Michael Urie talks about the new show, Clipped, and experts talk about mosaicultures and making lasting floral wearables. This week on HGTV Obsessed, host Marianne Canada talks to Michael Urie, about his experience hosting the new gardening competition show, Clipped, as a total plant newbie. He talks about what it was like to work with Martha Stewart and some of his favorite show moments. Then Michael talks about the promising return of Broadway, his acting career, and Marianne shares a funny story about her own accidental audition at Julliard. Michael gives his thoughts on kitschy design and shares the story behind his iconic MET Gala look from 2019. Then, the assistant general manager of Mosaicultures Internationales talks about the difference between topiaries and mosaicultures and the process behind bringing plant sculptures to life for the Dollywood Flower and Food Festival. Finally, renowned florist Susan McLeary talks all about the best plants and flowers for floral wearables and how to keep those flower crowns fresh throughout the day.
Michael Urie talks about the new show, Clipped, and experts talk about mosaicultures and making lasting floral wearables. This week on HGTV Obsessed, host Marianne Canada talks to Michael Urie, about his experience hosting the new gardening competition show, Clipped, as a total plant newbie. He talks about what it was like to work with Martha Stewart and some of his favorite show moments. Then Michael talks about the promising return of Broadway, his acting career, and Marianne shares a funny story about her own accidental audition at Julliard. Michael gives his thoughts on kitschy design and shares the story behind his iconic MET Gala look from 2019. Then, the assistant general manager of Mosaicultures Internationales talks about the difference between topiaries and mosaicultures and the process behind bringing plant sculptures to life for the Dollywood Flower and Food Festival. Finally, renowned florist Susan McLeary talks all about the best plants and flowers for floral wearables and how to keep those flower crowns fresh throughout the day.
Connect with the podcast: https://www.hgtv.com/shows/hgtv-obsessed-podcast
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Follow Michael Urie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelurielikesit/
Learn More About Clipped: https://www.hgtv.com/shows/clipped
Learn More About Mosaicultures Internacionales: http://mosaiculture.ca/?lang=en
Learn More About the Dollywood Food & Flower Festival: https://www.dollywood.com/themepark/Festivals/Flower-and-Food
Follow Susan McLeary on IG: https://www.instagram.com/passionflowersue/
Learn More About The Art of Wearable Flowers: https://susanmcleary.com/the-art-of-wearable-flowers
Start your free trial of discovery+: https://www.discoveryplus.com/hgtvobsessed
Find episode transcript here: https://hgtv-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/michael-urie-on-gardening-martha-stewart-flowers-come-to-dollywood
[MUSIC PLAYING] MARIANNE CANADA: Hello and welcome to HGTV Obsessed, your podcast for all things HGTV. Today's episode is all about-- are you ready for this? Extreme gardening. Oh yeah. It is so much more than pansies and petunias, you guys.
We're talking to people that take their plant skills to the next level. We have experts who create everything from life-like topiaries to monstrous mosaicultures, and even plants and flowers that you can wear. This as not your average gardening episode and I'm so thrilled for you guys to hear it.
I'm your host, Marianne Canada, executive producer and HGTV.com lifestyle expert. And when I'm not watching HGTV, you can find me making crafty videos for HGTV handmade, and, well, I mean, I thought I was a serious gardener, but turns out it's a pretty tame by this episode's standards.
Before we dive into our interviews, I would love it if you guys could take a moment to safely take out your phones, go to your podcast app, and quickly drop us a five star review. I'll give you a moment.
BRAD: Yeah, and we're celebrating because we have reached a milestone. This is producer Brad interrupting your flow, Marianne, to remind you that this is episode 20. It's a big deal.
MARIANNE CANADA: That's a big milestone, guys. Episode 20. So I'm just going to shamelessly ask you to rate and review us. So many thanks, as always. Let's dig into this episode because, first up, we have actor and host of the new Discovery Plus show, Clipped. Michael Urie is here to talk to us all about topiaries, working with Martha Stewart, I mean, we talk about the time I auditioned for Juilliard accidentally. We really go places in this interview.
Then I'm chatting with the assistant general manager of Mosaicultures Internationale, Johanne Mackay, all about how their company conceptualize and creates these larger than life plant sculptures. And guys, I know this may seem like a reach, but there's a Dolly Parton connection.
That's all I'm going to say. You're going have to listen to the podcast if you want to hear more. And then to polish it off we're talking to Susan McLeary, who's an award winning author and floral designer. And she is going to give us some accessible ways to make floral wearables that last all day.
I mean, it's summer it's flower crown season. There's got to be a festival somewhere, right? Let's start off with my interview with Michael Urie.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, Michael, I am so excited. I'm such a fan. I'm like a fan from your Ugly Betty days. I am a complete Broadway nerd, so this is just so exciting--
MICHAEL URIE: Oh, great.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah, it's so exciting to have you here.
MICHAEL URIE: Thank you. Well, I'm very happy to be here.
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, Michael, so I want to get right into it. You are the host of the brand new Discovery Plus show Clipped that just premiered yesterday. And this is a really new type of competition show, at least I've never seen anything like it.
MICHAEL URIE: [LAUGHS] It's definitely one of a kind, brand new. You never knew you needed this show until you see it. And then you won't be able to get-- you want it in your veins.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's so true. I never knew that the big hole in my life was a competitive topiary, but here we are. Can you share some details about the show?
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah, sure. So I, like, I think, many of the viewers and I think probably you, knew almost nothing-- I knew what a topiary was when this first came, my way because of Edward Scissorhands, as I-- and I don't even know if I knew immediately, but I knew, oh, OK, that's when you make a shrub into a thing.
But what I didn't know is that it is actually so much more than just clipping a piece of greenery into an object that you recognize. It is also making a shape out of metal mesh or other organic materials and then covering that shape. And it's actually two different skills.
And so, the really hard part about this competition is that you have to be good at both. You have to be able to not only turn something that already exists, a living thing that already exists into a shape or a character or an object, but you need to be able to start from nothing and create something that looks living. Looks like a living, organic object.
