It’s great to have a challenge to make one grow! Something just a bit out of the usual box. Rick Herns Productions asked me to provide two very large urns filled with “California Wine Country” style florals. Much urn searching later with my trusty friend Pamela J in tow we designed these beautiful arrangements. It took five trips to the city to orchestrate... the first to scout out the urns and see what foliage and flowers were available...a trip on Monday to buy the lilies and alstroemeria. These were subsequently carefully nursed to fully open by Thursday. On Wednesday I picked up the pear branches, apple blossoms, forsythia, golden rod, snowballs, spirea and gorgeous leafy curly willow. All stems were freshly cut and placed in the tallest buckets I own. On Thursday we trucked them up to the Hilton Hotel here in San Francisco and three of us, Pamela, Laurie Chestnut and I had a grand time adorning the stage. Here are a couple of photos of the outcome. Rick Herns Productions made the incredible stage set.

This was a very fun project! My assignment was to create a setting for some very different SF neighborhood signs. Each table was to be named after a local district. I began by fanning out the cards next to the flowers in the market to come up with a family that worked with all the colors. A sweet challenge indeed! My favorite find was the perfect sunset shaded rose to bring out the one color that was in all the signs. The setting was the Golden Gate Club in San Francisco, it was a misty evening, perfectly mirroring the way the artist had rendered all his images. Lots of gold votives and covered ivy pots filled out the space below and made a welcoming warm glow.

​Here is one of my favorite holiday arrangements from last year.... I fell in love with the beautiful red/orange roses and the variegated cedar... all the other flower choices and colors came after those two had been picked... lots of texture and warm hues make for a welcoming centerpiece.

My bride brought me swatches of her wedding dress fabric and an exquisite shawl to show me her preferred color palette. And so ensued this gorgeous floral combination of vibrant fall shades. She (with the fabulous caterers “Just Us Catering”) had chosen the linen and napkin colors and so I married the two creating this renaissance style centerpiece, complete with copper urns, persimmons, pomegranates and green berries decorating the table.

I have some very exciting news to share, especially with my Zimbabwean family!  I was invited to design a "tablescape" for Filoli Garden's Mother's Day event. This in of itself is a great honor.  It is an annual gathering that allows florists to decorate various rooms with their interpretation of the theme.  This years theme was "Voyages With an International Affair". My immediate thought was Zimbabwe, of course!  I checked In with my aunt (thank you Shirley) about specifics and my table took shape.
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Here is the end result... It was photographed and chosen to be featured in this Floral Design Magazine.  How lucky I am to have such a rich heritage to draw upon.

These photos of our beautiful bride say it all!  Sweet wedding bliss captured in timeless snap shots.  I had a lovely time transforming Caitlin’s idea of a ‘fairy’ urban rustic chic inspired wedding into florals.  For the centerpieces we incorporated moss blocks, birch bark risers, woodsy table top mushrooms, surrounded by silver crackle votives.  Soft peach colored dahlias were the focal point amidst dusty miller leaves, solidago, lycopodium and deep burgundy cosmos.   

Caitlin’s bouquet heralded exquisite ivory helleborus, gorgeous lush bells that arched amidst ranunculas (Caitlin’s favorite flower), feathery astilbe, heavenly cosmos, rosemary from the garden and the sweetest peach carnations you have ever seen! The burlap wrap around the stems matched the binding of Matt’s boutonniere … a tiny combination including rosemary, astilbe and hypericum berries.

Caitlin, Siani (Caitlin’s sister) and I had the very best girl time together choosing and arranging these flowers.

You are invited to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party!  Here is whimsy at it’s best. Fanciful teapots are filled with brightly colored flowers and tiny teacups rest amidst mushrooms and topiaries. Vintage cake plates and wrought iron risers create height and even more eccentricity.

Here we have a Garden Tea Party!  What could be lovelier than a  combination of tea and flowers??  Two of my very favorite things. We searched high and low in many thrift shops to gather vintage cake pedestals, fun teapots and sweet tea cups.

Click the images below to Pin on Pinterest!

Time for summer fun!  This centerpiece was designed for a boardwalk/carnival themed bat mitzvah.  Each table was named after an amusement park game.  The hydrangeas were sprayed with a creamy yellow paint to resemble popcorn and a good time was had by all!

My happy lush Buddha greeted the guests as they were invited into a beautiful Zen environment.  In the foyer simple rosehip branches and sweet pomegranates graced the entry table, tucked inside wrought iron “tree stump” vases.  More blessings are offered by a praying monk and the Menlowe School of Ballet’s Fundraiser began.

Fresh ferns and dahlias compliment the resident young girl in red and outside small cocktail table arrangements carry the theme through.  On the bar, featuring magnificent raspberry mint mixtures, an exotic display of tropical florals invited all to imagine an island vista and begin celebrating!