No Christmas Turkey But This Bird is Just as Succulent
The Allan Gardens Conservatory's annual Christmas Flower Show is never a turkey of a show but the highlight of the Conservatory's year if you're into poinsettias, hanging ornaments, Christmas trees, seasonal floral design, etc.. (I prefer the Spring Flower Show held in March-April since I'm so colour-deprived at that time of the year that forced tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other bulbs provide the greatest therapy.) My work season unofficially ended yesterday and to celebrate, I dropped by to see this year's Christmas Flower Show with camera in hand.
I'm always curious to see what the Show's theme is. One year it was about music, another Show profiled outdoor activities like skating. This year? I'm not sure. No turkeys or geese on the menu; instead, we had this bird for Christmas:
I'm always curious to see what the Show's theme is. One year it was about music, another Show profiled outdoor activities like skating. This year? I'm not sure. No turkeys or geese on the menu; instead, we had this bird for Christmas:
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show floral peacock |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show floral peacock with kalanchoe in detail |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show floral peacock with succulents in detail |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show floral peacock succulents and kalanchoe detail |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show floral peacock feathers in detail |
Orange, pink and yellow aren't your typical Christmas colours (they remind me of a perennial border during high summer) but so what? I imagine the floral designers had a lot of fun arranging all these Kalanchoe, Echeveria and ivy to form this peacock's finery. And coming into the Conservatory on a dull December day, it was great to see some high voltage colours.
Don't worry, Christmas traditionalists, there will be more than enough "green-red-white" combinations in the pictures to follow.
It's a Christmas Flower Show so where are the Christmas trees and ponisettias? Well, right across from our colourful peacock friend, we had these "trees":
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas tree topiary |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas trees |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas tree topiary detail |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas tree topiary detail red and white kalanchoe |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas tree topiary with kalanchoe and Echevieria |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Christmas tree topiary succulents detail |
A Flower Show is all about colour so setting up a "normal" Christmas tree like the real or artificial one you put up every December just won't do. The closeups above show how these "trees" were painstakingly put together. It takes an artistic eye to arrange the kalanchoes and Echeveria in that candy cane pattern. And for everything not to fall apart!
You waited patiently for poinsettias so here they are: The good news? Not a flake of glitter was seen anywhere on these poinsettias. Spray-painting poinsettias or plants in general is just plain wrong!
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show poinsettias massed |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show poinsettias massed with variegated English Ivy |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show peach pink poinsettias |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show poinsettias and succulents |
Something new for me in this year's Show is the use of taller poinsettias to create a greater layering effect as shown below. I guess the central stem was staked and leaves pinched off in the greenhouse. This makes for a better picture by filling up the middle layer, bare poinsettia "knees" notwithstanding.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show tall poinsettias |
Besides seeing ubiquitous poinsettias during this season, cyclamens, azaleas and ornamental cabbage or kale are also for sale around the city now. I don't think they're hardy for us here in zone 5 Toronto (to be honest I've never tried to see if this is true but I assume most flower show material isn't bred for winter hardiness) but they are staples at this Flower Show every Christmas and provide the filler in the beds located in the separate room of the Conservatory that's kept in temperatures in the teens (Celsius) or 50s in F.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show pink cyclamen |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show red and white cyclamen and Dusty Miller |
The Dusty Miller (Jacobaea maritima) tie the azaleas and ivy all together perfectly, like most silver-leaves plants do. Keep this in mind if you revamp your perennial bed next season.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show "Fleur En Vogue Purple" Persian Cyclamen |
You're looking at the underside of these nodding "Fleur En Vogue" Persian cyclamen flowers by design. And the foliage, as usual for cyclamens, is wonderful.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show pink cyclamens |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show pink azaleas and Asparagus ferns |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show white ornamental cabbage kale |
This green and white ornamental kale is twirling around like a flamenco dancer!
Let's warm things up!
Any visit to the Conservatory means spending time in the two "hot" houses or rooms which are heated and have high humidity all year. You can usually depend on seeing orchids, hibiscus, Abutilon (Indian Mallow), croton, bromeliads and other tropical plants blooming happily away, even with the Arctic winds howling outside during January and February. This Conservatory is truly an oasis in downtown Toronto and provides me and many other visitors a reprieve from the numbing cold and depressing snow and ice during a long Toronto winter.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Phalaenopsis moth orchid |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Cattleya labiata |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show red tropical hibiscus Rosa sinensis |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show tropical hibiscus Rosa sinensis |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Codiaeum variegatum (Croton) |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show bromeliads and aechmeas |
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show bromeliads and reindeer |
One of Rudolph's siblings (since he or she doesn't have a red nose) seems confused about grazing on these bromeliads and Aechmeas.
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| Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae) |
The common name for this bromeliad makes perfect sense!
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