We had the pleasure of assisting floral god Thierry Boutemy and his crew at an installation to end all floral installations last week. The man is beyond. And his crew, a french speaking fun bunch - some of Europes most talented...

On the corner of 5th avenue and 52nd street we assembled close to 3,000 pear, quince and cherry blossoms to adorn the new flagship Zara store. I've never seen such a sight - or been subject to so many queries from 5th avenue tourists...

By the second day we joked that we should have made t-shirts lettered with the answers to the most common questions fielded:

Yes, they are real.

No, they are not dogwood, but white cherry blossoms.

No, the store is not open yet.

To be knee deep in unruly branches, arms raw with quince thorn scratches and hearing hundreds of excited pavement pounding new yorkers repeatedly exclaim: "It's SPRING" was overwhelming, if not slightly seasonally unappropriate. It was, in fact, still winter.

Happy Spring, my dear readers.

*And many thanks to my girls; Alicia, Brittany, Katie, Liza, Ashely, and Louise for joining me on this adventure. Thank you Ben, Chris and Gus; my best branch suppliers for coming through with great material. And Thierry & Hiromi; I'll see you someday in Brussels.

{A great interview with the floral artist here.}