Floristry or flower arranging is the art of creating bouquets and compositions from flowers, foliages, herbs, ornamental grasses and other botanical materials into floral designs; often the terms "floral design" and "floristry" are considered synonymous. A person who designs flower arrangements is known as a florist.

A notable example is ikebana. The latter term actually became an informal synonym for this type of art, nevertheless many nations have their own distinctive traditions of flower arrangement. Ikebana represents the Oriental style of floral design, which features simplicity and purity of lines and colors. In contrast, European style features mass and color richness and variety.

Floristry is most often understood as referring to the cultivation of flowers as well as their arrangement, rather than to the business of selling them. However, the floral industry is the basic drive behind floristry. Florists are people who work with flowers, generally at the retail level. Florist shops, along with telephone sales and online stores, are the main flower-only outlets, but supermarkets and garden supply stores have gotten into the business, selling flowers as one of their large range of products.

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NYT > Home & Garden

Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:15:48 -0000
A growing number of “eco-kids,” steeped in environmentalism, are holding their parents accountable.
Away: Satisfying Their Own Judgment
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:20:53 -0000
When Tim and Nina Zagat, owners of the global restaurant and leisure guide company, couldn’t find the perfect second home, they decided to make their own.
Home Work: As Housing Slows, What of Décor-Speak?
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:23:56 -0000
In today’s market, what’s to become of the upscale glossary of home glam — palettes and focal points, inspiration objects and gloriously “ensuite” bathrooms?
Making It Home
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:08:26 -0000
Can the design of a home improve the lives of severely wounded veterans and their families?
At Home With Wayne Coyne: Not Exactly Domesticated
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:07:41 -0000
Wayne Coyne, the rock singer, guitarist and guiding force of the Flaming Lips, lives on an ever-expanding property known in certain circles as the compound.
Move Up? Move Out? Families Squeeze In
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:41:00 -0000
A growing number of well-off families are choosing to live in small apartments in Manhattan because they cannot afford to upgrade and do not want to move to the suburbs.

L.A. Times - Home & Garden

Wildflower seeding in the fall can pay off later
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Buying good seeds and sowing now could lead to a spring outburst. But this breed is different from garden varieties, so watch the watering and the weeds. IN NO INSTANCE is the California gardener more richly rewarded than with the autumn planting of wildflower seeds. Buy them now, sow them between Halloween and Christmas, and spring will be marked by a tumbling succession of grace notes.
A cooling-off
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The number of bidders dropped 50% at the Modern Design event at the Wright auction house in Chicago last week. ON A DAY when the Dow lost 508 points and consumer confidence plummeted with the stock market, one might consider the sale of $2.13 million in home furnishings to be a respectable haul. But Richard Wright, director of the Chicago auction house Wright , couldn't help but wonder whether his Modern Design event on Tuesday signaled the beginning of the end for a seven-year run of record prices on 20th century furniture and other design collectibles.
Fingerprint-scan deadbolt can eliminate need for keys
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
You enter your home after the high-tech gizmo reads your fingerprints. In other words, you can never lock yourself out again, in theory anyway. YOU KNOW, people don't take enough time to sit outside alone and just think. Listen to the birds. Feel the wind on their faces. Wonder when their spouses are coming home to unlock the door.
Christopher Lloyd lists Montecito home at $3.6 million
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The 'Back to the Future' actor's 2,514-square-foot home is near the city's lower village and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Actor Christopher Lloyd is just one of those guys who you know would be a hoot to meet at a cocktail party. The three-time Emmy-winning Lloyd has tons of movie, TV and stage credits -- typically playing oddball characters. You likely know him as the eccentric Emmett "Doc" Brown in the "Back to the Future" franchise, but to me, he'll always be Taber in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975). (Gee, was Jack Nicholson in that movie too?)
Design Within Reach adds Tools for Living store
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
After a long emphasis on designer furniture, Design Within Reach has launched Tools for Living, a 1,500-square-foot store adjacent to the Santa Monica DWR with about 900 accessories for the home and office. Tools for Living will focus on "finding contemporary designs that are easy to use and have an honesty of materials, made by undiscovered names from around the world," says buyer Kari Woldum, right, with co-worker Sally Yang. The sleek shop opened last week with standout items that include unembellished linen towels for kitchen and bath by the Japanese firm Fog, and modern ice cream scoops, bottom right. Wool poufs from Holland look as if they must have been made with baseball bat-sized knitting needles. The Tools for Living concept has already sparked an online parody by Rob Price and Kathy Park of the New York firm Thwart Design , www.thwartdesign.com . " Tools for Dying plays on the idea of extending the reach of design even further -- 6 feet under," says Price, who created the popular Web page (including a satirical take on George Nelson's midcentury clocks, left) as a sequel to his 2005 send-up, Design Without Reach . Says Tools for Living's Woldum: "They didn't really research what we would be carrying in the store, but imitation is flattering, and we loved the spoof." 332 Santa Monica Blvd.; (310) 458-0543; www.dwr.com .
A Culver City community carves out its place
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Starting in the '50s, the vocal enclave pushed for parks, schools and a better life. IT WAS the 1950s, and developer Stone & Stone began building the first homes in an area that had been an oil field. At the nearby ranch of Will Rogers Jr., actors and actresses learned to rope and ride for the many westerns that Culver City studios were churning out. Racial integration, a fight for schools and park space and the desire for a better life played out in newly established Blair Hills, as it did in many other communities across the country.

Christian Science Monitor | The Home Forum

Redemption
A poem
'Jingle-belling' in China
Chinese students learning English catch the Christmas spirit as they sing carols to college classmates and staff.
Where did that Christmas song come from?
For kids: The stories behind three popular Christmas songs.
Today's Article on Christian Science: 'Meekness will receive him'
A Christian Science perspective on daily life.

Denver Post: Lifestyle

Pasta time
kbrowning@denverpost.com (By Kristen Browning-Blas / The Denver Post) Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:33:10 -0600
Over dinner at Luca d'Italia here in Denver a few years ago, I confessed to visiting Italian cooking expert Giuliano Bugialli that I'd never made fresh pasta. The look on his face was priceless — shock, disbelief and pity.
"Damnation" is a terrific fall offering
editor@denverpost.com (The Denver Post) Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:48:18 -0600
Drink Up: With the economy taking the proverbial handbasket ride, what better beer with which to salve the wounds than Damnation?
Save your dough: Make your own bread crumbs
editor@denverpost.com (The Denver Post) Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:46:47 -0600
Home Ec: Somewhere along the way, it seems that we all lost our collective minds and started paying for bread crumbs.

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