Flowers in the House

I don't grow a whole lot of flowers, or think about them much, or often buy them (although when I do, I love Calyx and Corolla's arrangements). Having anything to do with flowers feels so bourgeois that the word itself often embarrasses me. So I'll get around this by supporting local, organic, family farming: the flowers I'm plunking in vases around the house come from Taliaferro Farm in New Paltz.


Taliaferro is the only CSA I've ever belonged to that has a bucket full of scissors next to rows of flowers, and issues an open invitation to members to cut their own. What could be more convenient for someone trying to fill their house with sensory homeyness (although I have to admit, ours generally has homeyness to spare) without baking and having to do all those dishes?


I'm in love with this hearty trumpet-shaped flower that grows in white, pink, and purple. It doesn't rot quickly, continues to bloom in the vase, and arranges itself into exquisite gestures.


If you don't change the water daily, you risk a house that smells like marsh muck.


Farm flower sitting on my great-grandparents' farmhouse phone from Illinois: