Announcing my new book...

Speaking at IGC was a great experience - with 2 talks in 2 days

Dateline CHICAGO: Another “first” this year was participating in the Independent Garden Center Show, which took place in Chicago, August 17-19th.

The fourth annual trade show for independent nursery owners and their staff gathers thousands under one roof for seminars, tours, a mega trade show, and serious networking.

The who’s who of the garden world comes to the IGC Show. I’ve wanted to check it out for a couple years, so when I was invited to make a presentation on the “Most Inspiring Garden Centers and Specialty Retailers,” I jumped at the chance to participate.

You can see some hightlights of that talk here. I had a wonderful audience of engaged and energized nursery owners. And I am encouraged by the response from these retailers interested in sharing my ideas and themes with their employees and staff.

I participated in a second presentation with Robin Avni, a friend and colleague who has invited me to be an associate in her Lifestyle Insights consultancy. I’m one of a group of like-minded “real women” experts who have come together to use our talents and knowledge to help corporate clients serving the female consumer.

For the IGC Show audience, Robin and I presented “The Female Gardener: Mommy to Maven.” Our presentation shared some of the research and insights collected by Lifestyle Insights in the past 12 months. We want garden center owners and garden-related companies to think about the female consumer not just by obvious demographics of age, ethnicity or economics but by her life stages. We’ll be sharing more about our research in the coming months, but suffice it to say, Robin and I both felt that the presentation was a good way to have a conversation with the gardening industry about who “she” is (and “she” is a powerful consumer to serve).

Magnetic and inspiring - Jamie Durie

There were other fun aspects to attending the IGC Show, including hearing from keynote speaker Jamie Durie of HGTV’s Outdoor Rooms. Jamie’s electrifying talk was not long enough – in fact, it’s a bummer that he was sort of cut short due to timing, since he had so many inspiring things to share with American nursery owners and outdoor living retailers.

Here are a few of his comments that resonated with me:

Luxe-scaping is one of Jamie’s design terms. He likes to start a landscape with Shapes First, Plants Second. Once you decide on the shape (“Embrace the plant’s architecture,” he explains), you can choose site-adaptable and regionally-appropriate plants to reflect the shape.

Jamie talked about “planting into the hard-scape,” an idea that helps to soften the architectural elements of a design. He showed images of one of the garden staircases designed by his firm Patio that caught my eye and nicely illustrated this concept. The wide stone-tread staircase has shallow risers that are planted to give a soft, green contrast to the hard-edged stone. This made me think of a succulent staircase at Ed and Susie Bealls’garden in Rancho Palos Verdes we saw recently (photo, below).

Here is a Southern California interpretation of "planting the steps" - from Ed and Susie Beall's garden.

It’s easy to get swept up in Jamie’s passion for enjoying the garden all year long. “Control your environment with built structures” and use new, technological and design features to do so (especially if you live in cooler climates). For example, Jamie uses overhead heaters as well as under-deck and under-patio warming systems. Outdoor fireplaces and fire pits are de rigeur for all-season garden living.

Jamie shared some of the ways he has developed and expanded DurieDesign, his overall brand. His advice could apply to anyone interested in staking out a position in the horticultural industry. I certainly found it useful. This isn’t comprehensive since I wasn’t writing notes as quickly as Jamie was speaking, but are some highlights:

Be able to state clearly your business Description, Expression, Attributes, Promise and Theme.

Study your brand personality and strategy. For Durie Design, the theme of “well-being” represents lifestyle and balance. There is a spectrum that goes from the tangible (what you do) to the intangible (why you do it). In between are the How and Who of your brand personality.

DurieDesign’s brand attributes includebeing Inspiring, a Design Authority, Accessible and having a Positive Energy. Know and communicate your brand promise. For DurieDesign, that means “connecting design and innovation wi the mind, body and spirit.” His brand theme: Let’s Go Outside. “People are intrinsically connected to plants.” Yes, that’s so true!

In the coming weeks, garden and design writers and their publications will be obsessing about “what’s hot” for the 2011 gardening season. I venture a guess that many of those must-have products, plants and ideas were introduced at IGC. I’m going to share my favorite new products — my “picks” — very soon.

Ornamental cabbages and kales are all it takes to make some pretty cool fall window boxes.

Understanding “scale” is one of the most challenging of all design principles. So is finding just the right plant combo to fill a series of ginormous window boxes.

