Kumquats come all by Julie Greco

Spent the afternoon this past Sunday with my best friend, shared the week’s news while walking around the city sipping our large coffees. Coffee is key my friends!!

Found ourselves at the local floral market admiring the vast variety of February fresh local flowers. Before I knew it, sitting in the corner of the shop were a bucket of freshly cut kumquat branches. The instant urge for vitamin D struck me and all of a sudden I could swear the kumquats were calling my name. It was a done deal, kumquats it was.

I knew I had to have them. I started creating designs as I was standing there in the market. I grabbed the kumquats and continued to peruse the isles. The children's classic "Stone Soup" by Ann McGovern came to mind.

The story was my inspiration. For those of you who aren’t familiar of the children’s story: it’s about a lady who created soup from a stone and a pot of boiling water. By the end of the story the lady has created a beautiful vegetable soup. The whole point of my entry was, just like the lady, I too was going to create something from nothing. Inspiration from a little old kumquat.

As I was piling my arms with beautiful Iris, Viburnum berries, Spray roses (which I like to call mini garden roses) and Italian Ruscus, I couldn't help but feel like the lady in the story(pretty sure it’s just one of those things you just had to be there for). To say the least, I got a wide variety of goodies at the market and it all started with that lonely little bunch of Kumquats and they were mine, all mine!!

Here’s what became of my market finds:

Florals  & Foliage used for this shoot (Mini Garden Roses a.k.a Sprays, Snap dragons, Casablanca Iris, Berzelia galpini, Wax flowers, Pittosporum variegated, Kumquat branches, Italian ruscus and Viburnum dentatum).

Jules XO