Flower March/April 2017

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”–Mark Twain I RECALL IN THE SPRINGS OF MY YOUTH THAT PARENTS, teachers, coaches, and virtually anyone in authority would blame any untoward behaviors on the catchall phenomena known as spring fever—in other seasons they had other less romantic diagnoses. But nowadays, as I gaze on the quince and forsythia, anticipating the green leaf canopies that will soon tower over them, and brave my first days without layers, I think of spring fever quite differently. It is a time of delight in the discovery of new growth all around. It’s open…

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia Flower Show March 11 – 19 theflowershow.com NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA NOMA Art in Bloom March 15 – 19 noma.org WASHINGTON, D.C. National Cherry Blossom Festival March 20 – April 16 nationalcherryblossomfestival.org SAVANNAH, GEORGIA Savannah Tour of Homes & Gardens March 23 – 26 savannahtourofhomes.org ATLANTA, GEORGIA Cherokee Garden Club Flower Show April 20 cherokeegardenclub.com SONOMA, CALIFORNIA Bubbles & Blooms April 22 gloriaferrer.com RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Historic Garden Week April 22 – April 29 vagardenweek.org MONKTON, MARYLAND Garden Festival at Ladew May 6 ladewgardens.com SHARON, CONNECTICUT Trade Secrets May 13 – 14 tradesecretsct.com indicates flower is attending or sponsoring the event. For more events, visit flowermag.com.…

WHEN I LOOK BACK ON what made me fall in love with flowers, I can’t help but conclude that I thought of them as friends,” writes Sybil Sylvester in the opening line of Fresh (Glitterati, 2017). Reading Sylvester’s book indeed feels like sitting down with a friend, albeit one loaded with talent and expertise. The tone is intimate, honest, and empowering, full of insider tips and practical know-how. “I’d like to debunk that inner voice that says, You can’t do flowers, and replace it with an encouraging voice that says, Yes I can,” she says. The writing here is as delightful as the imagery, betraying Sylvester’s genuine affection for her craft. Flowers prepped in buckets lined up against a wall look like “bridesmaids about to start down the aisle,” she…

ONE WOULD THINK, with all the communication tools at our disposal, it would be easy enough to tell someone how you feel—a thumbs-up on Facebook, a heart on Instagram, an emoji sent via text. And yet, as Shane Connolly writes in his new book, Discovering the Meaning of Flowers (Clearview Press, 2017), “we’re still searching for ways to communicate more clearly, individually, and meaningfully.” Connolly, who wowed the world with his inspired designs for the 2011 wedding of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, offers a welcome antidote to the thumb-pecking throngs. “I feel the human race urgently needs to reconnect with nature. This ancient way of looking at flowers makes us appreciate them more,” he says. By reintroducing floriography (the symbolic meaning of flowers), Connolly reminds readers of…

WHEN MICHAEL DE FEO WAS GROWING up in Rye, New York, the only exposure he had to graffiti was the occasional trip into New York City. “We’d see this stuff on the highway walls, and my dad would say, ‘It’s garbage,’” De Feo remembers. Years later as a 19-year-old aspiring artist trying in vain to get his work into galleries, he stumbled across Subway Art, a book about New York’s graffiti scene. “I was mesmerized,” he says. From that point on, De Feo decided to stop painting for private galleries and start painting for the street. He began experimenting on the walls of his parents’ basement, painting a series of flowers and butterflies. “One of the flowers spoke to me—it had this presence,” he says. He started painting his signature…

grab the rum and stir up a Cuba Libre: Here’s a toast to warming relations between old Cold War foes. With travel bans lifted, many Americans are hopping the next flight to Havana. But one need not own a passport to enjoy the wave of Cuban influence washing up against our shores. Opening on March 5th, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will debut Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950. Representing the most comprehensive collection of modern and contemporary Cuban art since the 1940s, the landmark exhibit explores Castro’s dream of building a utopian society and the fallout of his dream deferred. Following a run at the MFAH, the exhibit travels to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, exposing a broad audience to this timely cultural…