Happy New Year dear flower loving friends! I hope that you had a lovely holiday season filled with the sparkle of joy, love and laughter. The new year is ahead of us, filled with gorgeous blank days, weeks and months, and I hope we fill them with beauty, grateful moments and of course flowers! But first, let's look back at A Year of Monday Morning Blooms.

To jump start our fabulous year!

Welcome to Monday Morning Blooms! My friends Mary and Pam and I gather online once a month throughout the year to share our love of flowers with you. I'll put their links at the bottom of the post, you won't want to miss their creative way with flowers!

JANUARY

January always begins by looking back at the year in flowers.

Throughout the year, it's such a blessing to hear from clients and readers {YOU!} saying you are inspired to try creating your own floral bouquets at home. One especially sweet note came from Anne, from South Carolina, who, after reading a few of my Monday Morning Blooms posts was encouraged enough to try her hand at flower arranging.  She loved it so much, she's now creating floral arrangements for all her neighbors!

A year in Flowers at FrenchGardenHouse

 FEBRUARY

For February, we hosted a lovely wedding shower. A Hearts & Bees Romance shower. It was really fun, and easy, since we bought all the food so that I could spend time making it pretty.

This was such a lovely way to honor the bride-to-be! This pretty white and pink floral arrangement is perfect for Valentine's Day too.  I arranged soft pink roses, pink tulips, white alstroemeria and white hydrangeas in a clear vase, and added branches cut from our olive tree, and a few snips of fern as filler.

A Hearts and Bees Romance

MARCH

Cheerful flowers are the calling cards of Spring. For this Delights of Spring & Easter Table, colorful flowers are arranged simply in antique ironstone, the blossom and bloom of each one says "Hello Spring!" 

Easter is a big thing at FrenchGardenHouse. After church, we host an outdoor lunch and egg hunt for family, friends and neighbors. Our Easter brunch 'table' is usually very relaxed and simple. To celebrate all the new life that is budding and blooming this time of year, I include spring flowers in mostly bright colors.  This bright spring bouquet has blue grape hyacinths, pink ranunculus, and white hyacinths.

Delights of Spring Easter Table

APRIL

Nothing says Spring like gathering family and/or friends at a beautiful al fresco table set with floral designed dishes and a beautiful centerpiece. A trip to my favorite flower market was so successful! I was thrilled to find my old stand-by white alstroemeria, and quickly filled my little shopping basket with Shocking Blue hydrangeas, and the prettiest Majolika spray roses.

Their name is derived from latin, meaning 'flowering in abundance' or 'many flowering'. Aren’t they so pretty? Seeded eucalyptus added a sweet note of green. You can see more of this floral arrangement by clicking the link below.

Celebrate Spring with a Colorful Flowering Table

MAY

The garden is in bloom, the air is sweet with flowers and fresh mown grass, the birds sing, the sun shines, it must be May! It is a joy to wake up to singing birds and glimpses of the beautiful sunny day ahead. For May, we made a pact, you and I, to “live a beautiful life” by mindfully creating simple moments to elevate the everyday. The Art of Living A Beautiful Life.

On this beautiful morning, I covered the table with a quilt in colors that match the antique French pink and white biggin for coffee. Two wicker chairs were pulled close for a cozy spot to enjoy the May garden. The vibrant rose and butterfly ranunculus bouquet brought all the colors of the quilt to life.

The Art of Living a Beautiful Life

JUNE

JULY

We live in a California sea-side town, so a seaside theme is a natural choice for most of our summer entertaining. On a beautiful summer day, I set our back garden table for a luncheon with friends, and to show them our latest FrenchGardenHouse jewelry collection. 

The flowers echo a seaside theme in blues and whites, I love these variegated blue and white hydrangeas, some are light blues, some are deeper blue. They look right at home in the 19th century blue and white floral pitcher, the colors are so good together! 

I put the jewelry on plates, to make it easy to set up, I just had to grab plates from the kitchen and place them on the table. The jewelry in our summer collection is blue, white, and gold, such a refreshing color palette to brighten up any outfit on a summer day.  You can see more of this easy luncheon/jewelry party by clicking the link below.

Seaside Summer Jewelry Party

AUGUST

I skipped the August Monday Morning Blooms to visit Europe with our family. If you would like to visit this gorgeous castle in the Netherlands with me, click on the link below.

Castle de Haar 

SEPTEMBER

We celebrated Autumn by setting a Falling for Autumn's Delights Table with the colors of fall and French antiques that reflect the spirit of the season. I arranged deep red wine colored mums, bright green hydrangeas, those fluffy bright green dianthus, 'Golem' Carnations and eucalyptus in a heavy antique French urn with a few fading lavender roses and some spiky branches from the garden.

Fall is always a party at FrenchGardenHouse, since that's usually when the shipments of French antiques arrive from our summer buying trips. This table and floral centerpiece featured antiques from France, urn, dishes, and flatware.

 Falling for Autumn's Delights Table

OCTOBER

Capturing the warmth of the season and the comforts of home, a dinner party with friends or neighbors "just because it's fall!" is the perfect way to step into this new season's splendor. This 'Embrace the Richness of Autumn Table Setting' did just that!

The colors for my table were inspired by the antique paisley I used for the first layer of this setting. The flowers were gifted by a neighbor, a bouquet of red russet roses, black-eyed susans, sunflowers, wax flowers, and yellow pincushion Leucospermum with eucalyptus and hydrangeas from the garden. To see more and get the recipe for my Apple Cider Cocktails, just click on the link.

Embrace the Richness of Autumn Table Setting

NOVEMBER

The November table setting blended rich autumnal colors, unique antique pieces, and fresh garden blooms - a perfect setting for an intimate feast. I mix and matched antique with new items and used simple decorations to make every guest feel special. 

An antique mirrored plateau holding the floral centerpiece made this table sparkle, as did the antique dishes and pumpkin embroidered napkins. Read how to create your own stunning table by clicking the link below.

How to Set a Beautifully Welcoming Thanksgiving Table Setting with Antiques

DECEMBER

My designer friends call holiday vignettes or styled spaces 'moments'...so I shared one of the little 'moments' I created here at home for the holiday season in front of the fireplace. And of course there is another definition of holiday 'moments' - the kind where you take a breath and enjoy the season.

I love creating little holiday flower arrangements for areas around our house. This one was nestled in a vintage hotel coffee pot. The flowers were roses from our garden {our icebergs bloom almost year round}- the red rose was left over from the last week's bouquet, and I cut some bright green cypress and a holly clipping from the back garden.

How to Enjoy Small Holiday Moments

I hope you have enjoyed looking back at our year of beautiful flowers. Let's have a beautiful year and share our love for flowers together! We'll be featuring a new floral arrangement on the first Monday of every month in our beloved Monday Morning Blooms. 

Be sure to visit Mary and Pam to see their year 'round floral creativity.   

Pam at Everyday Living

 Mary at HomeIsWhereTheBoatIs