Retail Florists

We always love an early morning filled with fresh scents and bold colors at the flower district on 28th street. While we often tend toward pale, earthy tones, we were smitten last weekend with how vibrant the selection was. And apparently some capitalists appreciate the aesthetic as well...

Chelsea flower district

[1]

"Heremes pops up at Liberty" scarf via Codex Costinianus

[2]

Blazing Poppies wallpaper at Anthropologie

[3]

Takashi Murakami, Flowers 2004

[4]

A Secret Garden

This beautiful stone bust in Woodbury, Connecticut got us thinking about the mysteries of a garden--how nature can create the most perfect work of art through the organic growth of a seed. Photographers Judith McMillan and Steven Meyers went one step further, looking within the flowers themselves...

Poppies in Riverton, CT

Judith McMillan Icelandic Poppy , 2000

Tulip at Abingdon Square Park

Steven Meyers Triumph Tulip , 2000

Orchids at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Judith McMillan Paph Orchid, 1999

Inspiring Buds

There was so much more at the New York Botanical Garden orchid show this year than bold blooms of delicate petals. We saw modern chairs, giant spiders, 12-pane windows and butterflies as yellow as the sun.

Eero Aarnio Ball Chair

Laura Zindel spider bowl

Window at the High Line

Solar Ellipse by Christopher Marley

The Weight of Flowers

When we were pulling the Penn photos for Hothouse Flowers, we found the Steichen black and white studies included below. What strikes us is the visual weight of the flowers--voluminus and sculptural, striking without the aid of scent and color. So, with a few clicks, we set contrast on "high" and saturation on "low" and offer a few black and white studies of our own...don't judge us harshly alongside the master!

A window Valentine's Day bouquet in Chelsea

A coworker's Amarylis at the office

Steichen's Lotus, Mt. Kisco, New York 1915

Tulips in the East Village, NYC

Poppies through a florist's window in Chelsea

Steichen's Sunflower, 1920

Little fists of tulips in Midtown

Edward Steichen, Heavy Roses, 1914

Hothouse Flowers

Walking through the cold and grey of a February day in New York, we were struck by the gnarled, muscular beauty of Iceland Poppies ready to bloom. If Spring is not in the air yet, it is in the warm windows of Chelsea and Midtown florists.

A tangle of Iceland Poppies through a window in Midtown

Iceland Poppy on 10th Avenue during last week's blizzard

leablum.squarespace has a lovely bouquet of poppies on her blog

Penn's Poppies from Flowers

Irving Penn's Oriental Poppy