When the streets of Vienna are getting too hot to bear, I duck into a side street flower shop. It’s the bunches of “weeds” in the window that first catch my eye; familiar wildflowers as carrot and catmint, laurel leaves and common grasses, in bouquets and tall vases.
As I stick my head in the door I ask “do you mind if I take some photos?” Fine, is all he says.
I snap away. There are huge cat portraits and the rows of jars are filled with soft colour combinations, in the background endless telephone conversations in animated German. And I am in awe, here is a man who knows his flowers……
After a while I say, “I’m not sure I know much about the flower business but you seem to be an artist of the genre.”
“Ah! D’you think so.”
He continues to twirl ribbons around a wreath of roses, lost in the zone; the touch, the scents, the colour. For some time we work side by side. Deliveries come and go. Orders are taken, glass jars are shifted up and down the rows.
Vienna is old world and on a grand scale, but transported into the intimacy of his workshop, I feel more inspired than by almost anything else in this city of ghostly memories.
you take me back to a birthday in Zurich, when for once in my life I went to such a florist in an arcade along the river, and wandered around choosing a great sheaf of … 3 of those and some of that … one tick on my bucket list. Now I harvest the great sheaf from my generous garden – not a supermarket bunch of too much colour, but subtle textures. And the hand-tied bunch – the bow tied with one hand, as the other held the bunch in place. The stems trimmed to stand on a firm and stable base in the vase.
Diana you are a woman who knows her flowers for sure! Thank you:~)
What a very pretty shop I can see why it caught your eye.
Always love a great shop! Especially one with flowers and art!
Wow, so charming. A shop full of flowers that make the prettiest bouquets! I love how the flowers had so many different textures. They look like they were freshly cut from a beautiful cottage garden. Gorgeous!
So true Indie! I suppose that's why I found it so soothing…..a bit like home!!
What a charming shop. Like an inddor garden. The owner is indeed an artist of flowers.
Thanks Amelie! It is a special gift, and there are too many flower shops where that gift is absent sadly………..
this post is just beautiful:)
Thank you Karen:~)
Lovely shop and pictures 🙂
Thank you Catherine. I thought so too:~)
As I savored each jar, looking at the different flowers, the unusual combos, I was transfixed…what art to bring nature in and keep it blooming as if I was in a meadow captured in glass. He is indeed an artist as are you dear Catherine bringing this to us.
I love your description "as if I was in a meadow captured in glass" such a beautiful way to express his art! Thank you Donna:~)