And that is what really blew my mind. I could wrap my head around, oh, you just like-- you take clippers and you go for it.
MARIANNE CANADA: You just snip, snip.
MICHAEL URIE: Snip, snap. It's like, yeah, you finished your Chia Pet and then you make it a little different. How different is it from cutting hair? But it's actually so much more. I mean, obviously, that is really complicated and that is something that I couldn't actually do, but the breadth of knowledge they have about organic materials, about flowers, and about different kinds of plants, and different colors of plants, and then how to create a shape.
They have to be so many-- they have to be engineers, they have to be kind of little architects, they have to be landscape designers, they have to be-- they have to be florists, they have to know so many different things. And then the other thing that is amazing about the show is like, it's a competition, right? For television.
And you can't just take your time. And at first I thought, my gosh, these are works of art. You don't put a clock on Picasso.
MARIANNE CANADA: Sure.
MICHAEL URIE: You don't like-- and we literally put a clock on these artists, these topiary artists. And then what I learned from Fernando Wong, one of our judges, and of course Martha Stewart, one of our other judges.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, we are going to talk about Martha.
MICHAEL URIE: I know, there we go. We got to get into Martha. But what I learned, specifically from Fernando who has a huge landscape business, is that no, no. When you're a topiary artist, you are on a clock. If you are being commissioned, you're on a clock.
And these are all-- all of these pieces are on a natural clock because they exist mostly outside, they are living things, or they're recently clipped things, and they have to be constantly maintained. And so that really changed my whole perspective about it. I was like, at first, I was on the side of the artist. I was like, don't make them rush. This is their art. Stop--
And it was always my job to go in and be like, 10 more minutes. And I was like, please don't make me do this. But actually, that is a thing. These are plants. They don't last forever, you are on a clock.
And so that-- when that sort of clicked in for me, the whole competition aspect became even more exciting. And these artists are, as you'll see when you see the show, they are absolutely incredible. And what they do is pretty mind blowing and fun. What they're creating is really fun.
You want to walk through them. You want to get up close to them. And I know the camera crew was absolutely incredible. I know that you'll feel like you're right there.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah, it's really fun. And you really do-- I feel like it's unique among reality competition, in that you really are rooting for everyone. You want them to succeed. You don't want them to have-- they're trying to make a topiary look like a fish and everyone's turning their head like-- What? What would you call that? A fish? You want them to succeed.
Now, I have to ask you. Are you personally into gardening or houseplants or did you come into this just like a total newbie?
MICHAEL URIE: I don't have a garden. I don't have-- I can't keep planting alive. My partner can, he has a few plants that he's kept alive and occasionally if he's away I'll have to take care of them. But no, I am not good with-- I have no green thumb.
My mother always had a garden. And my dad always kept a really great lawn. And my sister was even a farmer for a little while.
MARIANNE CANADA: Wow.
MICHAEL URIE: And I also think-- I sort of think, like my mom is also a great cook and I don't know how to cook. Sometimes when you grow up in a household where people are great at things, if you're not a natural, you don't pick it up because why bother? I'm not going to be like that. I'm not going to be able to do what they do, so I'll do my own thing.
And I love gardens, I love walking through gardens. And I'm so amazed when people do have wonderful plants. But no, I definitely was hired to be the guy who didn't know anything. My position on this show is definitely to ask the questions that the audience might ask. They have to sort of treat me like a layman because I truly am.
I really do not have a green thumb or a green anything. And so, I sort of take the position of learning as we go. And wanting all the information about why they're doing it, what they're doing, what that is, what is this thing, how did this get green? Why is this one purple? All those things that I didn't know.
It was funny because they would always be like, well, yeah, this is purple Spanish Moss. And I'm like--
MARIANNE CANADA: It's always purple.
[LAUGHTER]
MICHAEL URIE: That doesn't really help me, but OK, I guess I'm an idiot. I guess I should have known that since all of you are looking at me like I'm crazy. That was great for me. And when I got there-- actually, when I showed up to just to shoot the show, I was like, you guys know I don't know anything, right?
And they were like, no, we know. That's OK. That's why we wanted you. That's what you're here for. To be our eyes.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah.
MICHAEL URIE: To be the point of view of the audience.
MARIANNE CANADA: You have to be like the audience proxy because you're right. I mean, for this to be as accessible and entertaining as it is, you need that. Because if it's all just too granular and technical, I think a lot of people would check out.
So since you really were immersed, you were thrown into the world of topiary, of gardens sculpting, how accessible is this art form to the everyday person? Because I have to say, I am a gardener, I consider myself pretty good with plants, but now I'm realizing that I'm very vanilla in terms of my gardening skills.
MICHAEL URIE: Well, Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a real rude awakening for anyone who thinks they're a gardener when they meet these contestants. And obviously, Martha Stewart and Chris and Fernando, our other judges, they're just really good at this. They just know everything.
I mean, the amount of information in Martha Stewart's head is incredible. She knows everything.
MARIANNE CANADA: I can't.
MICHAEL URIE: Every plant that comes-- that shows up on set. She knew everything. And Chris too. I mean, they just knew. Everyone who watches this that thinks that they have a green thumb-- and if they're not a professional, they're probably going to think, I have so much to learn.
But what I think is accessible is that it's art. So it ultimately is a subjective thing. When you look at them, you don't necessarily have to know how to do it to know what you think of it, or to know what you feel about it.
The same way that when you watch American Idol or a cooking show, you can look at something and say, I want that, or you can hear something and say that pleases me. This is the same thing. You don't necessarily have to know how they did it to know if you like it. When somebody makes a dinosaur out of a bunch of organic materials, if it looks like a dinosaur and it pleases you, it scares you or delights you or whatever it does, then it works.
If somebody made-- I don't want to call anybody out, but if somebody made-- let's just use your example of a fish.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, that fish. From that first episode. It was rough.
