Private dining at Torc

If you're planning an engagement party, rehearsal dinner, birthday, or other celebration, take note: Torc's beautiful second floor dining room is now available for private dining for 10 to 40 guests. The beautiful food (highlighting local ingredients like Hudson pork and foraged mushrooms) and interior (highlighting natural materials like the original stone walls and hardwood floors) make this restaurant one of our favorite places both to enjoy a meal and to work. Here is authenticity and quality, all the way.

 

Lemon Zinger!

Your winter pick me up awaits at Dean & DeLuca in St. Helena! These zingers include some of my favorite long lasting and/or fragrant botanicals such as freesia from Pescadero, acacia from Daly City, paperwhites from Napa, mint, oncidiums, plumosa and snapdragons from Watsonville and carnations from Rosarito. Yum!

The Rainy Season Flower Subscription Begins!

Today's rainy season flower subscription bouquets include nerines and tulips from Pescadero,  oregano and citrus from Tracy, oncidiums from Watsonville, and ranunculus for Yerba Linda. There are still 7 more pickup days left (the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of January, February, March, and April). You can sign up here! : )

Flowers For Your Wish And Gift Lists

The other big bit of news here at The Monkey Flower Group is an exciting new partnership with Oxbow Produce & Grocery. This rainy season, we're working together to bring Napans fresh, fragrant, and locally grown flowers with a totally unique flower subscription.

The bimonthly bouquets will include delicate and old fashioned garden flowers that aren't readily available in grocery stores, such as daphne, jonquils, snowdrops, sweet peas, lilac, parrot tulips, garden roses, dogwood, and hellebores. More standard seasonal favorites such as hyacinth, ranunculus, freesia, and stock will also make appearances.

Subscribers can pick up their bouquets at Oxbow Produce & Grocery between 3pm - 7pm on the first and third Thursdays of the month, January through April, for a total of 8 bouquets.

The price of the flower subscription is $240, reflecting a discount of $20 per bouquet for a total savings of $160 over the course of the rainy season subscription.

To learn more or to purchase a flower subscription, for yourself or as a lovely gift for someone else, visit The Monkey Flower Group's online shop or contact me directly at 707-418-8615 or info@themonkeyflowergroup.com. 

I hope to be sharing flowers with you or a loved one this rainy season!

Early Bird Catches The View

In this line of work it's good to be a morning person. Luckily I inherited that trait from my grandpa, but even so, it's nice to be rewarded with some amazing views when you're up before daylight so often. These are from yesterday, driving home from an unusually early delivery for the Napa County Bicycle Coalition's annual Legendary Napa Bike Tour.

A Good Time Was Had By All!

It was great to see so many people at the Napa Farmer's Market yesterday!

In case you still want to stock up on produce for the winter (apples! squashes! nuts!) there will be one more Tuesday market on October 30th. I'll be there buying, not selling : ). So if you'd like to order any cards, acorn ornaments, garlands, wreaths, or flowers for the holidays, feel free to contact me directly to schedule a delivery.

Thank you, everyone, for a wonderful season!

Get Ye to Alice's

I'm super excited that The Monkey Flower Group is now delivering flowers for sale at Alice's, one of Napa's loveliest consignment and antique shops (newly relocated to Randolph and Third St. between the Uptown Theatre and Bilco's- my kind of block!). These photos are of last week's offerings, but I'll be delivering another little batch later today (by the lunch hour) and again on Thursday. Come by to grab one adorable nosegay for your desk . . .

. . . or a whole bunch of them to fill a vase for a centerpiece! 

 And then there's all the other goodies to check out at Alice's. I need someone to come purchase this beautiful set of silver with an awesomely dense daffodil motif before I do something rash!

A Barn Burner Release Party

Trying to describe Tom and Lauren Scott of Tom Scott Vineyard makes me feel rather silly, because the adjectives that come to mind all seem contradictory:  whimsical and practical, causal and elegant, fun-loving and driven. But it all rings true, especially when you observe that while Tom and Lauren are incredibly serious in their devotion to growing the highest quality fruit possible for their single vineyard field blend Cabernet Sauvignon, they still manage to maintain a refreshingly playful approach to life. I think that's something worth striving for! So when Lauren asked if I could design the flowers (colorful, casual, and elegant, in true Tom and Lauren style) for this year's party celebrating the release of their 2008 Barn Burner Cabernet, I was honored. Thank you for letting me be a part of your happy story!

Happy Independence Day!

 

These gorgeous berries posed for a photo a couple weeks ago at the Farm Stand at Oakville Grocery. That fine establishment is not open today (good thing, else Ben may not have been able to celebrate with us!), but I highly recommend checking it out any other weekend! It's a great place to grab local and organic fruits, vegetables, and fresh made (unbelievably delicious and refreshing) lemonade.

In the meantime, enjoy a fun and safe Fourth of July!!!