Lemon Happy

Three years ago my mom bought me a small Meyer lemon tree. With the love of water, sun light and warmth on chilly nights, my little plant has blossomed and grown - producing many lemons. The thrill some people feel when winning a tennis match, I get from my happy plants. This Fall I had enough fruit - that I perserved some using one of my favorite cookbooks, Canal House Cooking. It is quite simple needing just Kosher salt and lemons.

Charleston is a great climate for having citrus plants. The winters here are not too cold. This year it has been particularly mild and therefore my lemon tree is bursting with loads of buds. Although it make it easier, you don't have to live in a mild climate in order to have these wonderful fruit bearing plants. They like lots of sun light and need a well draining pot. They will need to be brought in when it is below freezing and brought outside it time for the bees to pollinate the flowers that create the wonderful lemons.... isn't nature beautiful...

Bursting With Buds

My Little Lemons

Wallflower

Flower Quince by Clarence House, unknown photo

Boo and I are trying to find the perfect wallpaper for our client's foyer. She wants geometric; but there is something so lovely and inviting about a floral pattern. I feel you can really go for it with a floral motif and cover the whole entryway. And for some reason the wilder it is, I feel the less tired and boring it will be later down the road. The only rule is, you have to LOVE it, the colors, the design...you have to fall head over heels in love with one wallpaper. It is easy to do and once you find it you just know. Take these for example...and imagine opening your front door to walls of flowers...a warm welcome indeed. (I had to include paisley...because even though it's not floral it has the same feel of abundance.)

Traditional Home

Timothy Whealon interiors

IVM wallpaper

Staghorn Ferns

photos by Christopher Baker for Architectural Digest

photo by Allison Abney

Recently I was flipping through the latest issue of Architectural Digest and I came across Julianne Moore's Manhattan garden that I thought to be so beautiful and understated. Brian Sawyer(http://www.sawyerberson.com/) designed it and the garden is filled with boxwoods, staghorn ferns and ivy. Simple, green and verdant...her garden is so soothing and at the same time a bit moody, but possesses a quiet, peaceful mood, I think. I have always loved the sculptural beauty of staghorn ferns, and these photos of JM's garden shot by Christopher Baker inspired me to finally get some of my own. Friday was a perfect day for perusing Hyam's on James Island and so my 9 month old, Celia, and I found three ferns we liked, brought them home and hung them in the sunroom. She's good with a hammer. Needing not much more than filtered light, misting once daily and a good soak in the tub once a week, the staghorn ferns(not the baby!) are low maintenance. I plan to bring them outside in the spring and summer and hang on the wall of my porch. Boo tells me she sees them all the time in Florida hanging on trees, like orchids. I love the tropical and wild feel of them, don't you?

The Dining Table

The Dining table... it is so much more than just a table. It is a place for comfort whether from food or conversation. It is where families come together and create memories. It does not have to be anything fancy or elaborate - it is just a place we join to celebrate, catch up and enjoy good food.

I love eating and there is nothing better than sharing that with my favorite people. Cooking is a joy of mine. Bringing food around a table makes it complete. Depending on the day, it could be a simple dinner with my husband, pancake breakfast with my little girls, a dinner party or out at a favorite restaurant, the dining table serves me well.

A Walled Garden

City living always comes with a certain lack of privacy. When one walks outdoors, one sees neighbors, friends immediately. I live on a very busy street in downtown Charleston and I love city life: the energy, the social run of it all. I enjoy public parks and spaces as if they were my own. But I do crave some solitude after a long day and I dream of a walled garden, a place to escape with just my family and friends. I imagine mine to be simple with stucco walls overgrown with fig ivy, three hornbeam trees bordering the wall that faces my busy street, plenty of green and white plantings, and a big table for my 3 hour family lunches on Saturday and Sunday. A place to retreat, sit a spell and unwind.