A VERITABLE GARDEN OF EDEN

By Maya Alarcon

Like any good girly girl, I love flowers. I love to look at them, I love to smell them, and I really love to get them. The only thing is that there just aren’t enough of them around in LA, at least not for my taste. You either have to own a house with a garden (and, hello, with the cost of real estate in Cali these days, that ain’t gonna happen for me for quite a while), or drive to the botanical gardens, which aren’t close enough to me (the curse of living in such a large city) or be signed up for some flower of the month club. Sheesh! What does a girl have to do to get her fix of floral abundance? I swear I’d go days without seeing a flower if it weren’t for EDEN CENTRAL, a website filled with some of the most breathtaking floral images I’ve laid my pretty brown peepers on.

Why am I telling you about Eden Central, you may be asking yourself? Well, for one, it’s a great site to get marvelous gifts such as STATIONERY, MAGNETS, TOTES, COMPACTS and of course, WALL ART. I do believe that just about all of my girl friends who have moved into a new place have gotten a floral image as a house warming gift, and all were quite well received. With images ranging from PSYCHEDELIC to WATERCOLOR to good ol’ REALISTIC and more, there’s bound to be something for any flower loving girlie on your shopping list. And while you’re at it, I’m pretty sure you’ll want to pick something out for yourself. I certainly have (duh! Why else would I be singing Eden Central’s praises, right?). The day I found out I was to be joining the Land of the Cube Dwellers, AKA corporate America, I immediately got myself an image of the fullest, most vividly crimson bloom to post on my carpeted, beige cubicle wall, right within my line of site. Talk about a sight for sore eyes! Staring at the image for even a few minutes after spending a laborious day reading mind-numbing spreadsheets and long-winded email chains is such sweet reprieve.

What also makes Eden Central so great is the woman behind it, Minoo Saboori, who is one of the most fabulous, positive, life-affirming women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Minoo decided one day, after fooling around with her digital camera while on vacay in the Bahamas, that she wanted to dedicate herself to bringing beauty to people for an affordable price. A true testament to what a little time away from the big city and a good, healthy dose of ocean air will do for a girl’s inspiration. She shoots all of the images herself, digitally manipulates some, only to enhance their beauty, and then cleverly gives them names like BOY OH BOY, DELICATE SOLO and ANGEL EYES to make them all the more memorable. The website oozes with her light-hearted, yet tremendously loving personality and reads as if she were speaking directly to you. Clearly this lady loves what she does, and it’s evident through her work.

Seriously, why are you still reading this instead of heading over to www.edencentral.com and checking out all the flower power it has to offer? Sure, the images may not smell like roses (a little spritz of perfume might do the trick), but they definitely make a good substitute for the real thing. And unlike the real thing, these beauties aren’t going to wilt and leave you with nothing but stinky water.