Made my weekly pilgrimage to the SF Flower Mart to pick up some fresh blooms for the shop. Each week I am looking for something new, something interesting, and something that inspires me. I absolutely love flowers and I love creating arrangements, but I am nearly obsessed with creating arrangements that no one else would create. I won't mix roses and baby's breath for instance. Although it seems to have become a part of our collective floral consciousness, it's a very tired look in my opinion. Way too textbook. I'm a huge fan of single flower bouquets. The more amazing I feel the flower is, the less I want to combine it with something else. I am madly in love with Chocolate Cosmos and nothing is more classic to me than putting them into a tarnished silver vase or cup:



I also really appreciate the delicate beauty of tulips and feel that the more unique the container, the more they shine:



I happen to be particularly averse to filler. I rarely have fern in my store and if I do, I don't use it in place of flowers. I may use it in conjunction with flowers, but not in place of. There's a difference. The "greens" I overwhelmingly use are already part of the flowers. My bouquets are crazy full because there are actually flowers in them! With wildflowers I feel that the greens attached to the bloom are perfect as is. They are usually very fluffy and feathery. Adding any more green to it seems really overdone to me:



I get really frustrated when I see super artsy arrangements that cost a fortune and involve very few actual blooms. It's a preference definitely, but I can get kind of righteous about it. You won't find my twirling grass inside a vase to create a submerged origami art project. Although it may seem avant garde, it's really practiced. It's not how I roll. I'm always going to lean toward the odd when it comes to flowers. One of my favorite things to use are the leftover pods that occur when Scabiosa blooms lose all their petals. They are actually very much alive but feel dried to the touch. They remind me of alien planets. By themselves or in with other flowers they are much more avant garde to me than a long piece of flax or a branch with a rose glued to it.



Back to unique flowers, I was excited to find a type of Gerber daisy I had never seen before. I asked the growers how long their heads would stay up without the help of the clear plastic tubes. Gerber daisies are nearly always presented with these tubes on the stems. I don't want to put plastic tubes on my flowers. If they can't hold their heads up, then I may wire them but it seems so odd to spray, glue, wrap, stuff or do anything other wordly to flowers to make them "behave" in a way that isn't natural for them. I guess I'm a purist. I don't even like to use floral foam but I will in extreme situations. I'd rather stuff a vase FULL than fill it with foam and poke in a bunch of God knows what.



On the subject of strange and beautiful flowers, I took my friend and client Lara to Flora Grubb Gardens this past weekend to check out weird and unusual plants. We are attempting to finish off the backyard mega-makeover we've undertaken. She's been such a great student, learning to grow her own veggies, replacing the annuals in her planter box and embracing the practice of gifting friends fresh cut flowers from her own backyard.



We happily reveled in the bizarre surroundings and I was especially taken by the succulents growing out of car parts - being the car loving girl that I am! Such a cool, Mad Max sort of idea.



I encourage everyone to visit someplace new this summer to discover the wonderful ways in which nature can inspire and surprise you. I highly recommend Filoli Gardens, Flora Grubb Gardens or the Edgewood Preserve!

All my best,
Melisa

I'm not a huge fan of teacups. Giant collections of mismatched china can be beautiful, but since I am not prone to shabby-chic moments, you won't find any rose-covered dandies in my home. I was inspired to create teacup gardens when I saw something similar at a nursery I love. Since then I've been treasure-hunting for cups that have something special about them. High on my priority list are antique European pieces. I've found some gorgeous Bavarian and Austrian cups, but most have been English.

Using cuttings of succulents from my bigger plants I make tiny gardens inside the cups and add a little animal of some sort - but it's always tongue-in-cheek. I have a collection of vintage donkeys and elephants to choose from or I'll use squirrels, pigeons, dinosaurs, etc. :)



I also started making tiny gardens in other fun "containers" such as this 1930's toy truck.



I also broke into my vase collection to use these small, modern, faux bobois porcelain vases (which now live at my client Shannon's house!):



If you're looking for a small and thoughtful gift for someone, or you just want a little sum-in sum-in for yourself, stop by and visit! I'm more than happy to custom make you a tiny garden in your own container too!

Melisa

Here are a few images of plants and containers from my own home and garden. Enjoy!





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I'm so happy to introduce the newest addition to Apartment 46! The Tacca Chantrieri, or "Bat Flower". I first saw this stunning, unique and otherworldly plant at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and I wanted one. A month ago, one of my growers told me that he had three juvenile Bat Flowers coming in and of course, I reserved one right away! Now, I am the proud owner of what I like to consider a baby Bat Flower. As with everything else in the shop, the baby bat is indeed for sale, however, I really want it to go to the right home - where the new owner will be as fascinated and enamored with it as I am. The Bat needs similar care to an orchid. Many people say, "I can't take care of orchids," or "I always kill my orchids!" Well, me too. However, since I opened the shop, I've learned a great deal about orchid care and really, it's not that hard. I water them once a week, fertilize them once a month (or less) and put them in pretty containers. Somehow, they are prospering. So I truly believe that anyone can raise an orchid.