Jayson Home & Garden - a Chicago discovery for all the things I love

So imagine my delight at seeing a great example of both while visiting my college-freshman son in Chicago last month. While waiting for him to get out of class, I filled my free time touring the city’s uber-hip Lincoln Park neighborhood. That’s when I drove by Jayson Home & Garden.

A savvy retailer-friend in Seattle had told me about this must-visit shop that specializes in European-inspired home furnishings, antiques, accessories, tabletop and plants. . . so I slammed on the brakes of the rental car and took a tour – inside and out.

Jayson Home & Garden occupies a large, vintage warehouse on Clybourn Avenue. Since the building is located on a corner, there are many huge  windows that wrap both sides of it. Each window is about 4-feet wide and is adorned with an accompanying window box. You can see why any other autumn flowering favorite, such as a mum or pansy, could disappear in these deep, super-sized planter boxes.

I took this photo from across the street - see how dramatic the window boxes look with the large green-purple heads of cabbage and kale?

So here’s where the scale equation works brilliantly.

These boxes are planted with two forms of ornamental cabbage and kale. That’s it.

Packed tightly with alternating ruffled and rounded plant shapes, the design is simple and makes a big impact while filling no fewer than six of the massive boxes. I also love the way the designs anchor the tall windows and elevate something living halfway up the sides of the store’s exterior.

Check it out!

The next time you’re at the grocery store or garden center, pick up a few pots of these decorative plants.

You can experiment to see how well they add volume, scale and seasonal interest to window boxes, planters or containers.

October is well underway, and here is my little “Know-How” piece from the October 2010 issue of Better Homes & Gardens.

It was inspired, in part, by my past visits to my friend Kathy’s garden. She uses outdoor candles incredibly well.

I have always loved the look of luminarias, the traditional candle-lit lanterns that illuminate walkways and paths for Southwest-style holiday celebrations. Modern re-interpretations use paper bags or Mason jars weighted down with a layer of sand in the base holding votive candles inside.

For a fresh twist that takes the luminaria idea and improves upon it, look for 7-Day Candles, also called altar candles. I first saw the brilliant display of these Mexican chapel candles in Kathy’s Southern California garden. Of course, it’s easy to dine and entertain out-of-doors here all year long. But even if you reside in cooler parts of the country, you can still borrow her idea!

White, red, blue or green wax is poured into an 8-inch-tall cylindrical glass container. “You can burn them 15 hours a day for a week,” Kathy says. “Imagine, 110 hours of candlelight for about one dollar!”

You can often find them at Mexican grocery stores or 99-cent/Dollar Stores. I found several styles on the shelf of my local Safeway grocery store – in the Mexican food aisle. And yes, they cost 99-cents!

A cluster of 7-Day candles looks brilliant inside a traditional hurricaine lantern.

Here are some of the tall, slender, long-burning candles nestled in a base of dried lentil beans. Perfect for autumn decor!

Kathy began decorating with these clean-and-simple altar candles after too many dinner parties where one-inch votives burned out before the evening was over. She lined her outdoor fireplace mantle with a row of the 7-Day candles, which glowed and sparkled during her al fresco dinners.

Kathy also groups three or four candles inside a large, glass vase for impact. A few inches of dry black beans or orange lentils in the base serve as a stabilizer. Try a variation of your own and you’ll enjoy hours of romantic flickering candlelight.

As for displaying 7-Day candles outdoors, such as on a porch, patio or front walkway, don’t worry that they’ll blow out.

Kathy calls the glass cylinders “little hurricane lamps.”

Here are some additional “illuminating” ideas for your after-dark garden enjoyment:

• Burn a flame:  also adds warmth after dusk. At the Independent Garden Center Show in August, I was amazed at the number of vendors who are introducing these ceramic bowls, lanterns or pots that contain a small metal insert that burns a “gel fuel.” In one catalog, from Napa Home & Garden (see lantern here), the liquid fuel is described as being manufactured from recycled, post-consumer waste – a recycled and sustainable product. The decorative ceramic container burns a long-lasting flame. In the garden, you can illuminate the edges of a pathway or group several lanterns together on a tabletop for after-dark enjoyment.
• String up lights: Create a twinkling overhead canopy with strings of carnival lighting, holiday strands or small lantern lights. When suspended from an arbor or tree branches, the tiny lights lend a flickering, romantic accent – and just enough light for sitting outdoors with a hot drink.

