Fabulous Cone Bushes

Did you know the seed heads of female Leucadendron are woody and cone-like - hence the common name cone-bush?  During the winter, many of the Leucadendron flower and their bracts take on fabulous color - creams, yellows and even tricolor with a small greenish - yellow cone in the center.  As the branches mature in the field the cones become much larger and change shape.  In addition, their colors change to rich browns, deep reds, greens and even silvery tones.  These cones are extremely durable and full of texture making them a 'stand out' in any bouquet or arrangement.  When dried, they're prefect for use in crafts and wonderful when mixed in potpourri.  Here's some of our favorite cone-bushes! 

Macowanii

 

Rubrum

Terenifolia

Linifolium

Nobile

Crown Jubilee

Pisa

Goblet

Silver Tree 

The Exquisite Cape Flora Bouquet

Exotic tints - from the purist white and cream hues to lush shades of green and a hint of marsala - the Cape Flora Bouquet is truly a wintertime favorite. Although muted in intensity, this simple mixture of leucadendron, berzelia and waxflower captures attention with varied textures and shapes.

Flowers - What We LOVE!

With Valentine's Day just weeks away we've began harvesting some amazing flowers and we want you to see them first! 

 

Share a little of our LOVE this Valentine's Day and give the gift of Flowers!

Hot & In-Season: Filler Flowers?

Those fabulous plants loaded with blooms either up and down or clustered atop of each stem - like heather or waxflower are often referred to as 'filler flowers'.  But, are they really fillers, a kind of stuffing or space filler?  Absolutely not, they're one of the season's hottest harvests!

These awesome flowers add texture, bulk and style to bouquets and arrangements.  In addition, they compliment the color scheme, and add frilly or delicate textures to the mix.  And, there's so many wonderful varieties to choose from - saxicola, calycina, heather, boronia, sterling range, genista, eriostemon, waxflower and many more.  Here's just a few of our favorites! 

Calycina Thryptomene

Kunzea

White Lepto Rotundifolia

Boronia

Waxflower

Sterling Range

Riceflower

Genista

Leucadendron Blooms?

When it comes to leucadendron, everyone knows 'Safari Sunset'.  With its deep burgundy bracts, it's by far the most the most popular variety.  But have you seen 'Maui Sunset' when its bracts take on a creamy white color and suddenly it becomes a gorgeous flower?  How about 'Harvest' or 'Strictum'?  These are only a few of the awesome alternatives to the fall favorite 'Safari Sunset' and they bloom winter through spring.

The colorful petals of the leucadendron are called bracts (modified leaves), and the true flower is actually nestled among these bracts and covered with styles or stamens.  The stamens will changes color from green to yellow to reddish-orange as the flowers bloom. 

In the past, large volumes of leucadendron foliage were shipped from South Africa to Europe, where it was sold in the flower markets as “Cape Greens” and treated as a long-lasting filler-foliage.  This image has changed with the realization that many leucadendron blooms are beautiful flowers in their own right. Here a just a few of our favorite blooms.

Pom Pom

Rainbow Gold

Eucalyptifolium

Red Eye

Discolor

Salignum Pink

Strictum

Tintum

Maui Sunset

Pisa

Harvest

SnOMG: Rare Winter Storm Greets Rainbow on New Year’s Eve

It's an odd, very rare sight: The hills of Rainbow with flower fields and avocado groves covered in snow!  An extremely cold weather front descended on Southern California just in time to ring in the New Year, bringing freezing temperatures and unusually low snow levels as well as powerful winds.  Instead of waking up and heading out to harvest flowers we found ourselves clearing roads of fallen trees and shoveling snow.  So far, it looks like most of our Valentine's blooms have escaped without harm and the snow has melted but for a day or two it was a winter wonderland and picture perfect.

From Brush to Blooms

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe." - Anatole France

The bliss of flower farming is having the opportunity to accomplish great things!  Yes, farming requires a dream, planning, hard work and a big leap of faith but in the end it is possible to do the unimaginable.  With those thoughts in mind, this weekend I ventured out into one of the newer flower fields to seeing how our dream was unfolding.

In 2012, we purchased several acres of land on a very steep hillside completely covered in brush.  At this stage in the game you have to have a wonderful imagination with so many bushes to remove, loads of trash to cleanup, tons of bugs, snakes and animals to evict and roads to grade.

What was once only brush is now full of blooms!  Here's just a glimpse of the treasures I discovered.