Horizon on fire

Just had to share this sunset with all of you. Have a lovel evening.

Monday Monday

 

Another beautiful Monday morning in Manhattan. 53 Degrees and no wind. So now that I can upload pics directly from my Iphone the market wanderings have even more importance to yours truly. Here a some of todays stand outs.

I just love the texture of the long stemmed Artichokes.

These local brilliant orange Dahlias are really beautiful. However I think the season is coming to an end. It will all depend on Mother Nature.

I have had the chance to travel to South Africa when I was teenager and the King Protea's have always been a favorite of mine. I love the structure of the petals and at the same time the softness of the interior.

This is for those who care to stop and enjoy. Many people rush by the flower market and if the care to take a moment they will find many unusual things below there feet or at least under there noses.

But isn't that always the truth.

I could not resist this amazing garden rose called "Capriccion". Unlike many other garden roses this one seems to hold up longer than most. I guess for many this looks like a golden cabbage rose. It certainly is big enough.











Below you will find my surprise of the day: Tree Peonies. They look like roses but they are not. They come very short and very expensive. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself. That is it for today folks. Take care P.

Amaryllis double nymph

Fall in Central Park

Michelle and Troy this is for you. It is 5 am I am in the flower market.

Ask and you shall receive

After I complained about the difficulty of editing this blog and not being able to move photographs around I have found the answer, actually two answers. One was to update the layout and the other was to sign up for mobile blogging. This one I love because now I can blog from the street. When I am in the market at 5am I can send photographs directly as I pick the flowers. Not sure how that will work in the depths of the dark winter mornings but for now it will do.

Pink "Dinner Plate" Dahlias from 28th September. This is the height of the Dahlia season. At the beginning of the season in early September the stems are very fat and the flower head tends to be smaller. Not the ideal combo for flower designing. As the season move along the reverse happens, larger blossoms and slimmer stems. This allows you to get better control of the flowers and does not take up to much stem space in the vase. It does also mean that the heavier head will have a tendency to easily break off if you are not gentle with your flowers. That is really annoying...

These are incredible large Dutch hydrangea. This photo was taken on the 5th October. Dutch "Hortensia" come in two groups: 'Fresh' and 'Classic' . The Fresh group is generally available from April to June. They tend to be brighter colours, strong pinks, great pale summer blues and wonderful bright green as well as incredible whites. In the past few years we are seeing new varieties that have multiple petal counts on each little branch. They almost look hand made.   The Classic group starts to show up in the auction houses from June until November. These colours, depending on the season tend to be more muted and a little muddier to reflect the cooler temperature of the changing seasons. Deeper pinks turning into pale burgundies and touches of mossy greens. The green varieties, such as "Magical Opal" have a depth of colour that makes you want to lay down in the them and fall into dream land. The Blues turn dusty shades and are great for drying.

The one thing to remember is that The Dutch Hortensia tend to be more expensive than the Ecuadorian varieties. This is due to a combination of market availability, the exchange rate and the demand. The Dutch varieties also are longer and so are heavier and cost more to ship. However, they are truly incredible and if taken care of properly will last from seven to fourteen days.

Test 2

So this is the second test to see how I can send photos quickly from
my iPhone .
These are a fun selection of gourds for the fall.

Local Celosia from 9th September Local Miniature Peppers on the stock 25th September.

My dear friend Michelle has asked me to get a move on basically so I will start with the days I have missed or the photos that should have been posted. I always need a little gentle suggestion to get started. It makes you feel wanted...

This has been a strange fall season in NY. The global warming has mother nature laughing at us. In mid October we had early December temperatures. It just reeks havoc on the plants, never mind the humans.

Hanging Amaranthus 25th September. Local Chocolate Sunflower. Good enough to eat, well not actually. I guess I should be careful just incase anyone does try to eat them.

I love the Amaranthus but I am extremely allergic to it. Once it touches my skin I break out in a not so nice itchy rash. The sunflowers on the other hand have no such effect on my skin, I love them. They make you smile and the sun shines from their inner core to the extremities of their petals.

As my wonderful friend Yoko says: "I don't like sunflowers, they are just too damn happy..." I wish I could add in her wonderful Japanese accent, it sounds so much funnier.

28th September Ornamental Cabbage "Cafe Au Lait" Dahlias... drink up.

I am watching the sun set as I type and thinking how lucky I am to be able to share my wonderful world of flowers with, at this moment two great friends. Lets hope one more joins tomorrow. We are working on our Absolutely Wild Facebook page so when that comes up I will be passing that along every human who has a computer.

I also need to find out if there is an easier way to edit the layout. I hate every time I upload a new picture it starts at the first line and not where I left off... aaghhh. Any tips...

Till tomorrow my petals..

Second day???

So this is supposed to be my second day in the year of the flower market. Well I guess trying to start a blog during the busiest week of the year was not a good idea..ambition got in the way.

Last week we were honored to be the event designers for the 2009 NJPAC Spotlight Gala. It was quite the undertaking with over 900 guests inside the main Prudential Hall instead of the annual large tent in the parking lot.

It was one of the most satisfying events to date that we have designed. The staff and helpers from the NJPAC could not be more accommodating and eager to make the event the success it truly was. They are all true professionals.

Below you will see some photographs of the pre production, such as installing the flooring that covered the entire seating area of Prudential Hall. This meant that guests were actually seating as much as six feet in the air above the normal house seats. You can see the scaffolding below right.

The left picture is of the cocktail tent before the carpet installation.

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The entire set up took over eight days from start to finish. Below

you see the production crew prepping the lights at the rear of the stage.

This photo is Prudential Hall before the floor is installed and this is the after...

So dear reader, friends and family. i hope you get something form this second post. Tomorrow I will actually start posting seasonal flowers from the New York Flower Market as I have promised I would do. Please send me your feed back-good, bad and indifferent.

PeterNYC