Posies

Last week I spent a few days in New York City to celebrate my birthday. The weather was perfect and the vibe in the city was upbeat and happy. I love wandering around Manhattan this time of year and as I've mentioned before, I like to discover new things each time I visit.  This time I found an adorable little flower shop on the Upper West Side called Posies. The store is tucked along Amsterdam Avenue. It's not a big place but the bright pink awning and plants spilling onto the sidewalk are so inviting you can't help but stop and notice. I had to go in and check it out. It was really cute so I thought I'd share it with you. I didn't have my camera so I used my iPhone to capture some photos and show you what Posies has to offer.

Even though it is currently surrounded by scaffolding, this little flower shop jumps out at you when you are walking down the street.

The store is literally overflowing with fresh flowers and plants.

There are buckets of seasonal flowers inside. You can make your own bouquet or have Posies create something for you.

I was amazed at the selection of flowers offered in such a small space. There were so many varieties and colors to choose from.

If you can't decide or don't have time to make your own bouquet, you can choose one of the premade bouquets that are lining the wall. This was my favorite part of the store. The bouquets were gorgeous and inexpensive.

I love garden roses and hydrangeas together so I chose this beautiful bouquet to take home.

If you need a vase or vessel for your arrangement Posies has those too.

I didn't need a vase so my bouquet was carefully wrapped in purple tissue paper and cellophane, tied with a raffia bow and placed in a large white shopping bag. I love that! So simple but so very pretty. This little flower shop gets a huge thumbs up for me! It was a great little find and a fun stop to make in the middle of a busy day. If you visit the Upper West Side head to Posies!

Enjoy your week!

Leslie xo

Fresh Cut Flowers

As the seasons change and the weather gets warmer one of the things I look forward to is having fresh cut flowers inside. I love fresh flowers any time of the year but there is something I like about walking outside and cutting just a few stems of whatever happens to be blooming and bringing them inside to enjoy.

One of the things I realized a long time ago is that you don’t need to have a flower garden in order to enjoy fresh flowers. If you have perennials around your house you can just snip a few blooms from those plants. We don’t have a flower garden but we have beautiful flowers scattered around our yard. We have a peony plant that I love and some pink and red knock-out roses that bloom all summer. We also have a small patch of daisies that are great for cutting. Once in a while when I need just a few flowers for a small vase I will even  snip some from the flower pots on my patio. You would be surprised what you will end up with if you just take your scissors outside and start looking around. Do not, however, wander into the neighbor’s yard…

My mother is famous for having fresh flowers in her house at all times. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, if you go there, there will be fresh flowers somewhere in her house. It’s one of the little things in life she appreciates and I love that about her. Her favorite flower was always a daisy and every time I see one I think of her.

My favorite flower by far is a peony. I think they are the most beautiful and interesting flowers there are.  I love the way they grow and the wonderful fragrance they have. When my daughter Lauren decided she wanted peonies for her December wedding I was thrilled. I knew it was going to be absolutely beautiful.

Once you cut your flowers you can arrange them however you’d like to. Choose a vessel and fill it with water. Start with one flower and just keep adding. Don’t overthink it. If you do you will take the joy out of it. Trust your own eye and do what feels natural. Fresh flowers are beautiful…period.

It's fun to use vases in different shapes and sizes. Use whatever you can find around your house. For this bouquet I chose a narrow vase.

These old fashioned Coke bottles are perfect for single stems.

This is a limited edition Christian Lacroix Evian bottle that we found at Target a few years ago. My daughter loved them and bought them for one of the events during her wedding. I saved a few for just this purpose. I think a single stem daisy looks so pretty in this bottle.

I’m sure there are a ton of tutorials out there on flower arranging. And if you want to learn how to make amazing arrangements then it’s a great idea to look into them. What I want to share with you though is that you don’t have to know how to arrange flowers to enjoy them. Look around, see what’s out there and bring the beauty inside. And find a way to share that beauty with others. It’s a little thing that can make a difference in someone’s day, just ask my mom!

Photos by Leslie Reese