Although beloved by florists and brides, roses have a terrible reputation in the gardening world. Known for being high-maintenance, fickle and easily susceptible to the slightest threats, most popular types of rose bushes have a loveliness that comes at a price. So I was thrilled to learn about the existence of antique roses, a whole…
All original images and flowers by Mary Kathryn Paynter Today’s post is dedicated to two of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century: Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein. Together as lovers and partners, almost immediately after meeting until Stein’s death, they built a renowned circle of artists, writers, musicians and cultural émigrés…
All photos and flowers by Mary Kathryn Paynter Fall is finally here, so today I’ll show you how to make a beautiful, slightly spooky garland from gorgeous green Amaranthus caudatus, or love-lies-bleeding. Love-lies-bleeding is a summer annual that blooms through the first frost and dries beautifully, making it an ideal flower to grow and harvest for…
All photographs by Mary Kathryn Paynter Today’s story of defining and stylish love follows the romance of two men who completely reshaped the world of fashion with their working and romantic partnership that lasted 50 years: Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The two met in 1958 while attending the funeral for Christian Dior in Paris….
Photo by Jessica Pages Today’s Under $50 post was inspired by one of my all-time favorite places in Austin: the Hotel San Jose. A palette of muted greens, browns, and grays gives the hotel the feel of an abstracted garden in all corners. The actual plant life is beautiful in and of itself: giant agaves,…
Image by Mary Kathryn Paynter The story of the love between photographer Alfred Stieglitz and painter Georgia O’Keeffe fascinates, not only because it tracks a significant time in the development of modern art, but also because it is laced with the humanity and fragility that makes for a passion far more interesting than fiction. They…
Ever had someone bring you a bouquet of flowers and feel simultaneously grateful and slightly disturbed? Grocery store flowers can do that. Garish, out-of-fashion and hard to work with (if not outright dead), these babies are not the elegant and sought-after blooms that you might dream of having on your table. But fear not, penny…
Image by Mary Kathryn Paynter Today’s Wild Love is inspired by one of the most beautiful places in the country, Big Sur, and the couple who helped define its style: Helmuth Deetjen and Helen Haight Deetjen. In the late 1920s, carpenter Helmuth Deetjen fled Norway and eventually settled in beautiful Big Sur, California. He met…
Much too frequently, one overlooks how impactful flowers and plants can be when used in small, unexpected ways to add unique details to entertaining. For today’s Flowers Under $50, we turn to resilient succulents for place settings, as I show you how to make succulent place card holders. The seating arrangement at a party can make…
Photo by Jackie Young Today’s Wild Love celebrates a friendship that left a permanent impact on music, art, photography and style in America: Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. Immortalized in Smith’s book, Just Kids, their friendship was a merging of aesthetics that influenced Smith to forever change the face of poetry and rock and roll….
Summer is here, and in Texas, the heat and bugs are on the rise. But instead of hiding indoors, counting down the days until the mercury drops, you can entertain in a lovely way outdoors on the cheap while keeping the mosquito bites at bay — no harsh chemicals necessary! Today, we’re really getting our…
Photo by Mary Kathryn Paynter For today’s “Flowers under $50,” I’m looking to ferns — workhorses of the landscaping world — to create a formal, architectural tablescape when arranged simply to show off their silhouette. Sword ferns are most common here in the South and can be found everywhere from back alleys and breezy porches to…
Photo by Mary Kathryn Paynter For the first time, today’s Wild Love is dedicated to a fictional couple with amazing style: My Girl‘s Vada Sultenfuss (played by Anna Chlumsky) and her best friend, Thomas J. (played by good ol’ Home Alone-era Macaulay Culkin). It’s hard to understate how much I loved My Girl when it came out…
Spring is that particular time of year when I’m constantly second-guessing exactly which flower is my favorite. One week I’m dying over fritillaria, another I’m charmed by watercolor-like ranunculus, and yet another I’m pining for peonies. But one that really knocked my socks off this year is delphinium. Its long stalks of gorgeous blue flowers…
Image by Kari Rosenfeld While romance abounds in Hollywood, it’s rare that it fosters lasting, steady relationships, which is why the story of Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward is so heart-warming. The two actors celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2008, shortly before Newman passed away. They chose to eschew the Hollywood lifestyle to live in…
[One of the things I love most is to help my clients throw a party, but in these economic times, flowers are often the first thing to get cut from a budget. In my new column, Flowers Under $50, I'll show you how to create flower arrangements for your event that make a big impact...
Image by Julie Cope [Editor’s note: I’m thrilled to introduce both a new column and contributor to Design*Sponge. I met florist Mary Kathryn Paynter of Loretta Flower in Austin and instantly fell in love with her floral designs. So I was delighted to hear her fantastic idea for a new column called Wild Love dedicated…
