Fine ceramics for your table, kitchen and garden produced in Memphis, Tennessee
Fine ceramics for your table, kitchen and garden produced in Memphis, Tennessee
1:52
Early paperwhites nestled into my porch pots are beginning to emerge, joined by quiet green and white ivy and some remaining alyssum in this exuberant cobalt pedestaled tulipiere. I had grand plans but flu energy and here is where we are on this first day of 2024. This is my 6th year of weekly flowers. New year, same me.
2:52
A quiet first week of the year, winter settling in. Violas in pots bring cheer. This bud vase is tiny and “vintage”, at least 10 years old. It is the size of a head of garlic, perfect for the tiny violas that fill the containers at my back door.
3:52
I clipped blooming camellias clockwise from top- Yuletide, Winter’s Joy (a set of two as a Christmas gift), yuletide bud, Winter’s Snowman. The Winter’s series is a cold-hardy hybrid camellia (down to -10). I have a few of them, and am investing in more as I replace plants killed by last year’s flash freeze. Though we’re zone 8 we do get temp plunges into the single digits. I mulched all of my tender roses and camellias with shredded oak leaves and tented with frost cloth. I’ll enjoy this pedestaled bowl of blossoms this week.
4:52
Thank goodness for forced holiday bulbs! My annual trader joe’s winter bulb garden provided multiple stems of white amaryllis (as they grow too tall and fall over-despite staking- I cut them for vases). My paperwhites are in 10” hurricane vases this year on the dining room table. I cut a few stems to add to the amaryllis. This is a newer tulipiere that I’ve been saving for something fabulous. I think these amaryllis fit the bill.
5:52
My first hellebore, “winter’s bliss”, saved from the snow and ice and single digits (though I know the plants are fine with snow, I didn’t want the first blossom to be killed by the extreme cold) by an upturned flowerpot and leftover christmas boughs. Also a first, the first piece made from my November drawings from the Greek collections at the Met, the first pieces I threw this year. More to come!
6:52
The tiniest treasures. I’ve been keeping an eye on my little snowdrop patches, eagerly awaiting their blooms. I’ve planted and planted and planted them but to be honest, they don’t care for warm weather or clay soil, both of which are identifying markers of my garden. I treasure these little blossoms and made a few very small vases just to highlight tiny blossoms. This one is blue porcelain and is not quite 2” tall. I use it for violets, snowdrops, and other miniatures.
7:52
Winter flowers- hellebores, snowdrops, and winter honeysuckle in a tiny urn vase. The weather has been warm but bulbs are slow to emerge (because they know more cold is coming?). I’m grateful for these reliable winter bloomers.
8:52
Hallelujah for daffodils! It is frigid this weekend so though many blossoms are peeking up, they are still closed. I picked a few handfulls and popped them in a glass of warm water before filling this new tulipiere with the earliest of my bulbs. I know I have “ice follies,” the white with yellow cups, some antique paperwhites (which usually bloom in December and January but were slowed by the snow), campernelles from Louisiana, and all of the tete a tetes that I’ve brought from grocery store floral departments and planted to form a spring border in some of my beds.
I love this tulipiere, which I threw in two pieces- a plain vase which I trimmed, sliced crescent moons into, then gently coaxed those pieces into spouts, and a pedestal base to elevate the piece. This one is 9” tall, which may be the tallest vase I’ve ever made. More to come!
9:52
Before I go all in to daffodil season, I wanted to give the winter-blooming shrubs and perennials their due. I collected white flowering quince, some very early cherry tree, and my pink, dark purple, green, and white hellenores to adorn this new handbuilt flower brick. I bought a handmade but slipcast trapezoidal vase at a neighborhood estate sale in November for a few dollars. It is imperfect, the wrong color, but to my eye utterly charming. It holds paintbrushes and my cordless dremel in the studio. Early this year I made a template of it and Larissa and I began working on this vase. As a very geometric form it lends itself to many additions: I threw a pedestal base for one, which I’ve featured with tulips, and in this case, a top with a center slot for water and pierced holes for stems. In thinking of my delft project, I glazed it glossy white and added blue linear decorations to emphasize the geometry of this piece. I will definitely be making more of these .
10:52
Spring is here! The very earliest daffs are fading (I have jsut a few ice follies, usually my first) standing. The campernelles are giong strong, my favorite jonquils (the very tiny, sweetly scented babies) are popping up, and I’m in daffodil heaven. I put these into the vase I consider perfect for this season- a 7” tall column of restraint so the exuberance of the flowers can shine.
11:52
My hyacinths erupted into bloom this week, scenting the entire front garden with their distinctive perfume. What started out at a few spent grocery bulbs has grown into several thick patches of mid-spring bloom. I aded early flowering vinca, and white and yellow daffs. The combined fragrance is incredible. I am enjoying playing with this trapezoidal form based on a vase I bought at an estate sale. I added a brick top to this version and decorated it with birds borrowed from a favorite french transferware platter.
