Instagram: Photos We Dig

Ten fabulous photos from The Knot Inc., one of the world's leading wedding media and services companies, providing today's to-be-weds with comprehensive wedding planning information, interactive tools, and resources. With a fresh voice and real-world sensibility, The Knot has extended its brand to every venue brides and grooms turn to to plan their weddings.

Winter Wreaths

Despite the fact that a moody groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter, we’ve got a ‘welcome’ cure for the winter blues. Handmade with 10 to 16 small bouquets —our designers create wreaths so lush that they’ll take the chill out of winter and brighten up dark days. Crafted with the season’s freshest flowers and foliage – blooming leucadendron, textural greens, accent flowers and colorful protea, pincushions & banksia... all the ingredients necessary to create a joyful spirit and cheerful welcome.

New in the Field: Grandicolor

Our fields are looking a little more colorful these days thanks to ‘Grandicolor’, a new hybrid protea from Australia. This beautiful cultivar is a combination of P. grandiceps and P. aurea, a very unusual and unique cross to say the least. Its greenish-cream bracts, which deepen to peach at the base, have a delicate pinkish rim and conspicuous hairs like the grandiceps and surround rusty-red centers. Grandicolor produces dainty, petite blooms off and on from autumn through spring. The egg-shape foliage is small and leathery with a silvery-green hue and the stems straight and upright like the aurea.

From our field to the vase Grandicolor lives up to its name!

In the Field: Emu Tree

During a recent field trip, clusters of long pink flower spikes caught our eye. These giant Emu Trees, also known as Hakea francisiana can grow stems up to 8 feet tall. The vibrant flowers bloom within the blue-green foliage and the long sweeping style of the branches ensures that they are predominately displayed, never failing to attract attention.

They take their name, francisiana, from George William Francis a Victorian botanist who established a herbarium and was the first director of the Adelaide Botanical Gardens in Australia. This hakea has been in cultivation for years but is mainly suited to Mediterranean-like climates and it flowers best in an open, very well drained areas. Francisianna is tolerant of moderate frosts and its blooms are very attractive to pollinators. Use it as a feature shrub in the garden or as an accent flower in arrangements.

Leucospermum: The Hawaiian Hybrids

Ahola, new from Hawaii - beautiful hybrid Leucospermum are the latest creation from the University of Hawai‘i’s Protea Research Project on Maui. Since the 1970's the University has been working on this exclusive collection of new and improved cultivars of pincushions, or pins, as they are more commonly called. This project was originally focused on breeding disease-resistant varieties, however, there was also plenty of enthusiasm to develop new hybrids for the cut flower industry. The goals were aimed at improved color, increased vase life and good stem length. The resulted - some amazing and gorgeous hybrids, many of which have quite complex ancestry – some with even ten species parents. The University is currently working on establishing the protocols for a wider distribution of these wonderful pincushions. Here’s a sampling of what’s blooming here in Rainbow.

Kula Sunrise & Metalica

Lailiana

Metalica

Phil Parvin

Brandi Dela Cruz

Blanche Ito

Jacqueline Halbrendt

Lani

Tsuruo Murakami

Protea: A Guide to Cultivated Species and Varieties

"Protea”, a treat for lovers of Proteaceae, features the return of Lewis J. Matthews in his second inspiring romp through this unique and alluring family of plants. Matthews has had a life-long fascination for proteas and has followed the hybridization of them with great interest. For inclusion in this updated book, he chose a wide selection of the best, many of which are very dramatic yet have not been seen in print before, and they are certain to inspire readers to enjoy them in their homes and gardens.

In areas unsuitable for cultivating protea, the proteas are featured in exotic, floral arrangements; brightening home decor year round. Even gardeners who are unable to cultivate these amazing plants will enjoy being fascinated by the incredible variation of form and color portrayed in this beautiful book. Whether for the home gardener, commercial flower farmer, or nursery professional, this outstanding, well-illustrated guide provides a valuable reference tool and gives a fresh look at both proteas that are well known, as well as those that are recent arrivals on the scene. From the first page to the last, you’ll find advice on growing requirements, propagation, uses in garden situations, which ones attract birds and cut-flower production.

To order a copy, click here.