Tudor City Garden in Bloom

I meant to write about this incredible little oasis from the hustlin' of 42nd St & Grand Central Station, but I think a bagel got in the way.

It's the park directly opposite Flower School, and I spent my lunchtimes in there chasing squirrels and wishing I was a little kid so I could play secret garden.

It's obviously magical, because the garden has asked me to do the flowers for a party it's having next week. 

Cue panic.

Shakespeare Garden in Bloom

I ran quickly into Central Park the other day (yup, I can do that) and discovered this super cute English style garden where flowery Shakespeare quotes sit in flower beds.

The American Museum of Natural History in Bloom

I don't know if it was Frank Sinatra looking down on me, but I had some amazing lady luck and was invited to help out on a big event at The American Museum of Natural History, with Matthew Robbins Design. Matthew has been on The Today Show and hangs with Martha Stewart, y'all, so he is very important and amazing.

I didn't really know what to expect but I was surprised to find the team really lovely and friendly, including Matthew who worked with us all day. 

The flowers were incredible, really fresh and unconstrained with a country garden feel.

Peonies, spray roses, jasmine and hydrangea. LOVE!

The chuppah, with passionfruit vine, moss, peonies and hydrangea. 

 

The outdoor arrangements looked stylish on a hessian type table cloth. I would have added more jasmine.

Entrance arrangements with Mountain Laurel.

Chelsea Flower District in Bloom

The Flower District in New York is a regular street (it even has a McDonald's on the corner) in Chelsea . It doesn't have that crazy market feel of the Sydney Flower Markets, but that's probably the only way in which I prefer Sydney. For one, you don't have to drive forever down Parramatta Road until the people double in size and seem forever attached to a Costco trolley, but just take a leisurely $5 cab up 6th Ave.


Considering the variations of flowers available in the bodegas on every corner, I was expecting to see a lot more in the flower district, and I wasn't disappointed. The States grow a lot of their own flowers (New York peonies and hydrangeas are apparently growing right now in Long Island) but they also import a lot from Holland (the home of flowers) and South America.

Wild Bunch in Bloom

This bunch kind of reflects me today after 2 hours sleep (god damm you jet lag). Trying to pull it together but a bit of a mess. It works better on the bunch than it does on me. 

NY Flower School in Bloom

Ok, I am going backwards in order to better explain what's been happening in an attempt to give you guys a cohesive story about my time in New York. Or something like that. Stick with me cos some ace stuff has been happening and it is going to get good!

Last week I did an intensive floral design course at Flower School New York  which is near East 41st St in this gorgeous little enclave called Tudor City Place. It's a beautiful, surprisingly quiet retreat just behind the crazy of midtown and Central Station. 

The guys running the school, Eileen, Cal and Brittany are super nice and really encouraging. They obviously love the flower business and their confidence in it is infectious - at one stage I was ready to open my own store with little more than a credit card and a smile.....Felipe, our flower design teacher was lovely, very helpful and fun. Also, half the class came from Columbia and Mexico so most of the class was taught in a combination of English and Spanish which I loved (can not get enough of all the Spanish spoken in NYC).

It was a real treat to do the course (it ain't cheap!) but it was exactly what I needed to keep me feeling excited and inspired as my jet lag dragged me to new lows and the reality of leaving my friends and family really sunk in.

Thanks so much to Eileen, Cal, Brittany & Felipe, and my other class mates, for a great week.