To say that this has been a whirlwind week would be an understatement… We wrapped up another school year with our little one graduating third grade this Friday, and it felt like such an accomplishment. (Most days, getting dressed feels like an accomplishment around here. )  We’re so proud of her and the grace & sweetness she displayed during this incredibly difficult year for us all. A year that has paradoxically felt like a minute and a century, depending on the time of day and the amount of caffeine in my system. I missed Friday’s post where I wanted to share with you a few of our favorite pandemic projects (those projects that kept us sane while the world around us was crumbling) so I thought I’d blend two posts into one. Our rose-covered trellis has been a lesson in and of itself. Patience is not my strength but in later years I’ve learnt to wait for the good things, and gardening truly is a waiting game. We planted these roses on my husband’s birthday, mid-May last year, and waited and waited for the bushes to grow and cover the trellis. We got baby plants last Spring and this is one year’s growth. I don’t know if it’s a lot or a little but novice gardeners that we are, we’re impressed! My husband snapped this photo a couple of weeks ago when the New Dawn roses were just beginning to open…

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Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope you’re doing well! It has been a very busy week on our end, with new projects seeding and older ones coming to a completion. I’ve been dreaming up color combinations and furniture layouts for a sweet client right here in Massachusetts and have been looking for inspiration in some great old books I am very much into right now and  thought it would be fun to share them with you. If you love the English Country Style with all that it entails – cozy living in country houses grand and small- then you will probably want to give these a glance. My latest discovery is an old print of House & Garden magazine’s “best of” collection from the late 90s –  The House & Garden Book of Country Chic, by Leonie Highton (1998).

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A precursor of modern day photography and plant illustration, the art of pressing plants dates back to the early scientific expeditions in which botanists would gather and collect plant specimens for later identification and study. The plant was removed from the ground with all of its parts intact, including stems, leaves, flowers and seed capsules, and pressed flat between sheets of paper or bark parchment for easy transportation. The pages of dried pressed plants were then organized in beautiful volumes called herbariums which recorded their scientific names and place of origin, and served as education guides for botanists and naturalists around the world.