ILLUMINATION UPDATE: My friend Kathy Purdy, at Cold Climate Gardening, just suggested that I check out solar fireflies: ”Personally, I can’t see using these if you have the real McCoy, but I’ve learned that not all areas of the country do,” she writes. Kathy, you’re right. West coast gardeners are not as fortunate as you East coast gardeners. I haven’t seen a real firefly since July 2000, when my family visited friends in Washington, D.C. and we lay on our backs (on their front lawn) late at night – watching the magic!

Welcome to the Iowa State Fair!

IOWA AND ITS FAMOUS FAIR 

This post was somehow lost between computers. I actually started writing it at the end of August. So . . . a little delayed, but no less informative (says I). The trip to Des Moines and Chicago was filled with “firsts” and I thought I’d share some of them, in a series of posts. 

Part One: On August 15th, I flew into Des Moines, Iowa, in the early afternoon. Susan Appleget Hurst met me and whisked me off to the famous Iowa State Fair for an extravagant and authentic Midwestern County experience. 

I’ve heard so much about this quintessential state fair so it was a thrill to take in the experience for an afternoon. Susan tells me that there’s an entire movement of fair fans who arrive with campers and RVs and pay to park their wheeled homes on-site in order to hang out at the fair for the full 10-day experience. 

I only saw the highlights, but they were unforgettable. If you only have four hours to take in this fair, here’s what NOT to miss! 

Lunch!

The sign says it all.

First things first: Eat lunch. 

Susan recommended a Pork Chop on a Stick. This is a savory chop cooked on open grills. The rib is butterfly-cut to form the “Handle” for easy, fork-and-knife-free dining. A napkin will do, but be sure to add some barbecue sauce. 

I asked the crew behind the counter about the pork chop’s popularity. “We sell 6,000 to 8,000 a day during the fair,” boasted one guy. Wow. This is a big Iowa Tradition and I sure enjoyed my chop. Given all the deep-fried offerings on the fairway, I think the chop was one of the healthiest sources of protein! 

What a charming way to illustrate the Dairy industry!

We left the Iowa Pork Farmers and strolled through several of the Agricultural Buildings. Susan wanted to make sure I checked out the “butter cow,” a popular annual feature. This life-sized bovine is – yes – carved from pure butter. No wonder you have to photograph Bessie through a glass window. She is temperature-controlled due to the humid and hot Iowa summers. 

Look but don't touch!

We also checked out the produce displays and took a gander at a 1,323-lb prizewinning pumpkin. 

Other Plus-Sized highlights at the Fair included a gentle-looking steer and lots of livestock raised for everything from wool to milk to dressage. Horses large and miniature, goats wearing sweaters, baby calves, and the fair’s largest hog….what a fun tour of Iowa’s farming heritage. 

We stopped for dessert and got ourselves a cup of the famous Iowa ice-cream from an old-fashioned pharmacy. Susan recommended the homemade fresh peach ice cream, but since I couldn’t decide, I also ordered a scoop of homemade strawberry ice cream to split. 

The garden gals in the wine tent, Deb and Susan

We thought we might leave by then, but Susan’s husband Jerry and his friend were in the Iowa Winery tent. So we obliged and joined them to taste some of the really excellent offerings from local wineries. 

All in all, this was a very special visit. I loved the fair and would love to return next year. What a treat!

Recently, I’ve been entranced with a book called Tony Duquette, which is a 2-inch-thick coffee table photo-biography about the design life of the iconic Hollywood interior, costume and set designer by the same name.

Known for his innovative use of materials that others may not value (cast-offs from old movie sets, flea market finds, repurposed and salvaged goods), Tony Duquette embraced the potential and possibility in everything around him. He seemed to see the higher and better use of even the most prosaic object. Case in point was the description of a garage he and his wife Beedle Duquette, a painter, appropriated for entertaining. According to the book’s authors Wendy Goodman and Hutton Wilkinson,

” . . . Tony believed garages to be a useless waste of space and always converted his into sitting rooms.” He was quoted as saying: “When the party is over, just roll up the rug and drive the car in. It’s really the only thing to do in a house as small as this one.”

I’ve long admired this level of practicality combined with architectural artistry. While paging through Alex Johnson’s awesome new book Shedworking, I realized that Duquette’s inventiveness has a modern-day companion – the self-employed individual setting up shop in a garage-as-workspace. It’s an idea as compelling as the 1960s hipster and his garage-turned-party room.

