Creating Magical Holiday Ambience: Proteas & Candles

What do you get when you pair seasonal proteas and the warm glow of candles? The perfect holiday ambience, of course. Together, they evoke not just elegance and romance, but they unite the powers of the mind, body and spirit. The proteas’ textural styles and colorful bracts add an interesting contrast to the subtle lighting created by candles. There's definitely a seasonal seduction, too. When you use an array of winter proteaceae, like Serruria, Leucadendron, Protea, Grevillea and Banksia, you're celebrating the glories of nature. Plus, festive scented candles provide winter-like aromas (cinnamon, gingerbread, vanilla and pine) that enhance your mood and feelings of calm and tranquility.

No matter what the occasion… Christmas, Hanukkah or Just Because, striking centerpieces adorned with candles cast a lovely light over the table and deliver all the merry-makings for a magical day.

Phylica Pubescens – Featherhead

Phylica Pubescens or also called Featherhead is often thought of as a member of the Protea family but it’s actually part of the Rhamnacae family… both families are very closely related and an integral part of fynbos.

The name Pubescens refers to the short wispy white or yellow hairs on stems of this wonderful plant which at sunrise and sunset when back-lit seems to catch the sunlight and glow like magic.

The common name Featherhead refers to the slightly cinnamon scented white flowers with gold overtones and dense feathery bristles that appear in clusters on top of the branches from mid-winter through spring. Below the flower heads are rings of soft feathery bracts that extend outward like golden-yellow whiskers. The tiny white flowers themselves are obsure amongst the feathery delight of the plant, but they can be seen when viewed up closely.