Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/996854
46 I nside Fleurt, Margaret Ryder's charming storefront i n t h e D a l l a s D e s i g n District, the controlled chaos is lovely. Buckets overflow with pink peonies and tulips, ruffled green ranunculus, orange hypericum berries, billowy white hydrangeas, and poufs of green viburnum. Tall cardboard boxes erupt with branches of fragrant mock-orange blooms and stalks of furry pussy willow. Ryder collects vintage glass bottles and beakers, and the front rooms are casually styled with old brass pots full of orchids and Chinese blue-and-white porcelain jardinières. "We go into some of the most incredible houses," she says. "The flowers and containers need to look like they fit the space." For a Passover dinner recently at the home of art collector Sally Rosen, who specializes in 20th-century ceramics, she used Rosen's light- blue glazed ceramic vases in the shape of sea anemones and filled them with green and white parrot tulips. "They were like flower bombs on the table," says Ryder. Ryder — who specializes in full event planning for society affairs and galas such as Silver Supper — has a voluptuous style that's also a little boho. "Peonies are my favorite, but I have a love-hate relationship with them," she says. "Not having them every day is what makes them special." Throughout the summer, she uses mostly what's in season: cosmos, delphinium, roses, and hydrangeas. "Dahlias are one of the stars of the summer," she notes of the zinnia-like tuber that comes in dozens of colors and can produce blooms the size of a dinner plate. She layers arrangements with textural flora in differing shapes, such as ruffled ranunculus from France, velvety dusty miller, and woodland hellebores. "I'm having a love affair at the moment with this Tibet rose," she says, lifting a bouquet of big white roses from a bucket of water. Plucking a ruffled pink rose from another bucket, she adds, "I also am in love with this Queen Mayra — it's almost like a peony." The heart is fickle. "PEONIES ARE MY FAVORITE, BUT I HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM." — Margaret Ryder MARGARET RYDER Margaret Ryder, Fleurt Dr. Alexander Fleming peonies and grape hyacinth.