It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Easter!

With Easter right around the corner, this Farmer could hardly resist paring some grocery grandeur with garden glam and set this table. I had a writer for of our local newspapers coming for a lunch interview, so I wanted to set a springy tableaux – it can’t get much springier than Easter! 

 

What is so amazing about Easter for my corner of Dixie is this: for me, and many a farmer and gardener alike, the very essence of spring is this benchmark planting date – Easter weekend. It is now safe to plant tomatoes – all veggies for that matter. I always sow my first zinnia seeds on Good Friday.  Geraniums can now cascade down the porch steps. Ferns may regain their lofty airs hanging from porches. This is the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox – translated into “winter is gone and it is safe to plant.” A time to plant… if you will… a time for renewal, growth and new life.

 

I use Easter as my safety net for all my spring planting. Nature’s cadence churns its rhythm, designating this time of year as winter’s last call and spring’s major crescendo. With an Easter theme chiming, I thought about a spring picnic, but did not want to force my reporter friend into a pollen clad garden. I chose to bring the garden in – have a picnic luncheon al fresc… al indoors-o. And you know, the mosquitoes and gnats were not a problem at all inside! (Mind you they have emerged here in my Middle/South Georgia neck of the woods – no real winter to speak of, thus we’ll be hauled away by the bugs come summertime.)

 

Red check linens – quintessential picnic. Well, not exactly red – more raspberry – or as Mama says, “Carl,” yes, like a man’s name. Others know the color as coral, but my deep corally red/pink runner was just ready to contrast against my kitchen table and serve as the cornerstone for my tableaux.  “Carl” it is in our family. When the interview commenced, I had to tell the reporter first off about the table, for I have the kitchen table that we grew up with.

 

It is an antique Jacobean, dark English oak ordeal with thick barley twist legs and chairs that weigh at least a ton each. Trust me, I move them daily and have nearly all my life, setting another place setting, etc. I had to tell the newspaper writer that this is where we had big weekend breakfasts, did our homework, where our lunches were lined up in brown paper sacks, made sugar cube igloos for fifth grade projects – this is where my sisters, my parents, and I ate. The dark ring is from a prize begonia I overwintered one year. Ya’ll know how vital a kitchen table is. It is the true heart of the home. I wanted to start the interview with this table, at this table – thus giving provenance to my story and in turn, the story she was writing.

For this picnic, I served one of this Farmer’s staple luncheons – a salmon Nicoise platter – and akin to picnic food since everything served cold. I love this platter. Cold potato salad, the firmness of the cool salmon, the snappy textures of the asparagus, snow peas, cucumbers and baby corn – and the divine capered dill sour cream dolloped on it all. The colors too are springy and fresh and I just adore serving this dish.

 

Aunt Kathy’s heirloom pressed glass strawberry goblets for the tea set the tone for the dessert – a strawberry shortcake.  Her lavender dinnerware juxtaposed with the “carl” checks is just too fun. Pops of yellow tulips cut short in bubbled glass tumblers gave sunny tones to this tablescape and ruffled edged leaves of huechera or coral bells daintily laced the bouquets. The contrast of the chartreuse and the plum leaves is yummy! This spring-time fare is fine enough, but I was ready for some true Easter delights! 

 

Shades of grapey plum, turquoisey aqua, jaded green, salmon hued orange, and rose tinted red eggs set in lavender bowls served as the understory elements to the tulip sprays. I must confess: I truly relish in dying Easter eggs. I love it! Yet, I found these at Publix. Yes, in the grocery store! Besides being gorgeous right out of the carton, they are hardboiled! Egg salad anyone? Yessirree! There is something so luxurious about convenience and these eggs proved that mantra true.

 

So my table is set for Easter – a tad early but set and ready. I can only pray that my heart is set for Easter. Nature’s often bizarre tempo is unfathomable and baffling, yet it always gets jam up and jelly tight for Easter. That is my sincere Easter wish – in the midst of the seasons’ sway and life’s as well, may we be geared up, lined up, and set for Easter. It is beginning to look a lot like Easter and that makes one very happy Farmer!

Hydrangeas

It's time to start thinking about my favorite summer flower: the hydrangea. In the past, I've done a lot of writing about hydrangeas, and so I decided to jump into hydrangea plantin' time with a few short videos. Have a look and tell us what you're doing with YOUR hydrangeas this year!


Hydrangea Blue: This Farmer's Favorite Spring Hue from James Farmer on Vimeo.




