Ep. 463: Flowering Outdoors with Margot Shaw

Summary

Podcast Summary: How to Decorate – Ep. 463: Flowering Outdoors with Margot Shaw

Ballard Designs | Released April 28, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this vibrant, spring-ready episode of How to Decorate, hosts Caroline, Liz, and Taryn welcome back the much-loved Margot Shaw, author, entertaining expert, and founder/editor-in-chief of Flower magazine. Margot introduces her new book, "Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties," and dives deep into the art of cultivating beautiful outdoor spaces and gracious gatherings. The discussion flows from iconic garden projects to practical entertaining tips, all filtered through Margot's approachable, inspiration-rich philosophy.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction & Book Background

• Margot Shaw returns to the podcast to discuss her latest book, "Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties," a follow-up to her bestseller, "Living Floral" ([00:49–01:44]).
• The new book shifts focus to outdoor entertaining and garden design, showcasing real-life gardens and parties, with a blend of attainable advice and “stretch goals.”

Iconic Gardens & Notable Projects

• Grey Gardens is highlighted as one of Margot’s favorites for its rich history and layered restoration. The home’s preservation and evolving design, particularly under Liz Lange’s ownership, reflect a reverence for its legacy and personalities like Edie and Little Edie ([03:22–06:28]).
  • "It's a living monument to the Beales, but also Sally Quinn and Ben Bradley, who bought it and really saved it..." — Margot Shaw [04:29]
• International and regional diversity: The book features gardens from California to England—including Francis Schultz’s California ranch and India Hicks’s family estate in England ([18:10–21:32]).
  • Special attention is paid to David Hicks’s garden: "[He] did not want any flower. So this is like the one chapter in Flowering Outdoors that's... flowered in a different way." — Margot Shaw [20:54]

Curation Process

• Discusses the challenge of deciding which projects move from magazine to book, focusing on outdoor spaces and integrating new content ([06:59–07:45]).
• Emphasis on gathering expert tips: "We're getting a lot of... stuff that you don't get, you know, if you don't have access to these artists and creatives and gardeners and designers." — Margot Shaw [07:45]

Entertaining Philosophy & Practical Tips

• Tabletop design is celebrated, as is the use of place cards for easing guest anxiety ([08:02–09:41]).
  • "If I go to a party and there are no place cards... I slip out to the powder room... By the time I get back, everybody's seated and there's an empty spot and it's mine." — Margot Shaw [10:09]
• The age-old question: Should spouses sit together at dinner parties?
  • Margot separates them: "I love my husband... but I see him all the time. I don't want to sit next to him at a dinner party." [11:44]
  • Flexibility is advised for new acquaintances ("This is America. You can do whatever you want." [12:23])
• Tablecloths as a design anchor: "It's just that ingredient that... you can start your party with your tablecloth and then work from there. And you don't need to do much." — Margot Shaw [49:37]

Creating Beautiful Gardens: Elements & Accessibility

• Key garden design principles: scale, proportion, focal points, seating, comfort, and beauty—not perfection ([13:47–15:31]).
  • Margot underscores inviting, manageable gardens over showpieces: "A garden doesn’t have to be elaborate. I want it to be inviting. ...Better if it’s not, you know." [15:19]
• Defining 'gardener' and embracing enthusiasm at all levels: "If you are digging in the dirt, you're a gardener." — Margot Shaw [17:45]

Architectural Elements & Planters

• Strategic use of planters and garden structures for impact and repetition ([22:00–23:52]).
  • "They are as important as what you put in them." — Margot Shaw [22:46]
• Starting garden or room design from a single, beloved object or feature (e.g., a blue temple door or a favorite planter) [24:15–25:20].

Garden Styles & Hosted Parties

• Contrasts structured “party gardens” with wild, rambling spaces (e.g., Andrew Grossman’s “ballet dance” garden) ([33:56–36:41]).
  • On repetition in plantings: "Pick your color palette and plant them in large groupings... For impact." [35:49]
  • Less variety can make maintenance simpler and visual impact stronger ([36:19–38:07]).
• Unique entertaining spaces: Texas courtyard designed to feel like a living room, showing how outdoor rooms can be furnished and styled as inviting extensions of the home ([31:21–33:42]).

Entertaining Touches & Personal Style

• Embracing informal, personal, and resourceful approaches to parties ("People aren't coming to your house for a photo shoot. They're coming... for you." [40:43]).
• Rehabilitating carnations as chic, affordable, and durable flowers for arrangements and tree decorations ([43:07–43:41]).
  • "Carnations are chic. Look at you." — Margot Shaw [43:41]
• Flexibility and using what’s available (potted herbs as arrangements, borrowing china or tablecloths from friends, mixing inherited and new pieces for storytelling at the table) ([47:11–52:44]).

The Flower Magazine Show House

• Recap of the Nashville 2025 show house: Focus on beauty, variety, and individual designer expression ([53:05–59:45]).
  • "It's all in who you invite to participate... There's a sense of beauty that pervades this house." — Margot Shaw [54:41]
• Plans teased for the next show house in Virginia, with a fresh new format ([60:19–60:55]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A garden is like any interior project. You need the same elements: scale, proportion, composition, interest, detail, focal points, places to sit...” — Margot Shaw [13:47]
• "I am not a gardener. My husband gardens. ...I love to promote beauty and beautiful gardens... Lean into your strengths." — Margot Shaw [16:06]
• “You can start a room or a garden with a color or a shrub or a planter that you love.” — Margot Shaw [24:15]
• “People aren't coming to your house for a photo shoot... A house and a party is really a portrait of the host.” — Margot Shaw [40:43]
• On improvisation and authenticity: "We share china... We have tables that stay at one person’s house... We don't live like the Vanderbilts. And we're happy." [50:10]
• "Be you. In your garden, in your party, in your flowering, in your home." — Margot Shaw [51:06]
• "Beauty matters to me so much." — Margot Shaw [14:39, 54:41]

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:49] — Margot’s introduction and new book discussion
• [03:22] — Discussion of Grey Gardens as a case study
• [13:47] — Designing and ornamenting a beautiful garden
• [17:45] — Defining what makes someone a gardener
• [20:54] — David & India Hicks’s flowerless English garden
• [22:46] — Architecture and repetition in gardens and planters
• [31:21] — Standout Texas party courtyard project
• [35:49] — Impact of repetition in garden design
• [40:43] — Entertaining: focus on personality over perfection
• [43:07] — The case for carnations
• [49:37] — Tablecloths as party foundations
• [53:05] — Flower Magazine Show House highlights & philosophy
• [60:19] — Teaser for the next show house

---

The Takeaway

This episode overflows with both inspirational and practical takeaways for aspiring hosts and gardeners: Celebrate personal style; seek beauty but keep it inviting; share resources; use what you have; let repetition and thoughtful curation form the backbone of your garden (and party). Margot Shaw’s new book, “Flowering Outdoors,” is about opening doors—literal and creative—to a life blossoming with joy, hospitality, and authenticity.