12:52
Every year at my birthday the local lilacs begin to bloom. I didn’t grow up with these glorious flowers but discovered them in muy 30s. I had one for years, but it disliked our hot summers and died. My neighbor, who hails from PA, has nurtured a lilac in the middle of her yard for 10 years and encourages me to cut from it. I was delighted to cut blossoms to tuck into my smallest ginger jar this weekend. I have these in two sizes in my shop.
13:52
It’s still quiet as my garden wakes, but you can see the bones of my initial blue and white and green garden plan emerging. Though I have admittedly strayed from my initial plans, the last of the hellebores and daffodils (Thalia, my favorite is solid white, and Sir Winston Churchill is so fragrant) are all white or mostly white varieties. The white/pink viburnum never lasts long enough- its scent is divine. I added white lilac that is blooming for the first time, all in my blue tulipiere.
14:52
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The first roses, the next-to-last daffs and tulips, ivy and vibunbum in a washed coral floral medallion brick. I. can’t tell you how wonderful this smells.
15:52
Over the last several years I’ve begun a collection of black or nearly black flowers and folliage. Here, hellebores, begonias, and volunteer columbine in a black “farmers market” vase.
16:52
I have never not ever in my 20 years of growing peonies been able to harvest an entire armload of peonies. Here they are in one of my low flower bowls, perfect for peonies, roses, dahlias, or any other luscious blossom.
17:52
It never ceases to thrill me when my ranunculus bloom. They aren’t exactly tricky, but are often grown in protected environments- low or high tunnels- to keep early spring freezes from killing the plants or damaging the blossoms. Some years I lose them all, some years I feel like I have a bountiful harvest. Some years they seem to be perennials, though this set is all in its first bloom. I popped these 12 stems into a new lattice-gridded brick for a very casual, colorful arrangement for my entry table.
18:52
My second round of peonies is finishing up. I have two varietites, Festiva Maxima, which came from my mother’s garden in NC (where, frankly, it was happier as they like cold winters and ours are not reliably cold), and Miss America (at left), blooming for the first time. I tucked each stem into this washed coral brick decorated with a poppy medallion.
19:52
Keeping it simple this week. A blue Siberian iris in a blue speckled brick.
20:52
The white garden really performed this week- the last of the nanunculus were joined buy a white Japanese iris (the first time it’s bloomed for me), salvia, white nigella that I scattered around one of my roses (I am so charmed by this plant from its ferny growth to its blossoms to its stunning seedpods), the sweetly scented Bolero rose, and, heaven! a gardenia blossom. I also tucked in some blue eyed grass and a white-flowered allium that grows wild in the lawn. These are arranged in a tulipiere from my new watercolor floral collection. More to come!
21:52
In my garden it is now early summer. Many of the roses are resting after their first flush of blossoms and putting on new growth. Late summer flowers are growing, preparing for their roles. Annual flowers aren’t quite ready to perform. Early summer is peak perennial time, and today I focus on lilies. These are regal lilies, which I first noticed several years ago in Frances Palmer’s garden. I have grown them for a few summers and this year they are beginning to multiply and really perform. The flowers are stunning, white and gold interior with rose-striped buds. These two stems, tucked into the first of my new tall tulipieres, perfume my entire house.
22:52
Just like that, it’s summer and the hydrangeas are here! I have been making and saving my hydrangea bowls for this moment! My own hydrangea collection includes native lace cap arborescens, the arborescens variety annabelle, a white mophead, and now a blue lacecap which I’ve just planted. I have begged the blue mopheads for this photo from a neighbor. These vases are about 6” wide, low, with side handles and a built-in frog to hold the hydrangea stems in place. I have white satin and gloss versions, and now a precious few handpainted floral versions.
23:52
Summer flowers in a rainbow of colors, from golden tones to cool pinky purples. Yesterday I gathered (nearly) everything that was in bloom for a small but full table bouquet for a dear friend. Generally, I prefer my arrangements to be low and full, whether meant for a dining table, mantle, or shelf space. This cachepot, meant for a 4” nursery pot, fits the bill. In my home, I have several of these, pressed into use next to the stove for my small cooking tools, under the sink to corral stoppers, and, of course, to hold ferns and orchids.
24:52
A chromatic arrangement for PRIDE
25:52
Pink day inspired by the pink glads my mom sent home with me. Joined by all the pink roses popping into bloom (I cut them all at dusk and surprised a half dozen sleeping bumblebees nestled into their petals), plus purple coneflower. These are tucked into my tall handled modern ironstone vase, here fitted with a frog in the base because the glads wanted to tip out.
26:52
The last of my Casa Blanca lilies, which grew upwards of 6 ft tall this year. I grow these lilies because they were my wedding flower- simple, elegant, fragrant. I planted four bulbs several years ago and they have multiplied to provide more than a month’s worth of weekly bouquets, perhaps even two months? A single stem perfumes the house. I tucked this last stem into my blue tulipiere. I’ve begun playing with this form again- more to come!
