This week’s video is a peak at some of the projects and happenings in my corner of the world when it comes to flowers and gardens. Planting a balcony garden has been a very heartening part of 2020 and 2021. Last year I went all out with a victory garden mentality, planting veggies, diving deep into tomatoes mainly, sowing all sorts of herbs and microgreens. 

This year, I was a bit less ambitious and also late in the planting game! I decided to experiment with cover crops on some of my containers, in order to regenerate the soil. It is still an experiment underway. Inspired by a friend, and all my hours spent watching Gardener’s World, I decided to focus on flowers this year. I’ve even let most of my radishes go to flower and am simply in love with their pale pink blossoms. My sweet peas struggled at first but they finally took off and just this week I’ve spotted some buds! Cosmos, a second blooming of crown daisy, and some last minute cuttings of pennyroyal are just about to burst! I love to see how nature collaborates, even when we bend and break the rules!

On the flower front, I’ve started to feel challenged by the circumstances in Portugal, as I can’t get to my flower market, due to my personal decision to stay locked down until I am fully vaccinated. So, I’ve been ordering in from some lovely organic farms. These farms focus on food, flowers are not their main crops, so the quality can vary but the blooms and stems are still lovely. I´ve been incorporating herbs as well, scented lavender greenery in a lovely grey green along with purple basil, and flowering thyme. Whenever I smell thyme, I am reminded of the gardens I grew as a teenager and the evenings spent making tussie mussies with bunches and bunches of thyme!

This week also brought some lovely mail! Two sweet features about Field, Flower, Vase, which I will share more about in another post!

How is your summer? What are you arranging right now?

P.S. If you are interested in learning more about sourcing flowers as a stylist or designer, join the free workshop that walks you through all the details as well as my secret sources so you can source fresh floral ingredients like a pro. Book your spot here.