---

Book Available Now:
"Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties" by Margot Shaw [61:09–61:26]

For more inspiration and resources, visit Ballard Designs’ How to Decorate blog and check out the March/April issue of Flower magazine for full coverage of the Nashville Show House.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to how to Decorate from Ballard Designs, a weekly podcast all about the trials and triumphs of decorating and redecorating your home. I'm Caroline. I'm on the marketing team. And I'm Taryn and I'm a product designer.

[B]

I'm Liz. I head of the creative team.

[A]

We're your hosts. Join the expert team at Ballard Designs for tips, tricks and tales from interior designers, stylists, and other talents in the design world. Plus, we'll answer your decorating dilemmas at the end of each episode.

[B]

We love answering your questions, so don't forget to email [e-mail] now, on with the show.

[C]

Morning decisions. How about a creamy mocha Frappuccino drink? Or sweet vanilla smooth caramel maybe? Or white chocolate mocha? Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

[A]

Today we have one of our favorite guests back here on the podcast. She's been on twice before. You know and love her. She is an author, she is a garden enthusiast and entertaining expert, and she is the founder and editor in chief of Flower magazine, Ms. Margot Shaw. Margo, you have a new book, so we're here to talk about it. Flowering Outdoors, gardens and parties. You've had a previous book, Living Floral, which I know is a bestseller, so we're thrilled to have you back to get to preview the new book and share it with our audience.

[C]

I am thrilled to be had back and share it with your audience. I love this podcast. It is maybe my favorite podcast I have ever do and I'm not sucking

[A]

it,

[C]

but no, it's just so much fun. And when it's over, I'm like, oh, do I have to leave?

[A]

Well, would you come back anytime? We'd love to have you.

[C]

Well, thank you for inviting me this time to promote the new book.

[A]

Yes. Liz and I got to read it and it really just coupled with the gorgeous 70 degree day that we're having right now, it really put me in the mood for spring. Yeah, I was already texting my husband. I told you this before. We were recording that. I was like, oh, we need to do this, this and this. I can't wait. I was thinking maybe I need to host my book club. I don't know. All of the pictures and stories in the book of fabulous parties entertaining. There were great tips from things that were easy to accomplish and maybe things that were a little bit of a, you know, aspirational. Yeah.

[B]

Hey, we all have stretch goals.

[A]

Yes, stretch goals.

[C]

Good.

[A]

Really put Me in the awesome stretch goals.

[C]

That's a great term. Okay.

[A]

And Liz, I know you enjoyed it too, so it's exciting to get to chat with you about it and pick your brain.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

This book is so chock full of tips for entertaining and exemplary gardens, like the most beautiful gardens and inspiring gardens, especially as things are just about to bloom here in Atlanta. We've got daffodils that I picked from my yard.

[C]

Thank you for bringing those in. I know the harbinger of spring.

[B]

Well, we couldn't have the editor of Flower magazine here without fresh flowers.

[C]

You could.

[B]

We could, but wouldn't be remembering.

[C]

It's much fun.

[B]

So tell me, what were some of the projects that really kind of stand out to you when you think about the book?

[C]

Gosh, good question. I have, you know, favorites in different parts of the world and favorites in different parts of the book. So it's a tough question, but, you know, I just have to say they're all my children. But one of my favorites would have to be Greg Gardens.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

Can I get an amen?

[B]

Oh, my gosh.

[C]

I'm feeling the I even just agreement

[A]

name like evokes visions in your and

[B]

it is such a historical and storied location. If anybody has not seen great gardens, we're not friends yet. So go watch it. And then we're going to be best friends. Then we can talk and then we can talk because Edie and little Edie, like their spirits just live on and on and on. And just to see how Liz Lang took that home and revived it and brought new life and new grandeur to it is just so amazing.

[C]

It's a living monument to the Beales, but also Sally Quinn and Ben Bradley, who bought it and really saved it, you know, Washington Post, they really. They saved it, they rescued it and they restored it to an extent. But it was always sort of a summer, you know, just sort of that more informal, not decorated mode that a certain generation and a certain type of person would have. They wouldn't get all caught up in, you know, bright colors and, you know, it was just some wicker intense. And from what Liz has taught and pretty and she loved it. She rented it and that's how she found out when it sold or was for sale. So she was queued up to, you know, buy it. And she wanted. She had such an affinity for the Beales and their initial life. And so she hired some great architects, Boris and Sheeran and Mark Sykes and Jonathan Adler helped her with the decor. But. But I love things like, she had a round. She has a round pool that she built because as a youngster in la, she remembered going to Bob Evans, the director's house, and seeing this dramatic circular pool and thinking, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. I must have one someday. And she does, you know, those kinds of touches that just make it really, really interesting and referential. You know, not just a pretty house.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You know, it's Liz's house, but it's also Sally's house. It's also Edie and Big Edie's. You know, it has. She's kept the spirit of the Beals alive in there. Some of the wildness.

[A]

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Just without the raccoons.

[C]

No, I don't even think Liz has a cat. But anyway.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What.

[A]

You know, you have beautiful gardens and outdoor spaces and. And, of course, indoor spaces, but in every single issue. So what sort of makes you think, okay, well, this needs to go into the book versus. I mean, because any of these projects could also be in the book or in the. In the issues as well.

[C]

Yeah, good question as well, because I think that's one of the things that makes us doing a book of simpler prospect because we have existing content and we, you know, we looked through to see because Living Floral was entertaining and decorating, primarily interior, we wanted this to be more outdoor. So that narrowed the scope. We started looking at gardens and garden parties, and that's what's in the book. And then some new things that we produced. So it's a little bit of everything, but always with that sidebar from the experts of their personal pro tips, which I love.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And then we're getting a lot of, you know, just stuff that you don't get, you know, if you don't have access to these artists and creatives and gardeners and designers. So they've just let us peek behind the curtain.

