The Bouquets of Chenonceau

The Bouquets of Chenonceau
Author: Jean-Francois Boucher
Publisher: Stichting Kunstboek
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2019-06-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9789058566171

After twenty years in his flower shop in Saint-Avertin, florist Jean-François Boucher-Odent left the family business to follow his heart and focus solely on his art, without having to put energy in the obligatory commercial flower work. And where better to do this than at the stunning Château de Chenonceau, one of those fairytale type castles in the French Loire Valley. Since 2015 Jean-Francois has been floral scenographer of the estate. Together with his small team he creates new floral compositions for the castle's rooms every week. These 'staged' flowers emphasise the history of the estate just like any other piece of art or furniture does. Their designs blend in perfectly with the interior and decoration and are in beautiful harmony with the room's colour code, its perfume and its function. Sometimes they even wink at poetry, art or the historical events that took place in these spaces. The Bouquets of Chenonceau is a magnificent coffee table book that will please both lovers of history and fans of floral design. 100 colour images Text in English and French.

My French Country Home

My French Country Home
Author: Sharon Santoni
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2017-08-08
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1423642791

Entertaining at home in gracious French style. Born from her experience of everyday living in France, Sharon Santoni reveals the gracious, easy French way of entertaining guests at her countryside home, year-round. Personal stories evoke the spirit of the French lifestyle, while gorgeous photos make us feel right at home. Santoni creates lush bouquets from her garden and utilizes resources from surrounding nature to lay gorgeous tables both indoors and outdoors. Venues range from a Sunday morning breakfast on the patio, to a ladies lunch in her lush garden, a formal dinner in her dining room, and a picnic by the river. Santoni also shares 15 favorite recipes utilizing seasonal foods. Find inspiration for your tables throughout the seasons, and discover the simple pleasure of entertaining friends and family. Sharon Santoni writes the popular blog My French Country Home. She is the author of My Stylish French Girlfriends (Gibbs Smith). She resides in Normandy, France.

Living the Château Dream

Living the Château Dream
Author: Angel Strawbridge
Publisher: Seven Dials
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2021-10-28
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 184188538X

In January 2015 Dick and Angel Strawbridge embarked on the journey of a lifetime when they swapped their cosy two-bedroom flat in East London for a derelict château with 12 acres of land in the Loire valley. Where Sunday Times bestseller A Year At The Château told the entertaining and heartwarming beginning of the family's French adventure, as they found their forever home and began to restore and renovate the dilapidated castle, Living The Château Dream is about the years of hard graft that followed. Dick and Angel leapt into action transforming Château-de-la-Motte Husson into both a thriving family home and a sustainable business, and began making their dream of rural life in a fairytale castle a reality. From throwing open the shutters to new suites to exploring the walled garden, launching their wedding business and hosting guests for food lover weekends, no stone was left unturned. From the day-to-day tasks like installing a lift to the beginnings of lifelong traditions and memories such as investigating the seasonal delights of the surroundings and having a family sleepover on the moat, this much-anticipated follow-up includes many firsts for the Strawbridge family. As Dick and Angel recount stories of the renovations that took place over the next four years at the château, we start to understand the true extent of the work and skill that it has taken to make this incredible house into a much-loved home. With stories of remarkable discoveries and unexpected challenges, amazing transformations and once-in-a-lifetime celebrations, this book is sure to delight, entertain and inspire fans in equal measure.

Paris in Bloom

Paris in Bloom
Author: Georgianna Lane
Publisher: ABRAMS
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2017-03-14
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 1683350189

“Get ready for a beauty overload. It’s food for the soul, it’s a book of dreams and details, of flowers so perfect you want to hug them to you.” —Carla Coulson, author of Paris Tango Paris—City of Love, City of Light, City of Flowers. From elegant floral boutiques to lively flower markets to glorious blooming trees and expansive public gardens, flowers are the essential ingredient to the lush sensory bouquet that is Parisian life. With beautiful photography, Paris in Bloom transports readers on a stunning floral tour of the city, and provides recommendations to the best flower markets and a detailed guide to spring blooms. Timeless in content, Paris in Bloom is a book for Paris lovers to savor again and again, one to keep on the nightstand to conjure fond memories of their first visit and inspire dreams of the next. “Brilliantly captures the splendor of French fleurs with lush photographs and elegant prose . . . A masterpiece!” —Laura Dowling, former chief floral designer at the White House “I don’t know how Georgianna does it. She manages to make Paris, already the most beautiful city in the world, appear even more charming, more elegant and more beautiful than it already is . . . Paris in Bloom is filled with a veritable carpet of pinks and whites, pastels and green portraits that make me let out an audible sigh of joy. This book can re-inspire you to believe that yes, life really is quite beautiful.” —Doni Belau, author of Paris Cocktails “Destined to become a classic of its type, Paris in Bloom is Georgianna Lane’s love letter to Paris and to flowers.”—Gray Levett, editor of Nikon Owner magazine

Cultivated Power

Cultivated Power
Author: Elizabeth Hyde
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2005-03-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0812204069