Here's Alex's home-office where it all started

Alex Johnson, a Shedworking evangelist

In Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution (Frances Lincoln, 160 pages; 150 color photos, $29.95), Alex finds and documents an entire community of people for whom the useful shed is a way of life.

Ever since we first “met” online in 2006, while I was writing and creating my U.S. take on this trend in Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, I’ve been waiting for this book’s arrival – to add to my Shed Inspiration bookshelf.

Like his popular blog, also called “Shedworking,” Alex’s Shedworking is a compilation of the many ways that people can make a living in a nontraditional environment. Alex coined the term “Shedworking” in 2005 and he has been reporting on this not-so-quiet revolution ever since, including with the publication of an online magazine called “The Shed” that addresses the needs of at-home workers.

I love, of course, the structures called “Garden Offices,” which seem to so naturally occupy arboretum-like or city-vegetable patch environments. There are also some amazing cutting-edge architectural examples and mini-profiles of famous “shed owners,” such as Henry Moore. History gets into the pages of Shedworking, with a visit to Walden Pond and a replica of the famous cabin (okay, let’s call it a “shed”) from which Henry David Thoreau issued his own manifesto about living, creating and cohabiting with nature.

“Over the last decade we have seen an evolution of the office workplace,” Alex writes in his introduction. “A small shed which once only housed lawnmowers and pots can now be insulated from the cold, fitted with its own electrics, and can link you to anywhere in the world.”

You can tell that Alex and I are kindred spirits, since I endorse much the same approach to reimagining the garden shed in my own book. While I focus on the design, repurposing and artfulness of the structures (inside and out), Alex puts a big emphasis on the functionality of the sheds he profiles. Yet the designs in his “Best Sheds” chapter totally wow me. There are some cool American-made pre-fabricated structures, including the Kithouse, Modern Cabana and Modern Shed, three structures I reviewed last year for Dwell magazine, and the Nomad Yurt, which I reviewed here when it was first exhibited in Los Angeles in 2008.

But there are countless surprises in style and sustainability. Take a look at TSI (Transportable Space One), a mirrored structure that reflects the garden surroundings, designed by an Australian firm. Or the “Orb,” which is soon to come into production. It is a lightweight oval with four adjustable legs, a modern-day caravan-like structure. Another dazzling “pod” for the contemporary home-worker: The Loftcube, designed by a team in Berlin, is a glass-and-wood combo that can be “helicoptered onto your roof” to create a skyscraping rooftop office.

The contents of Alex’s “Best Sheds” chapter are pretty breathtaking. You can come down to earth a little bit by reading his “Build Your Own” chapter. This section is for DIYs (do-it-yourselfers) or those who have an idea and hire a specialist to help execute it. Alex’s sidebar: “How I set up my own garden office,” is engaging and personal – fun way to get to know this talented writer and fellow shed aficionado. “9 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself before You Start Building Your Own Shed” is another very useful checklist. It was written by John Coupe, civil engineer and owner of www.secrets-of-shed-building.com.

Naomi and James once lived in this structure for six months while constructing their new home.

I’m also pleased to see that Alex published and profiled Naomi Sachs’s office shed in Beacon, New York. Naomi, an expert in therapeutic landscape design, and I corresponded back in 2007 when I was working on my Shed book – and I’m still disappointed that I never got to visit her studio/shed while my collaborator Bill Wright and I were working on the East Coast. It’s nice to see the soulful structure Naomi and her partner James Westwater created show up here. (I’ve added Naomi to my ever-growing list entitled: “The ones that got away” – cool shed environments we wish could have been included in Stylish Sheds). Oh well!

A subsequent chapter covers “At Work in the Shed,” with snapshots of the vocational uses for a shed (including a filmmaker, designer, architect, journalist, web developer, painter, letterpress artist, academic, massage therapist, writer, cheese maker, sculptor, jewelry maker, management consultant and novelist).

“But does shedworking actually work?” Alex asks his readers. “Is it more than an attractive ideal? Can you run a successful business from your back garden? The pleasing answer is yes. . . . many people who are alternative workplace revolutionaries not only enjoy the micro commute to work and the chance to fill up the bird feeder on the way, they also make money.”