[A]

Yeah, I, you know, I am a, like, table. I love a tabletop. I love a beautifully set table. And there was just so much in here. I have. I felt like this would be my. If I was going to host a dinner party, this would be my first choice. This is the go to yes to. Okay, what can I draw an inspiration from? Just so many pretty, like, napkins and table centerpieces and.

[B]

And never forget your place cards.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Or your menu.

[C]

You know, it's interesting. I was just on a cruise, which I had never been on, and we were with 12 couples. And every night we would go into the restaurant. We had these tables reserved, but we didn't have place cards. And it was fun, and it was a fabulous trip, don't get me wrong. But I would have had place cards even for that. Even on a ship, you know, because some of us ended up sitting next to the same people a couple of times. And we love those people, but it's just, you know, to have that thoughtful sort of, let's see who we want to sit next to who. And be sometimes random and sometimes thoughtful. But it just makes everybody feel comfortable when they know they're assigned a seat.

[A]

There's always a moment of panic. I find anytime you're hosting, where if someone. Or if you're a guest, where you go and you. And you are, okay, where do I sit? And the seat that you have for a dinner party or even just going to a restaurant feels so important to the. It is the time you're gonna have.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

So I always feel like it's just so much pressure.

[C]

Do you want a pro tip about that?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Okay, here. This is really divulging my strange motives and behavior. But if I go to a party and there are no place cards, do you make them? Yes. I run to my car. No, no, no. I slip out to the powder room.

[A]

Oh, great idea. Oh.

[C]

So then you wait, and then I take my time, and by the time I get back, everybody's seated and there's an empty spot and it's mine.

[A]

Love that idea. Oh, I'm doing that.

[C]

You can use that. You don't have to cry anything.

[A]

I hate to be the first one to sit down.

[C]

I'm never the first one. But if there's. If there's not an assigned seat, then I love to do that. And odds are it's. You know, I need to go anyway, so.

[A]

My gosh, I'm trying that because. Yeah, I.

[B]

No, that's brilliant.

[A]

You don't know if everyone's gonna sit,

[C]

then you don't wanna go first.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. I always get this, like, junior high feeling of, like, oh, my gosh, who am I gonna have lunch with and what table am I gonna sit at?

[C]

But I always say, no one wants

[B]

to sit with me.

[C]

We all wanna sit with you both. I love the randomness of being absent and then slipping in and going, oh, there's a place. Okay, you know, of just, like. And it's really a way to abdicate any kind of choice or worrying that nobody wants to sit by. You

[B]

see, I'm always more concerned that, like, there's a good conversation going on at the Other end of the table.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes. And I'm not a part of it,

[B]

and I'm not a part of that.

[C]

Yeah. I want to be part of that. And oftentimes it's where my husband is, and they always separate us. And I'm like, huh, okay.

[A]

Do you. When you're setting a table, do you separate spouses?

[C]

I do.

[A]

You do. Okay.

[C]

Every time?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How far apart? Like, opposite ends or just.

[C]

No, just not next to each other.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

You know, I just think it's more interesting and it's more fun. Yeah. You know, it's more fun. I love my husband, and I love to go to parties with him, but I see him all the time. I don't want to sit next to him at a dinner party.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm not insecure in that way.

[A]

What if the couples may not know one another?

[C]

The couples may. I still think it's okay to separate. Yeah.

[A]

Sometimes I worry that if they're only just meeting for the first time, the other couples, then they may want their partner just sort of as a, you know, security blanket. Security blanket. So sometimes I keep them together, but.

[C]

And you know what? This is America. You can do whatever you want. I mean, free. You just go ahead and seat those couples together, that is.

[A]

But it's a good point. You see your. Your spouse and your partner all the time. May as well.

[C]

And it depends, you know, I mean, what are you after with your dinner party or your luncheon or whatever? Do you want people to meet each other? Are you trying to kind of network, make connections? Then definitely separate. But if not, I mean, just whatever you want.

[A]

Honestly, my table is not that big where there's really only so many comp. Like maybe two, so it's probably not

[C]

an issue, but sweet of you to think of it. No, really, it's considerate. Okay.

[A]

Yes, I. There were. There were so many beautiful parties. But I also really loved at the end of the book that the focus on creating a beautiful garden, because obviously, there's a lot that goes into maintaining and planting, but there are also some common themes that you've highlighted in terms of ornamentation, architecture, and I loved going through those because it was a great reminder, like, almost like a little checklist. Oh, okay. I need some. Some great planters are important.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So walk our audience through the end of that. The. The back half of the book and sort of what the thought process was there.

[C]

Well, the thought process for me was I'm not a gardener. My husband gardens, and I studied design and art history, and then Discovered flower arranging and event design and things like that, and the art form that. That is so. But a garden is like any interior project. You need the same elements. Scale, proportion, composition, interest, detail, focal points, places to sit, places to lie down, places, you know, to have a picnic, places to put your drink, you know, if you wanna live outdoors, if you wanna have a beautiful, flowering outdoor life, then it needs to be comfortable and pretty. I was on this other podcast, Sorry. And the guy said. He was talking about our show house in Nashville, and he said it was just pretty. And he said, I've always said pretty plus pretty equals pretty. And that's what y' all did. Everything. And I was like, I'm so glad to hear that. Because beauty matters to me so much. So a garden doesn't have to be elaborate. I want it to be inviting. I know the house you used to live in was so soft and cottagey and sort of a Craftsman situation, but with trellises of antique roses and big blousy hydrangeas. And I love that. Doesn't have to be perfect. Better if it's not, you know, and so. And I'm that way about interiors as well. I don't want em to be overwrought. I don't want a garden to be overwrought so that you don't even wanna put your toe in it.

[A]

Right.

[C]

So that's kind of my philosophy. And my husband's the gardener, so I just cut what he grows and arrange it. And it's a wonderful relationship in that way.

[A]

Yeah, there's. There was a section about sculpture too, that I. You know, there's so many. I think. I think it's easy. I'm not a gardener either, so I. But I admire them and I aspire to be, but I'm not gonna be out there doing all the many tasks. And I wish I. Maybe one day. Maybe I'll get there one day.

[C]

We know we all have different gifts, you know, we really do. I got over the fact that I wasn't a gardener pretty quick, you know, especially with this magazine, because, you know, everybody assumes I'm a gardener. I am so not a gardener. And I'm okay with that. I love to promote beauty and beautiful gardens and gardening and Great Gard. I am happy to do that. That is my joy. And so, you know, lean into your strengths.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

But where's the line between a gardener and an enthusiast? Like, I'll put things in the ground, but does that make me a gardener? Or is it.