27:52
What a surprise to have roses like this during the heat of summer. I think cutting them back when the japanese beetles arrived helped make more blooms. I discovered a damp box full of bricks recently and spent a few afternoons painting them with willow-esque scenes. I’m pleased with how they turned out.
Roses here are (from the left) an unnamed pink, Jude the Obscure, Iceberg, Alnwick, Lyda Rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Mutabilis, Graham Thomas, and Caldwell Pink. I don’t spray my roses, barely fertilize or water (unless they are in pots), but I mulch heavily with compost twice a year. Older roses, especially, are tough plants.
28:52
It was so hot and muggy this week that I looked for the coolest, most crisp blue and white flowers I could gather for this farmer's market vase. This dahlia is "fleurel" and I've had it in a raised bed for 4 years now. My blue and white plumbago love the heat and are just starting their show, as are the white David phlox. I tucked in one sweet blush/white rose, some coleus, and a frond of "ming" fern my neighbor gave me last year
29:52
I have been obsessed with the idea of filling my ginger jars with a riot of zinnias. These are a combination of the few that I have (it was a busy spring and I didn’t plant seeds like I wish I had) and a bucket I bought from Midtown Bramble. I filled four jars for our bookclub night and plan to keep at least one jar full for the rest of the season.
30:52
Blue and white is always right. Fleurel dahlias, a fragrant Bolero rose, white cosmos, french vanilla chrysanthemum, a bit of euphorbia and some trailing love in a puff in a very tall pagoda vase, which sadly stuck to the kiln shelf (because I threw it in English Porcelain and not my regular porcelain, which is less prone to sticking) and broke at the base, but I mended it to keep rather than sell. More to come.
31:52
Another cooling arrangement inspired by some surprise blossoms- both gardenia and my white-to-blush roses that usually are on a bit of a break in July. I combined them with limelight hydrangea, variegated ivy, hardy begonia, and one big fluffy fleurel dahlia. Last winter I bought a handbuilt vase from an estate sale and have been playing with the angular form- pedestaled is my favorite variation.
32:52
Keeping it super simple- garden zinnias in a hydrangea bowl. I have 4 deeply discounted seconds quality bowls (slight cracks at the rim, base, foot, or glaze issues, or the frog slipped and isn’t quite straight) in my shop. Cheers for summer ease!
33:52
It’s a pink week- inspired by one Islander dahlia and joined by warm pinks from rosa mutabilis, begonias, and a charming pink and red geranium I chased down at multiple grocery locations (truly, you never know where you’re going to find your favorite annual), plus some white cosmos. I put them all in this new trophy vase, which features a generous center opening and a dozen or so side slots to hold smaller stems.
34:52
Sunny El Dorado zinnias in a seconds vase. A little cheer for my enforced rest week. This vase will be available the last weekend in October at the Creative Coterie art and tag sale.
35:53
Blue and white flowers- a handful of shrub roses, single white althea, zinnias, dragonwing begonia and ruella are joined by blue plumago, liriope blossoms, and vibrant grandpa ott’s morning glory in an indigo blue tulipiere . This piece features 4 handles and is inspired by Greek and Roman ceremonial pottery I explored at the Met last fall.
36:52
We have been blessed with a break in the heat and the garden responds. Here white dahlia, zinnias, and plumbago, white pink roses (tranquility, large pink found, perle d’or, mutabilis) and pink anemone in a modern ironstone brick.
37:52
The fall flush has begun and I couldn't be happier.
This arrangement includes mutabilis, Desdemona, Jude the obscure, Caldwell pink, and Eden.
38:52
Japanese Anemone and the same varieties of roses from last week (mutabilis, caldwell pink, jude, desdemona). This trapezoidal brick is one I’ve been keeping back since early summer because I wanted to make more (indeed I have trays and platters and bowls in this pattern waiting to be glazed). More to come!
39:52
I have had a damp box (plastic storage with an inch or so of plaster in the bottom, meant to keep unfinished pieces workable) full of a half dozen wall vases for most of the summer. I finally glazed a few.
This one holds Star of the Republic (a terrific rose for the deep south bred by antique rose emporium - where I source most of my roses) , plus Desdemona and Jude the obscure, two Austins that put on a nice fall show, coral zinnias, some Thai basil, and the seed heads of anemone.
40:52
It has been an amazing year for my Japanese anemone. They are all happy and blooming, floating blossoms high above foliage like butterflies. These few stems are in a speckled tulipiere.
41:52
This is a favorite little vase that I intend to replicate in great numbers- modeled after the amphorae I studied and drew one afternoon last fall at the Met Museum, it features sharp arms-akimbo handles and a round belly. I filled it with tiny copper rose hips, Cornell bronze dahlia, mutabilis and Star of the Republic roses. This might be my favorite arrangement all year.