MICHAEL URIE: If somebody made a fish and you can't tell it's a fish, then it didn't work. Or if somebody made something that, from one side, looked like a fish, but as soon as you rounded a corner suddenly it didn't look like anything. It looked like it was dying or-- then that's a problem.
And that was another really interesting thing, and what's great about this show, is that the cameras can go anywhere. And the judges would-- sometimes I would-- because I would see the works in progress, and then the judges would come in they would save the judges until something-- so I would see-- I would see something and I would be like, you know you really should walk around this one.
You should really like-- I know it looks good now, but you should really look at the back because I don't know if that's so good. [LAUGHS]
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah, I'm sure they're trying to cheat it like--
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah, right. Look at it from this side.
MARIANNE CANADA: Let's stay right here.
MICHAEL URIE: [LAUGHS] And I guess some topiary don't need to be viewable from all sides, depending on where they exist. But for our purposes, it was always interesting to be like-- there was sometimes when the contestants would sort of point you-- point it to you in a certain direction and I would say, you know what? It looks better over here. You should really--
I wasn't really allowed to weigh in on things because I was just the host, but I did sometimes-- I would sometimes nudge a judge and be like, it looks good from there, but it looks great from over there.
MARIANNE CANADA: I love that. Well, I think that's something that everyone loves about reality competitions. Is even if it is something nothing about, you get one episode in and suddenly you're like, oh, really don't know if I would have gone with--
MICHAEL URIE: [LAUGHS] That's pretty pitchy, dog. Pretty pitchy.
MARIANNE CANADA: Exactly. You're like, oh, really we're going with the sedum, and oh. Brave choice.
MICHAEL URIE: Exactly.
MARIANNE CANADA: Brave choice. You talked a little bit about how these competitions, they're timed, it's really intense. How was it being in the thick of things? Because you're there while they're just clipping away. You're not there for the calm after the storm when the judges come through, necessarily.
How intense did it get?
MICHAEL URIE: You feel it. You really feel the anxiety. And it's sort of like-- I guess I've watched these shows before, I've watched competition shows before. Being there, I realized-- and I always sort of was like, ah, they're making it seem more dramatic than it really is. Surely it's not that-- but you're there and it's really intense.
I mean, yeah, of course some things are manipulated for TV, but it's an intense thing. They are being timed and their work is not only going to be shown to Martha Stewart, it's going to be shown to everyone who wants to watch the show. And these are professionals.
So they can't put out bad work. They have their own careers. This is not going-- I mean, this will help-- if they win. I mean, all of them, I'm sure, we'll get a boost from their appearance on Clipped in their real jobs. But they don't want to be the person who blew it on Clipped. They don't want to be--
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah.
MICHAEL URIE: They want to be able to use Clipped as a calling card for their work. They don't want to try to sponge it from the internet, you know what I mean?
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes.
MICHAEL URIE: And so you really get the sense when they're working on their pieces and you're wander-- and when I would wander around and be like, five more minutes or whatever. Or check in and say, how's it going? How's it coming? How do you feel? There was a real anxiety.
They are very, very keen to do their best and to make sure that what they want is accurately depicted. And they also have to sort of-- they had to rely on each other. Sometimes they would be paired up and have to make something together, and that was another added conflict. But also, sometimes-- if they were in a position to choose a partner, they would choose a strength or choose someone-- try to sabotage somebody else.
Because there was also those kinds of power, things going into it. But then they also had to work with our incredible engineers, who would sort of help weld shapes together. Because sometimes they would have to weld, they would have to sort of create a shape out of metal. And they would be given a professional welder, so then they'd have to delegate and supervise. Which is a whole other skill.
And then you're relying on somebody else, also dealing with the ticking clock. And eventually, Martha Stewart's going to walk through and look at it. And she's not going to hold back. So the stakes are really, really high.
And also, we were outside. It was raining sometimes. It was cold sometimes. There was a lot of elements, which I guess is what they deal with in their real careers, you know I mean? If they're working outside on topiary for an event or for a garden. They got to deal with the elements.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah, I mean, that just goes with the territory, I guess. Without giving too much away, because the show just premiered, do you have a favorite competitor or just someone you think we should watch out for?
MICHAEL URIE: Gosh, I love them all for different reasons. And I got to know them all. That was the cool thing. You'll only see me interact-- I mean, you'll see me interact with them a lot in the show, but I was there a lot. And I really did get to know them.
And sometimes I would show up and they would be happy to see me, and sometimes they were not happy to see me because I come in like, we're trying something new. Or it meant like, I'm about to ruin your day because--
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah.
MICHAEL URIE: We would add a challenge or we would--
MARIANNE CANADA: Of course, of course.
MICHAEL URIE: I would make them put their clippers down or whatever. But I took a liking to Juan right away. Juan did this incredible turtle. The very first challenge, he created a turtle out of a yew tree. And they didn't have that much time and the resources for what he wanted to do, they didn't necessarily lend themselves to that.
Because a yew tree is shaped not unlike a Christmas tree, and he wanted to make a turtle. He had to add pieces to the top because he had what he needed at the bottom of the tree, but at the top of the tree he couldn't create the--
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah, the flippers.
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah, he'd have to add the flippers and the head, and he did. And it didn't-- I thought it was magical. I mean, it totally blew my mind. It was a little rough around the edges. From some angles to really look like a turtle, but when that happened-- that was the first day and I was like, this guy's amazing.
And I didn't know that was possible. And those are all like, oh, I see that. Oh, yeah, that looks like-- that's topiary. That's cool. Those are really good. But that turtle, I just didn't know that was possible.
MARIANNE CANADA: It just spoke to you, huh?
MICHAEL URIE: It really did. And then his next challenge, I believe the next-- the carousel, he did a seahorse.
MARIANNE CANADA: Mm-hmm.