Hydrangeas: From Pot to Plot from James Farmer on Vimeo.


As always, thanks to Room Eleven Media for producing this videos!

Set for Spring

I hope ya’ll have seen the video counterpart, but these still shots were just too much fun not to share!

Green, white, brown, and blue are my favo combos – this combo is truly classic, season-less and timeless! If you are setting a winter tableaux, a summer soiree or an haute holiday spread, greens and whites with accents of blue and grounds of brown are always apropos.

For this verging vernal setting, daffodils, tulips, blue florets of rosemary and tiny candles in varying tiny sizes all conglomerated together on top of my great-grandmother’s silver tray. I love the complement of silver and wood – it is so handsome and the perfect grounding for any event. Mix in shades of green, creams and whites and pops of blue and your table is set!

Blue willow is a favorite pattern of mine. Mimi and Granddaddy spent the first years of their married life in Japan and I just wish they had brought back crates and crates full of, as Mimi says, “our everyday dishes – there were mounds of blue and white! Imari, Canton-ware, the like!!” I love hearing their stories of occupied Japan and, yet, I cannot help but feel their love for that culture, their cherished honeymoon years in a foreign, romantic land, helped, somehow, someway, spawn my love of Japanese and Chinioiserie… from gardens to plates!  I digress..

Another love/passion/obsession is gingham. Checks, buffalo plaids, you name it, I love it! Pairing brown check napkins with blue and white dinnerware is just too much fun. Take a peek in my closet and you’ll see the passion for plaid doesn’t stop with linens. Susie once forbade me to buy any more “checker shirts.” For those who know my “keeper of the house,” you know she’s not joshing with me! A lady of few words, but weighty words indeed! Ha!

Always good-looking and sharp, a combination of a gleaming wood table with blue settings is just itching for green and white flowers (au mon avais). My first daffodils and a few tulips were nodding to the season out in the garden and I couldn’t resist another favorite pairing – silver and mason jars! The table, the dinnerware, the linens ,the candles and silver tray are poised to continue a more formal setting, but plopping the posies in mason jars brings it down a notch – brings it to an everyday luxurious look. Celebrating the season with its floral offerings is a highlight of my “garden living” mantra, and coupling the blossoms, blooms and boughs with simple jars is just enchanting. 

I cannot help but equate such color combos directly back to nature. Browns and blues anchor the natural scene and green is nature’s neutral.  Think about bark and rocks, soil and sky, water weaving together this tapestry of natural delight. White, whether from clouds or snow, sand or fog, highlight the other colors in such a crisp way. If ever in doubt as to who to color coordinate a room, a garden or a table, I always go to some theme, some play on this set of colors – always gorgeous in nature and so true for your home too!

I hope spring has sprung for you and yours, and may a bit of Farmer’s style find its way from your garden to table! Happy early spring ya’ll!

A rose is a rose is a rose…

Climbing, rambling, twining and regally displaying their blossoms red, white, pink, yellow, apricot, lavender, and shades of every hue in between, roses are delighting our eyes and our noses this glorious spring. 



From wild natives and state flowers such as the Cherokee to elegantly perfumed French florets, I spied a few roses on a walk through Charleston not long ago. Even this Farmer’s own garden has a few ramblers here and there, touting sprays of divinely scented blossoms into the sweet spring air – air already laden with magnolia, gardenia, honeysuckle and privet mind you!

Of course, the resistance of not cutting a few of these delicate blooms to bring inside was quickly subsided. After stopping and smelling the roses, literally, I had to snip a few shoots to arrange in my favorite silver rose bowl. Aromatically positioned near my desk, a few tucked into sink side vessels and the remainder not far from the sunroom door, I relish to be surrounded with the trappings of the garden. Truly, this is garden living at its finest.



If you’re new to growing roses, then knock yourself out with ‘Knock Out’ roses. Their name and their nature and perfectly congruent and I’ve been floored by their outrageous riots of blooms in medians, parking lots, cutting gardens, and perennial beds alike. From apricot to yellow to pink and double red, these dynamic plants are truly worth a spot in your plot.

For cutting and absolutely unreal fragrance, hybrid tea roses are your ticket. ‘Mr. Lincoln,’ ‘Queen Elizabeth,’  and ‘Peace’ are stalwarts in the hybrid tea family. Classically red, pink, and soft ivory yellow respectively, these roses and many other varieties are must haves in the cutting garden. Arrange some ‘Mr. Lincoln,’ which smells like a rose is supposed to, with some sprigs of mint, and your little bouquet will be the sensation of the season with a sweet, minty, floral perfume able to transform any moment into the most delightful flora experience.



