Clivia

Do you know Clivia? Clusters of vibrant yellow throated, orange or salmon trumpet flowers. A few choice varieties bloom in bright red, yellow or cream but these are not always available.
The flowers are held on stalks above the clump of dark green strap-like leaves.

They are just stunning. Very easily grown plants that every year  happily blossom in the shady spot and brighten up the early spring garden. For some reason I've never seen Clivia in flower markets, it's only seen in pots at the nursery. It must not be suitable for cut flowers I guess. However when I use them in flower arrangements they have great impact and last as long as general common flowers. I will show you soon how they look beautiful in a flower arrangement but just let me enjoy them a little longer in my garden looking them through the window 'cos they are just starting to blossom...

Brushing Bride

I made this bouquet today. The bride has chosen her wedding bouquet to be Australian native flowers so I selected a mix of Protea pink ice, orange Cordifolium and yellow Leucodendron, Wax, Berzelia and the Brushing Bride.

The Brushing Bride is grown in Australia, originated  from South Africa and is a member of the Protea family. Many Australian native plants belong to this same family.

The Brushing Bride is light with papery bracts surrounding feathery tufts of white to pinkish flowers. 

Many Australian natives flowers are solid, bright and dominant so I positioned some of the Brushing Bride in the centre to be a focal strength with a few scattered around. I love the Brushing Brides' texture and softness, it can combine perfectly with any type of flowers. It is however only around in Spring.

Tulip

Here it comes, Spring! A lot of variety of blossoms are available in flower markets. Beautiful colours, texture, shapes and fragrances... It's really amazing. I can't believe that there are so many types of flowers I haven't seen before. Hope I can get opportunities  to use all of them throughout my florist career!

From September to November I get pretty busy producing on gorgeous bouquets for many happy weddings in the Gold Coast. I've had a lot of wedding flower enquires during the winter season and the Tulip is one of the brides favourite. Tulips have soft fluffy plump flowers with hollowed long stems. Comes with many variety of colours that can suit many wedding theme. A lot of them are grown in Victoria and many elegant species are imported from Europe. Can you imagine walking through this colourful garden in Holland? They're simply breath taking.

Spring garden in the Netherland

Actually Tulips are quite challenging to manage into bridal bouquets. I would recommend to hold them in the winter/early spring weddings because they're delicately reactive for temperature and light. They keep growing and popping out the bundle of the bouquet so that I usually glue their petals or put some pinholes on the neck of the buds; this method can stop or slow down their rapid growth.