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!

Hella Good Looking Hellebores!

Plant It and Forget It: Hellebore Hybrids

Chalk it up to Toronto gardeners having an early case of spring fever as I'm seeing Hellebores popping up in more and more gardens. These Christmas Roses (Helleborus niger) and Lenten Roses (Helleborus orientalis and the many hybrids under H. x hybridus) give us late winter or early spring blooms and look fantastic around daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses and early season tulips. They also don't expect much fussing about from their caregivers either: plant them in soil with rich organic matter, provide average moisture and allow for full to part sun. In many ways, hellebores are like peonies: just plant them, leave them alone and they should be long lasting. In terms of ongoing maintenance, I spend a couple minutes a year cutting off the previous year's old and often diseased leaves in early spring. That's it.

(A great reference for the hellebore care and propagation is Hellebores: Winter Hardy Shade Perennials for the Woodland Garden from Plant Delights Nursery.)

Hellebores and crocuses at 
the Toronto Botanical Garden 

I had an afternoon off last week and with April's weather being so nice (with above average temperatures), I visited the Toronto Botanical Garden to see what was flowering. Among the early flowering bulbs and shrubs, of course, were many hellebores in fine form so I went a little crazy with the camera in capturing these beauties.

Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) at 
the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Don't let the common name dissuade you from planting Helleborus foetidus (there are cultivars too.) The leaves do have strong musky (skunky?) scent but if you avoid rubbing them all over your body. it shouldn't be an issue.

Helleborus x ericsmithii "Pirouette" hellebore 
and "Jetfire" daffodils 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Helleborus x ericsmithii "Pirouette" and
 "Jetfire" daffodils make up this spring container 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Helleborus x ericsmithii "Pirouette" hellebores 
and "Jetfire" daffodils detail as part of this 
Toronto Botanical Garden spring container

Helleborus x hybridus "Anna's Red" hellebore 
spring bloom in my backyard

I have a few hellebores in my backyard which received full sun until noon. "Anna's Red" is finally slowly becoming a nice clump after a few years of just sitting. Hellebores are slow growing but if you're patient (almost to the point of negligent) with them, they'll reward you every late winter to early spring.

Helleborus x hybridus "Berry Swirl" hellebore 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Helleborus x hybridus "Berry Swirl" hellebore blooms 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Helleborus × nigersmithii "Ivory Prince" Hellebore 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

"Ivory Prince" seems to be the hottest hellebore cultivar on the market for several years now (I didn't think it would be possible to describe hellebores as trendy) as I see it in many flowers shows, garden centres and spring containers in tonier parts of Toronto.

Helleborus × nigersmithii "Ivory Prince" 
Hellebore spring flowers 

"Ivory Prince" Hellebore (Helleborus × nigersmithii) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

"Ivory Prince" Hellebore spring blooms 

"Ivory Prince" Hellebore spring flowers 

Lenten Rose/ Hellebore flowers detail 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Toronto Botanical Garden 
Helleborus (hellebore) blooms 

Toronto Botanical Garden 
Helleborus x hybridus "Berry Swirl" 
hellebore blooms 

The sepals' veins and overall flower shape above remind me of the human heart!

If you're a hellebore lover like myself, you know how useful these "lower-maintenance" perennials are. If you haven't discovered them yet, well, now you know!