MICHAEL URIE: And I was like, OK, this guy gets-- everybody's putting together a horse, I think Meghan did a stag, which is really amazing. But this guy's thinking on a different level. He made a seahorse. He made something that's-- he saw a carousel and knew that we had to put horses all around it, and he said, well, mine's going to be underwater.
And in my mind, I was like, oh, Juan's making his turtle a friend. They're going to hang out in the water and--
MARIANNE CANADA: Just a whole story here.
MICHAEL URIE: I know. I wrote the whole thing. So that kind of ingenuity was always really exciting to me, when you could just tell like, oh, they got inspired to make that. They were-- that spoke to them. He looked at that yew tree and saw a turtle. And he made it.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's incredible.
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's incredible. Well, I mean, I work for HGTV, I'm a crafter. We have got to talk about Martha Stewart, my queen. What was it like meeting and working with literal royalty, as close as we get in the States?
MICHAEL URIE: [LAUGHS]
MARIANNE CANADA: I mean is Martha-- does she live up to the hype?
MICHAEL URIE: I will say that Martha 100% lives up-- actually, she exceeded the hype for me because I really-- I love an HGTV show. I love a Martha Stewart segment, I'm a fan of her CBD gummies.
MARIANNE CANADA: Same.
[LAUGHTER]
MICHAEL URIE: I've always loved Martha. I think it's so fun how she's friends with Snoop. I just think she's cool. But I didn't really, really know her or get her. Watching her make television, like working with her, because it was work. We were working together.
Watching her figure out how to explain something to the audience or to a contestant or to me, if I had a question. You just know-- you just see right away that's why she is who she is. She's able to spin something very complicated, that's very complicated about the way something is made or about the use of a certain organic material or a particular kind of plant or the origins of a kind of topiary, she has all that information. And she's able to make it accessible to me, laymen, to the audience watching at home.
And then also, put it in a soundbite in a complete sentence. That's the other thing that's so amazing about her. She doesn't just know how to make sense, she knows how to make it interesting and have a hook.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah.
MICHAEL URIE: And leave you wanting more. All those things that good television does. You just want to know what Martha thinks. And it's just like, when you have someone like her on set, first of all, everything runs great. [LAUGHS]
MARIANNE CANADA: I bet.
MICHAEL URIE: When there's Martha around. And everyone's at their best. She just makes everyone better. She just makes everyone a little bit more alive, a little bit more creative. Maybe a little nervous, even though she's actually quite easygoing and quite cool. Fun. Laughs a lot, giggles. Wants to know about everyone.
She's very curious. I mean, I'm sure that's why-- that's part of what makes her so incredible, is that she's very curious about how things work and why things are done certain ways and why you made that choice and--
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, and she's tough, but it's never unkind.
MICHAEL URIE: Oh, no.
MARIANNE CANADA: She just wants you to understand her criticism and feedback. I mean, she's the queen, she's a legend for a reason.
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah. Oh, yeah. And she was doing, like, four other shows at the same-- it's like one morning we were like, oh, where's Martha? She's on the Today Show. Oh, OK. Where's Martha today? Oh, she's doing her show at her house with that crew.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh my gosh.
MICHAEL URIE: She's so busy.
MARIANNE CANADA: Incredible. Speaking of busy, you are a very busy man. And a man of many talents. We have not even gotten into your Broadway career yet.
And actually, there's some good news. I just heard about Broadway, that it's coming back, September 14th. Is that right? I mean, I've got all my fingers crossed.
MICHAEL URIE: I mean, I hope that holds because right now 100% capacity based on the current rules is still only 25%. So that's 100% of 25%. And that is not economically possible for Broadway. That's--
MARIANNE CANADA: You can't pay the rent for that.
MICHAEL URIE: Right.
MARIANNE CANADA: I'm hoping that we're going to figure out a way, like they did with Hamilton, to get Broadway out to more people. Because it is-- I mean, so many people don't have access to it at all.
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah, I mean, I've been a part of a lot of Zoom theater over the last year. For example, more than a year ago now I did this one-man play that I had done Off-Broadway and on tour all over the place. We did it in the living room, right here.
MARIANNE CANADA: Wow.
MICHAEL URIE: And it was seen by 10,000 people or something-- some crazy number. That's way more people than I ever did it for on any given night. The first theater I did it in was 100 seats, so you can do the math of how many shows I'd have to do to reach 10,000 people.
And we did it with one show, one night.
MARIANNE CANADA: Wow. I mean, nothing will ever replace live theater, but I am hopeful that we just are going to find a way to and make it more sustainable and more accessible for people.
MICHAEL URIE: Well, and that's what-- people who watch Hamilton, I mean, obviously, maybe people who watch Hamilton on Disney+ will think, oh I did. I saw it. But really what I hope it does, and certainly what watching the PBS great performances capture of Into The Woods when I was a kid--
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes.
MICHAEL URIE: It didn't make me-- it didn't--
MARIANNE CANADA: It didn't satisfy you.
MICHAEL URIE: It didn't satisfy. I loved it, I watched it over and over again.
MARIANNE CANADA: It just makes you want to go see it.
MICHAEL URIE: It made me want to go to New York.
MARIANNE CANADA: Michael, I could talk to you about theater forever. We'll just start our separate theater podcast, but we're running out of time. We'll have to get you to come back and then I can tell you how I accidentally auditioned for Juilliard. It's really quite a story.
MICHAEL URIE: Oh. Can you give me the quick one?
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, I was not planning to audition and my friend begged and begged for me to come with her. I mean, I lived in New York. I was half-assedly trying to be an actress. And she begged and begged me to come with her.
And it was straight out of-- was it Fame or something? I went and we did the audition together and she got cut in the first round, and I got to go to the next round. And I was doing like-- I was doing a monologue from college. It was The Seagull.
I'm doing like Russian theater monologue, not prepared. And I got through and she didn't. And then she didn't talk to me anymore. And I was like--
MICHAEL URIE: Oh.
MARIANNE CANADA: You know what?
MICHAEL URIE: Was your fault? That's not fair.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yeah.
