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| my peonies and some other flower/bush I have that I LOVE but nO idea what it is! |
We always have some kind of flowers in our home... and I think it's the most uplifting thing and always makes me happy! Especially in the spring, they are ALL over the house! I like to use what is wild around our property and in the woods behind our home. We have lots of daisy's, those yellow flowers (not dandelions but they look more like yellow daisy's) and some sweet william is always nice. Really just whatever is around... then I plant some flowers from seeds in pots in the spring so that I will always have something good to work with as well as a good flowering rose bush that keeps going pretty much all summer long!
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| these are all I have now.. it's so HOT! |
I like to mix them all together, it reminds me of my childhood and Sweden. At 'Midsommar' it is customary to pick 7 flowers, run around a well 7 times and then you are supposed to dream about the boy you will marry.... or something like that (hey, it was a LONG time ago and I am sure I am going to hear from the Swede's about this one..).
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| my kitchen windowsil |
It's something I will always remember about mom's home farm in Dalarna, Sweden where my Aunt lives now. All over the house there are small vases with a tiny bouquet of wildflowers... it's so delightful and even the thought of them always brings a smile to my face. We used to go into the forest and come back with buckets of Lily of the Valley, my mom said that when they were little they would take them into town and sell them (that's my mom... always finding a way to make a buck!).
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| Arrangements by Ikuyo Takahashi at Gunn's show for her product - Nara - helt naturligt - in Tokyo |
When I lived in Italy with my friend Gunn she always had flowers around the house too! (she's Swedish but lives in Italy). At an opening for her new skincare products in Japan they had these beautiful flower arrangements by Ikuyo Takahashi, I think it looked amazing! As always when working with Gunn, she got the whole crew in on putting together the arrangements... her love for beauty and her infectious creativity jumps into everyone that is around her. But really, flowers and the garden inspire her life.. you can read her blog and you will see... there is always something about gardening, food and flowers! (that's why I love her!) - click here to go to her blog and read more
So you may be wondering, Carina, why are you writing about all of this now...?? Well, I got an email yesterday from Erica Tanov who is hosting a book signing for "Bringing Nature Home" conceived and photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo with floral arrangements by Nicolette Owen of Brooklyn's Little Flower School. Alas we may have missed the book signing because it was TODAY, and I don't have my copy yet but I was on the horn to Erica to see if she can grab me a copy! you can get yours by clicking here. You can see that the book will inspire anyone with it's images of lovely natural flower arrangements (obviously you can see from my 'arrangements' above I need some help) and help you to BRING NATURE HOME!
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| image from book "Bringing Nature Home" photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo |
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| image from book "Bringing Nature Home" photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo |
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| image from book "Bringing Nature Home" photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo |
The whole point of this story is that it's great to just go out and pick some flowers you find outside your door (sorry you Manhattan-ites) and use them in your home!
to purchase your copy of Bringing Nature Home - click here
