Mixed Emotions
December 22, 2021
While I hate the coming of the first day of Winter, I do love what follows. Today marks the day of the year with the least amount of daylight…the Winter Solstice. Good news is that tomorrow will be another story. From this point on, each day will have an increased amount of daylight leading us directly to Spring. And, that my friends is worth celebrating. Tradition would have us festooning the place with evergreens, lighting candles in doors and building a roaring fire outdoors and gathering together to embrace hope within the darkness. A good idea once again while the newest Covid variant threatens to squash our holiday plans.
From the top:
A simple votive candle placed in a bubbled glass vase casts a magnified and magical glow.
If you are lucky enough to find my absolute favorites, white tulips, buy them. There is nothing else like them to draw our thoughts to Spring. White Fringed and Parrot varieties are particularly special.
I do not need an excuse like the Winter Solstice to stoke up a bonfire, but it doesn’t hurt.
You might take a modern turn at using a supermarket Poinsettia as a cut flower. White for the Solstice would be my choice. Photo: Gardenista
A hearty warming dish like this Farro Porcini Risotto Comes together quickly and would be a fitting addition to the celebration. I added a little shortcut to this already simple recipe from Martha Stewart, https://www.marthastewart.com/312975/farro-and-porcini-risotto, by using 1/2 jar of Trader Joe’s Pesto Alla Genovese with the parsley and toasted walnuts and an additional splash of olive oil.
Doing appropriate double duty, this white Helebore variety will play nicely with your other seasonal decorations before being planted outdoors to grace the garden with the season’s first blooms next year.
The perfect finish to any Winter gathering might just be a classic Brandy Stinger… equal parts Brandy and white Creme de Menthe. In this case, on the rocks. Cheers!
except where noted all photos: gp
Out of the Dark
December 20, 2017
And, slowly moving into the light. The Winter Solstice on December 21 marks the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight and the official start of Winter. A depressing thought to be sure until the realization hits that from this point forward we gain a bit of extra daylight each day until Spring. While the ancients celebrated by decking the halls in evergreens and building roaring fires, us moderns might go for a little candlelight and white flowers, a simple reminder of the Spring to come. White tulips of any variety are my favorites on this, my most favorite day of the year, but anything white will do. Forced Paperwhite bulbs or bracts of cut white Poinsettias displayed in simple glass vases will be welcome additions that will last right through Christmas.
Paperwhite and Ponsettia photos via https://www.gardenista.com/posts/poinsettias-rethinking-traditional-christmas-flower/
Top three photos: gp
Winter Garden
January 17, 2016
There is no better time than now to rethink the Winter garden. Keep the plan simple…implement it in the Spring…let it take root through the Summer and wait for the rewards come Fall and Winter. You might be inspired by the gardens of Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, with great drifts of native perennials and grasses, their varied color,texture and structure framed by clipped hedge rows or a distant borrowed vista. Maybe a simpler plan is more to your taste with the selection of a few species planted together in a sort of modern meadow. Simpler still, the work of San Franciscan landscape architect Scott Lewis might lead you to bold stokes of a single variety, neatly framed and punctuated with a mature specimen. The best part of this exercise is your reduced carbon footprint, time freed up this summer to spend doing anything but weeding and deadheading and a simplequietmodern new view through every window from October to the following March.
http://www.gardenista.com/posts/10-garden-ideas-to-steal-from-superstar-dutch-designer-piet-oudolf
A summer breeze…
June 26, 2015
a great view and a tall cool one. The only thing missing is a place to relax and take it all in. That’s exactly what Thomas Lee thought when he set out “planking” together what would come to be an icon of Summer while weekending in the Adirondacks in 1905. Many incarnations of this classic design have evolved over the last one hundred plus years, but none compare tho the elegant simplicity of the original. The Westport Chair…inviting you to kick off those flip-flops and sit a spell.
photos via Gardenista and Remodelista.
It goes without saying…
January 5, 2015
there’s gonna be cake.What celebration would be complete without it? And today, on the occasion of simplequietmodern completing its third year, this Walnut Variation, found on Food 52, seems to be the perfect combination of cake and dacquoise. A toast to you today as well…my readers, followers and friends…who take the time to stop by, get inspired, leave a comment and inspire me. I’m always surprised by what articles or photographs have been the most popular and favored by you each year. In 2014 it looks like you’ve surprised me again with black fences, quinoa kale and pear salad and baby Jaxon. So with a pop of the cork let’s see what year four has in store.
Walnut Variation: A Cake : photo and recipe via Food52 http://food52.com/recipes/28118-the-walnut-variation-a-cake
Black Fences photo: via Gardenista. revisit the post here:https://simplequietmodern.com/?s=black+fences
Quinoa , Kale and Pear Salad photo: gp Revisit the recipe here:https://simplequietmodern.com/?s=pear+and+quinoa+salad
baby Jaxon photo: gp
Mid-Summer at…
July 31, 2014
Gray Gardens. If you would have followed my lead you would be relaxing in a modern garden space that is surprisingly cooling in the heat of Mid-Summer. Anchored by the soft crunch of weed discouraging pea gravel or bluestone paving, the simplequietmodern plant selections play their shades and textures against the tight architectural placement to optimum effect. Not missing those geraniums now, are ya?
top to bottom: photo 1 & 2, Foras Studio via Gardenista…photo 3, GP…last photo, Deborah Nevins via Gardenista
Black Fences
March 31, 2014
If “good fences make good neighbors” * what would Robert Frost have written about black fences? Chic neighbors? There is no denying the sophisticated good looks of these black fences or how they elevate the green elements around them to a new level entirely. Picture them running down a property with their long horzontal lines… can you see the forced perspective? Even the simple picket has more appeal when given a modern facelift of a beefier profile and black finish. With an injection of a little drama like this you might even be able to skip using color at all in your garden this year. Just a thought.
photos via http://www.gardenista.com/posts/trend-alert-black-fences
* “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
Take a deep breath.
April 7, 2013
You can smell it. Spring …the Earth waking up.Time for a big stretch and to clear out Winter’s congestion…first in your environment which will precipitate a release of your physical congestion. It’s time for some fresh air…a fresh approach…a fresh project…a fresh outlook.
Photo above by Theodora Wayte via Gardenista
Purl Soho’s modern knit blanket in white…photo by Purl http://www.purlbee.com/bulky-knitt-pixie-dust-blanket/
Donghia Textiles Espadrille stripehttp://www.donghia.com/collections/textiles
What’s new at Brentano Fabrics…Tempo http://www.brentanofabrics.com/whatsnew/nw_201302.aspx
Leaves scan thanks to Anat Rodan at http://anatrodanblog.blogspot.com/
Brentano Fabrics Wool Epingle http://www.brentanofabrics.com/fabrics/
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