Radiant Orchid 2014 Colour of the Year

As you may have already read, pantone has announced "Radiant Orchid' purple as the colour of the year for 2014. Pantone describes: "Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health."

There is a currently a good selection of purple flowers available, but with its popularity increasing there will be even more choices coming to market. One of the recent additions that I have seen are Florigene Carnations available in various purple shades.  I had an order for some arrangements this month with the color purple being the main focus.
 

Low and long table centrepiece. Florigene carnations in light and dark purple, green fuji mum, yellow commercial mum and yellow carnations

This one sided arrangement contains campanula (bell flower family), liatris, green fuji mum, yellow carnations and purple lisianthus

Large focal arrangement bursting with pussy willow branches, campanula, liatris, green fuji mum, yellow commercial mum, Florigene purple carnations, yellow carnations, lisianthus and yellow mini gerbera

Tropical Lovers

During the month of March I had a few birthday arrangements where the flowers of choice were tropicals.  I chose to make these large arrangements with Ginger, Anthuriums and Leucadendron Safari.

Canada Blooms 2014

Over the years, I have attended Canada Blooms to get inspired and it is a nice break from the long winter.  Although I have not attended every year, I had heard from a few people that the show seems to be getting smaller every year. Canada Blooms was held at the same time as the National Home Show and your ticket got you into both events.  I spent about 2 hours browsing through the Canada Blooms section. The show did seem smaller than I remember from previous visits. Here is a glimpse into my favourites.

The various garden displays all featured spring flowers in full bloom (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc).  Several of the gardens featured children's playgrounds and furniture carved out of tree truncks.

I enjoyed walking through the various gardens on display.  Maybe I was not looking hard enough or maybe it was because the theme for this years show was "wild" and therefore I was expecting more unusual things, but not a lot stood out to me in the gardens.  One exception was this table that was incorporated as part of a waterfall.  Rather unique.

For me, the most creative items were in the flower catwalk....mannequins draped in floral outfits.

 

Some of the other designer floral arrangements that I liked included:

 There was a "Pick Ontario" area that featured a variety of plants that are locally grown from various growers.  One of the plants featured was the "Crispy Wave" Japanese Asplenium fern.  Its wave reminds be of cooked bacon strip and its texture is plastic like. Boasts to be a natural air purifier.  I purchased one for my home $10 each.  For more info visit:  http://www.aerifyplants.com/