Summertime already??

I know most of you find that blog title totally nuts, but let me explain.

So I do landscaping for a living right . . . more specifically I work with flower displays for a living. So let me explain to you what my January is like at work.

Revising my order and working on sales for all of our early Spring flowers, ie Pansies, Tulips, etc.

Diving head first into Summer flower display designs, sales, and ordering. I spend half of my day looking at flower photos, working up ideas, and focusing on our summer plans. I work with bright colors, light, and all things tropical.

My office is a gray cinderblock room with bright flower photos and other photos all over the walls (because gray does not drive creativity). So I spend my day looking at summer and then walk out into the frozen winter to go home.

So in reality, I have no idea what season it is. Does anyone else understand my confusion?

I liked it!!

This past Friday night I went to the special preview night for the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Work sent me, it was the charity night so you pay a lot more for your ticket and don't have to deal with the crowds. Which is nice cause usually the place is totally crowded.

Anyway, Diane and I were walking the show where there were elaborate displays, tons of color, and some truly creative work. Oddly enough we agreed on what we thought was the most striking bed of the show. As usual for me it was also one of the simplest.



I just thought that this bed was a great example of contrasting textures working together to add interest. There are only three plants here and they are all very common, Algerian Ivy, Huchera (some lime green variety), and Asparagus Fern. So simple, but still so stunning!

Or maybe I just loved it cause it is all GREEN!!

Is it pink or purple?

Quick background here . . . I have one of my full time seasonal color employees that works with me at my office and we collaborate with the two designers on staff a lot. We help eachother a lot by just talking things through and getting eachother's opinions. We work a lot with color and combining colors and just a lot of collaboration.

Anyway, today one of our designers was working on a project and had shown me a plant that I didn't really have any experience with. Well the lady that works for me is a perennial flower guru and knows them all. So they two of them were talking and we were pulling up pictures online and trying to figure out some others plants that would accent this one well in a garden.

The conversation got funny and I realized that anyone listening in would probably think that we were a bunch of loons. We were discussing how pink/purple this flower is. After a long discussion the consensus was it is more pink than a purple but more purple than a pink. Not fuschia, still purple, but a purple with pink tones and not blue tones. I am thinking that I might need to send a request to the people at crayola to ask them to come up with a nifty one to two word name for this color.

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

By the way, the name of the plant is Stachys officinalis 'Hummelo'.

10 Reasons I Hate the Snow

I didn't always hate snow. I grew up in Idaho, Utah, Washington and we always had snow and I always loved when it would fall (admittedly hoping that we would have a snow day and I wouldn't have to go to school). But I always enjoyed playing in the snow with my sisters and friends. Sledding was tons of fun and I even tried to ski a time or two.

But now, it is all over. I find no more joy in the falling snow. Mostly due to the fact that everytime that the snow falls and the rest of ya'll make a cup of cocoa, start a fire, and curl up in a blanket; I get called out to go to work all night. So here are my top ten reasons why I despise snow (In no particular order).

1. People who can't drive in it think they can and go 10 mph and no one will mind
2. I hate shoveling my walks and driveway
3. People with 4wd think that they can drive like normal and try to kill people
4. No one seems to be able to park in the stall
5. My dog does not want to go outside
6. The snow covered up my winter pots outside so now you can't see them
7. I don't get to sleep
8. People still drive like they are in a rush to get somewhere . . . for heavens sake give yourself more time
9. The salt on the roads sprays onto my windshield so I can't see
10. I have to cancel plans all the time

Am I Really This Easy To Figure Out?

I have been working in my office for a few years now and am coming up on my third fall season. Every year one of the admin girls (Terri) and I both start getting ready as fall rolls around because fall means pumpkin time. And I don't mean cute little decorative pumpkins or pumpkin carving; I mean to eat. In the fall all of the sudden pumpkin is everywhere: milkshakes, cream cheese, pancakes, cookies, bread, muffins . . . etc. And she and I share the same love of anything and everything pumpkin. So every year we both bring each other whatever we find and the rest of the office just roll their eyes and laugh at us.

Well with my birthday coming up this weekend . . . our new designer (Melissa) decided she wanted to do something for me. Very nice of her. I was out of the office most of the day yesterday and when I got back there was a post it note on my desk to look in the fridge. So when I went to the fridge I found a pumpkin pie and a can of redi-whip. Talk about a way to end a Friday. So the girls all got together for a "meeting" in the conference room and we had birthday pie.


Admittedly, pumpkin pie is one of my all time favorite things. This makes two out of the last three years when I have had pumpkin pie in place of a birthday cake. Both times I didn't ask for the substitution, but friends made it for me. Which begs the question . . . am I really this easy to figure out?

Very Exciting!!

I am not one to toot my own horn, but I am pretty excited about this. I do work at a couple locations along Michigan Avenue (The Magnificent Mile) and there is a competition every year with all of the "Gardens of the Magnificent Mile" and awards given. The top award requires an all but perfect score and is rarely given out. Two years ago we received this award for one of our sites and it was the first time in five years that it had been awarded. Then this year that same site was once again awarded the top honor. So for an award that is rarely handed out, I am so excited that we received it two out of three years. It really is a great statement about the awesome company that I work for and the fabulous team that I have. Really I couldn't be more proud of them. So I just had to share my proud moment with all of you.

I'm a little annoyed

I am in Michigan for a few days for work. I left early this morning and got here and started looking at installations that I did earlier this Spring. Not a single site that I visited today has taken care of the material that we installed. I know that it has nothing to do with me, but I can't seem to help but to take this personally. I do my best not to, but when it is so many back to back, it kind of hurts a little. I jump through hoops for clients to make things just right for them and deal with all of their stupid quirks and then they don't even care about the finished project. At least not enough to take care of it. Days like today I feel like I care about the overall look of their site more than they do. I work really hard and feel like a little piece of me goes into each of these projects. Anyway, it was a little bit of a depressing day. I just hope that tomorrow is better and I see something that actually makes me happy.