MICHAEL URIE: That's not--
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, we were 22. Right?
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah, right.
MARIANNE CANADA: What can you do?
I know you've got to go in a moment, but we can't let you leave without having give us your two cents in one of our favorite segments, Defend the Trend.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MICHAEL URIE: OK.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes, so we cannot pass the first Monday in May without talking about your iconic Met Gala look from 2019. It literally was our inspiration picture when we were putting together the episode.
MICHAEL URIE: Aw.
MARIANNE CANADA: The theme was camp and you owned this incredible, kind of Victor-Victoria dual look of half pink accordion gown and half snappy pinstripe suit. It was a sight to behold. So let's say we take this campy theme into interiors. What are your thoughts on kitschy over-the-top interior design?
Are you into it? Or does it give you a headache? I'm kind of looking at your place behind you and I'm thinking you don't lean to the kitschy.
MICHAEL URIE: So it's a lot of set pieces from shows I was on. [LAUGHS]
MARIANNE CANADA: Amazing.
MICHAEL URIE: That I've taken with me. That desk was Vanessa Williams' desk on Ugly Betty.
MARIANNE CANADA: [GASPS] No.
MICHAEL URIE: Yeah.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh my gosh.
MICHAEL URIE: It's actually a dining table, but we sort of-- Ryan and I share it as a desk. This rug was Betty's rug. So when we moved into this apartment, it was when Ugly Betty was ending. And so we sort of started with that table and built around it.
I sort of think and-- this is not professionally done, we did this ourselves. And we've been here for many years now and it's always been, how do we make it work for us? Because we're in an apartment in Manhattan. We don't have much space.
You've just seen most of the apartment.
[LAUGHTER]
There's a bedroom in another room in the back and this is basically it. So how do we make the space work for us? How do we make it comfortable? How do we make it cozy? How can we have a dinner party? How can we have a movie watching party?
The things that we want to be able to do, how can we have a game night? And then how can we be able to both be here-- he's in the other room on a Zoom too. It's like, how can we make all of that work, but also look great? We also want people to come in and say that they love it and that they were impressed.
But I do think that there are ways of, I think, if you keep your clutter, if you keep your crazy contained, then you feel that. You feel like I have a tchotchke shelf where Ryan lets me keep all the little things. Or we have-- there's not a ton of storage here, so we have a rolling metal rack where we have so many pots and pans and plates and they're just spilling out all over the place.
And then our living room is very clean, very simple, and very tidy. And there's almost nothing in our bedroom. Which is not unlike what Christian Siriano did with that look, which was like, you can be more than one thing at the same time, in the same body. Or more than one thing at the same time in the same home.
And they can sort of-- the thing with Christian in that outfit, the first thing he said was-- because I had never been to the Met Gala. And I knew Christian because he had been-- he had played himself on Ugly Betty--
MARIANNE CANADA: Right.
MICHAEL URIE: But I hadn't seen him in years and it was great to see him again. And I met him and we sat down and he said, well, what do you think? And I was like, well, and I had some weird, wild ideas. And I was like, what do you think?
And he's like, I think you're half man, half woman. And of course, it's very intimidating going to the Met Gala. And I knew I was in good hands with him. And I also-- he also was really collaborative. And he and he said, how does this land on you? What does this mean to you and how does this-- and I said, I think my instinct is that if one side is masc and one side is femme that that's not the end of it.
And that's how we came up with the idea that the femme side, the dress, was actually the masc.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes.
MICHAEL URIE: So the part of me that was wearing a dress had a beard, had tattoos, and wore a combat boot. And the part of me that wore the tux had frilly hair and makeup and a heel. So that's when it really meshed for me and really became-- I felt like we were actually together, the two were together. And the two were both me.
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, it was just an incredible look. And we will-- I'm going to see if we can get an image of that and put it in the show notes at HGTV.com/podcast so everyone can see. And that's a great answer, we all contain multitudes. There's room for clean and sleek, and there's room for kitsch.
Michael, where can we follow you on social media and where can we watch Clipped?
MICHAEL URIE: Clipped is-- you can watch Clipped right now on Discovery+. And you can find me on all the socials. Sometimes I neglect them, I apologize.
MARIANNE CANADA: Fair.
MICHAEL URIE: But sometimes I'm there. If you need me, you can find me. But I'm there on well, not all of them. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I'll go there from time to time. And Clipped, our big 90 minute premiere of clip is on Discovery+ as of yesterday, so you can go watch it right now. And new episodes will be coming soon.
And you got to watch them all or you won't know who is the Clipped champion and who walks away with $50,000.
MARIANNE CANADA: Can't wait. I can't wait to find out. Thank you so much. We love you. Oh my gosh.
MICHAEL URIE: It was really fun.
MARIANNE CANADA: Please come back.
MICHAEL URIE: This was a pleasure.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARIANNE CANADA: I just feel like that conversation with Michael went so many places. It made my heart sing. I got to talk about Broadway, I got to talk about when I used to be a theater person, an aspiring theater person. I just love him so much and I really like his approach to leaving some room in your space for some of the more kitschy, quirky things.
I have to say, I'm not a kitschy person.
BRAD: Me neither. [LAUGHS] Of course, I am. I literally--
MARIANNE CANADA: I was like, you literally have-- we've discussed your comic book wall.
BRAD: I am probably the most kitsch person on the planet. I mean, that's just what I do. I just like what I like, and I like comic books and nerdy things. And I want to put them up, I want to display them.
But I want to do it in a fun way that's not just like-- doesn't look like junk. It looks like it's well taken care of and it looks like it's on display purposefully.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's intentional. That's the word. That's the word you're looking for. Not just junky. No, I think that's great. I think there's definitely room for that.
I'm just not that girl. I have never been-- I've never been, really, a collector. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I need to-- maybe I need to challenge myself and open myself up to a little kitsch. You know what I could get on board with? Is like a full on tiki bar in my pool area.