[C]

Are you gardening?

[B]

Well, not right now, no, but I dream of it.

[C]

Difference in a garden designer and a gardener. And you can call yourself anything you want, but then if you try to enlist clients, you best have some letters after your name or a lot of experience or whatever. But for your personal use, if you are digging in the dirt, you're a gardener.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Oh, yeah, all right.

[B]

I've got people.

[A]

Gardener is like, you know, there are certain people who. Their hobby, their free time, they want to be out pruning and digging and.

[C]

Yes, yes, that's a legit gardener.

[A]

That is.

[C]

But I mean, if you like it, then call yourself whatever you want. But I'm just saying, if you like it, if you take joy in digging in the dirt and arranging and doing a border and, you know, or even a container garden, whatever, you're a gardener. I mean. Thanks, Margo.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yes, I dub thee a gardening.

[A]

You mentioned gray gardens, but they're also a couple of. There are a couple of international projects. So talk to us about sort of the geographics of the book, because obviously, flowers based in Birmingham, there's some southeastern gardens. There's a lot in the northeast, and then some abroad. California. Yeah.

[C]

Francis Schultz's garden in California, which is. Anyway, she's this wonderful entertainer and gardener and arranger.

[A]

So I loved her book, the Bee Cottage.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[A]

Such a.

[C]

She's got great taste, great style, and one of my favorite people. I just will take a trip out west with her in a car.

[A]

Hi, listeners. If this episode has inspired you to tackle a project in your own home, remember, we want to help with a special offer just for podcast fans. We know how exciting it is to bring your vision to life. Whether you're updating a room or starting a refresh, you'll find everything you need to create a space that feels uniquely yours. As a thank you for listening, enjoy. 20% off plus free shipping on your next order with the code PODCAST20. Visit Ballardesigns.com to get started. Your dream home is just a click away. Use podcast 20 for 20% off plus free shipping codes not combinable with other offers. See terms and conditions for details. All right, happy decorating. Let's get back to the show.

[C]

She's just really, really fun. So talented, and so this was actually her return engagement in one of my books. She was in Living Floral as well. Bee Cottage was in Living Floral. This is the ranch out west. So that was fun. But I think one of the international projects that I just was so grateful to include and to have access to was India Hicks and her Father David's garden in England. And we actually were able to secure the services of Clive Nichols, who is a world renowned garden photographer. So you have this iconic photographer, but also interior designer in David Hicks, and then his daughter India, who has the most incredible style and vision and also heart. She's a major international philanthropist. So to be able to highlight her life in that garden was just really, really special for me. Friends with India, she's. She's a really cool girl. You know, she's just that she's. She has a heart as big as all outdoors. And then to hear her talking about her father in that garden and her life in that garden was just really special.

[A]

Yeah, well, you know, the English cottage and sort of English gardens has such a. You can perfectly envision that. Right. And so I love actually that.

[C]

I don't know if you've gotten to that chapter, but David Hicks did not want any flower. So this is like the one chapter in Flowering Outdoors is like, well, we flowered it with pleached hornbeams. You know, we flowered it with a row of terracotta pots and shrubs. We flowered it in a different way, you know, so we look at the term flower as verb. Not always blooms everywhere. So this was. That was an interesting project for us, for the book.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Now that's a great way to think of that too, because we're kind of always talking about decorating your outdoors with the same principles that you use indoors and kind of adding collections of flower pots. It seems like the perfect way to create a focal point, you know, especially if you don't have things blooming or you don't have a grand sculpture to draw people's eye across or repetition.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

There was one project, and now I can't remember what it was, but someone had sort of a terrace and they had these trees in these white sort of lotus pots. And there probably were 15 of them. And I was thinking, to your point, the. I always think about buying lamps as you have to buy two. Right. Never buy one because you might. You could separate them, but you might want to put them and create a more focus. And that's sort of the same. Maybe you take the same approach with planters. Like, you should always buy at least two, maybe more, and you can kind of create more. More architecture.

[B]

Right.

[A]

With the planter, where. I don't usually think of planners as architectural, but they are. They are. Yeah. And they certainly. You certainly demonstrate that in the book.

[C]

Good. I'm so glad. Well, they really are. And they are as important as what you put in them.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I think about this book, per se, where there's all kinds of different planners. And, you know, it's just personal taste. It really is. And you can have modern containers in a really kind of classical English cottage garden. And it can work, you know. Yeah. You just have to do what you like. I think it's important to do what you like, not what somebody else likes.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So I'm trying to find this. These planners. I'm going to find it while you ask, was it.

[B]

No, you're totally great. I'm. I'm totally.

[C]

That's Greg.

[B]

Or.

[C]

Yeah, those are Indian. She had those commissioned.

[A]

They're so amazing.

[C]

Aren't they incredible?

[A]

They're so pretty and just, you know, there's something so sculptural about it, even though it's all greenery, because of the. Just row of hedges, the row of hydrangeas, the.

[B]

And then they alternate with those little round boxwoods.

[A]

I mean, it just is really striking.

[C]

I loved it. I'm just carried away with. Deborah Nevins was her landscape architect, and she did a beautiful job there. And she. Actually, that whole part of the garden was inspired by a blue door gate, like a sort of temple door that they found in India, I think. And so, you know, when you have a point of departure, whether it's in the garden or in the house, it's just so fun and personal to. I love that door. And then build an entire garden room around it. Thematically, visually, you know, color wise, in every way. It's just fun. And it gives you a starting point. Like when I was in Design School 50 years ago, but you. You learned to start a room on the floor, you know, but that was when everybody had Persian, you know, rugs and Orientals, and. And so you just assumed that's where you were going to start. But now you can start a room or a garden with a color or a shrub or a container. A container. A planter that you love. A Chinese Chippendale planter. Yeah, yeah. That can inform your entire plant selection. Yeah, everything. It's just fun. Just have fun.

[B]

Yeah. And then it really celebrates that thing that you love and makes your heart skip a beat. That's great.

[C]

Yes. And it recaps the theme if you, you know, so you can. I just love hearing your feedback on the book. Cause it sounds like y' all are getting it, so. Thank you.

[A]

Okay, let's talk about your garden. Cause you talk about your husband being the gardener, but I imagine you had, you know, requests or Input on the design. And I was curious because, you know, there's a lot of discussion in here about the way they're executed. Do you put your garden together in a sort of, I'm going to do this space and then I'm going to do this space? Or did you do a master plan and sort of think through it holistically? What was sort of your approach?