My Bat, which my lovely daughter has named "Sophia", will make a lovely and extremely special addition to any home.

For more information, please contact the shop at 650.356.0558

All the best!
Melisa

My love affair with succulents continues. I have just discovered the beauty of Carpet Sedum which is so soft and spongy that I have a hard time keeping my dirty little hands off of it! It looks so elegant in a worn stone urn that it would be as perfect indoors as it would be out.

Recently, a client of mine showed me one of her Apartment 46 succulents, now in full bloom. The plant itself was a mild, soft, unassuming thing that had a calming appearance. Now, it's gone mad with such crazy and riotous blossoms that it has completely changed the look of the plant altogether! Although they are extremely small, with Macro photography, she was able to capture the delicate, complicated, flowers so that we could enjoy them even more. I'm continually amazed by the shape-shifting nature of succulents. SO cool!

Although they are fairly common, of all the bright and happy flowers in existence, I think Sunflowers are by far the cheeriest. One giant, bright yellow, Sunflower propped in a worn silver mercury glass vase is ridiculously stunning with no other adornment needed. It seems like a shame to arrange them with anything not as big or rowdy as they are. When you're feeling a bit blue, a simple mix of big and small Sunflowers in a cobalt blue vase is sure to cheer you up the moment you see it. They are also long-lasting, and provide more than a week's worth of color for your space.

I've found a grower in Half Moon Bay that is now supplying me with the most perfect Dahlias (deep, blood red) and gorgeous, long-lasting Sunflowers I've ever seen. The fact that they are organic and family-farmed makes them that much more beautiful to me.

You don't always need a big bunch of razzle dazzle flowers or an expensive, hard to care for plant to vastly improve your space. Sometimes the simplest things are the most perfect. I recommend hitting the local farmer's market for a bouquet of bright, yellow, blooms this weekend!

Much joy to you,
Melisa



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I gravitate toward unusual plants and flowers so the stranger they are, the more I love them. That’s why I am mad about air plants (proper name, Tillandias). A member of the Bromeliad family, they are usually found growing happily in tropical environments but can do quite well indoors with the right amount of love.

I keep a varied selection of air plants on hand in the shop at all times. I like to display them in tiny shot glasses, trapped underneath a glass cloche, riding in the bed of a toy pickup truck, or sitting happily inside of a miniature bird bath. They are the most flexible of all the plants I carry as they can sit just about anywhere. I am constantly arranging and rearranging them to suit my mood.

I always enjoy it when new visitors pick one up and examine it, asking me what it is, why it isn’t in a pot and how to care for it. They are always amazed when I show them the different sizes and varieties. It’s cool watching them fall in love and take one home, happy with their exotic prize.

I would have to say of all the plants I carry, my clients seem to enjoy the air plants the most. I’m so happy to have clients that love their strange, alien looks just as much as I do! Whether they’re hanging from glass orbs in the kitchen or sitting in the bathroom on a tiny silver tray, they are sure to bring you joy as you watch them transform and bloom. They are always changing. Once a week I bring in new specimens so if you’re in the area, or if you are looking for something specific, drop me an email or give me a call and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.



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I confess that I am a new convert to the joy of succulents. Growing up I was never drawn to them but my mother had a hulking mass of one in our yard that seemed to always be freezing to death and coming back to life. Other than that, it wasn’t very spectacular to me.

A couple years ago we lived in a house that had several massive Jade plants growing out front. They started to bloom and their flowers, extending upward like tiny fireworks, struck me as really cool looking. As an experiment I cut a couple pieces off here and there and used them in bouquets. It provided a really great contrast and texture. I started playing with various sizes of Echeveria crowns – filling silver bowls with their numerous rose-shaped bodies to make a visually arresting arrangement that lasted for weeks (months if you watered it).

One morning, I woke up to my neighbor (in his bathrobe) chopping down my Jade plants! He said they had gotten too big and he was doing me a favor by “trimming them”. I pleaded with him to stop and he grudgingly dragged his giant trash bin behind him – filled with what used to be my 30 year old Jade plants. I was heartbroken. That was when I realized how much I adored them for their odd and humble beauty.

At the shop I carry a wide variety of succulents in many different types of containers. A good cross section of textures, shapes and sizes, there’s something for everyone here. Echeverias tend to be my favorite because of their complex symmetry. I recently brought in a very old and wise Flapjack succulent that is fittingly planted in an antique Chinese water bucket. His giant, shiny, leaves are slightly tinged with red and look otherwordly. I often get asked if he is real. He is indeed!

I had a very large Agave at the shop that almost immediately upon arriving started to bloom and shoot offspring out of its center. It was snapped up in less than a week and is now flourishing in a wooden bucket on the patio of a good friend.

Having just finished potting several different types of succulent arrangements, I can step back and watch as they grow and change. A lot of my plants are in various stages of blooming. I love the simplicity of their flowers, like when they sprout a single, impossibly long “branch” from their center as a sort of fishing rod for bees. Succulents are extremely easy to care for, produce super charming blooms, are easy to propagate, grow rapidly and provide a living source of art for their owners.