Cultivated Power explores the collection, cultivation, and display of flowers in early modern France at the historical moment when flowering plants, many of which were becoming known in Europe for the first time, piqued the curiosity of European gardeners and botanists, merchants and ministers, dukes and kings. Elizabeth Hyde reveals how flowers became uniquely capable of revealing the curiosity, reason, and taste of those elite men who engaged in their cultivation. The cultural and increasingly political value of such qualities was not lost on royal panegyrists, who seized upon the new meanings of flowers in celebrating the glory of Louis XIV. Using previously unexplored archival sources, Hyde recovers the extent of floral plantations in the gardens of Versailles and the sophisticated system of nurseries created to fulfill the demands of the king's gardeners. She further examines how the successful cultivation of those flowers made it possible for Louis XIV to demonstrate that his reign was a golden era surpassing even that of antiquity. Cultivated Power expands our knowledge of flowers in European history beyond the Dutch tulip mania, and restores our understanding of the importance of flowers in the French classical garden. The book also develops a fuller perspective on the roles of gender, rank, and material goods in the age of the baroque. Using flowers to analyze the movement of culture in early modern society, Cultivated Power ultimately highlights the influence of curious florists on the taste of the king, and the extension of the cultural into the realm of the political.

100 Roses for the South Florida Garden

100 Roses for the South Florida Garden
Author: Victor Lazzari
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2023-05-02
Genre: Gardening
ISBN: 0813072646

Tried and true varieties for tropical Florida Contrary to common belief, many varieties of roses can flourish in Florida’s heat and humidity. A much-needed guide for both home gardeners and landscape professionals, 100 Roses for the South Florida Garden equips readers with the knowledge to successfully grow this popular plant in the state’s tropical climate. Rose connoisseur Victor Lazzari surveys the history of the rose; outlines the main classifications of roses; explains how to best cultivate the flower in the South Florida environment; and offers advice on designing thoughtful, eco-friendly, visually spectacular gardens with roses in this region. Lazzari then provides an illustrated compendium of 100 varieties of roses that work well in South Florida. Each entry contains a beautiful full-color photograph, a brief history of the rose variety, and notes on the variety’s preferences. Complete with a thorough list of local rose retailers and organizations, this book is filled with useful information that has previously been difficult for Florida residents to locate. New gardeners and dedicated rosarians alike will delight in this approachable, eye-catching resource for finding and growing roses that thrive in the southernmost part of the state.

The Flower Fix

The Flower Fix
Author: Anna Potter
Publisher: White Lion Publishing
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2019-05-30
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 1781317887

The Flower Fix presents wild inspiration and modern arrangements by Swallows and Damsons florist Anna Potter, with beautiful photography by India Hobson. Blousy blooms, speckled branches, rich foliage, and delicate petals; nature has the power to inspire and energize, calm and soothe, focus and still. Anna has harnessed this magic with 26 tailor-made combinations of flowers to bring a floral boost to your home, no matter what your mood. With easy-to-find seasonal blooms, found items such as twigs and dried fruit, and any assortment of containers, discover how simple it is to bring a little bit of nature’s mystery into the everyday. Spanning all seasons and including both larger installations and smaller, simpler projects, there is something for anyone looking to play, experiment, and create atmosphere with flowers. Get your daily flower fix with these and more inspiring arrangements: Inspire Playfulness is a spring arrangement to bring joy, featuring lilac, roses, ranunculus, poppy, narcissi, and forget-me-nots. Flowers for Gratitude is a mix of summer’s bounty to inspire thankfulness, including garden rose, daucus, echinacea, and chocolate sunflower. Find Beauty in the Everyday is a colorful arrangement to bring a fresh perspective, featuring autumn foliage, hydrangea, dahlia, crab apple, and rosehip. The Shape of Self-Expression is a circular wreath design to express individuality, with holly, lamb’s ear, yellow holly berries, twigs and dried seedheads, and ivy berries. Each project lists the equipment, flowers, and foliage needed to start the project along with step-by-step instructions. You’ll also find a guide to basic flower arranging; notes on color palettes and how to use color; and a flower glossary listing the color, seasonal availability, and vase life of each flower. Be led by the flowers, foliage, stems, follow their shapes and form, feel their weight and heft to create versions of these gorgeous arrangements that are uniquely your own.

The Wine Bible

The Wine Bible
Author: Karen MacNeil
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Total Pages: 2408
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0761187154

No one can describe a wine like Karen MacNeil. Comprehensive, entertaining, authoritative, and endlessly interesting, The Wine Bible is a lively course from an expert teacher, grounding the reader deeply in the fundamentals—vine-yards and varietals, climate and terroir, the nine attributes of a wine’s greatness—while layering on tips, informative asides, anecdotes, definitions, photographs, maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Discover how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. The reason behind Champagne’s bubbles. Italy, the place the ancient Greeks called the land of wine. An oak barrel’s effect on flavor. Sherry, the world’s most misunderstood and underappreciated wine. How to match wine with food—and mood. Plus everything else you need to know to buy, store, serve, and enjoy the world’s most captivating beverage.

Chateaux of the Loire Valley

Chateaux of the Loire Valley
Author: J. -M. Perouse de Montclos
Publisher: H.F.Ullmann Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-08-15
Genre: Castles
ISBN: 9783833162343

Chateaux of the Loire Valley presents the Loire Valley s achitectural heritage in brilliant photographs. Descriptions of castles and monuments are complemented by maps, timetables, genealogys of the kings of France, glossaries and bibliographies."