“The Green Shedworker” features sustainable building and design ideas, green roofs, tree house sheds, and a sidebar on “Five ways to incorporate your garden office into your garden.” Naturally, I agree with the wonderful tips shared here, including this one: “aim for the studio style to be in keeping with the garden, so for example a modern studio for a modern garden.”

Alex turns his attention to future shed trends as he wraps up Shedworking. These chapters reveal his progressive outlook on the changing work environment. A true visionary, Alex thinks big; he sees the potential where others see the hard-to-achieve. He pushes the envelope when it comes to workplace design and is a shed missionary in the most inspiring sense of the word.

“Beyond the Garden Office” is a chapter that looks at futuristic ideas for the workplace, the virtual office and the mobile lifestyle. From retro Air Stream trailers to working environments on canals, by the seaside or in a London Tube train, Alex’s examples dissolve assumptions and say to the reader:

“The truth is that neither size nor location matter when it comes to setting up as a shedworker. . . the future is shedshaped, psychologically, even if not physically.”

A final chapter is even more forward thinking, as it explores the landscape normally occupied by policymakers. The small structure (aka Shed) used for emergency housing, low-carbon-footprint environments and other residential off-grid experiments are ones that fascinates Alex Johnston.

His benediction of sorts is to urge those trapped in an office cubicle to view the Shed-Office as Nirvana:

“. . . for many office workers who can’t remember the last time they had lunch away from their desk or who never see natural light during the day, (the shed) is a beacon of hope.”

 BEHIND THE SCENES WITH JON TOGO

Actor Jon Togo (center), with designer Lory Johansson and me

If you’re a fan of the “CSI” television franchise, you probably know this handsome young actor I’m standing with in the photo at left. He’s Jonathan Togo, aka investigator Ryan Wolfe of “CSI: Miami.” 

The show enters its 9th season with tonight’s premiere (10 p.m. on CBS). In anticipation of the show, I’ve posted my recent interview with Jon and his interior designer Lory Johansson.

Lory, an inventive and gifted designer whose firm is called Just Joh, introduced me to Jon’s 1958 Midcentury modern “guy pad” in the Hollywood Hills earlier this year. I love that Jon describes her as “the best design Sherpa” because it’s true. She has a gift for helping each client express his or her unique personality through furniture, art, and the home.

The Los Angeles Times photographed the interiors in July, the day of this photo, which Lory’s husband Mats Johansson took with my camera. My interview with Jon and Lory (and featuring a fun commentary by Jon’s mother, Sheila Togo) appeared in the Sept. 18 issue of the HOME section. You can read the story and see a gallery of photos here.

Even the Monarchs were willing to be photographed at the flower farm.

In a glorious Iowa field, I gathered flowers for my bouquets.

One knows she’s in relationship trouble when her own mother and dear friend Susan, who was her maid-of-honor in 1984, call to say, “I haven’t heard from you for a while, so I checked your blog to see what you have been up to.”

Umm. I’ve been on the road a lot lately. Way too much on the road for my liking. Being away from home and traveling for 15 of the 30 days in the month of September was ridiculous, but (I guess) necessary. Anyway, for the first time in three years, I went for a full month without posting an entry on this blog. Yikes!

There were many blog posts composed in my mind as an idea or notion would occur to me. “I should write that down,” I thought. But then, the droning lull of the airplane engine would convince me a quick “up in the air” nap was in order. Or I didn’t have access to the Internet. Or something like a deadline for a volunteer project or even – wow – a paying project . .  or someone else’s needs that were way more pressing came along.

So here we are in October - how apropos. The new leaf is turned. I don’t have to travel again until Oct. 12th and that is a single overnight jaunt for a photo shoot in Bellingham, 100 miles to the north.

Seriously, I should be able to squeeze in some news, insights, ideas, GARDENS, cool FLOWERS, and more between now and then.

The story I want to share here is from September 14-16. After six full and intense days for the annual Garden Writers Association Symposium in Dallas, I jumped on a tiny airplane and flew to Des Moines. I met up with the team I collaborate with at Better Homes & Gardens magazine. Eric Liskey (deputy garden editor), Jane McKeon (associate garden editor) and Scott Johnson (deputy art director) and I were up to our knees in flowers.

A view across the flower fields at Howell's Farm in Iowa. Isn't this just the most perfect cloud-filled sky you've ever seen?

Globe amaranth (Gomphrena sp.)