BRAD: A tiki bar. I would love to help you create this tiki bar.
MARIANNE CANADA: I mean, I just feel like tiki drinks and tiki culture is really having a moment right now and I love all of the fun glassware. And I love a good-- give me a Singapore Sling or-- I'm listening. So maybe that'll be-- maybe that will be how I embrace the kitsch in my life.
BRAD: That's a fun, fun idea. I love it.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's fun. Brad's onboard. Bartender Brad is on board with all of my tiki dreams. But anyway, we've talked to topiaries and now we're moving on to mosaicultures. And it's rare that I really learn something completely new in one of these episodes, but I knew nothing about mosaicultures.
They're like topiary's big brother. We're talking to the assistant general manager of Mosaiculture International, Johanne Mackay, all about the art and science behind mosaicultures, and their latest exhibit right here in East Tennessee at the Dollywood Flower and Food Festival. So here's my interview with Johanne.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Johanne, it's so lovely to have you here with us today. So you are the assistant general manager of Mosaicultures International. And I know the first thing everyone is going to want to know is what exactly is a mosaiculture?
JOHANNE MACKAY: First of all, thank you. I'm very glad to be here with you in the Smoky Mountain. It is so beautiful and I was here last year, and I'm back this year and I'm so happy. So thank you very much again, everyone of you.
MARIANNE CANADA: Welcome.
JOHANNE MACKAY: Mosaiculture, if you want to learn about that, it's a bit complicated because the most of the people are not making the difference between mosaiculture and topiary. And I would say I'm a French Quebeckers, mosaiculture, in French, is a word that is pretty well known, but there's no real translation in English.
So that's another reason why the people, when they talk about mosaiculture, they understand topiary. But it's not. So mosaiculture, it's a living plant, who are installed on the structure, a metal structure frame. And then it can live there for all the period that the climatic conditions allow.
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, and they're so beautiful and can be quite large because you are working on that metal frame, that metal structure, versus a topiary, where you're limited by the size of the plant that you're sculpting.
What is your background? How did you come into this line of work?
JOHANNE MACKAY: First of all, I will explain to you why, effectively, usually, mosaiculture are very big. And it's not because of the structure, metal structure, but it's because of the mosaiculture itself that needs big structure. What I mean is that when you do conception, it's in three dimension.
And if you want to have detail, you have to be bigger. If you want to see a face in the mosaiculture, if it's small, you won't be able to obtain a nice face. So that's one of the reasons they are big when we are creating it. And also, the more they are big, you get a better interaction between the people and the structure itself. Because it attracts the people.
The founder of Mosaiculture is Madame Lise Cormier. She is a specialized landscape architect. And she used to be the Green Park manager at the city of Montreal. Lise had the idea to redo mosaiculture because it's an old art that has been left off by many countries in the 90 years because of the fact that it is very, very complicated and it is expensive to maintain and to build.
So she had this idea, and this is how mosaiculture reborn. Lise is really the founder and she is the artist and the soul of mosaiculture. And I am there more for the management side.
MARIANNE CANADA: I see.
JOHANNE MACKAY: So we do a good team together.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes, it sounds like an amazing partnership. And now here you are, all the way from Montreal, here in East Tennessee where you and your team have created this incredible exhibition at Dollywood. Which, if you guys aren't aware of Dollywood, it's Dolly Parton's theme park in the Smoky Mountains.
How did this partnership come about? I know you said this is the second year in a row you've come down here.
JOHANNE MACKAY: Yes.
MARIANNE CANADA: So I have to ask you, because Dolly Parton is really the patron saint of this area, are you a Dolly Parton fan?
JOHANNE MACKAY: Oh, yes. And I can tell you that we become a little bit more since we are doing business with them. Yes. This is one of the reason, why when we came here, when we came back to Montreal, to really absorb the Dollywood Park and the theme and all that. Me and Lise looked at all of what we can see on the internet about Dolly Parton.
Because if you listen to her song, you listen it, it's, oh, it's fine, it's good. But you have to go further than that.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes.
JOHANNE MACKAY: And that's what we have done. And Lise is a fan, also, of Dolly Parton, so yeah.
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, it's impossible to come to Dollywood and not just be fully enveloped in everything about Dolly.
JOHANNE MACKAY: And when you read about her, it's incredible how she is an icon of a strong woman. And we can feel that she has worked hard to get there. So she is a very, very good model. And not only for women.
And it's really interesting, I must say that to you, because this year we have an article, Theresa Young, article, Theresa with us, which is very, very good, in the maintenance of the mosaiculture and she's there because I think it's important that the people of Dollywood get the information and get used to how we maintain the mosaiculture.
And she discovered Dolly Parton and she said to me, and she's really young.
MARIANNE CANADA: Mm-hmm.
JOHANNE MACKAY: And she said to me, Johanne, it's incredible this woman. All of what she've done. I would like to meet her. Do you think I will be able to meet her on site? I said, mm, I don't think so, but I'm sure that you will see her everywhere. [LAUGHS]
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes, that is true. You are surrounded by her spirit. I mean, she's truly one of the most inspirational people on the planet. I'm just going to go out and put it on the bucket list for the podcast, to get Dolly Parton on the podcast. I'm going to manifest that, speak it into reality.
So I was able to walk around some before we spoke and saw several of the pieces, and one of them is this-- speaking of Dolly Parton's music-- it's this incredible mosaiculture of her mother weaving a coat of many colors, like in the song. And it just touched me, it feels so special. What is the process of taking this from an idea to an actual installation?
JOHANNE MACKAY: Well, it started, first of all, when we exchange with the Dolly team. And we have seen the movie, we have heard, a lot of time, the music. And Lise, this is really her that creates the model. She always tried to find a way to transpose emotion in the mosaiculture.
And then after, we transpose what Lise has created in a 3D model. And this is where we start to do the structure. On mosaiculture, what is different then on to the topiary is the fact that we use different type of plants.
MARIANNE CANADA: Mm-hmm.
