My floral travels map needs to be updated with a European map to include London, Marlborough (UK) and Paris, along with adding the San Francisco Botanical Garden that I visited this past weekend. With that said, I’m guessing you might be thinking that I live quite the charmed life gallivanting from city to city photographing flowers. I will say that I do believe I have a wonderful life, and I feel quite blessed, but it’s not as simple as that: I’m a graphic artist. For the last 15 years plus, I’ve been a Managing Partner and Art Director for M30 Productions, and that is the primary way I’ve been able to travel to most of the locations on my travel map.

At M30, we produce meetings and events for corporations, with 250 (or even 1,000+) global executives or sales people, and that includes weeks or even months of initial preparation. Onsite we tackle the staging, lighting, videos, graphics, and each cue is called as each presenter comes to the podium. It’s a high-stress business, as every show/meeting is live, which means there can be no mistakes. We work early in the morning and often late into the evening. When asked what the weather is like where we’re staying we say it is 68º and dark, as most of our time is spent in a hotel ballroom. We travel to very nice places, but often it’s hard to squeeze in the time to enjoy them, though Floating Petals has been a great driving force of that. After the meeting has ended and we’ve tied up any loose ends, we pack our bags, and I find my next destination to shoot before we travel home. With my camera equipment packed, my husband (a.k.a. my sherpa) willingly schleps around with me to each location, and I’m very grateful!

Paraphrasing Monday’s Flower quote, life is short, so be sure to smell (or photograph) the flowers along the way has become my motto as I continue on this journey: my passion to share the beauty of flowers and the lessons they have to teach us. It’s a lot of hard work that makes this website come together, and a lot of creative scheduling that allows me to photograph in so many different locations. I appreciate all that my husband has done to help me make it happen, and of course each one of you for being a part of the journey.

my cutting garden update as of july 18th | Suzy, my wonderful neighbor, sent me an update recently. Lots of growth is happening in the cutting garden over the last week and a half: the Zinnias have grown 4” (10” tall in total), the Columbine had only just broken the surface before I left and are now 2-3” tall, the annual Bachelor Buttons have grown 4” too, and the Sweet Peas (9” tall) are on their way to start climbing up the bamboo trellis I made for them. The California Poppies and Buffalo Eyes that reseeded themselves are the only flowers blooming so far.

Please share with me below any thoughts you have about Floating Petals. Note, you can post a comment without having to sign in or sign up.

Featured Flower: Greek Cyclamen from Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens, England

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