This Month's Featured Bouquet - March 2010
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(The product descriptions below are excerpts from our monthly newsletter. Click here to view it in its entirety.)
A Tropical Spring Awakening
It’s not too cold, nor exactly hot for that matter, but there might be a few warm days that allow you to venture outside with a steamy romantic novel or book of poetry and lay out on the grass. The promise of spring is in the air, and the Fresh Cut Flower of the Month Club wants to help you dive into the spirit of the season with flowers that are reminiscent of sultry breezes and bright summer days. With our exotic combination of Costa Rican and Hawaiian tropical you don’t even need to go outside to feel the heat and enjoy a good book. Bursting with color, these magnificent specimens of nature will give your home the ambiance of a tropical resort. Our stunning bouquet consists of intricate yet robust Birds of Paradise, along with fiery Red Ginger and striking Parakeet Heliconia (hell-eh-CONE-ee-ah), all highlighted by Tri-Color Hala leaves and a delicate accent of Tea leaves.
Birds In Flight
The ostentatious and spectacularly shaped Bird of Paradise and Parakeet Heliconia resemble a bird’s head plumage and beak, and often evoke images of a bird in flight. The Birds of Paradise are native to South Africa but evolved in Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa. Also known as the Crane Flower, it is said to represent joyfulness and the concept of paradise itself. It is also the official flower of the City of Los Angeles. They are now grown commercially, along with many other tropicals, primarily in California and Hawaii. Because of the banana-shaped leaves and other characteristics, the Bird of Paradise was once classified in the banana family, Musaceae, though it is now more commonly considered part of a separate but related family known as Strelitziaceae. The sunbird will usually pollinate this flower by landing on it in search of nectar. The anthers in the flower deposit pollen on the breast of the bird, and, when it flies to another plant, the pollen is transferred to the stigma of the new flower. The resulting fruit is a leathery capsule that contains many small seeds, each with an orange covering and an oil body, possibly to attract birds.
These plants can reach up to five feet in height with a two- to three-foot spread. Note the long-stemmed flowers that arise from the green boat-shaped bracts (the leaves at the base of the flower) that are edged in purple or red. The many-pointed brilliant orange petals contrast with an arrow-shaped vivid blue tongue. All in all, it is an amazing piece of floral architecture.
The name Heliconia pays tribute to Mt. Helicon in Greece, believed to be the seat of the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts and sciences in Greek mythology. There are between 250 and 400 species of this elegant flower, with 98 percent of them native to the tropical Americas. The Heliconia has been given such fanciful names as lobster claw, wild plantain, and parrot flower, a reflection of their beak-like shape. Their bracts are so large and colorful that they almost hide the flowers altogether. This keeps the flower's sweet nectar from other birds so that only specialized birds can get to it. The Heliconias sport a rainbow of colors, including orange, red, yellow, purple, green, and pink, or a combination of any of these. Inside the “beaks” are delicate, tiny flowers. You may be surprised that there are other exotic uses for these beautiful flowers. Castaways on a desert island might want to use them to thatch a roof, or as a food wrapper – or even utilize the roots and seeds for their medicinal healing properties.
A well-known Venezuelan botanist, Leandro Aristeguieta, has identified at least twenty species within Costa Rica. He estimated that, after the forests of Bolivar and the Amazons are studied in more detail, the diversity will reach close to thirty species. The bracts have a variety of shapes and sizes. Half of the Venezuelan species possess hanging inflorescences (a flowering part of the shoot), while the other half have erect flower pods, such as the ones you would see on the Golden Heliconia. Some species can actually grow up to 19 feet tall!
Heliconia plants flourish in the tropical and subtropical jungles of Venezuela. These plants can also be home to other living things, as water is stored in the bracts of the erect inflorences, where it provides a habitat for larvae of insects and frogs and other tiny aquatic organisms. The framework around this equatorial bouquet includes Tri-Colored Hala leaves and Tea leaves.
Red Ginger
The Red Ginger is added to your bouqet for its striking contrast. Many ornamental gingers, including the Red Ginger (Hawaiian name: awapuhi-ula-ula), were primarily indigenous to Indo-Malaysia and Tahiti and were introduced to Hawaii during the past century. There are approximately 1400 species of Ginger, including the edible ones.
Your radiant Red Ginger is a vascular flowering seed plant that thrives in wet, damp areas. Joined with the sublime Tea and Hala leaves, the three companions lend an air of warm tropics, palm trees, and sandy beaches, and they serve the magnificent forms of the “two birds” well by creating an inspirational backdrop.
The Hala Tree
Hala (Pandanus tectorius) is a small- to medium-sized tree. It has a distinctive growth form due to its dichotomous branching pattern – forking at the tip so that two branches result. Most of the trunk is bare, with the large leaves clustering at the stem tips. The fruits are also distinctive and somewhat resemble a pineapple. They are known as Multiple Fruits, which are actually bunches of simple fruits grown together, with each simple fruit having developed from its own flower. The fruits were eaten by ancient Hawaiians but were also used to make leis for personal adornment. However, since “hala” also meant “death,” hala leis were not presented to other people. In New Zealand, the Maoris have used hala for centuries in rope, baskets, and clothing. The nectar-filled flowers produced by some varieties have always been an important source of food for New Zealand native birds. For some interesting facts about flower history, visit www.flowermonthclub.com/history.htm.
Arrangement Tips
Large exotic arrangements always steal the show, and they can bring you special satisfaction when you use them as a creative medium. Possibly because of their size, Birds of Paradise and Parakeet Heliconia are sometimes thought to be hard to work with, but that’s really not true, because anything goes. Relax and let your creativity have a field day! Just forget rules . . . in fact, make up your own! These flowers will last a long time, so you might start with long stems, and perhaps next week try an arrangement with some short stems. Try using a container that isn’t normally thought of as a vase. Challenge your imagination, and get wild and crazy!
Tropical flowers need to be arranged using simple lines, since each flower is so exotic. There are no supporting roles in this bouquet; all the flowers are prima donnas! Here are a few ideas based on tried-and-true flower arranging “rules” to give you some inspiration, but first please follow the directions on the Flower Care insert.
Cut the Birds of Paradise so that each one is two to three inches taller than the next. The Red Gingers usually want to be the tallest flowers, so cut one to stand just below the bloom of the tallest one. Now place the Heliconias and Tea leaves close to the Ginger, and about 6 inches lower. Cut them so they vary in length. The Tri-Colored Hala leaves have striking red stripes that pick up the red in your Ginger flowers, so place them just behind or to the side of the Gingers.
How about some special effects? The Hala can be bent to create striking lines, or it can be sliced vertically. Just start with a small slice and pull the leaf apart. Here’s one for the pros: make a slice in the center of the leaf, and push the top of the leaf through the slice (it will stick out the back). There are, of course, many variations, depending on where and at what angle you slice the leaf.
