In A Passion for Flowers, Carolyne Roehm teaches readers how to create arrangements that set off a flower's natural beauty. She discusses the overall features of dozens of the most popular flowers and helps readers understand how these elements relate to each other. Though the book is filled with ideas for brightening holidays and special occasions, Roehm stresses that the magic of flowers should be enjoyed year-round. Organized by season to profile the blossoms as they come into their glory, bouquet "recipes" with step-by-step instructions are sprinkled throughout along with special care instructions for more sensitive blooms. Sections detailing containers, conditioning flowers and elements of floral design are included at the end of the book. A Passion for Flowers features 250 breathtaking photographs and is a treasure trove of knowledge and inspiration that will help readers stop and smell the roses every day.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
In 1991, Roehm, who had always taken great pleasure in indulging and surrounding herself with things she loved, decided to turn her personal passion for beauty and comfort into a fulfilling career. A longtime associate (and neighbor) of famed couturier, Oscar de la Renta, Roehm began her own fashion business, setting her designs apart from many others in the industry with her unflagging insistence on only the finest quality materials. Her designs quickly found a home with discriminating consumers, as her first year alone saw revenues exceeding $3 million. But Roehm's passion for beauty extended beyond the world of fashion, and she became determined to broaden her horizons accordingly.
Following a stint at the famed Paris flower shop, Moulie Savart, Roehm took the knowledge she gained there and put it into practical use for the everyday gardener. Resulting from her considerable experience, she takes great joy in revealing the many secrets she learned to help everyone achieve a bountiful and beautiful garden.
In 1997, Roehm published her first book, A Passion for Flowers (September 1997, HarperCollins Publishers) in which she detailed the experts' tricks to perfect gardening. A firm believer in luxury for everyone, Roehm feels that luxury doesn't necessarily mean expensive. Her breathtaking floral arrangements, for example, traditionally contain many common flowers such as carnations, marigolds, bleeding hearts, and Queen Anne's lace, which she collects from her own garden at her Connecticut home.
Roehm applies the fashion lessons she learned to her flowers. The familiar cry of "accessorize" is as important to arranging blooms as it is to one's own appearance. "I can't tell you how often I've seen a dress ruined with the wrong accessories," Roehm explains. "It's the same with flowers. Even the most beautiful flowers don't work if they're in the wrong vase or placed against the wrong background."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Sheer Joy of Flowers,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Passion for Flowers (Hardcover)
In "A Passion for Flowers," Carolyne Roehm puts the skills she honed in a fashion design career to what is obviously an equally compelling use -- combining color, texture and proportion to create fabulous flower arrangements that inspire and delight."Try to avoid being safe all the time," she tells her readers. "Safe is a hairsbreadth away from boring and utterly forgettable. If in doubt, go a bit overboard. Better to make an impact with your flowers than to have them go unnoticed." Indeed, Roehm's flower creations are as far from boring and forgettable as one can imagine. Tucked in tiny pots, lavished in oversized urns, strewn among fruits and vegetables, her flowers are more than mere table decoration -- they are a way of life. In setting after setting, Roehm stages her own personal flower show and shares with readers the seemingly simple secrets of receating her masterpieces. Her directions are clear and concise, from how many stems of each flower to use to choosing appropriate containers. If, after following directions, novice flower arrangers are still unsure of themselves, they need only look to the larger-than-life color photos for petal-perfect models. While Roehm's natural eye for color and form makes flower arranging look easy, her approach to preparing a book on the subject was serious -- she apprenticed to Paris florist Henri Moulie. The results are breathtaking. My personal favorites include an outdoor wedding table draped in delicate wreaths of baby's breath and spirea and an autumn centerpiece that tantalizes the senses by using dahlias, sedum, wild blackberries and chocolate cosmos! Oh, and readers intimidated by elaborate garden parties -- take heart. Roehm admits to an inability to grow some of her favorite flowers, instead buying them in-season at local farmers' markets -- an option even for those who love to adorn their home with flowers but haven't the time or desire to garden. At first glance, "A Passion for Flowers" is a c! offee-table picture book or a winter pick-me-up, and, if nothing else, serves those purposes admirably. But it's also a valuable "how-to" and reference guide to arranging flowers, and a showcase for the shining bits of nature that they are. If you love flowers -- and all things beautiful -- this book will be a visual feast. If you don't appreciate their subtleties, try picking up this book anyway. It may change your outlook permanently.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Gift for the Lover of Beauty,
This review is from: A Passion for Flowers (Hardcover)
Carolyne Roehm demonstrates her exquisite taste from the very first page of this lavish book. Organized by season, each chapter celebrates the beauty of all sorts of blossoms in stunning arrangements. These arrangements are lush and full and show an artist's mastery of texture and extraordinary combination of color. The photos are reminiscent of the sumptuousness of the movie, The Age of Innocence, with lovely gilded gold, crystal and porcelain containers. The photography truly is breathtaking and includes not only close ups of the bouquets but also glimpses of elegantly set dining tables, gorgeously furnished rooms and spacious gardens. Her prose is poetry, but also practical in the sections on containers, elements of style and basics. A better book on flower arranging couldn't possibly exist.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible photography of the most beautiful flowers,
This review is from: A Passion for Flowers (Hardcover)
The flowers depicted in this book gave their lives for a truly noble cause and have been honored appropriately by the photographer. Quite simply they were displayed and photographed in the most beautiful fashion possible. Perhaps the key word there is fashion -- Carolyn Roehm has the experience and eye for fashion, having been a former designer, and that experience may be what enabled her to display the flowers in a way that truly does them justice. I coveted this book for a long while, having seen it in a bookstore, and couldn't get it out of my mind. Now that I own it, I consider myself very fortunate indeed. The book is divided into the four seasons. Particularly strong are the photos depicting the flowers prevalent in Fall and Spring. The smoky greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns of the Fall months's foliage manage to look festive and lovely despite their representing the waining of life until the Spring. The photos of lilacs and daffodils in the section on Spring make one hopeful for the end of winter and make one realize why all that shivering is eventually worthwhile. I loved this book and recommend it heartily for anyone who loves pretty flowers and doesn't particularly have any special horticultural knowledge.
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