Monday, May 31, 2010

seasonal botanicals

daisy dreams
I absolutely love the rotation or flowers at the end of May and beginning of June. I can tell what week it is simply by what's in bloom. The daisies have spread in front of the barn like a carpet white and yellow lace.
barn meadow
The scent of the mock orange blossoms is filling the air with delicious tropical memories.
 mock orange
My favorite poppies are almost peaking.
apoppy interior
Blankets of purple phlox cover every forest meadow in sight.
wild phlox
It's a glorious time of year, perfect for gathering bouquets to fill the house. I plan on getting up at the crack of dawn come Wednesday morning and picking bunches for my botanical printing class at Squam. Somehow, they will have to stay fresh on a long drive and over a couple of days... any suggestions how to do that would be oh so welcome! Are there blooms to fall in love with where you live, too? Pin It

21 comments:

  1. I love our Autumn but I love to see your world gripped in Spring fever too. Beatiful and bountiful. At the moment we have Cyclamen and Crysanthemums

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  2. wow wow wow wow wow wow! As you might have gathered from my business name, I love daisies...this image just made my heart skip a beat!!! Thank you for sharing it. We have a lot of the same blooms, and it's always nice to see them growing in big, wild patches like this!

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  3. There is such beauty filling the landscapes of summer right now! Place your bouquets in a vase of water in the fridge, keep the water fresh and cut the stems at an angle. Enjoy!

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  4. Those purple flowers are phlox? They are in the woods here and they take my breath away, too. They are so so beautiful, filling the woods near the stream with such unexpected color, striping the distant fields. And they smell like magic too.

    My mother in law's peonies are also in bloom and I've never seen a bigger, fluffier, softer, cloud-likier, sweeter smelling flower.

    The daisies, however smell a bit like fruit rotting. :( Oh well. The flies probably love them.

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  5. Wow! Stunning! NM is a little more modest in flower. But I did take these amazing pics of my son a couple of days ago. He's standing right in front of a pink Oleander. So beautiful.

    http://chocoeyes.blogspot.com/2010/05/outdoor-monday.html

    Becca

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  6. These look so beautiful!

    Here we also have the orange blossom - doesn't it smell delicious?! ...But now what's catching my eye is all those trees heavy with cherries!

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  7. Nothing smells more glorious than the mock orange, but those poppies make my heart swell!

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  8. Absolutely lovely shots - we're drowning in rain! Thanks for posting these!

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  9. oh so very jealous here, we have sludge LOL. I love all those daisies, such a simple flower, but oh so beautiful!

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  10. oh what a beautiful sight...thanks for pictures.
    for your flower bunches - try to have short stems and after tying up each bunch put stems in a little plastic bag with a little cool water in. seal the top with an elastic band and some florists tape if you have. then put all bunches in a cool bag trying not to squash blooms. they should stay fresh that way.

    and a tip for roses. if your cut roses suddenly droop like 'dead' put the stems (which you have just recut on an angle) in a mug/jug/pot of boiling water straight out of the kettle. keep changing the water when it looses its heat. flower heads will perk up pretty quick.
    i think this can be used also for gerbras
    bpbajona(at)maltanet(dot)net

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  11. lovely! i had a floristy friend arrange flowers for our outdoorsy/camping wedding on a sat., and we purchased them from the farmer's market on a wed.! she said to add a little sugar and bleach to the water (i used peroxide). the sugar feeds them, the bleach keeps away bad bacteria. then we stuck them in a cooler (it wasn't actually plugged in, but cooler than the outdoor alternative) until sat. hope that helps! have fun teaching!

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  12. such fantastic tips! thanks, I knew you'd know what to do. I think I'll try the peroxide/sugar tip, but not sure if we'll have room for a cooler in our extremely packed van. the fridge scene at Squam is very special: old ice boxes with ice blocks cut from the lake in the winter delivered each day!

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  13. The barn meadow is so beautiful.

    I'm particularly excited about the description of the fridge at Squam! Make sure you take photos of that. Have a fabulous time Maya. x

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  14. As winter closes in on Sydney, your pictures have me hurrying the next 3 months along. Get out of my way, open fire. Remove yourself, cute cashmere scarf. Off the road, hot chocolate in a hug mug. I'm on my way to Spring!

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  15. How beautiful!

    My garden thinks that it's summer already, but the only thing that I really look forward to each year are the California Poppies bloomin on the hillside ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/uklassinus/2422368900/ )

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  16. the roadside flowers look exactly like yours here maya but my favorite this year is the great abundance of lupins in all shades of pink and purple along path to my porch. I was going to recommend the cooler as well but if you are pressed for room perhaps some vintage thermoses would work with little ziploc bags with ice in the bottom. I also thought your photographs are so inspiring on their own if you took some with single blooms on a white background and had them printed up life size it would be awesome. Have fun!!

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  17. Hi Maya,
    I live in Auckland, NZ, so it's Autumn here turning sadly into winter. The great thing is that this time of year for us means mandarin and feijoa trees are laden with fruit which is always cool to eat off the tree due to the cool air temperature.
    Just want to say I love your blog! I introduced my friend Lucy Patterson to it and she now has her own awesme blog called Hands-on, and has connected with you! Yey for online creative, eco, natural pals :) Thanks for all the light and inspiration Maya, always appreciated x amy.

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  18. I may be incorrect--but we did study wildflowers last yr at Namaste....and, well...those aren't phlox. According to the book, they are Dames Rocket. Phlox blooms later and Phlox has 5 petals whereas Dames Rocket only has 4.

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  19. Oh Casey! I thought of you as I typed Phlox! I remembered the conversation we had and wondered if you'd catch me... you did! I can't stop calling them Phlox... always have, but I'll try I will: Dame's Rocket, ahem.

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  20. Oh Maya I just love the wild flowers. I dream of settling down in a home eventually that will allow us to have such a fun garden. It really is a great way to let nature take it's course. Sprinkle the seeds and see what grows.

    Annie

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  21. oh. *sigh!* Your meadow, barn and the surrounding landscape are the stuff of dreams for me. I live in Melbourne, southern Australia, and while I love many things about being here, I've always thought that I'm a northern hemisphere girl trapped in a southern hemisphere girl's body! Various ties keep me here but I love browsing in beautiful blogs such as yours ... they're lovely enough to tide me over until I manage to travel around the world.
    Thank you so much for sharing!

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