Seasons & Change

The Carnivore, Refined: A hardy pitcher plant and lovely cloche

Talk about an amazing summer! I've been living in BC for six years now, and I can't remember there being as consistently beautiful weather as we have been having. The only complaint I can muster about the endless heat and sunshine (a rarity here in Vancouver...) is that my garden has never been more thirsty! Oh well, survival of the fittest right? There are a few wonderful things happening in my garden right now too: my dahlias are beginning to bloom, and my dear friend Louis gave me the most amazing Pindo palm (two actually, as it has a wee baby palm accompanying it) for my birthday! And, to my sheer joy, the beautiful blossoms on my olive tree are now turning into little olives. I love olives! I eagerly await the moment they finally ripen. I planted a couple of raspberry canes in the Spring, and even they are producing fruit. One of the canes is for black raspberries, which I can only describe as the love child between a blackberry and raspberry: creamy smoothness of a blackberry with the joy of a raspberry. If only there were more than four berries! Next year. 

Foraged from my garden. A practice test for the wedding

I can not believe that it is already the end of July--where has this month gone?! It's been a very busy one for me, hence my absence. Most of my time has been spent getting everything in order for the wedding next month. I have never planned a wedding before--I have only ever been to a couple of weddings--and I have never done cut flowers before. And in all honesty, I'm not really the wedding kind of girl. But I must say that I have been thoroughly enjoying figuring out the decor and flowers for this wedding. I am confident that it is going to be an absolutely lovely affair; completely organic, relaxed and informal, but meticulously put together and as close to professional as I can muster. The pictures included in this blog post are of a couple of the things I've been working on for the wedding. The terrariums I'm doing up are super simple and very natural--single specimens of plants (mostly ferns) and moss. I have some cute little battery-powered LED string lights that I am going to wire into a couple of the terrariums to help add to the intimate, romantic woodland feel of the reception. Basically it will look like the terrariums are miniature forests filled with fireflies. Ugh, I am so excited to see everything come together! 

The Spotlight: An asparagus fern 

On top of wedding planning, I have been inundated with terrarium orders as well. I love it! I went through a moment of creative exhaustion about a month ago--caused by over extending myself and not nearly enough coffee--but thankfully it was short lived. I must admit, I have FINALLY realized that it can be tricky to find a good work-life balance. The things we learn... 

The terrarium raffle for JJ Bean is now entering it's last week! So, if you've been putting off buying those tickets, get on it! JJ Bean Alberni has been killing it for ticket sales (they're my peeps!), so chances of winning are best at the Fraser St. location or the Marine Building. Remember, the proceeds go to the upcoming JJ Bean/Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador! I'll post the winning names for each store here, but we'll also be giving the winners a happy little jingle on the telephone. I'm looking forward to seeing the terrariums finally going to a good home.

Well, for now, that is all. It is far too nice of an evening for me to remain indoors so if you'll excuse me, it's nature time!