That particular combo is a direct memory to my childhood, for ‘Mr. Lincoln’ has always been a mainstay in Granddaddy’s rose beds and on my childhood farm. Mint usually on hand made for convenient greenery for my rose bouquets and to this day these two scents are instant links to childhood springtime. Besides, aromatic appeal, visually this combo is stunning.

Life is too short to bypass smelling the roses. Stop and smell them, maybe clip a couple, and may your garden and home be enlivened and enriched by the glories of roses. From this Farmer’s garden to yours, happy spring!

Foxy Spring a la Foxgloves

"That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ. 

And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it." 

-  Winifred Mary Letts

Leave it to The Almighty to create a garden first to then place His children therein. For some dear clients in Montgomery, I planted foxgloves back in November and promised them this spring would be splendid. Though Eden wasn’t the M.O. for this pied a terre, a fabulous floral fashion was in mind. 



Foxy foxgloves shooting out over the lush new growth of spring prove a riotous entrance for this post-azalea portion of spring. Huechera, snaps, and of course some pansies and violas all finish out this vernal symphony, but the foxgloves are definitely the crescendo of this floral symphonic number.

A formal cottage style garden I dreamt up and then had implemented by the fantastic Falkner Gardens just screamed for foxgloves. Rather than planting these in full bloom from the nursery in the spring, they have had all winter to ready themselves for their spring bolt. A solid few weeks of splendor will adorn this garden and give a lovely interlude between the spring standards and the summer blossoms not too far away.

Artemisia, parsley, and bolted kales and mustards make for that fun combo of parterre and potager this Farmer so loves. The dancing hues of green in various silver, chartreuse, caramel, and simple Verdi Gris tints make for lovely contrasts with the painted blue bench, boxwood hedges, and bubbling limestone fountain. A secret garden of sorts, for who would know this nod to England was just off one of Montgomery’s loveliest lanes.



Patience is virtuous I hear, but I do know ‘tis true, especially in the garden. Some things are just best left to nature and the perfect cadence, order, and timing the seasons present. Though science can explain the specifics of botany and horticulture, there is just something awe-inspiring, nostalgic, romantic, and full of childhood wonderment that the process of growing things provides. To plan and plant along with the seasons’ rhythm will make your garden in sync with nature’s cyclical pattern. 



When you plant it right, it’ll just bloom right my friends. Splendid Spring, plant in fall…Fabulous Fall, plant in spring. Memorize this mantra and your garden shall be the talk of the town! Mister Frost summed up an April day and I couldn’t help but feel the same sentiment surrounded by the foxgloves in this garden.

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."
-  Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926

Pretty in Pink

Green and white floral combos stop me in my tracks. But there is sometimes that mutation, veering shade, or complete stray in the garden that just makes a splash and causes me to stop and just wonder at the simple elegance of flower in a different shade. In this case, a pink dogwood is the variance from the white floral scheme.
   
A dogwood, Cornus florida, is stunning in its creamy white blousy bloom set against the green of longleaf pines, new green oak leafs, and all the freshness that only a chartreuse spring can herald. Just like genetics can give one sibling curls and another iron-strait locks, the plant family can express genes in the same fashion. Then, after taking note of such a pink perfection blooming on the side of my house, I began to relish at the thought of grouping these pinky phenoms with other rosy hues. Pretty in pink just came to mind.



Some of Granddaddy’s first roses of this vernal equinox were crowning the bush’s stems and begging one to stop and smell – stop and smell and clip for a bouquet! Even the waxy florets of Indian hawthorn (Raphiolepis indica) tucked into the mix with a few azalea blossoms and the first fronds of maiden hair fern began to shape this arrangement, all held by a silver stein. 

Three different roses, a few liriope sprigs, hawthorn and maiden hair all danced around the springboard flora, the pink dogwood, and are beautifully set against the white lattice backdrop of Mimi’s Japanese ginger jar lamp (I’m a sucker for these and just about any chinoiserie or japanned). I simply relish the opportunity to create a cacophony of hues, shades, and tints in the same color family, and with pink in bloom all over Dixie, the choices weren’t too hard.



What is truly so amazing to me about these flowers is how delicate they appear, how painterly they are portrayed, and fast they come and go. Spring is precious, short and sweet here in Middle Georgia, but gives just the chance to gaze into the depths of a of the coral, fuchsia, rose, cherry, and ballet slipper covered landscape.
       
