Flower July/August 2017

AS WE CONTINUE TO CELEBRATE our 10th anniversary, it seems fitting that we also celebrate entertaining. As life gets busier and more filled with distractions, it’s even more crucial that we take time, spend a little effort, and open our homes and, hence, our lives to others. Here in the South, we’re known for our hospitality. But I believe the desire to share one’s home and table is universal. It is a gift to all who will accept—a way to say, “I want to spend time, set apart with you, and I want to let you in.” There are all kinds of ways to extend hospitality, and in these pages we run the gamut. First, we’ve wrangled an invitation to fashion designer Lela Rose’s Bloody Mary brunch, conceived by one…

ASPEN, COLORADO Aspen Antiques and Fine Arts Fair July 1 – 9 aspenartfairs.com HIGHLANDS, NORTH CAROLINA Bascom in Bloom July 7 – 8 thebascom.org ATLANTA, GEORGIA ADAC in Bloom July 19 flowermag.com/adac SEQUIM, WASHINGTON Sequim Lavender Festival July 21 – 23 lavenderfestival.com MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA Lotusland Celebrates July 29 lotusland.org BALTIMORE, MARYLAND Art, Antique & Jewelry Show August 24 – 27 baltimoresummershow.com MACKINAC ISLAND, MICHIGAN The Grand Garden Show August 27 – 29 grandgardenshow.com Indicates Flower is attending or sponsoring the event. For more events, visit flowermag.com.…

TAKE NOTE: This cheerful croquet set comes with a handy red carrying case.…

MANY OF US AT FLOWER are avid entertainers, having been exposed to parties and their planning since we were quite young by helping Mother set the table, gathering flowers from the garden, and polishing the silver. We’ll often share our plans before the weekend, then report on our successes (more often than not) on Monday mornings with photos of floral arrangements and a discussion of what our guests liked most on the menu. So we get excited when a new entertaining book arrives at the office, especially when the ideas are pretty and doable, such as those in Entertaining in the Country by Joan Osofsky and Abby Adams (Rizzoli New York, 2017). The pair takes us on a culinary jaunt to the homes of 12 tastemakers, including Grace Bonney of…

WHEN A FOOT INJURY ended Maggie Austin’s career as a professional ballerina, she found comfort in the kitchen, whipping up cakes with her father and, later, with some of the finest pastry chefs in the country, earning a reputation that landed her desserts on the Today show and in the White House. The ballet studio may seem like unorthodox training ground for a cake designer, yet Austin’s designs bear the hallmarks of a ballerina’s craft: artistry, precision, grace, and beauty. In her first book, Maggie Austin Cake: Artistry and Technique (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), Austin guides readers through her process, showcasing ethereal cakes cloaked in sugar flowers so detailed and delicate, only a Sugar Plum Fairy could create them.…

CALLING ALL DEDICATED DOODLERS and flower lovers, ye fillers of the margins with rudimentary tulip blooms and loopy daisy petals: At last, a sophisticated guide to drawing florals for adults who chose not to check their creative coats at the kindergarten door. In her charming new book, How to Draw Modern Florals (Paige Tate & Co., 2017), Dallas-based visual artist Alli Koch taps into the current craze for adult coloring books with an elegant tutorial on the basics of floral drawing. “If you can draw an ‘S’ or a ‘C’ with a pen,” you can do this, promises Koch, whose step-by-step illustrations break the process down into manageable bites, culminating in gorgeous bouquets. Because we all could use a bit more beauty in our lives, even if it’s on the…