It’s Not Always About the Flowers

Step aside flowers. The most interesting designs do not always rely on beautiful blooms to grab our interests. Instead, it is the foliage that win the applause. We love the remarkable array of shapes and sizes that are found in nature, from long, thin, oval, round, lacey, feathery and serrated. These wonderful botanicals add volume, texture and height to decor. And when it comes to color, most foliage is green, simply because all photosynthetic plants rely on chlorophyll for energy. Green is considered a neutral color and can often be left out in planning a color scheme. There are many different shades of green - from light and dark hues, blue and silvery tones, as well as variegated varieties. Matching the right foliage to colorful flowers can have a subtle but very powerful impact.

Today, we’ve embracing fabulous foliage.

Australian Pine

Banksia Integrifolia

Causurina

Diosmafolia – Honey Myrtle

Eucalyptus Blue Gum

Eucalyptus Silver Dollar

Grevillea Ivanhoe

Grevillea Hookeriana

Hakea

Honey Bracelet

Olive

Pepperberry

Wooly Bush

Grevillea Foliage

Within the wonderfully diverse world of proteaceae, the Grevillea genus is starting to rank among the most coveted, captivating, and cool. This Australian genus includes almost three hundred species, numerous subspecies, and more than a thousand cultivars (a number that continues to grow). These amazing botanicals are not only popular for their colorful spider-like flowers, the foliage is fabulous too. Grevilleas helps create height, movement, dimension and textures in bouquets, arrangements and displays.

Ivanhoe is a hybrid cultivar derived from combination of G. Longifolia and G. Caleyi. It has very attractive serrated and deeply cut foliage with deep green leaves and silver undersides, while new growth is a reddish bronze color.

Hookeriana or also called Robin Hood, is hardy, prolific and versatile species. This lush plant which can reach heights of up to 7’ tall, has glossy, dark green, deeply divided foliage with bronze-brown stems.

Robusta or more commonly known as the southern silky oak, silk oak or silky oak, silver oak or Australian silver oak, is an evergreen tree with olive-green, fern-like leaves that have a beautiful silvery undertone.

Asplendifolia or longifolia has long (6 to 10”), straight army green leaves with a slight rust-red tinge when young and their undersurfaces are covered with flat, silky brownish hairs.

Grevilleas develop small cone-like buds and toothbrush-like flowers that are displayed primarily late winter through spring. This versatile foliage not only adds a distinctive texture and color to designs, they typically have a vase life of 14 days or longer.

In the Field: Banksia Speciosa

Like clockwork… just before the summer solstice, Banksia speciosas are once again in full bloom. Many of the soft, wooly buds have fully opened to form long, Cylindrical spikes. Leathery, saw-tooth leaves fan out in a circular pattern from each flower’s base, creating amazing natural designs. Also referred to as Showy banksia, Ricrac banksia or Mint Julep, the name speciosa comes from the Latin speciosus, meaning ‘showy’… referring to the stunning appearance of the plant, particularly its flowers.

With a refreshing and revitalizing mint-green to yellowish hue, these awesome blooms deliver a wealth of texture and height to arrangements and designs.