[C]

You're just not really believing that I'm not a gardener, are you?

[A]

But you did. Certainly. But you've got outdoor spaces. Yes. All right.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I don't mean, like, just the beds, but the programming, shall we say?

[C]

So I wanted something. We've been in that house 32 years, and it has shape shifted over the years, but it's a cottage, and it's a cottage garden. It's a sort of woodland, loose, informal garden. The rooms are loose, the rooms are inviting, and the be. I just like for beds to make sense. I like for you to be able to see things in a bed. And so I have sort of said, move that over to the right, honey. But that's really, you know, plant selection and things like that. Gates is the one who does all the research on that to figure out what's going to grow where. And so we've used a lot of natives. And we have camellias, which are the state flower. We have them, and they bloom well. We have sasanquas that bloom in late August and through September and October. Then we have japonicas that are blooming now.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

You know, so it's. We. And then we have some gardenias, which I can't wait for those. But, you know, we just. We have a lot of evergreen. We have a lot of. We have boxwoods that were there when we bought the house, marching across the front, and I love those. And he wants to rip them up. And that's where I have some influence. I'm like, absolutely not.

[A]

But what about, like, you know. Yeah, the outdoor spaces, paths, and there's so much to the gardens. That's not just the plant matter, you know.

[C]

Yeah. Well, the way that you navigate the space, our. Are you talking about men?

[A]

Our personal. Yeah, you're.

[C]

Ours is very much. You just. It's approachable. You walk into a space and you're not covered up, but you're enveloped. We have a gazebo that Gates bought from a place called Elegant Earth and installed it on Christmas Eve. And I woke up Christmas morning, and there it was.

[A]

Wow. But so how did y' all go about planning it, though? Has it Was it sort of. Did it sort of happen? Like, okay, we're going to do these beds and then later we're going to do these? Or did you just.

[C]

I can't remember. It's been 30 years. No. Well, I will say, like, our house, it doesn't have a master plan.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Okay. We have invited a couple of garden designers and landscape architects into the story. And so you have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But it's really my husband. It's his love. He grew up on the lane where we live, and his mother was a master gardener. And Birmingham, I don't know if you know this, but we have two GCA clubs. We're all flowers all the time. All gardens all the time in Birmingham. And so Gates grew up with that. And so he and I did not. My mother knew who to call. So, you know, just as important. So important to have that in your toolbox. But Gates's mother was a big gardener, and so he was around that, and he absorbed all that. And I will come along and say, like I did when we first got there, the garden was done, and so we began to soften it.

[A]

Okay, okay.

[C]

Okay. I put in a cutting bed. Not really a cutting bed. A border around the fence. We had a wrought iron fence around the pool. And I put in a border to soften it. And then I just went, okay, it's yours. Everything's yours. And then I'm like, we need some big olive jars in the corners of the pool. This lady Banksha, you know, the vines are obscuring everything. Let's cut that back. And let's put some beautiful penuria newman planters on those columns. You know, let's do a triage across the top so that we don't see our neighbors but in their pool. You know, that kind of thing. I mean, it's four acres, but we still have neighbors right there. So it's just about, how do you live? How do you want to live? It's pretty. It's not a show garden by any means. And that's not who we are. And there's nothing wrong with a show garden. It's great, but that's just not who we are.

[A]

Yeah, so you sort of have been adding or subtracting as the. Just like the house, as the need

[C]

arrives, as the mood strikes, and what's in bloom and what's looking pretty this year and what. You know. So we are going to have some firelight hydrangeas because that was our flower of the year. So we're going to have some of those. So. Just ever growing, ever changing, you know, we are not rigid, I'll say that. And I think it helps.

[A]

One of my favorite projects was talking. You were talking about the pools and enjoying the outdoor spaces was the one in Texas where she had this one where she took the. She built a courtyard on the front of her house and sort of redid the. The wall.

[C]

Yeah. Courtney. A lot.

[A]

And I just loved how furnished and decorated and fun that space is because it looks like a living room. I mean, it is. It. It actually looks like some Ballard sofas that she reupholstered. I don't know if it is.

[C]

She probably did. I don't know that we called those out.

[A]

But anyway, it almost is like an indoor sofa that she had done in a fabric.

[C]

A form of fabric. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And it just. It. Gosh, it looks like it should be like, you want to have a party there.

[C]

Well, I think she does.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, she really entertains a lot, and she's a designer, but she's also, you know, she just has this space that she decided we're going to use this space, and she kind of wrangled it into submission, and then she just. I love what she did. I don't live like that, but she does. And the bocce ball court and the, you know, just the interesting elements that make it hers. You know, you're indoors, but you're outdoors, and so there's this beautiful light. And so the colors are really vibrant, though they're partially indoors. And she's threaded that needle really well, I think. And that's one of the reasons we included that project, because to me, it's the best of that style and that mode of just fusing the indoors with the outdoors, marrying the tubes, just the

[A]

patterns and the trims.

[C]

I mean, it's not too much. Yeah, it's very, very fresh and crisp.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And inviting. But. But also it. It's just. Everything she's done is pretty thoughtful. As you read the chapter, you will see that. But, yeah, we love that.

[A]

It was just a really fun one and something that I was so, you know, just. You get transported, I think.

[C]

I love that you have spent so much time with the book. Thank you.

[A]

What about you, Liz? What were some of your favorites, other than Gray Gardens?

[B]

Okay. Well, there is Adam Grossman or Andrew Grossman's the Ballet Dance.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes. And it is such a. A wild and free garden, but then with such elements of structure, like the little. The checkerboard between the isn't that fun. Yeah. So it's pavers mixed with, like, kind of grass. Grasses, tall grasses, and that kind of setting the stage for all of these kind of wildflowers happening. That's kind of my dream space.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. But that's one of the things that it's so remarkable about this book is that there are the very structured and clean, inviting party spaces, and then the wild and woolly, like, get lost secret garden type spaces. And each one of them is so inviting and then just ready to entertain.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love it.

[C]

Thank you. I'm so glad you enjoyed that. And that that particular garden, to me, is so interesting that he was a ballet dancer, because it is a dance, you know, it's so beautifully choreographed. It is just this rhythmic flow of ordered and then wild, like you said. But it's not chaotic.

[B]

But it's not chaotic. And I think one of the things that he says in there is to limit the variety of plants that you

[C]

have in your garden.

[B]

And.

[C]

And hard.

