Mary Ellen and Ginny introduce to Emily Malloy, whose floral design career began as an apprentice who swept petals and leaves off the floors of a rapidly growing floral shop in Philadelphia. 

She rose to manager and floral designer. Her work has appeared in Elle Décor, Green Wedding Shoes, the National Catholic Register, and the Ember Journal. Emily is the food and floral design editor at TheologyofHome.com. She and her husband live in Mississippi with their four children.

Emily Malloy, Theology of Home IV: Arranging the Seasons

In this fourth installment of Theology of Home, Emily Malloy explores the vibrancy and life of the garden. With her expertise as a florist, Malloy brings a wealth of practical ideas for incorporating flowers into our homes as we march through nature's seasons and the Church's liturgical calendar. 

Yet this edition, like the rest of the series, does not stop at the material level. Remembering mankind's beginnings in the Garden of Eden, Arranging the Seasons sumptuously illustrates and highlights our intrinsic need for beauty within the human heart.

Explored within this edition of Theology of Home are the deeper questions of life, family, love, and God that animate our efforts to cultivate the earth. In simple and small ways, it will inspire us to layer our lives and homes with the intangibles that turn the stuff of matter into a song.

·      Your thoughts on beauty are so very Catholic and necessary in a world that seems to value the opposite. So many books on gardens and growing focus on the utility, but yours makes the point that beauty is necessary. Can you expand on that?

·      Nature's beauty is absolutely a religious experience. As we record this, my garden is dying down for the winter, but I still see butterflies hovering and hummingbirds sipping nectar. It does give one delight and gratitude to God for His creation.

·      Please tell us how you plan your gardens. Are they well planned and laid out, or is there a randomness to them?

·      There are a lot of practical suggestions in the book for designing, arranging, and even how to make a boutonniere and wrapping a presentation bouquet. I'm so glad you included the very practical for the craft-impaired like myself.

·      You homeschool your children. How was it writing, photographing, and designing this book while homeschooling? The children are in several photos (pg 256 is my favorite). Did it become a family endeavor?

·      Gardening can be expensive, but a lovely garden can be done on a shoestring. Anyone can save marigold seeds to plant next spring, and bulbs multiply over the years. When gardening buddies divide perennials, they often want to rehome their plants. Anyone with a few feet of dirt or room for some pots can enjoy them.

·      What we cannot see in our Creator, we can see in His creation. It is with the gift of the flower—a powerful representation of the love of God—that we can bridge not only home and garden but also the eternal and the everyday.

Purchase Emily's book at Theology of the Home

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