I have known Suzinn Weiss for well over 20 years and she seems to grow more creative and vital as time goes on. Though originally from the east coast, she headed west for college and took to the light and open spaces. After earning an MFA at Parsons in New York, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and there began her love affair with gardening. She turned her artist's eye to designing lush landscapes and it was the amazing fragrances that rose up from these gardens that inspired her latest venture. For Blooming Dream, Suzinn creates small-batch body oils and natural perfumes in oil or alcohol bases, using organic, fair trade and sustainable materials wherever possible. Her wonderful efforts have been rewarded with many fans (of which I am one, of course), as well as a silver medal at the 2014 San Francisco Fragrance Salon for Top Artisan Perfumer and a gold medal at the 2013 Seattle Fragrance Salon for Best Ingredient Combinations. I jokingly call her a "plantaholic," but it is her love and appreciation for the beauty and healing power of the natural world that makes her fragrances so special. If you're looking to support small, artisanal businesses this holiday season (who isn't?), Blooming Dream is an excellent choice.
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I wish you were here. I would lead you down the garden path. Pause with you under the redbud so you could hear the gentle drone of the bees as they gorge on sweet nectar. Guide you through the gauntlet of green, tender shoots brushing your legs as you pass. I would crouch down with you and show you how to crush the fronds of chamomile between your fingers to release the strong scent of tart apples. I would take you to the cool woodland corner where trillums bloom and ferns unfurl. I would remind you to look at every leaf and blade, every bud and sprig, every flower and sprout and in this way, with the sun on your face and the breeze in your hair, you would feel so alive. Walk with me.
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A quick turn around the garden at this time of year yields an impressive diversity of flowers. Most of them are rather humble natives, medicinals or even volunteers, but they are no less colorful or beautiful than the showier annuals. I love to have cut flowers in my home. I find it very uplifting, especially when we have grown them ourselves. I often add ferns for a bit of greenery, perhaps a sprig or two of mint, and I always include a few stems from my beloved scented geraniums. A bouquet like this is a tonic to the eye and a feast for the senses. Place one by your bed and see if your dreams aren't sweeter.
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The nasturtiums were among the last things to flourish in the garden, along with mint, rosemary and a host of straggling green tomatoes. Kale and collards are still hanging on, but these vibrant blooms gave up the ghost with the first hard frost. Fortunately, I had harvested a bunch after listening to a recent episode on NPR's Splendid Table. I think I've mentioned before my deep and abiding love for host and über-mensch Lynne Rossetto Kasper. My favorite part of the program is when listeners call in to ask for her advice on any number of food and cooking issues. No matter how challenging or arcane the question, Lynne always has the answer. And she's so warm and nurturing! I want to go to dinner at her house. Anyway, a woman called in wanting to know what to do with her bumper crop of nasturtiums, and Lynne suggested she candy the petals. Although I didn't want to do this, it got me exploring other ways to use my nasturtiums. Lots of people are eating the flowers raw in salads, and using the peppery leaves to make pesto. But the idea of crushing the petals into a compound butter really captured my fancy.
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I don't care that there's snow on the ground and that more is predicted for tomorrow, I know what I saw this weekend, and I'm not backing down from thoughts of spring. I stepped out onto the front patio on Saturday night and basked in the glow of the super perigree moon, a rare sight that happens only every 18 years or so, when the moon is about 31,000 miles closer to Earth. On Saturday it was not only closer, but totally full, and about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. It shed its monstrously beautiful silver light on me and I asked for its blessing, inspiration and guidance. Kooky? Perhaps. But that day, in honor of the equinox and this moon, G and I had already gone over to our new property in Forestburgh and had a little ceremony to bless the land and imbue it with good intentions. We have such high hopes; it felt good to say them out loud with the waterfall across the lake roaring in the distance and woodpeckers flitting high above in the trees.
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I know I just posted some pictures of flowers from my garden, but I couldn't resist sharing this profusion of peonies. A couple of weeks earlier than usual, they all blossomed at the same time, weighing their branches down to the ground and reminding me of that old song June is busting out all over! I brought them inside by the armful and it's truly an embarrassment of riches. You can just make out the one single-petal variety, like a shy young girl next to all the bosomy, full-blown ladies in white, pink and fuchsia.

The heat came early this year and with just enough rain it coaxed out lots of flowers we normally don't see quite this soon. We added a bunch of peony plants to our patch, and the new arrivals are already making beautiful music in the garden. G's pampered rhododendrons seem happy, one group of lilies is up, the tiny roses are all abud, the succulent garden is colorful and my beared irises are standing tall. It's a sight to behold.