Watering Can

CELEBRATE: To acknowledge a signifi cant or happy day or event with a social gathering or enjoyable activity

—Oxford English Dictionary

WHEN I FIRST THINK OF THE WORD “CELEBRATE,”

I think of party hats and confetti and people dancing and imbibing festive drinks, and I might sing to myself that old standard of the same name by Kool & the Gang. But then, when I sit with the word, I’m reminded that a celebration can take many shapes. It can be quiet and reverential; it can be warm, evocative, and personal; it can commemorate; it can engage and excite . . . and even mourn.

As I read through our stories, I can’t help but choke up remembering the day Keith Meacham and the late, great Julia Reed celebrated a newly minted Garden Club of Nashville president with a Christmas luncheon at Keith and Jon Meacham’s Nashville home. (See Keith’s own personal celebration of her dear friend Julia on page 56). And then from Julia’s beloved New Orleans we include a celebration of French Christmas traditions and decor with designer Alex Rico, whose house features a quiet palette punctuated with memorable and chic holiday accents. In contrast, British fl ower and garden whiz Butter Wakefi eld has fashioned a somewhat iconoclastic holiday scheme using bright pink as a foundational color and anemones alongside evergreen with all sorts of unexpected treatments. It’s absolutely joyous.

A long-standing and successful design partnership is celebrated in a conversation with Houston-based interior designers Sandy Lucas and Sarah Eilers, who commemorate their partnership in a new book, Expressive Interiors (Rizzoli, 2020), hot o the presses. And celebrating giving just the right gift, our editors have polled some of our favorite tastemakers to bring you an assemblage of shimmery holiday o erings.

It is my fondest hope that these and other pieces in this, our “Celebrate”issue, will bring you comfort and joy this season.

Love and SDG,

Margot Shaw EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Please send your comments, triumphs, challenges & questions to: wateringcan@fl owermag.com

OR Letters to the Editor | Flower magazine I P.O. Box 530645 I Birmingham, AL 35253

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VOLUME 14, ISSUE 6

Margot Shaw FOUNDER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alice Welsh Doyle EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Ellen S. Padgett CREATIVE DIRECTOR Amanda Smith Fowler STYLE EDITOR Kirk Reed Forrester ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kate Johnson PRODUCTION/COPY EDITOR Gregory Keyes INTEGRATED OPERATIONS MANAGER

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Courtney Barnes Abby Braswell James Farmer

Marion Laffey Fox Elaine Griffin Tara Guérard Frances MacDougall Tovah Martin Cathy Still McGowin Charlotte Moss Troy Rhone Matthew Robbins Margaret Zainey Roux Frances Schultz Lydia Somerville Sybil Sylvester

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ADVISORY BOARD

Paula Crockard Ben Page

Winn Crockard Angèle Parlange Gavin Duke Renny Reynolds Gay Estes Scott Shepherd Katie Baker Lasker Remco van Vliet Maloy Love Evie Vare Mary Evelyn McKee Carleton Varney

Michael Mundy Louise Wrinkle

What We’ve Got Our Eyes On

Scene

READING LIST

FASHION, HOME ENTERTAINING, AND TO-DIE-FOR GORGEOUS FLORALS AWAIT YOUR ATTENTION By Alice Welsh Doyle

LEFT: An arrangement used to discuss contrast in photography ABOVE: Frances in her happy place doing what she loves

FRANCES PALMER KNOWS HOW TO CREATE MAGIC at her potter’s wheel, but she applies that same passion to her cutting gardens (especially dahlias), fl oral arrangements, and photography. Her new book Life in the Studio: Inspiration and Lessons on Creativity (Artisan, 2020) left us breathless with delight. It is instructional, gorgeous, and generous—Frances shares her very personal journey with us, giving a true understanding of her craft and process and happily embracing the unpredictability of her chosen pursuits. Her goal is to “encourage others to follow their own artistic paths.” Frances readily admits that her approach is not the only way: “It is my hope that in distilling strategies developed over nearly three decades of creative pursuits, I will be able to o er insight anyone can adapt for their own imaginative adventures.” She accomplishes this in spades and in prose as graceful as her pottery and lifestyle. With some favorite recipes and beekeeping tips thrown in for good measure, Life in the Studio is indeed a treasure.

Scene

WHAT WE’VE GOT OUR EYES ON ...

BE MY GUEST DIOR IN BLOOM

READING LIST

Couture genius Christian Dior famously said, “After woman, fl owers are the most lovely thing God has given the world.” The newest book about the legend, Dior in Bloom (Flammarion, 2020), explores in detail the designer’s passion for fl owers and gardens—the gowns, the perfumes, the makeup, the jewelry, the ad campaigns, Dior’s château gardens—it’s all inside. We appreciate the opening pages, where the voices of fi ve House of Dior artistic directors explore the designer’s legacy. The current creative director of ready-to-wear, haute couture, and accessories collections, Maria Grazia Chiuri, explains how she honors Dior today. “In my collections, fl owers pay tribute to the identity and heritage of the House of Dior, but they also allow me to communicate, in some way, with Monsieur Dior, who had the extraordinary ability to integrate this deep passion—born within the family fold—into his work. By making fl owers a metaphor for today’s woman, I seek to combine beauty and determination.”

In Be My Guest: At Home with the Tastemakers (Flammarion, 2020), Pierre Sauvage of bespoke decorative accessories fi rm Casa Lopez delivers on three fronts—we step into the interiors of 20 tastemakers, see how they entertain, and learn about their favorite recipes, tried and true and often handed down. As Lisa Fine writes in the foreword, “Each chapter is a revelation on how to live and how to entertain. There are no formulas or rules. Pierre provides surprising insights into creating formal dinners without predictable stu ness and casual outdoor lunches with an original whimsy and charm.” The international fl avor of the book gives it a travel component as well—Catherine and Manuel Canovas in Normandy, Carolina Irving and Christian Louboutin in Portugal, and Sisley’s Christine d’Ornano in London. While entertaining at home is the norm these days, Pierre provides plenty of inspiration to make the experience more engaging or, as he calls it, the art de vivre—“the conviviality of dining among friends, of sharing the pleasures of the table, of indulging and stimulating the palate and all the other senses.” We agree, these pleasures never age.

Bevolo at 75

The lighting company with the soul of New Orleans’s French Quarter in every design celebrates 75 years of craftsmanship. In honor of the anniversary, each light will include not only Bevolo’s signature brass nameplate and serial number but also the initials of each master maker, reinforcing the company’s commitment to works created by hand. “As the company grew, and as I grew with it, I knew our success would depend on continuing the highquality craftsmanship people expected from Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights,” says Drew Bevolo. bevolo.com

Botanical Leanings

New wallpaper collections from York Wallcoverings focus on the importance of home and bringing the outdoors or biophilia (our inherent attraction toward plants and nature) inside with fl orals, clinging vines, and vintage- style birds. From grand spaces to cozy nooks, these wallpapers will instantly transform a room and keep the garden close at hand during the winter months ahead. We love the subtle Bamboo Grove paper from the Antonina Vella Elegant Earth collection (above) and the lively Garden Plume debut with its fanciful birds (below). yorkwallcoverings.com