Friday, May 11, 2007

Springtime gardenias can inspire a lovely color scheme, while a brilliant new magazine is devoted entirely to the beauty of flowers

The SunFest fireworks went off on schedule Sunday, despite a thunderstorm warning, and the rains offered a bit of moisture to all the flowers popping upon the streets and in the gardens of the Palm Beaches. Today, the white gardenia is profusely in blossom – and lucky are those who have a gardenia tree or two gracing the entrance of their residences. I like to call my favorite white color "gardenia white" because of the clarity of the hue and the velvety look of the blossom's petals. To me a drawing room colored with the deep greens of the gardenia plant's leaves and the white of the flower itself is a vision to enjoy – and might even recall to mind the flower's delightful fragrance.

So why not start decorating the flower way? Finish your walls in gardenia-leaf green and paint your trim gardenia white. For the carpet, select a rug of a trellis pattern in white on gardenia-leaf green. Find a pair of end tables that have golden rope-style bases with green marble tops. On the tables place lamps of clear glass – maybe rock crystal – topped by shades of white silk. Your sofa can be upholstered in white linen and piped in white braid. Draperies can be a banana-leaf print in greens, yellows and lime greens on white linen. Use the same print on living-room club chairs as well, and add some flower colors to the sofa – pinks, yellows and lavenders.

I do love flowers – and for those of you who really love flowers as much as I do, let me recommend a new magazine on the newsstand simply called Flower Magazine. You can also find the information about this delightful publication at the Web site www.flowermag.com.

Flower magazine is one of the prettiest and most colorful publications I have seen in my career, and each issue offers great stories and information about what's coming up in the world flower-wise. In the current issue, there is an feature called "Flower Shop" that presents some artwork finds as well as pillow finds. And then there is a source for "pocketbooks of posies" – fancy flower purses by California designer Goody Goody.

From a decorator's point of view, I found much inspiration from a story about what Jeff Leatham does with flowers at the George V Hotel in Paris. You'll learn what flowers to float, what flowers to dunk, what flowers have "clean" stems and what flowers have strong stems.

Early last week, before my weekend in Palm Beach, I dined with friends at New York's famed restaurant La Grenouille, on 52nd Street. Flower Magazine brings you all the flower ideas of Charles Masson, proprietor of this super restaurant. Masson has actually been designing flower art, flower arrangements and food since his early childhood.

The magazine also has a section called "Flower Show" that shows pages of delightful arrangements – filled with arrangement ideas for everyone who enjoys the color, the texture and the fragrance of what makes life so colorful – new flowers.

For the woman with an eye to fashion and the latest styles, Flower Magazine will not be outdone by the competing volumes of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Pages in this new publication offer ideas that will certainly suit your fancy.

If you wish to create the natural world in miniature, readers will find lots of inspiration in an article by Katherine Cobbs titled "The Practice of Ikebana." The Japanese are so well trained in the use of plant materials as a medium to suggest the natural world. A simple arrangement of quince and ming fern in a low bowl signifies springtime. The camellia, incidentally, is one of the most popular materials for Ikebana.

Oh, what a great new magazine has arrived! My congratulations to Margot Shaw, the editor-in-chief, for creating one of America's most beautiful magazines. I shall save each issue for its beauty and content, just as I treasure each issue of Architectural Digest. Flower Magazine shows us how to bring a renewed spirit of color into the home.

Interior designer, author and columnist Carleton Varney is the president and owner of Dorothy Draper & Co. in New York City, the oldest established interior design firm in the United States. Varney's worldwide roster of clients includes many in Palm Beach. He welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. Send your decorating questions to Carleton Varney, c/o Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News, 265 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach 33480.