Yes, some roses are red,
   yet in a week, those flowers are dead.
 
For a kiss that says it all,
   give blooms that will always stand tall.

In your hands is a gift from thee;

a blossom that always will be… Still Blooming.

The flower filled Still Blooming studio is open for Valentine’s Day Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:30PM until, well until the lights turn out.  Give me a call to make an appointment or if you are in the area drop by after 3:30PM. 412-216-1739.

201 N. Braddock Ave in Point Breeze 15208.   http://goo.gl/maps/Li9x8

If you would like to come on Thursday you will need to let me know in advance.

The entrance to the building is on Thomas Avenue right off Braddock and two streets up from Penn Ave.  The parking lot is lit.

 Happy Valentine’s Day to all you sweethearts.

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For the Birds

A spa for the birds

It’s blooming December! How did that happen?

I am not sure how it happened, but the calendar turned another page to reveal December.   Now that it’s here I guess we should embrace it.  Before you know it, autumn will fly away and winter will officially be here with its full icy regalia.  There may even be some crows cawing to usher the cold and snow into our yards.   Closing the drapes to keep the outside out and the inside in is right around the corner.  The heart of each home will keep us warm until the thaw eases its way back into our gardens.  One way to keep the light of spring and summer in a corner of your home is to fill it with the layered petals of a blossom from Still Blooming.  They will glisten in candlelight, firelight and even the silver light of early winter mornings.  Plant a blossom filled with the light of all seasons that will forever be, Still Blooming.

Look At Me Bloom

Hide and Seek

Still Blooming has blossomed in the East End of Pittsburgh.  I have moved out of my basement, out of my son’s room, out of the dining room, out from under the coffee table in the living room, and out of my sitting room, into a studio. A real studio! Fortune befell me when a Pittsburgh ceramicist, Sam Newbury, shared the news of his finding affordable studio space in a building undergoing a transformation. And now I too, find myself in the old, 200,000 square foot, Mine Safety Appliance building on the corner of Penn and Braddock Avenues. I landed in the NW corner with floor to ceiling windows. Stacks of crystal and glass of all colors are vibrating in the waves of sunlight rolling through the windows.

I am in the studio more often than not and look forward to visitors dropping by to walk about the blossoms that are, Still Blooming.

Please call to confirm I am in the studio and not out shopping for bloom fixings.

412-216-1739

Before

Come see the After shot!

 

After

Something To Be Sure Of

No matter what else goes on in your world, you can always depend on the arrival of the Vernal Equinox and the change of seasons, even if in your corner of the garden spring is recognized only with a turning of the calendar page. Despite this being March, here in southwestern Pennsylvania the calendar seems to be missing March through May because we are 20-30 degrees above normal and have had days, yes, days, in the high 70s. Poor Mother Nature is still trying to figure out where her wild winter child left its ice, snow and whipping wind. It seems to have lost these toys along its journey from fall’s lair to its own. So now, the confused root children have been awakened and are doing their catlike morning stretches reaching further into the softening ground while pushing perennials’ shoots up through the layers of fallen leaves and compost that dressed the beds for the scheduled, but absent, winter weather. Primroses and crocus first broke the silence of the season accompanying the songs of so many birds. The brightness of forsythia, the corals of quince and the softness of pussy willows are next to introduce themselves to each other in the garden. They are the final notes in the overture of the spring and summer symphony. Neighbors are washing porches and lawn furniture and the grills have been fired up releasing the scent of the season’s first barbecue down the streets and through backyards. Under the gentle greens of the tree’s first leaves and amidst the sunlit nips of color along the branches of woody ornamentals, Still Blooming’s perpetual blooms are in full glory as the rest of spring grows to embrace their myriad of textures and hues from crystal, glass, aluminum and porcelain petals.  Amongst the equinox and the coming of spring, the sun rising and setting, we can also count on the perpetual bloom’s subtle and bright delight that grace all seasons and will always be Still Blooming.

Is it really winter?

