Happy Interior Blog: Plants

Showing posts with label Plants. Show all posts

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Urban Jungle Bloggers: My Plant Gang & Airbnb Apartment In Bordeaux

This month's Urban Jungle Bloggers topic comes a bit earlier than usually. Which included a major challenge for me - I was on vacation until last Sunday in France. Consequently I had no time to style up and shoot my plant gang at home. But you know, challenges trigger creativity, right? So instead of making night pictures at my home, I simply decided to share my plant gang at home away from home - in the fantastic airbnb apartment where I was staying in Bordeaux, France. So today's Urban Jungle Bloggers post is about my Bordeaux-bound plant gang and a little home tour. On y va!

The idea to set my plant gang into the airbnb apartment in Bordeaux was triggered the very first moment when I entered the apartment. I loved its light flooded rooms, the minimal styling, the magnificent old wooden flooring and there was one large plant in the living room - a big and healthy Pachira tree. But one plant is not a gang, right? On the other hand, an Urban Jungle Blogger is not a simple tourist, but one that visits plant shops too, right? Thus one morning I found myself exploring a plant shop in the neighborhood and doing my way of 'souvenir shopping' - I got myself some nice plants.

I was beyond happy to find two plants that I had on my wish list for quite a while (I mentioned them in our interview on The Sill) - I bought a cute pink Sedum rubrotinctum and an Aeonium cyclops (both of which I brought back to Munich). I also bought a tiny Lithops plant, a Nerium oleander and what I think to be a Gilt Edge plant. Voilà my plant gang at home away from home!

The airbnb apartment in Bordeaux was a perfect choice for my city trip. It is located in the city's old town overlooking a lively square, the Place du Palais with magnificent building. The apartment features an airy living room with an integrated kitchen, a bright bedroom, a small corner room and a second mezzanine bedroom plus a bathroom and restroom. I loved all the old details in the apartment: the already mentioned wooden flooring with its outstanding pattern, the high ceilings and plastering, the beautiful windows, the old brass window handles - in one word, this will be my place of choice again if I return to Bordeaux one day. Soon I will share more about this beautiful city in the southwest of France. In the meantime I am off to see all your plant gangs!

Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month we share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on our Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date on our website and Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on Twitter and Instagram. Or let us know and we'll share the badge and upcoming topics with you. Let's bring some green into your homes and blogs!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Urban Jungle Bloggers: Offer A Plant To A Friend

One of the main ideas of our Urban Jungle Bloggers community is to spread the green love. Admittedly, most of the times we do it digitally by sharing our monthly Urban Jungle Bloggers posts, other plant related posts, green pictures on our Pinterest board and other green news on Facebook and Twitter. But for this month's challenge we thought we'd take it literally and spread the love in real deeds, with real plants: We want to encourage you to offer a plant to a friend!

Very often when we think of a gift for a special occasion we think of the usual, classical choices: a bunch of fresh flowers, a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates. Be it a birthday, a housewarming party, a wedding or a simple dinner invitation. But why not consider plants for your next invitation? Offer a plant to a dear person as a toke of your long lasting friendship. Plus the plant gift will last for a long time - unlike the fresh cut flowers, the wine or the chocolates. It will be a lovely and lasting reminder of a special moment and special person.

When I thought of an idea to offer a plant to a friend, I looked around my apartment and I found two cute house vases that were sitting there without a real function or calling. And that sparked an idea: One of my friends has opened Munich's best ice cream parlor not too long ago and I remembered that one cute table sitting in the shop window all empty. So I thought those two little house vases could easily be turned into little growing roofs with colourful succulents as a sort of belated 'housewarming gift' for my friend's ice cream boutique.

It took me like 10 minutes to create the little green roof vases. I filled them up halfway with pebbles, added some succulent soil and planted a small selection of succulents in various sizes and colours. Next thing I found myself in my friend's ice cream boutique True & 12 (where they prepare daily fresh, organic ice cream by hand) and I offered both little plant houses as a present. Now the succulents are sitting on the little white table in the shop window and watch the world pass by and eat Munich's best ice cream. They must be incredibly happy plants! For this occasion I have teamed up with a dear photographer friend who made those amazingly beautiful pictures - thank you Stefanie!