[B]

You wouldn't think about that. It's hard for people looking at this garden because it is so. I mean, it's unbound. It is not constrained it. But he says to limit the varieties. Pick your color palette and plant them in large groupings.

[C]

Yeah. For impact. Yeah.

[A]

Repetition is something that you becomes so dramatic, and it creates that drama. But I feel like in gardening, you kind of think about variety, whereas to your point, the repetition really makes it impactful.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, you're trying to wrangle the big open space. Right. And so you have to have a big open space, but you want an anchor. Yeah. Big, big pieces.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Also, I would. I would imagine. Okay, I'm not the gardener, but I would imagine that it would make maintenance easier. No. Like, if you have sort of fewer but more of the same thing where. Okay, sure. I've got 10, you know, or six plants.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So they need, you know, all of the hydrangeas. I fertilize at the same time, and I prune at the same time. So that way I can sort of.

[C]

It is easier.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Unless you have a staff of thousands. Sure. You know, it's just. I mean, it's. So you want to be practical and you learn, you know, like, that border that I planted all those years ago, it's gone. It's gone. We just have a vista now, you see, through to the pool with the olive jars and the triage and all that, because I couldn't keep it up because there were so many different types of plants, and I just couldn't and, you know, summer, I was trying to be all fancy and get some growing this time of year and some growing that time of year, which is, to a real gardener, that's not fancy. That's just what they do. It didn't work for me. But yes, repetition. If you look at Michael Devine's garden in Virginia, in there, he has those Chinese export porcelain temple jars along the walls as well. And then I think one of the gardens, there are terracotta pots just going up steps with the same geraniums in them, you know, and that's not fancy. That's not elaborate. It's so impactful and it's easy, you know, because we know those geraniums are in the sun. They're gonna prosper and you don't have to do anything. And there you're on the Michael Devine page with the temple jars.

[A]

I mean, I love that.

[C]

I don't know how those temple jars did in a hurricane or tornado. I don't know. Or maybe he brings them ins. We didn't ask that. But for the photo shoot and for the garden in the two terrors, the little wooden two terrors, I mean, just little sculptures, little moments in the garden. Really fun.

[B]

And for our listeners, I think we need to describe this a little bit because these giant chinoiserie jars, ginger jars, are plucked and placed into bushes along with, you know, along with maybe some crepe myrtle trees and ivy. And it's just.

[A]

Yeah, and it's a real surprising moment. Right, because it's not. It's not something.

[C]

It's unexpected. It's unexpected. Yeah. And Michael is a wonderful designer of china and fabrics and wall coverings. And then his partner, Thomas Burak, is a designer who was a creative director at Schumacher for a year. I mean, you know, so you've got some great taste, some great experience melding together into this orange Virginia house and garden. It's really quite special.

[A]

Okay. You are an entertaining expert. You love to. You. You know, I didn't say that. Editor of magazine.

[C]

I didn't say that.

[A]

In which entertaining is a core theme. Was there anything while you were putting the book together that you revisited, you know, in terms of tips or approaches that you thought, oh, wow, I like, forgot about that, or I love that I need to, you know, remember. I'd forgotten.

[C]

Gosh, you know, it's interesting because there are rules for entertaining, and I have some personal things, but I really liked just seeing what everybody else was up to. For a photo shoot, you're always going to have things Perfect, pretty much. I don't entertain that way.

[A]

Okay, what do you do?

[C]

And that's really what came to the fore for me as I edited and curated the collection of parties and outdoor al fresco parties that we had to pick from. Was that, gosh, these don't look like my parties. And not that I love how my parties look. I really do. And so, you know, it was just like, it's personal.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

That's the thing to remember is people aren't coming to your house for a photo shoot.

[A]

Right.

[C]

They're coming to your house for you and to see other people and to get to know you. You know, a house and a party is really a portrait of the host. That's what it is. And it's a gift to the guests. So what do I want to give? What do I want them to know about me? Well, they can see everything in my house because it's not fancy. It's a little hodgepodge. I just painted my kitchen floors in a diamond pattern, which was on the January, February issue of Flower, the pink and cream diamonds. That's my kitchen floor. Wild, you know, and so not elegant. Fun, you know, and not perfect. The floorboards, the hardwood is cracking already. You know, it's old. I didn't want to replace it. I just wanted to paint over it. And I had been at Bunny Mellon's house in Oak Spring in Virginia, and almost all her floors downstairs are painted. They're worn, you know, they're not lipstick pink like mine. They're gray and cream or blue and cream. But I just took that away, and I was like, I want a little vestige of Bunny in my house. Y. I'm not the gardener like Bunny, but I do have topiaries, which was sort of her symbol. So in the garden we have some topiaries. You know, for a party. I am not above lining my dining room table with topiaries and then putting little votive candles in between. And if it's a holiday or if it's pretty fancy, I might underplant the topiaries with some sort of bloom roses or even carnations. I love carnations. I'm a maverick. People are like, carnations. Ew. Ftd. Blah, blah, blah. No, carnations are chic. Look at you.

[A]

Who loves carnation is miles red.

[C]

I know. I love carnot.

[A]

I think I asked him. We were shooting something at his house, and I said, okay, well, what kind of flower do you want me to put in there? And he said, you know, I really like carnations.

[C]

And I was like, now at McDonald's,

[B]

a McDouble is 250. So you can get your gym gains

[C]

on or just get lunch for only $2.50. Get more value on the under $3 menu. Limited time only. Prices and participation may vary.

[B]

Prices may be higher for delivery.

[A]

Gosh, I did not expect that.

[C]

See? Yeah, we have a rehabilitating carnations move afoot. We're gonna. We're just gonna. Because if you look at a carnation, it's frothy, it's lacy, it smells good, it's fresh. Every year, almost every year at my house, I do a Christmas party and I flower the tree. Every year, almost every year, I use carnations because they last.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah.

[C]

I don't even know.

[A]

They're pretty affordable, too. They're affordable, too. You can buy a ton for, you know.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. They're the cheapest flower out there. Not cheap of value, but. Right, right. Least expensive. They're wonderful. And they come in so many different colors.

[B]

When you put them in your tree, are you putting them in, like, little individual water source? No water source.

[C]

No water source.

[B]

Okay. My other question about carnations is. So I've seen, you know, on Instagram, all over, people are taking carnations, and they're kind of forcing them open a little bit more and, like, plucking some of the inside petals and then opening them up even more and twisting them so that they look, you know, a lot more full, and they actually look like different flowers, like roses or peonies

[C]

or something like that. Trying to make them into something they're not. Yeah, yeah. That's fun. I don't do that.

