Heliconia

The heliconia family consists of over 100 species. Many species of Heliconia are found in rainforests or tropical wet forests. Featured below is Heliconia Wagneriana, commonly also referred to as 'lobster-claws'. These stunning heliconias have been grouped with tropical leaves and a strelitzia (bird-of-paradise). Always a WOW reaction when delivered to customer.

 

Pink Gerbera

"Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl" was the focus of this arrangement (pink gerbera, yellow carnations, pink/white snapdragons and novelty chrysanthemums

Gerbera, sorbonne lilies, galpini leucadendron and hypericum berries

Tropical Breeze

In the middle of this long and cold winter, I find myself longing for a tropical climate.  The closest that I could come to the tropics this week, was to go into the greenhouse and pick some birds of paradise which are currently blooming.  Although the temperature is still cold outside, these tropical flowers bring an extra ray of sunshine into my kitchen.

These flowers are so dramatic on their own, that only a few monstera leaves were added.

Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arranging) arrangement.  Bird of paradise, sorbonne lilies and  monstera leaf.

Pretty Pastels

This past weekend, I created some arrangements for an event held at Mark McEwan's Fabbrica restaurant in Don Mills.  The client wanted the arrangements to be in pastel colours as the celebration was in honour of a young child.

These were the centre pieces for the dinner table. (Hydrangea, mini gerbera, freesia, off white spray roses, sorbonne lilies, yellow carnations, small green chrysanthemum, green hypericum berries and variegated pittosporum.

These taller arrangements complemented the centre pieces on the display tables.
(Carnations, snapdragon, gerbera, sorbonne lilies, spray roses, small green chrysanthemum, galpinii leucadendron, freesia and a variety of greens.)

Pink Infusion

There is nothing like some bright flowers to warm up a winter day. A perfect birthday arrangement.

Gerbera, roses, green chrysanthemums, galpinii leucadendron, green hypericum berry with monstera and milky way aspidestra leaves.

Christmas Flower Arrangements

Fresh flowers during the holiday season can brighten up a specific spot in your home or add some extra colour to a table setting.  Although the traditional colours of red and white are still extremely popular, some choose flowers to tie in with a specific colour theme.  Here are some of my creations from this holiday season. (for more detail information, see the Christmas floral arrangements page.)

Decorating for the holidays - Outdoor Pots

Decorating our homes' entrance is the start of holiday decorating for me.  This includes lights around my shrubs/trees and

decorating my pots. You can purchase a pre-made insert that will fit into your urn or you can have your pots decorated on site utilizing soil already in your containers.

Urn containers can be made in different sizes.  Here is a sample of a large pre-made urn container that would then just be inserted into an urn or pot.

I have very large pots in the front of my house so I decorated them using the existing soil. There are so many choices when it comes to choosing your evergreens.  I recommend using at least 3 different evergreens to add contrasting texture and colour thus giving it more dimension. I used white pine as my base evergreen and then added from there. I chose birch poles and red dogwood as my stems for the center. Once the evergreens are done it is time to add some accent items to fill gaps and add additional colour.  Accent items can range from specialty greens like Magnolia leaves or Eucalyptus to pine cones and glitter branches to fruits to outdoor balls and decorations.  The choice is yours.

Here are some samples of outdoor pots that are natural looking and will last the holiday season as well as throughout the winter months.

Don't forget a wreath or swag for your front door. I made a fairly simple fresh greens one for our front door seen here.

If you prefer a little more of a festive look add decorations (keep in mind that in our Eastern Canadian climate whatever you stick in the soil will end up frozen there until spring thaw. I suggest anchoring your decorations in a way that you can remove after the holiday season).

Lights can also be added for some extra sparkle.

A simple wreath using fresh greens.