Cat Seixas teaching us how to harvest lavender for a special folk craft we made one afternoon.

We had a super lovely FLOWER AND GARDEN RETREAT at the beginning of May! You can read some details over on Instagram but I wanted to share here on the blog as well. The week was rich and full of learning about flower farming, organic farms, flower arranging, native flora, foraging, wild edibles, formal Portuguese gardens and palaces, visiting secret garden gems in the city,  and more. All while snacking and enjoying beautiful garden-fresh and homemade Portuguese food. Take a look below to enjoy some of the details of our experience.

Emily and her hand-tied bouquet of foraged and locally grown ingredients.

Patty and her chartreuse infused hand-tied bouquet!

Cat with her woven flower crown of daisies and olive greens.

Our outdoor flower studio.

Exploring foxgloves at Flores Daqui, a flower farm designed around a cork tree.

Welcome baskets with our herbariums and other beautiful and useful goodies for guests.

Foraged sweet peas

Eating an apple cake topped with borage flowers at Quinta do Arneiro.

Learning about native flowers (and a few special cultivars) from Joao Ferreira.

Visiting Nuno Prato’s Cabinet of Curiosities hidden within a building downtown.

Setting up our Portuguese meal overlooking the Mafra countryside.

Escaping the city heat, into a secret jungle garden inside a private residence in LIsbon.

There’s so much more! A seafood fest! A planting and propagation workshop! Pressing flowers! Adventures at palaces and more! I don’t like to share every single detail online because these experiences are really for in-person and there’s no way I could fully express the depth of this experience in a blog post. We have one more retreat this year (next week!). If you’d like to join us next year, you can take a look at our dates and itinerary for 2024 if an intensive flower school experience is more your speed, check out our floral career retreat.

A special thank you to our collaborators on our retreat!

Aldeia da Mata Pequena

Paula Guimarāes

Fernanda Botelho

A Praca Sintra

Joao Ferreira

Tomas Tojo

Nuno Pratos

Quinta do Arneiro 

Quinta de S’anta Ana

Flores Daqui

Flor Daninha

Cat Seixas/Olive Trees and The Moon

Valentina Marukha (many of these are her photos!)

And of course our lovely and very careful drivers at Golden Compass.

So sorry if I forgot someone!! 🌸❤️