[B]

You just go for it.

[C]

No, no, no. I will tell you what I do. And I learned this when I worked for Sybil Sylvester doing flowers all those years ago. You blow on a bloom if you want it to open up and you can manhandle it a little bit, you can.

[B]

Without bruising it.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[A]

Flowers are tough.

[C]

They've been in the rain, they've been in the storm. They're tough. You can just sort of manually open it up. But that's as far as I'm going to go. I'm not going to start pulling petals out of something that's there. That's fine. I mean, you know, that's what Instagram is so fun for these great ideas. I won't do that. I just wouldn't do it.

[A]

That's fair. That's fair enough. I do, you know, I'm Going to lose followers.

[B]

No, you're not.

[C]

I'm kidding.

[B]

I don't care.

[A]

For the purposes of a photo shoot, definitely, like, prematurely opening the flower. It makes sense because you're trying to get it to a place where. Yeah. And you may not have the time to wait. Right. But we used to do that with

[C]

peonies for weddings when I worked for Sybil. We would be out in the sun with our peonies, trying to force them open. Or we'd be in the shop with blow dryers plugged in, blowing. If it wasn't sunny, we'd be, like, giving it this. Yeah. I mean, you do what you have

[B]

to do for that moment.

[A]

For a specific.

[C]

We did a wedding where the bridesmaids wore seersucker. It was so cool. It was very southern. And we had gardenia bushes on the tables. No arrangements. Well, the gardenia bushes came in unbloomed, and some without buds at all. Just leaves. So we overnighted some just loose gardenias to Birmingham. And. And we sewed and wrapped those gardenias on every single stem. Every single. Yeah. I mean, you do what you have to do for an event. For a photo shoot, fine. Smoke and mirrors, you can do it. But for everyday life, gardening, arranging, entertaining.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Carnations are pretty by themselves.

[A]

Well, I think it was Kate Brodsky. Kate Brodsky talks in the book about, you know, I think it was her. Flower arrangements are gorgeous on a table, but a potted begonia or fruit or something else is. Can also be very dramatic and surprising and fun. And I, I, I love that, especially for outdoors, where sometimes you feel like maybe a big flower arrangement that you would put on your dining room table makes sense. But for an outdoor table, it can feel a little fussy.

[C]

Too much.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I always go back to Miles Red, too, because he likes to take mint. He'll just run to the corner grocery and grab some mint and put it in a julep cup and then put that on the table or put that as a little arrangement on a side table. So every time I come home with fresh herbs, I'm like, oh, well, I'm just gonna do that. And it makes me feel better. I end up using those herbs a little bit sooner.

[C]

I love that. Yeah, I like that idea. I have these burlap votives, and I will just have a bunch of rosemary, basil, thyme, and just. But I don't mix them. I just do one and march those down the table or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, I did that at Thanksgiving this year where I just kind of Put a giant thing of herbs out on my coffee table.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's an arrangement.

[B]

It's really fun.

[C]

It's an arrangement and it's natural. But I love what you're saying about outdoors. You don't need to bring as much to the party because if you think about outdoors, you're outdoors.

[B]

Right.

[C]

You know, you've got beauty built in. So how can you just sort of remind, repeat, remember the beauty that's, you know, and so what. What's in the garden, you know, bring things that are reminiscent of that or just cut from the garden and put it on the table. Yeah, yeah. Because that really blends, that integrates everything. When you use what you have, you don't have to do much.

[A]

Yeah, okay. But the other thing, though, that I feel like every designer did in the, in the party section was tablecloths. I love the sort of juxtaposition, I guess, of doing this really fabulous over the top tablecloth, but also doing, you know, a potted plant as the centerpiece. Like you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so there are some. You're sort of doing some. Some more. Not everyday, but a more casual centerpiece. But then you've got this fabulous tablecloth instead. I just love the way it softens and brings pattern into the parties. And that's really kind of an easy add. Right. Because all you're doing is just throwing it on there. You don't have to do a lot, but it makes such an impact.

[C]

It is a perfect element. It's just that ingredient that, I mean, you can start your party with your tablecloth and then work from there. And you don't need to do much. That's your anchor.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

That's your foundation. And then it sets the tone for everything else. If you think about Jane Scott Hodges party in New Orleans, of course, she's in the bills or the block linens, but she borrowed tablecloths. I love that part of the story.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And she's very, you know, upfront about, hey, and they're too short. So my husband had to go out and buy some Gold Saints tablecloths for under the. You know, I just love her. Sort of transparent. This is. This is what we did. Yeah. This is what we had to do. And it was a, you know, smashing success. And. But, you know, it's. And in my neighborhood, we share china. You know, if you are having a big party, you just call up and go, hey, I need 20, you know, whatever, and flatware and everything. It's just. And we have tables that stay at one person's house, their outdoor tables. And, you know, you'll send your husband over there with a pickup truck to pick up the table, you know, so it's nobody. Nobody. We don't live like the Vanderbilts. We just don't. And we're happy, you know, we're just us. Yeah. And be us. Be you. In your garden, in your party, in your flowering, in your home.

[B]

Be you.

[A]

Do you think that's a Southern thing? I do. Because my mom would do that too. You know, she and her. Her best friends, if they were having people over for a tea or a, you know, funeral, they would know. Oh, okay. I know Madeline has a samovar.

[C]

Three.

[A]

Yes, exactly. Or like three big silver platters. She's gonna bring those over. And it's. But because, you know, there was so much around sharing, I think, and hosting one another that you just kind of knew your friend's stash.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

No, I think that that's just something that we need to remember, that we need to keep building that community with our friends and. And share and host with each other.

[C]

It's a great. Include and incorporate other people, other styles and aesthetics into your party. And it's like. It's also like one of my things about flowering and entertaining is you don't have to match everything, you know, and my mother loved everything bamboo. So that when I use her bamboo flat warrior, she's at the party. Those things that are story that are part of your life. And if somebody asks, you can tell them it's fun. Oh, yeah. My mother was a, you know, whatever, or my grandmother loved silver compost. And so I've put the gardenia blooms in the silver compote in her remembrance. You know, it's just. Doesn't have to be great or, you know, super fancy.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I will say this. All of the fabulous parties and beautiful flower arrangements really made me think, what am I going to host this spring and summer? I need to go ahead and start, you know, gathering my inspiration. And so it was all just what I want. Exciting. Really made me ready for warm weather and the season ahead.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So that's what we want. Thank you.

