Blog – Page 4 – Janet Mavec

The Best Way to Journal Your Garden Notes

Are you a gardener? If so, I'm going to imagine you've had triumphs and disappointments. Runaway successes and failures. Lessons and regrets. To keep track of your garden's life I highly recommend a book: A Gardener's Journa...

Where to Find the Best Bouquet of Flowers

It's near the end of February. Do you feel that? That delicate wind in the air? It's flowers collectively breathing a sigh of relief now that one of the busiest bouquet months of the year is behind them. They can relax their ...

Meet Michel: The Divine Draftsman and Designer

The Met’s exhibit Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer opened to so much fanfare in New York this past fall that you would have been excused for thinking that the artist himself had been awakened from the dead for a t...

Bohemian Display: The Famous Glass Flowers

I'm a sucker for a bouquet of flowers. In my opinion, self-care involves self-bouquet-ing. Real flowers. Then along came Rudolf. Since it is December, you may assume I speak of a certain red-nosed reindeer. I, however, refer ...

The Most Intriguing Necklace in New York

A lot of people ask me how I decide what to make into jewelry. The plant and animal kingdom, after all, is a large monarchy. Simple, plain old inspiration and fascination; and a phone call from Warrie Price. Warrie is a cate...

Jam-making lessons from a Princess

My first important jam lesson took place during a funeral in 1997. It was early September, and a friend and I had been riveted to the TV, sobbing like school children as Princess Di's cortege wound its way to Westminster Abbe...

Behind the Scenes: Martha Stewart Living

When you open a glossy magazine, you dive into another world. Well ...holdyourbreath ... In October’s issue of Martha Stewart Living, you can plunge into mine. I'm thrilled that MSL chose to capture our annual cider party at...

Why Sage is Better Than Basil

Most people think herbs belongs in pesto or on a salad or sprinkled on a roast. Not on your lobe or collarbone. If you know my work, you'll understand (a) that I think all vegetables look good around your neck because (b)...

Where to shop in Paris

Paris. It's an alluring word that stokes the embers of the primitive brain. That's because the European city is stomping ground for a modern twist on hunting: shopping. Shopping in Paris is epic, a must-experience adventure. ...

The Weight of Trees

April’s got its share of religious holidays (Easter, Passover) and mathematical exercises (taxes). But it’s also the official month of Earth, with a capital E. April 22 is Earth Day—I do believe that’s something you should a...

The Case of the Mistaken Saint

'Tis the season to become saintly, or spiritually fit, according to Christian beliefs. Starting Ash Wednesday (3/1/17), devotees start their practice of becoming a better person. AKA sainthood-light for 40 days. Most of us wo...

Grow Yourself a Tea Party

Leave it to a gardener to complicate the concept of "tea party." Store-bought leaves? Please. You call yourself an obsessed gardener? The tea party isn't real unless the leaves are harvested in your backyard. I know this how...