A Summer of Growing, Weddings & What’s Coming Next

This summer has felt especially rewarding in a lot of ways.

One of the biggest has been my garden. After nearly five years of working retail, raising kids, and generally feeling like there was never quite enough time, being home more has given me the space to really dig back into growing.

It started in late winter and early spring with seed starting, followed by a pretty major transformation of my side garden. We added raised beds, I filled them with all sorts of things I was sure were going to thrive, and I started growing flowers with much more intention.

And then came the ants. An actual infestation in my beautiful new raised beds, happily eating away at some of my treasured little seedlings. Followed by the seemingly never-ending powdery mildew. (WHY?? 😩)

So, yes. There have been flops.

But there have also been some really great wins - and apparently I am someone who will literally squeal out loud in the garden when something particularly exciting happens.

This year’s current obsession: the sweetest little watermelon cucumber.

I still have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with said watermelon cucumber. I want to design with it, and I’m determined to figure that out. But in the meantime, I’ll just continue checking on it obsessively and squealing every time it births another tiny fruit.

That’s really been the fun of the garden this year - figuring it out as I go. Learning when to cut certain flowers so they’ll actually last in a vase, discovering what I want to grow again (and what I definitely don’t), and starting to understand what makes sense to grow from an investment standpoint.

And I’m already thinking about next summer. I’d love to grow with even more purpose and develop a few weekly neighborhood accounts for fresh-cut bouquets - flowers grown right here in my garden and headed to homes nearby.

And then there are the weddings...

This summer has also been my biggest yet when it comes to wedding work. I still have three weddings ahead of me, but already this season has reminded me how much I love this part of what I do.

Of course, I love the creative process - dreaming up flowers, color, movement and texture - but what has stayed with me most is the connection.

I’m someone who really needs and values human connection, and wedding work gives me so many opportunities for that. Getting to know each couple, hearing about what matters to them, and then getting to translate a little bit of who they are into flowers is incredibly meaningful to me. And it extends beyond the couples themselves - collaborating with planners, photographers, venue teams and all the other creative people who bring these celebrations together has become such an important part of why I love this work.

There’s something pretty special about being trusted to play even a small part in such a big day in someone’s life. And I don’t take that lightly.

And while summer weddings have certainly kept me busy, I’d happily keep this wedding thing going year-round. Portland people - can we please get some moody winter weddings going?! Dark, textural, romantic flowers... I’m ready.

And now... workshops!

And speaking of connection and collaboration, I’m really excited about what’s coming up as summer starts to shift toward fall.

Apparently, I had to actually go on vacation - and physically remove myself from the garden and my watermelon cucumber obsession - to finally sit down and get my upcoming workshops onto the website. Clearly, I have no trouble finding time for the creative part of this job. It’s the sitting-at-a-computer-and-actually-getting-things-done part that I seem to have a special talent for procrastinating on.

But! They’re up. And I’m really excited about what’s coming.

September kicks off with two collaborations I’m especially excited about.

First, a woodland-inspired fascinator workshop and dinner with the wonderfully talented, world-renowned botanical artist Françoise Weeks, along with an incredible meal by Chris Timberlake. Flowers, wearable art, good food and a beautiful garden setting - this one is going to be pretty special.

Later in September, I’m teaming up with local art teacher Anna Noel for an afternoon of zinnias, dahlias and watercolor in the garden. We’ll play with late-summer flowers and then put paint to paper - no artistic expertise required, just a willingness to come play.

And those are just two of the workshops coming up! The full fall AND holiday schedule is now live (yes, I actually got it done 😆), so take a peek and come make something with me.