Side Order: The Flower Shop

27 items of the garden variety

Remember last week when I said that I have a one-track mind? Well, consider my point proven, because this month’s Side Order is a continuation of last month’s garden-themed mood board. 

A lot of you are new here (thanks to

Joanna Goddard

recommending my newsletter in last weekend’s

Substack Reads

!) so here’s the deal: a Side Order is a themed shopping post where I source items that are new, vintage, high, and low across a bunch of different categories. It’s a fun way for me to justify my window shopping addiction and to share the brands I like that you might, too. I try to keep it balanced: you’ll always find things for under $50, but I might also throw in a very expensive sterling silver ketchup bottle holder here and there. I can’t help myself! 

Earlier this week I was flipping through a book my friend Jordy gifted me called Summer Places by Brendan Gill and Dudley Witney (above), a 1978 collection of images of rich people’s summer homes across North America. Its pages are full of wrought-iron gates and wicker dining sets, things I’ve been fixated on since I decided to try and zhuzh up my beige-walled patio. I love to look at vintage inspiration, but I always have to remind myself that what I really love is when a space or an outfit or anything else nods to the past and utilizes things that have history but not in an overly theme-y, all-in way. Too much of a good thing, especially of the garden variety, and you’re on a fast track towards the cottagecore-to-trad wife pipeline.

I do love a good floral print, or a rattan moment, or a garden rose…all things that can taste a little too sweet if not handled with care. There’s a reason why Kaia Gerber can wear a dress that looks like it’s for an adult-sized toddler and still look chic, or why Jane Birkin could pull off using a basket as a purse…there’s a hint of irony to it that keeps it from feeling like Little House On The Prairie cosplay. I think the same is true for interiors; the spaces that best pull off mix-and-match florals and things like ruffles are the ones that are self-aware enough to embrace the novelty without turning it into a full-on theme.

Jamie Haller (yes, the shoe designer, also an interior designer!) does an amazing job at this.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I’ve been spending so much time in my imaginary garden this week that I decided to continue digging into it here for a little longer. I *promise* that I’ll move on from this topic next week. But until then, 27 hand-picked items that I think have the potential to feel interesting and cool without crossing the line into “grandma’s sunroom” territory: