If Amy Merrick set out to write her just-released book— On Flowers: Lessons from an Accidental Florist ($29.95, amazon.com ) —several years ago, it would have been a very different book. “It would have followed a much more straightforward flower arranging format,” she explains. “When I first started, the structure was seasonal, but as I went on that felt really disingenuous with how I’ve been living.” The writers/stylist/florist has been traveling for the last five years and the book reflects that. It has all of the practical requisites of a flower arranging how-to manual (best practices, step-by-step instructions, flower-care pointers), but is also part memoir, part scrapbook , and part love letter. “Making On Flowers felt like tying a bow around all the different floral experiences I’ve had over the course of the past decade, from being a city florist to a flower farmer , moving to Japan to study ikebana, and working in a garden . It felt like each story was a stem of the bouquet of my life,” says Merrick, who not only wrote the book, but also photographed, styled, and art directed its content. While chapter one is dedicated to flower arranging 101 , each following chapter is a mashup of Merrick’s poetic musings, artful imagery, collected ephemera, quotes, and flower-related guides ( edible flowers in one , a listing of museums for flower lovers in another)—all peppered with the author’s expert tips on caring for flowers. “Excerpted from On Flowers by Amy Merrick (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2019. Photographs by Tif Hunter.” Rather than focus on seasonality (as originally intended) Merrick’s book speaks to the spirit of different flowers , breaking them into five categories: city, country, fancy, humble, and far away. These groupings align with her myriad life experiences surrounding flowers—from creating luxe […]

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