Take inspiration from a bud, flower, vase, color, or season and capture it in a bouquet. Just the spicy, sweet aroma of the different roses was luscious enough, but by adding the layers of the flouncy fern, woody stem darling dogwood, and the unexpected hedge flower to your homage au printemps is a sensual delight. From this Farmer’s garden to yours, may you too be pretty in pink this spring. Enjoy!

Orange Ya Glad It’s Spring?!

“Salmon ya glad it’s spring” and “grapefruit ya glad it’s spring” just don’t have the same fun play on words that “orange ya glad it’s spring” denotes.

With the riotous cacophony of pink and lavender and white and yellow bursting forth as the vernal equinox as we know it, one of this Farmer’s favorite colors, a salmon/orange/coral/coppery tinged hue, is underscored in the spring landscape but still there in its slightest and even its boldest forms as well. From native azaleas, such as the Florida Flame, to pansies, snaps, tulips, and such, this fun color complements so many shades, hues, and tints on the spring stage.

Take my garden for example, Liberty ‘Bronze’ snaps are just starting to show color as the ‘Antique Shades’ and ‘Citrus Mix’ pansies are waxing. New fiddleheads of the autumn fern, the buds and early flowers of the coral ‘Knock Out’ rose, and the salmon-rust variegation in huechera leaves all play the tone-on-tone game quite beautifully. 

Often when making arrangements, I gather my stems, buds, and branches and allow them to condition, or take up water before arranging. A creamware dish served as my conditioning oasis before arranging in a silver rose bowl. Arrangers note: if you don’t have a silver rose bowl, find one! I have a small collection that I’ve inherited, stolen, borrowed, and found; and these little to medium sized containers make for excellent arrangement holders! They have a slotted top that gives support to buds and blooms and roses make wonderful mounds in them, but I use them for everything floral and cherish them so… I’ve even found them at antique and estate sales for next to nothing! A classic Southern staple for “doing flowers” as we say down here. I digress but with some progress I hope…

Arranging these darling buds in a rose bowl or leaving them in a dish floating and facing upward is just pleasing and delightful. The assortment of shades in my favorite color makes me smile that much more. I’m certainly glad it’s spring… orange you?

Sink-side Splendor

The kitchen sink – epicenter of the kitchen and the house. We wash, prepare, cook, and serve from this spot, spending many an hour at this oasis. I love to keep little mementoes of my garden forays at the sink, reminding me of what’s blooming just outside my door. Making arrangements for my house at the sink gives me leftover blossoms, buds, and leaves to stick in my cache of containers awaiting a fresh floral look. And since the sink is such a personal, and well used piece of the home, my collection of “specials” is a close hand reminder of dear ones.

Mema’s silver tray, Aunt Irene’s mother-of-pearl salt and pepper shakers, a bud vase I stole from Mimi, a sprinkling of blue and white, a favorite Mason’s ware platter and a various and a sundry assortment of soaps stand guard as stylish and nostalgic items. The seasons change but my assortment doesn’t too much. These items are neutral enough – silver, Depression glass, transferware or blue and white – to withstand the changing times and uphold the blooms of the current season. Red berries at Christmas, greens in the winter, spring buds and summer herbs, and autumnal hued leaves all find their place at my sink-side sanctuary.



Spring has sprung in Dixie and, as it always does, the season burst forth at a full gallop from the earliest camellias and such to the bulbs and blossoms of azaleas, spireas, and hydrangeas to come. Right now, some of my favorite camellias are maxed out with blooms and I cannot resist having a few looking up at me as I make tea or wash dishes. The end of the Narcissus explosion is waning but a few are left, along with the tiny grape hyacinths. This rare blue color in the horticulture world pairs so well with the vibrant chartreuse of huechera leaves and creeping Jenny coming to life in the garden. Blue and white vases are so neutral for arrangements thus are often my choice to host the blooms of the current season.



Cherry, forsythia, camellias, huechera, and grape hyacinths make up the mélange of a larger arrangement, now gracing my buffet a deux corps in the sunroom. The light hits the stamen of the camellias just right, giving their corral pink hue a salmon glow throughout the day.  That one bunch of grape hyacinths makes the bouquet to me, and the combo of colors and textures pleases the eye and nose as long as this arrangement lasts.

Welcome spring! Come into our lives with aspiration, inspiration, and revitalization. Capture the essence of the season, the darling buds of, well March now, and spruce up your sink-side décor. From this Farmer’s kitchen sink and garden, happy, happy spring!