The flowers – ingredients for a how-to story on creating bouquets from field-grown arrangements – were in all their glory at Howell’s Farm.

Based in Cumming, Iowa (in Madison County – yes, where the bridges are!), Howell’s is a sixth-generation family farm. After decades of raising corn and other agricultural crops, current owners Fred Howell and family began in 1985 to grow everlasting flowers.

Today, the farm is an 800-acre destination for people in search of the best varieties of decorative and seasonal crops. In the spring, summer and fall that means people come for the huge variety of annual and perennial flowers, herbs and grasses for cutting and drying. In the fall, they enjoy the amazing pumpkin patch and a cool corn maze. By the end of the year, in the winter, it’s the Christmas trees as main attraction.

After I landed in Des Moines, Eric and I drove out to Howell’s, about 25 miles outside of Des Moines, on a breezy, but gorgeous afternoon. Scott met us there and the three of us followed Erin Howell, Fred’s daughter, on a walk through the five-acre flower fields. As is my typical reaction whenever I visit a flower-growing operation, I was practically hyperventilating with excitement.

Celosia, plume type - what a great color!

This shows how windy it was as Eric (left) and Scott (right) held the oversized "silk" to cast a shadow for one of the bouquet vignettes.

The variety of flower form, color and vigor in Howell’s crops was dazzling. The setting itself was breathtaking. We talked through our options of ingredients, including what “design lessons” we wanted to illustrate in the story, what sizes and shapes of vases we needed to use, and how to CHOOSE among all the great flowers that seemed to say “pick me, pick me!”

Back at the editorial offices, the three of us huddled with Jane to talk about the floral design projects we wanted to assemble and photograph the following day. This was no small task. Everything has to be mapped out so we could envision how things will look on the pages of Better Homes & Gardens.

The sheets on Scott’s clip-board featured his sketches of mini-magazine pages, complete with thumbnails of vases, blooms and notes to show how a four-page flower arranging story might look. We had to think about a color palette for the vases, taking into consideration the textures and hues of each flower lesson. Then Scott raced out to pick up props from all his secret sources (including tables, stands, vases, pitchers, etc.) and Eric and I took a drive over to his personal garden. We needed a few extra plant ingredients to enhance the designs we had in mind, so Eric obligingly let me cut some lambs’ ears and goldenrod from his borders. What else? Oh! a visit to the mall to pick up a denim shirt for me to wear in the photo shoot.

BH&G staff photographer Blaine Moats wanted the perfect Monarch shot. He actually got dozens of perfect shots because the butterflies were amazingly cooperative.

Yes, there it is: Francesca's House

The next morning arrived bright and early and we met out at Howell’s around 7 a.m. Since Jane and I had designed the first two looks the afternoon before, we had a jump start for the photography. But then, the light seemed pretty good for a portrait, so Scott sent me out to cut flowers while our photographer Blaine Moats shot away.  As I walked between the rows of marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers and milkweed, filling my galvanized French flower buckets with stems, I thought: How lucky can a gal get? It was a joyous experience to just be there, to know that I was getting to create bouquets and arrangements that will be featured in the magazine sometime next summer, and to work with such talented, artistic colleagues.

We were soon distracted by a sight so compelling and awe-inspiring that we simply had to stop working. Well, except for Blaine, who just turned his lens on the scene and began to document it. A harmonic convergence of Monarch butterflies was waking up as the day began to warm. They seemed to want to pose for photos, since even I was able to capture some really sweet butterfly portraits as the winged creatures breakfasted on the nectar of hot pink ”Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate” flowers (aka Polygonum orientale).

Milkweed with Monarchs (Asclepias sp.)

Me again - can't stay away from those blooms!

If that wasn’t thrilling enough, by the time Jane McKeon arrived in the afternoon, I had another amazing sight.

“Look over there,” Jane said, gesturing to a distant and lonely farmhouse. “Do you know that it’s Francesca’s house?” Yes, this was the actual Iowa farmhouse used by Meryl Streep’s character Francesca Johnson in the famous film “Bridges of Madison County.”

Another reason to visit Howell’s Farm is to gaze across rows of flowers and see that setting. I may have to rent the film just to see that house on the screen, and to appreciate Meryl’s Oscar-nominated performance from 1995.

There’s lots more to share but my bouquet designs are embargoed until they show up in the magazine. I can’t wait to show them off to you.