JOHANNE MACKAY: And the type of plants are used for the color, but also for their structure.
MARIANNE CANADA: Mm-hmm.
JOHANNE MACKAY: It gives us different stricture. So depending how you use it, you can make shadow, you can make it, a part more strong. So it's very, very important and that makes a difference. So that's the way we constructed the Dolly Parton mother's multicolor coat. And we are very, very proud of it.
And this year, it is so wonderful because they put music. And also they put Dolly Parton speaking.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, that's wonderful.
JOHANNE MACKAY: Yes, it is.
MARIANNE CANADA: It's so special. It's truly a-- it's such a rich experience--
JOHANNE MACKAY: Yeah.
MARIANNE CANADA: To see it. And I'm just so happy that you all are doing this hard work to keep this art form alive. And really, if any of you listening are in the area, I highly recommend coming by Dollywood during their Flower and Food Festival. It's running through June 7th.
Johanne, it's just been such a pleasure to talk to you and to see your incredible work. For those of you who, maybe, are feeling left out and can't make the trip to Dollywood this spring, we will have all of the photos of the beautiful mosaicultures at Dollywood at HGTV.com/podcast.
Johanne, this was so great. Thank you so much.
JOHANNE MACKAY: Thank you so much. And thank you so much Dollywood.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARIANNE CANADA: Fun fact, our interview at Dollywood was our first ever on-location interview. We've been in the Zoom life this entire time. And I have to say, getting to go to Dollywood when it was not really open to the public and having the park to ourself was kind of a dream.
BRAD: It was a special treat. It was just fun to be around people again, but be around people and in Dollywood? It was magical.
MARIANNE CANADA: I know. Be around a selective number of people, that's honestly the way I prefer to do all theme parks. [LAUGHS] Is a handful of selected people. And you know what else was a treat? The cinnamon bread. If you--
BRAD: Oh my gosh, Marianne, I didn't even know about the cinnamon bread and you told me about it. And now it's like my life before I had cinnamon bread and then my life after cinnamon bread.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes, I mean, if you all have never been to Dollywood, which, first of all, it is truly-- I'm really not a theme park person, but--
BRAD: Me neither.
MARIANNE CANADA: Dollywood is really special. The food is really great and now they're having this amazing festival that's so fun with these incredible mosaiculture sculptures. But that cinnamon bread. We all sat down and ate an entire loaf of bread. I'm not even ashamed of it.
BRAD: I mean, it was just an endorphin party. Just happiness constantly. Every single bite.
MARIANNE CANADA: Sugar, carbs, flowers, what more do you need? If you guys want to check out the Dollywood Flower and Food Festival, it's going on right now through June 7th. They have over a half a million blooming flowers, a culinary passport, and of course, mosaicultures. It's truly-- I've never seen anything like it.
All right, our last guest today-- this is really, I have to say, a jam packed episode. I am super excited about. She takes floral design to a whole new level and creates flowers and plants you can wear. We talk to her about making your own floral wearables and how to get them to last, plus so much more. So here is my conversation with Susan McLeary.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Susan, thank you so much for joining us today.
SUSAN MCLEARY: Thank you for having me.
MARIANNE CANADA: Susan, you are an award winning floral designer who really pushes the boundaries of how we think about floral art. And your skills stretch beyond I think what people would immediately think about with floral design centerpieces. And you really are into wearable flowers. Can you share how you started experimenting with floral accessories?
SUSAN MCLEARY: Certainly. So before I was a florist I had a hobby making intricate pearl and glass jewelry. And that was my primary hobby. Friends started getting married and I was making jewelry for friends, and then one friend asked me to do her wedding flowers.
So I have this previous jewelry hobby and a love of fashion and accessory design, and then I fell in love with flowers. So it took me a few years to kind of weave those two loves together, but I eventually did. I started making accessories out of floral and botanicals. And just felt like I was really, really exploring my true artistic passion. Really kind of folding everything together that I was interested in.
MARIANNE CANADA: Well, and now you have this gorgeous book. It's called The Art of Wearable Flowers. It's truly stunning and it includes detailed how to's on everything from flower crowns to even a succulent ring. Does one need an extensive garden or knowledge of flowers to be able to create some of the projects that are in your book?
SUSAN MCLEARY: No. So there's a range of projects. There's really simple and approachable projects, smaller projects. And then we included some more intricate or more advanced, I guess, projects, if you will, for florists. But no, you don't need an extensive knowledge of plants.
I tried to choose things that are relatively easy to get, so you'll recognize a lot of the materials from your farmer's market or from even going to a high end grocery store. And then there's plenty of succulent projects in the book. So if you have a greenhouse that you frequent, you can find these plants readily.
MARIANNE CANADA: And succulents are just so adorable. I feel like, who wouldn't want to wear a succulent? If you could choose a favorite accessory from the book for a beginner to try, what direction would you point them in?
SUSAN MCLEARY: Yeah, there's two that come to mind. The floral ring because it's just this beautiful, little ring base that's easy to find. And I share all my resources in the book as well. And it has this bezel cup, so you kind of plant your little floral garden in this bezel cup.
So it's a fun project for anyone, any age. And approachable and really satisfying when you're done, enjoying the ring when you wear it out and enjoy it. And the flowers pass, you can pluck the flowers out and kind of repot it as you like.
And the other one is the hyacinth hoop earrings. Those have been really popular and I love seeing people share the earrings that they're making, mostly on Instagram. But yeah, that's just as simple as threading hyacinth pips onto a hoop earring, and then you have something really extraordinary but really simple and easy to make.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, and so fragrant. I imagine that that's really special. I love this, it's like a twist on a corsage. It's kind of modernizing the concept of a corsage. Obviously, after the past year we've had, I feel like the coming year, we're really going to see like events picking back up. And I can just imagine they're going to be a lot of DIY flower crowns or floral head pieces being made.
Can you give us some tips on the best flowers and greenery to use for something like a floral crown and maybe any flowers to stay away from?
