the Pacific Northwest

 Thank you style gods that be, Pantone has selected their 2013 color of the year and it is  green!!!!  (Hello favorite all time color)...and not just any green, a deep rich, green with a lot of blue....a jewel tone..emerald they call it.  I say enough with this honeysuckle and tangerine (pantone's colors for the last two years).  We are not 14 and not all of us live in Miami.  Don't get me wrong, I love a pop of pink and tangerine first came to my attention as a trendsetting color when I saw John Derian wearing a pair of orange boiled wool pants at NYIGF.  (Seriously, the first time I met John Derian, before I knew who he was, and when he really was a small NYC manufacturer, he was wearing those pants and I remember thinking, "Now who is that unassuming guy over there in those fabulous pants - ?")...it's not that I don't think orange and pink (read tangerine and honeysuckle) have their place, it's just that manufacturers look at those Pantone predictions and start making everything in those colorways and, frankly, those colors don't really fly too well in the grey and moody Northwest.  So yeah to emerald!!!!

all images courtesy pantone

My Crabby Christmas

 I love setting a festive holiday table......it usually starts with the food.  In this case -crab....typically what I would think of for New Year's but somewhere got it in my head I wanted to have crab. I was going for something sort of earthy but bright and happy....a little bit clean and not too fussy.  I decided we'd serve ourselves most of the food  buffet style in the kitchen and then just have the crab and accoutrements on the table.

 I went out for a  walk in the filbert orchard behind my house and came home with some goodies for the nature part of the table- lichens and moss and a sweet little licorice fern (something very special about licorice fern) ...starting to look a bit like Christmas.

 But uh, oh, starting to get a little crowded on that table with all the crab paraphernalia - you know crackers and pickers, and lemons and aoili, and the crab itself and places for the shells. Plus we needed candles and  I wanted to have three little mossy vases down the table but I was definitely running out of room.

 Problem solved, I would just run red and white string up and down the table.....lots of color punch and it wouldn't take up any space. 

Keeping with the new design directive that all decorative elements must lie flat on the table, I added these  masks I was going to give away as party favors.....a little devilish for Christmas perhaps but the red seemed just right.

What can I say?  Try as I might (never), I'm not a minimalist......

And the food hasn't even made it to the table.

Blessings on this Day

A healthy and happy holiday to you and yours from the deep, green woods of Oregon and all of us at

Passionflower!  We love the holidays, we love our customers,and we are so thankful to have a lovely day off to celebrate with family and friends! 

Twas the Night Before Christmas