[B]

So we would be remiss if we did not talk about the show house now. Can we. Can we spend a little bit of time there?

[C]

I'm happy to spend a little time there. It was a roaring success. So I'm happy to talk about that.

[B]

Yeah. So the flower show house happened this past October in Nashville. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get a chance to Go. But I have seen.

[C]

Well, there's the sushi right there. Yes.

[A]

You can expect that.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Everyone make sure that you get the. It's the March, April edition of Flower magazine. They're highlighting all of the rooms, and

[C]

the whole issue is the show house.

[B]

It is the. Okay. The Flower Show House is always a showstopper.

[C]

Oh, thank you.

[B]

It is always just such a stunning group of designers who just bring their A game, and we love them. Yeah. And what would you feel like is the theme? Because everyone has their own room, and they don't always necessarily speak to each other about what's happening in the adjoining room.

[C]

They never do.

[B]

But yet there is such synchronicity that happens at the Flower Show House.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

So talk to me about. What are you pulling together? Like, how are people thinking about it, talking about it?

[C]

Love that.

[B]

What are your takeaways from this year's Show House?

[C]

Well, thank you. Has been, as I said, such a success. And I made some phone calls. You know, that's my role. I mean, that's so simplistic. But it's all in who you invite to participate. Sponsors, designers. The builder, maker, construction who brought this project to us is a friend and a great guy and knows me and knows my vibe and knows my bent towards pretty, you know, and the house was. Had a. Had a checkered past, we'll say. And it needed some love. It needed some. It needed some retelling, a new story. And I saw that, and it was so big. My team, we drove up to look at it, and they went, are you crazy? I was like, no, no, we. We can do this. We can do this. And we did. And, you know, we had great people and great sponsors and great help, and. And my team is really, really adept at. At this. And so it was. You know, it. I think the people that we invited to participate. Yeah, yeah, the designers, incredible talent, and they. They love beauty. You know, it wasn't like. I mean, even Sean Anderson from Memphis, who did the library, which was so cool and so. But very masculine and very brown and. But it was pretty, you know, and the flooring, textures, flooring these guys. Anyway, I don't want to plug everybody, but there was just even a room that didn't have a colorful patterned wall covering or fabric was still pretty. And then Mark Sykes transports us to Tangier with the green and white tent with the lacquered green bar. Rebecca Gardner and her taking us to, basically, Downton Abbey in the scullery, you know, and just all the wild, fun things that she Did. It goes on and on. I mean, everybody brought it, and it's like. I don't know. I think because it's flower, they know we want it to be pretty, not just floral, per se. It doesn't have to be that. You don't have to have flowers, but there's a life and a. There's a sense of beauty that pervades this house. And it's important to me because beauty matters. And I think every designer felt the same way, and they did. They went beyond.

[B]

I love that. That is the thread that carries through the entire home, I think.

[C]

So I think that's what it is. It's just. And, you know, there's some things that are subjectively beautiful. Like, I really like pink, and you don't. That's subjective beauty. But then there's some things that are just objectively beautiful, you know, and they're. Corey Damon Jenkins.

[B]

Oh, my gosh.

[C]

You know, his drapes. Oh, my gosh. And so inventive, so creative. And then Janie Molster, who's on the COVID you know, wild, fun sort of teenage family space with all this striped paint. We were going to paper. She wanted to paper that room, and they couldn't get it to match, you know, whatever. So Ben Moore said, well, we can do that. Oh, paint that.

[B]

Wow. Okay.

[A]

Incredible.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Because it's not just, you know, a pink and orange wide stripe on the walls. There is an intricate striped design on the ceiling of your house.

[C]

You have been paying attention.

[B]

Yes, I always pay attention to the flower show. How I love you for that. It was so great.

[A]

Really fun.

[C]

Thank you. Yeah. And that, you know, that was part of it. I mean, Janie Melser's from Richmond. She's the coolest chick. I mean, she's just everything she does, everything she wears, everything she says, I love her. And so we were so excited to get to put her on the COVID because that room said it all.

[B]

Yeah. And that room stood out as being so different than every other room in the show house.

[C]

But it played well anyway. Yeah. If you think about the palette, you know, and the flowers and, you know, it just worked. And then I love you read about in the issue, she wanted the candy motif, and then, you know, the pink bubble gum and pink and the caramel in the room. She had these huge compotes full of caramels and bazooka bubblegum.

[B]

Brilliant.

[C]

Yes. I was in there a lot. So were all our docents, you know, but it was just. It's so. Janie, it's the show house. And people had fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And they, you know, I hate to crow, but there was no drama in the installation. There was no. It was.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, that is unusual for a show house. Right.

[C]

Brendan and Kayla, our show house whisperers. Our show house manager, Brendan, I mean, just, he's. This is his third flower show house. Yeah.

[A]

So anyway, there's so many moving parts and you have a thousand firm timeline and like people are showing up on

[C]

whatever day it is and 20,000 square feet.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's our biggest to date. And we. Some people have asked what's next? And I'm like the opposite of that, but in a. Still in a cool, good way. It's going to be really interesting.

[A]

Do you know where it'll be?

[C]

Yes, it will be in Virginia.

[A]

Oh, exciting.

[C]

And it's going to be a different model. Totally different.

[A]

Exciting.

[C]

It'll be a real. It's just going to be a departure for us and so going to be really interesting to see. And I can't divulge anymore because we haven't signed on the dotted line yet, but yes.

[A]

Great.

[C]

Little stay tuned little test teaser.

[A]

Amuse bouche, if you will.

[C]

Amuse bouche. I will, yeah.

[B]

Oh, this is great.

[A]

Yes. Well, thank you so much. Love having you flowering outdoors, gardens and parties.

[C]

Yes, thank you.

[A]

Well, it's available today. Today.

[C]

It dropped today.

[A]

I didn't know. Which won't be the day that people see the exciting.

[C]

It dropped on the 17th, so it is available for purchase anywhere fine books are sold.

[A]

Exciting. Margo, thank you. As always. He's here.

[C]

Thank you, Liz. Thank you for having me.

[A]

And that's our show. You can find all of the show notes on our blog howtodecorate.com podcast to

[C]

send in a decorating dilemma, email your

[A]

questions to podcastallarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space. And of course, be sure to follow us on social media. AlardeSigns.

[B]

Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. And please leave us a review. We'd love to hear your feedback.

[A]

Until next time, happy decorating.