Floral Valentines Cupcakes and Hellebore Fest Trip

Happy Valentine's Day! There are a dozen women who work at my husband's office, and this year I decided to do something for them for V-Day. I picked up glass votive holders from Target, several bunches of carnations from the grocery store, and some ribbon. Here they are, all packed in a box-top for easy transport to the office.



They have a nice clove scent and kind of look like cupcakes, except without the calories. At the end I added little black bows for a finishing touch. Now I just need to get my youngest daughter all dressed up in her red-and-black outfit with matching heart-antennae-headband and go deliver them together.



My darling Valentine gave me a great gift this year. After listening to me moon over the gorgeous Winter Jewels hellebores that are bred by Marietta O'Burnes in Oregon and offered to retail customers during just a couple of weekends each year, he suggested I take a little trip next weekend to pick out some hellebores myself!



So on Friday I'm flying and driving to Eugene, Oregon, and on Saturday morning I'll be at the Northwest Garden Nursery Open Garden Days to buy some hellebores and take lots of pictures for blogging. Although a few catalogs offer a Winter Jewel hellebore or two, these plants are seedling grown and exhibit some variation in flower, so you have to pick them out in bloom to be sure of the exact coloring.



Are any of your Oregon bloggers going to make it? If you want to see pictures of these amazing plants, click here for single flowers and here for doubles. Or you can come back next week and see what I've come up with on my little adventure.



I had to add a photo of my delivery-girl helper for flowers and cards today. So sweet!