Oh and listen up! This month is really all about giving: Judith and I will be giving away a secret plant-related gift to two of our readers, so leave a comment below!

Photography by Stefanie Szillat, plant styling by Igor Josifovic

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Lost In Plantation

I love traveling. I love all the inspiration I bring back from my many trips. I also love plants. And combining both is the perfect equation for me. But sometimes you don't even have to go away to spend a special holiday. I have discovered over time that botanical gardens are the perfect green escape for an instant holiday feel - even in your own hometown. So one sunny Saturday morning I set off to the beautiful botanical garden in Munich and enjoyed the morning sun, lush greens and I wandered from one climate zone to the next one in their greenhouses. All was topped by a fantastic outdoor garden in full bloom. Spring must be the most beautiful seasons ever, right?

So this was just a short green escape that I wanted to share with you. I am thinking of making my 'Lost in Plantation' a sort of irregular blog series featuring the various botanical gardens I visit on my travels. What do you think? Yay or nay?

Oh and by the way: All images were shot with my iPhone on-the-go as I did not take my big camera with me. I still hope you love and enjoy it!

Happy green week to you all!

Photography with iPhone 5S by Igor Josifovic

Friday, April 17, 2015

Plants + Crystals: Homestead Apothecary

A trip to Oakland, California, would mean a long-haul flight and some additional driving for me. Or else a simple click on Edition Local, an online platform from Northern California building and supporting local communities and small businesses such as the Homestead Apothecary by Nicholas Weinstein. And I must admit I pondered a trip to Oakland when I saw and read the story of Homestead Apothecary.

Nicholas Weinstein opened Homestead Apothecary in 2013 after a long period of feeling sick and tired with no evident reason. Running from one doctor to another yielded no result nor cure. Only after he had decided to visit a naturopath his condition changed slowly to the better. Nicholas Weinstein started experimenting with his own herbal formulas for a sustainable and long-term healing and this endeavor eventually resulted in the founding and opening of Homestead Apothecary, a 'community space for all things herbal'.

The small but beautiful shop boasts with herbal blends, teas, tinctures, crystals, honey, vintage herb books and more. As someone who loves plants and crystals, this shop caught my eye immediately. But I loved Nicholas' story above all - a path commenced due to a personal need that could not be catered to. A path that turned interest, work and passion into a beautiful project and business. After all it is a story that reminds us that we should follow our dreams and create. For our own sake and the sake of the community. Read the full story on Edition Local.

Photography by Aubrey Trinnaman for Edition Local

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Urban Jungle Bloggers: Happy Green Easter!

The March topic of Urban Jungle Bloggers is basically a reedition of last year's seasonal topic - a green Easter styling with plants. To be honest, this month it was pretty tricky for me. First of all I was on holidays and had not prepared anything in advance and second, this year I will not be in Munich for Easter so I have not prepared anything regarding Easter decoration. However, I couldn't miss out the opportunity and had to come up with a very quick and easy green styling.

So what was my idea at all? I wanted to bring in some colours with my plants and use some blossoming plants for a change. I went to the local market last Saturday and found a lovely and delicate Fritillaria meleagris - also known as chess flower because it has chess patterned blooms. I also got a little bunch of catkin twigs because they belong to Easter like the Christmas tree to Christmas. I also added a cactus paddle I brought back from Sicily last week and potted it in my new blue planter from 'Small Spells' and prepared new tableware from the range 'Nordic Sand' by Broste Copenhagen for an Easter table setting.

I played along by swapping plants and adding my growing little cactus (a cutting that I sneaked out from a restaurant) under a glass cloche and another time I added my playful Oxalis triangularis plant with its butterfly like purple flowers. And to be honest, the only real Easter decor item are some chocolate eggs that I brought back from Sicily too. Well I am afraid that's it with my Easter styling for this year - nothing fancy or special. But after all I won't be here anyway.

Now I am off to get inspiration from all other Urban Jungle Bloggers posts with their Easter styling and I will eat up my only Easter decoration simultaneously - I am already at chocolate egg number three. Happy Easter dear Urban Jungle Bloggers!