Macy's Flower Show 2019

The heavy rains this Winter and Spring have brought a mass of blooms to California this year. But the desert isn't the only place experiencing a blast of color. Macy's right here in San Francisco is in full bloom at the moment thanks to the annual Spring Flower Show.

This week the kids and I headed into the city to check out this year's displays. Macy's annual Spring Flower Show is always one of my favorite events of the year and despite a little construction work going on in the store, the displays were as beautiful as ever.

Every year the Flower Show features a different theme. In past years we've seen woodland fairytale, hidden urban garden, carnival, fine art, and Americana themed displays. This year's Flower Show, "Journey to Paradisios" features a space theme with astronauts, aliens and rocket ships throughout the store.

This year's display is a little smaller than previous years due to construction work in the accessories department, but there is still plenty to see with the main displays located in the cosmetics and fragrances departments, as well as smaller displays on other floors.

Here's a look at this years Flower Show...

Macy's Spring Flower Show 2018

Every Spring selected Macy's stores around the country celebrate the coming of the new season with a beautiful flower show. San Francisco's flagship store is one such location for this display, and every year I make sure to check it out. This year's show is on right now, so Mathilde and I headed into the city to check it out.

Each year the flower show is based on a particular theme. This year's theme is "Once Upon a Springtime" and features magical fairy tale inspired displays with woodland creatures, a dragon, knights, a castle and a big pink throne for visitors to sit on. The displays are mostly located on the first floor through the cosmetics and accessories departments, and change from Winter to Spring as you walk through the store. 

Let's take a look...

First up, Mathilde and I checked out the window displays on O'Farrell and Stockton Streets. Mathilde was captivated by the cute creatures hidden among the toadstools and flowers. The corner window contains a giant book and a waterfall, but given the harsh sun during the time we visited I was not able to capture this well in a photo. You'll just have to go see for yourself!

 

Macy's Flower Show 2017

Last week Mathilde and I took a trip into the city to visit Macy's for the annual Flower Show. The Macy's Flower Show is something I looked forward to seeing every Spring and this year's display did not disappoint - although there were a few scary clowns! Clowns, you ask? Well, every year the Flower Shows features a different theme and this year's theme is carnival, so the displays are filled with clowns, carousel horses, vintage arcade games and side show novelties. Let's take a look...

Macy's Flower Show 2016

On Friday Mathilde and I took a trip into the city to see the Macy's Flower Show at the San Francisco store. 

Each year, Macy's celebrates the arrival of Spring with an amazing flower show held in several of their stores around the country. This year's flower show marks the 70th anniversary of this beautiful event and the theme, America the Beautiful, couldn't be more fitting.

My Kitchen Flower Garden with Boon

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Boon. All opinions are my own.

Living in an apartment with no outdoor space, I really miss having a garden. To make up for our lack of gardening space I like to keep potted plants dotted around the apartment to add a little touch of greenery. Every room in our apartment features at least one potted plant; an orchid on a shelf, a bromeliad on a bookcase, succulents on a window sill, air plants hanging on a wall... Every room that is, except for our kitchen.

I would love to have a little kitchen garden filled with herbs and edible flowers but alas, our kitchen does not have a window in which to grow them. I've tried growing potted herbs on the divider between the kitchen and the dining area but they just don't want to grow there. But just because I'm not able to grow the kitchen garden I dream of, it doesn't mean that our kitchen has to be completely devoid of "plant life".

In fact, thanks to Boon our little kitchen is full of blooms! These gorgeous flowers may not have any culinary uses but they do come in very handy in the kitchen. You see, these blooms are not just a pretty face. No. While they may be lovely to look at, they're also hard workers.

Macy's Flower Show 2015

Earlier this week we headed into the city to check out the Macy's Flower Show. Each year, to celebrate the arrival of Spring, Macy's hold a flower show in many of their stores around the country. The flower show in San Francisco's Union Square store is always beautiful. This year's theme, Art in Bloom, brings together the worlds of art and floral design.

San Francisco Botanical Gardens

The second Tuesday of each month is free entry day at San Francisco Botanical Gardens. Yesterday just happened to be that day so after dropping Ava off at school in the morning Lola and I hopped on the train and headed into the city with some friends for a few hours amongst the flowers.  

So much green

Artichoke Flowers

Two weeks back I purchased a few bunches of artichoke flowers from my local fruit market.
My eye was instantly drawn to their dramatic, almost succulent like look. While they may look similar to succulents the artichoke flowers are not at all fleshy. Rather they are quite tough and spiky.
The colours worked perfectly for my living room and the flowers took pride of place in the middle of our dining table.

Spiky artichoke flowers

Fast forward two weeks and my artichoke flowers have changed completely. Just as I thought they were starting to die off the flowers decided to surprise me with purple petals coming out the centre.
The resulting look is much softer and adds a nice splash of colour to our living room. It's just like having new flowers.

Just like a whole new flower

The purple blooming out of the centre really shows that artichokes are a member of the thistle family.
I've always thought that thistle flowers make a beautiful (yet ouchy!) display.