My Adventures

For many years I have been involved with the Philadelphia Flower Show and credit it with much of my floral design experience and with a vast number of what I call my “flower friends.”  Each year brings familiar faces of people who I know not only from their faces but...

For the past month I have been traveling across the globe including a few weeks visiting the northern part of India.  Color and chaos abound with stalls selling vegetables, fruits, and flowers line the streets. My first morning in Mumbai was a 5:30 a.m. tour of the...

I am on my way to Honolulu for a demonstration and workshops with the Garden Club of Honolulu. Since most often I work with Pennsylvania garden flowers I revel at the chance of working with some local anthurium and other tropical blooms. The latest look from Hitomi...

December brings wintry weather in our area and winter wool is part of our daily wardrobes. Wool can be added to floral designs for additions of color, texture, and line.A visit to the Sacred Valley in Peru takes us to a women’s weaving compound where many different...

November brings our Thanksgiving holiday and thoughts of celebrating the vast varieties of vegetables and fruits available.   Just a few tricks will make these wonderful, long lasting fruits and vegetables fun and attractive additions to your holiday arrangements....

Walking though the neighborhood in October awes us with vibrant hues.  Using fall leaves in floral designs brings the outdoors inside. This bouquet is created in a twig basket with a chicken wire base to support the stems. Preserved oak leaves are strung onto wire and...

Water can be a graceful way to elevate flowers in a vase without the heaviness of a ceramic or other material. Let’s take a look at some ways to work with the element of water without creating an underwater design.

August in Pennsylvania brings hot summer days and fields of zinnias.  The name zinnia comes from a German botanist, Johann Gottfried Zinn who found zinnias in Mexico and brought them to Europe where he bred varieties and new hybrid forms. Zinnias are easy to grow in...

Ikebana is the Japanese art of floral design and there are many schools of Ikebana including Ikenobo, the oldest and largest school founded in the 15th century. For many years the term ikebana meant following the strict established forms of the Ikenobo school. In 1927...

Peony flowers have been favorites for many years. The Chinese preferred the full double blooms as a sign of position and wealth. Japanese people favored the simplicity of the single flower. In Europe, it was the fragrance of the blooms that attracted people to the...