SUSAN MCLEARY: Sure, thinking about people who aren't florists and where they frequent, so during the summer months my favorite place to send people is the farmer's market. So I don't only go to the flower growers when I go to the farmer's market, I also go to the herb growers. Even the produce people.
You can find thyme and rosemary and sage. Gosh, there's so many hearty herbs that really last out of water beautifully. And then for the potted plants, things like fuchsia or things like begonia are wonderful. And things like lavender, just think about flowers that lasts a long time.
If you walk through a greenhouse you might see some broken begonia as you're walking, and it looks beautiful just sitting there without being attached to the plant. So I just try to be really observant and kind of start recording what flowers do well and where I can find them. And then I point people who aren't florists in those directions.
MARIANNE CANADA: So smart. And what about maybe some things to avoid? I speak personally because I know when I got married so many years ago we did gardenia corsages for my grandmother's. And I knew-- we did photographs straight away because I knew the second they hugged someone those gardenias would just turn brown.
SUSAN MCLEARY: Yes, some flowers are-- I mean, they're fleeting, but they're worth it. Like a gardenia has such an emotional connection for people, so I feel like don't shy away from those flowers, just be aware of their limitations. And like you said, take the pictures first. [LAUGHS] And then as people hug you, like the Lily of the Valley, the gardenia, the camellias, they'll get bruised.
So when I do weddings I usually make a backup boutonniere and a backup flower crown for the couple. So even if I'm using things that are fleeting, they can go and refresh themselves after they hug everyone. And then they have a fresh crown, a fresh boutonniere, a fresh corsage to wear for the reception.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, that's such a good tip. That, honestly, in all my years, and I've done wedding flowers, it would never occur to me to just make a backup. That's so smart.
Is there a specific way, as you're sourcing the plants and flowers for these unique wearable pieces, is there a way that you cut and gather these plants and flowers that ensures they will stay fresh as long as possible? And how do you care for them throughout the day to make sure they don't shrivel or brown?
SUSAN MCLEARY: There's a traditional hydrating step. And I've called it the "hydration chamber" now and it's really taking off. I've been talking about this so much with florists. But it's really as simple as gathering your flowers, cutting them, letting them drink like you normally would, through their stems. And then the next day, after they've had 24 hours to drink through their stems, you cut them and layer them in an airtight container that's lined with damp paper towel or even newspaper.
And you spray them with water. So that you're allowing them to drink through the surface of their petals, stems, and leaves, through all those little pores. And that injects them with moisture. So not only drinking through their stems, they're now drinking through the surface. So that sets them up to perform better for an event.
So a flower crown treated in this way will last twice as long as a flower crown that's just allowed to drink through their stems and then cut and designed. So I do that for all of my wearables now. It's kind of like the mister in the grocery store that mists all the herbs and the lettuces and keeps them plump.
It's the same concept, but, really, it's transformative. And so simple. And anybody can do it.
MARIANNE CANADA: Yes, it's like a little facial for your flowers. I love that. I love the idea of creating these pieces. It's obviously an exercise in patience. You have to be gentle, you have to be delicate, you have to take your time. You have to be present.
They don't last forever and their beauty is enjoyed for a short period of time. Do you have a favorite piece that you've created in the past that you wish you could preserve forever?
SUSAN MCLEARY: I do. One of the projects in the book, maybe my favorite one, is a carnation petal bustier. It took quite a few hours to make. I used, gosh, I think over 1,000 carnations. And I cut all the petals from the bloom heads. And I organized them by size.
And then I meticulously made the bustier and this kind of shoulder piece, this artful over the top shoulder piece, with the carnation petals. And carnations are very long lasting, but obviously, this piece couldn't last forever. But it really looked like ruffled crepe fabric. And I just wanted to keep it and put it in my closet and look at it.
MARIANNE CANADA: Oh, fantastic. And if those of you listening want to see this incredible work of floral art, Susan has very generously given us some photos that you can find in the show notes at HGTV.com/podcast.
Well, this has been a delight. It's been such a nice conclusion to this episode that's all about constructing things out of plants and flowers, big and small. I feel like we've gone down to the very smallest and most delicate. Susan, where can we find you on social media and, by all means, where can we buy your book?
SUSAN MCLEARY: You can find me on Instagram mostly, @passionflowersue. And in my profile, there's a link to my website and you can find where to buy my book there. And I also have supplementary links. I have a link, unreliable, so that's a list of plants and foliages that lend themselves to this work.
So that's a nice little resource for you as well if you're just getting comfortable with the plant world.
MARIANNE CANADA: That's great. Everybody needs to just go out and make themselves a flower crown this summer. Thank you so much. I hope that we can have you back again soon.
SUSAN MCLEARY: Thank you so much.
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MARIANNE CANADA: You know, I have to say, this makes me just want to make a flower crown this weekend for no reason. Just casual house flower crown. I think you should too, because why not? Vases, totally overrated.
Well, everyone, I hope you enjoyed this episode all about alternative gardening. I mean, we really went from larger than life mosaicultures all the way down to teeny, tiny succulent rings. If you want to see pictures of the amazing things we talked about head over to HGTV.com/podcast for the show notes.
We have an incredible slideshow of the Dollywood Flower and Food Festival. And you got to see it to believe it. You can really think outside of the box with your plant possibilities, if we've learned anything today.
I want to give a special thanks to our guest Michael Urie of Clipped, Johanne Mackay of Mosaicultures International, and Susan McLeary, florist and author of The Art of Wearable Flowers. Don't forget to tune into clipped on Discovery+. It is streaming right now, the 90 minute season premiere was, I mean, man, it tugs at the heartstrings.
It's a real adventure. You can learn more about all of our guests by checking out our show notes, again, at HGTV.com/podcast. And as usual, if you loved today's episode please head over to Apple Podcasts to rate and review HGTV Obsessed. I want five stars.
Don't forget to follow HGTV Obsessed wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. And I will see you guys next Thursday.
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