Winter? The solstice arrived in late December but here in southwestern Pennsylvania the cold, whipping wind and ice have yet to catch up with the calendar.  There have been many false starts to the winter though it does not seem able to stand against the mercury as daytime temperatures continue to climb into the mid to high 40’s. I have been keeping my thermostat set low so that I may justify lighting the fire most nights and on a few deliciously decadent mornings as well. The overstuffed chair pulled in front of the warm flames offers a dancing reminder for all that I am grateful and such respite from daily woes.

I tend to approach much of my life with an attitude of, “How hard can it be? You just do this and then that and then it’s practically done.” A friend gifted me her old, claw foot bath tub. So, back in early March I decided it was time to renovate my only bathroom. It is now mid-January and despite having done this and then that I am far from practically done. Even I acknowledge this. The tub still sits in her basement. Do you know how much a cast iron claw foot bathtub weighs?  And I have yet to find someone willing to move it. I have gutted the entire bathroom, demolished two walls and a closet, yes on purpose. The bathroom sink fell from the wall, not on purpose, and has been absent since May. I removed all layers of flooring taking everything down to the floor joists and sub-floor. I was able to save some of the tongue and groove pine that lay under old linoleum and relatively new tile thinking I will use it to patch the refinished pine floors throughout the rest of my home. I have finished laying most of the new sub floor, wired all the outlets and will be starting the wiring for the lights today. Well, maybe. I think I might have said that before. The insulation has been hung and the dry wall is leaning against the framing in the bathroom, and the walls of the front porch and my son’s bedroom which also happens to be my current studio. The new commode is in the middle of his room and  the bathroom closet is stuffed into his closet. The pedestal sink is in my sitting room (a bargain from Craig’s List) and the new kitchen sink (from Construction Junction. I mean, how hard can it be to plumb and replace a kitchen sink, right?) sits on towels in the center of the kitchen. This chapter is where my woes tend to originate.

The solace and energy I find in continuing the bathroom reno sprouts from the indulgences-to-come soaking in a deep, hot bath under a garden of perpetual blooms. I am creating a chandelier and wall sconces using a new crop of blooms! When I look through the rubble outside and inside of the bathroom I can see the peace and warming light emanating from the flowers above that will always be, Still Blooming.

April showers have brought May flowers!

~  Still Blooming  ~

Now and forever… Bloom On

It’s official. The last frost date here in Western PA has passed and with it the winter chill.  The  spring serenade is in full swing replete with bird song and lawn mowers. The windows are open and so is planting season. New bulbs are in, well, almost, the Hostas are unfurling next to the ferns, the Bleeding Heart and Solomon Seal are draped in their pendulous jewels and the Lilacs are slowing beginning to share their color and demurely cast their fragrance as the on again off again breeze gently plays with their branches. Dogwood and Red Bud  are in full glory. So are the weeds. And the slugs, evidenced by the holes in my Ligularia Othello. If that isn’t enough, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs have the gall to return after their fall rampage through my vegetable garden. And yet, through it all,  the garden pests, the frost, the thaw and the wakening of the spring green, the perpetual blooms from Still Blooming are standing tall reminding us that not all the beauty in the garden needs tending. The carefree blooms require no watering, no dead-heading and are completely deer-resistant! What more could a gardener, avid and casual alike, desire from a garden! 

As an invited artist to the Pittsburgh Botanic Society‘s 21st Annual Plant Sale, Still Blooming is having a sale on

Saturday, May 21st, 8:30am – 2:00pm

The Green Tree Fire Hall and Community Center

833 Poplar Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15220-2827

I hope to see you then.

Bloom prices range from $20 – $150. As always, custom bloom requests are welcome.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 412-820-0467

The spring thaw will come…

Last week the sun-yellow, tinted blue sky dressed the warm temperatures and convinced us that the winter was at its end and that spring was taking its place. Two whole days without gloves and collars turned up. Two whole nights with open-windowed-sleeping.  But alas, it was only the trailer to the upcoming thriller that will be spring and summer.

Get your garden ready for opening night with a jump start on color. Plant a perpetual bloom from Still Blooming. No watering or dead-heading required!