Gray February seems an apt moment to loll in the memory of last summer’s mythic trip to France.
I got to chop down meadows and forests of this landscape alongside some of my most beloved friends and colleagues.
Here, Ariella Chezar and I haul our treasure.
My workshop relied on local early summer leeks and scallions, wild grasses, and a few imported cornflowers, a flower that may characterize this landscape, but is of course impossible to find commercially grown anywhere nearby.
Onions and roadside grasses.
Here, Shane Connolly and Christian Tortu and I soil the floors of this pristine historical hotel.
One of Ariella’s magnificent centerpieces for our final dinner.
These lovely rooms took flowers well.
Students helped construct this weedy garland. It formed a natural habitat for the rabbits above.
Who will grow me this tiny leafed oak? I need this hawthorn here at home.
Shane’s composition of plants, plum branches and local produce.
In his glorious setting, my compatriots and I got to be one anothers’ assistants and students, a very rare experience for all of us. We all share a deep reverence for and commitment to the natural world, and strive to use our work to draw others into that teeming, roiling tumult.
The trip was organized by Eileen Johnson and FlowerSchool New York and is featured in the January issue of Flower Magazine. Photography by Gemma Hart Ingalls.