The Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show

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:

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
 Flower Show floral peacock

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show floral peacock with kalanchoe in detail 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show floral peacock with succulents in detail 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show floral peacock succulents and kalanchoe detail 

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":

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Christmas tree topiary 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Christmas trees 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Christmas tree topiary detail

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Christmas tree topiary detail red and white kalanchoe

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Christmas tree topiary with kalanchoe and Echevieria

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!

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show poinsettias massed 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show poinsettias massed with variegated English Ivy

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show peach pink poinsettias

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.

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.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show pink cyclamen

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. 

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.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show pink cyclamens

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas 
Flower Show pink azaleas and Asparagus ferns 

I find the pink azalea flowers combine so well with the Asparagus Fern's (Asparagus aethiopicus) fine foliage, although this colour scheme reminds me more of spring than Christmas.

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.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Phalaenopsis moth orchid

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Cattleya labiata

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show red tropical hibiscus Rosa sinensis 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show tropical hibiscus Rosa sinensis 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
Flower Show Codiaeum variegatum (Croton) 

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas
 Flower Show bromeliads and aechmeas

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.

Allan Gardens Conservatory 2017 Christmas Flower Show
Blushing Bromeliad (Neoregelia carolinae)

The common name for this bromeliad makes perfect sense!

A Toronto Christmas container, Garden muses style!

Today is American Thanksgiving so is it safe to post "Christmas-y" pictures?

Sure it is!

(By the way, I want to wish all my American readers (who, inexplicably, vastly outnumber my Canadian readers) a very Happy Thanksgiving!)

My previous post had maxi"mum" content (sorry) and touched briefly on how many containers around the city have been transitioning from having fall mums like these:

Old chrysanthemums in container

to a more festive Christmas feeling.


(Note to self: I should have a post showing all sorts of Christmas containers I see around my travels.)

I appreciate the artistry involved in creating outdoor planters. Many of the same garden design principles you see in "better" gardens like proper scale, proportion and rhythm are followed in "better"containers too. And, conversely, you know intuitively when things don't look or feel right.

So with this caveat, here's a Christmas outdoor container I made up for a friend:

Toronto outdoor Christmas planter | container 

I rarely create containers as this activity isn't part of my business and the experts who specialize in creating outdoor planters do a much better job anyway.

So, what do you think? Remember, constructive criticism is the most effective kind. Just kidding, just feel free to comment what comes to mind.

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2012

'Tis the Season for Poinsettias and More!

Living in downtown Toronto has its pros and cons, gardening-wise, but I'm lucky to have a public conservatory within a 10 minute walk from home. I've visited the Allan Gardens Conservatory before with readers in a post called "In need of some colour, quick!" It's such a nice place, especially in winter, when you need to be surrounded by living green stuff. The staff change plantings throughout the year to keep things interesting and, currently, the 2012 Christmas Flower Show is on exhibit. Here are some highlights from my visit last week.

(Just a note of caution before we begin. If you're allergic to poinsettias like this person claims to be, you may want to skip this post!)

Thank you, dear reader, for visiting me for the first time or regularly throughout 2012. I've had a terrific year personally and professionally. I hope you did as well.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season (Christmas for me)!

The smell of paperwhites is a love/hate thing.  "Cloying" seems an appropriate description for some!

Hellebores and cyclamen elicit thoughts of spring

A nice drift of pink cyclamen

"Prelude" amaryllis (Hippeastrum)  
Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2012 

"Mocha" amaryllis (Hippeastrum)
Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2012 

"Temptation" amaryllis (Hippeastrum)  
Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2012

A living Victorian fireplace, rug and chairs!  See the closeups below.

I was lazy so click and enlarge this photo for more info on how Victorians celebrated Christmas in their houses.

The living rug with kalanchoe and echeveria

More kalanchoe, echeveria and hypoestes,  the polka dot plant, forming the mantle and hearth

Closeup of part of the rug. Someone is patient and detail-oriented!

Not your typical modern Christmas tree (I like the citrus slices.)

Poinsettias, like most annuals, do so much better in drifts. The white poinsettias contrast so nicely with the dark purple oxalis. The silver Helichrysum ties it all together.

The poinsettias are the visitors as the umbrella  and banana trees are the permanent members  in this part of the greenhouse

The poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, is native to Mexico and Central America, so it isn't out of place next to these tropical neighbours.

My favourite colour combination in the conservatory! The dark purple of the Cordyline makes the off-white poinsettia even brighter and the variegated version ties the two together. Soft, muted and a little sinister.

The power of layers!