Protea Nitida – Waboom

Add some interesting color and texture to your winter designs with this beautiful and unusual protea, Nitida or also called arborea and waboom. This diverse South African shrub, with its lengthy history and unique appearance is a jewel in the fynbos world. It’s the only protea plant that’s large enough to produce usable timber. The name waboom, which is Afrikaans for wagon tree, originates from the wood’s use for wheel rims and brake blocks on wagons. Plus, it’s ideal for creating decorative furniture and it makes excellent firewood. In addition, the leaves were boiled to make a blue-black ink for dyeing.

This awesome protea not only produces useful timber, but its flowers and foliage are prominent and captivating when used in floral designs. Nitida has long, oval leaves that are leathery and fully evergreen. They emerge opaque magenta but mature to a light bluish 'sea-green' or silver. Large, white flowers bloom during the winter and early spring. Each blossom opens from a tidy bud to an impressive flower with creamy-white spike-like stamens with brown tips and surrounded by bronze colored bracts.

Banksia Candles

Banksia fans, brace yourselves! Love the classic shape and texture of these awesome flowers?

Did you know, there are certain things that exemplify Australia, that are true icons of the amazing Land Down Under and the Banksia is one of them? Banksia have earned a place on this list as they can be found all over the country. Many varieties have names that describe a certain physical characteristic, like the Banksia Candles… or also known as banksia ericifolia, heath-leaved banksia and lantern banksia. This stunning variety is native to a range of habitats across two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range.

These bronzy-orange candle-like blooms illustrate the signature qualities of this protea genus, a barrel-shape spikes or inflorescence up to 14 inches long with hundreds of tiny flowers mounted on a woody cone in corn-cob-like rows. These flowers appear during autumn and winter, sometimes lasting through to early spring. The leaves are small, pine-like, and alternately arranged on the branches.

Berzelia Berries

Looking for stems of beautiful berries for cut flower bouquets, arrangements or even wreaths? How about using Berzelia or often referred to as Buttonbush? Clusters of round-shaped flowers adorn these lush evergreen plants, complemented by soft, fern-like foliage that surrounds the entire stem from top to bottom in a spiral-like design.

Berzelia lanuginosa

Berzelia Red Jelly

These ‘other-worldly’ botanicals flower from early winter and last well into spring. The berries are often massed in spherical heads and range in color from several shades of green, yellow, creamy-white and some varieties are even two-toned. Berzelia’s unique texture not only appeals to your sense of sight, but also to your tactile senses. Whether it is the lanuginosa or Red Jelly variety, these berries are certainly engaging, making you want to just reach out and touch them. It’s easy to see why this amazing botanical has become popular among designers around the world for its exotic appearance and fabulous texture that complements a range of stylist moods.

Berzelia, is one of approximately eight species found in the Bruniaceae family, one of the few families that is endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom. It grows naturally in the wild from the northwestern to the southwestern parts of the Western Cape.

Firewheel Tree

Wow! What's that? This flowering beauty never fails to amaze, with its intricately formed, unusual blooms, held in large shiny foliage.

Stenocarpus sinuatus,or known as the Firewheel tree, an Australian rainforest tree in the Protea family is famed for its strikingly, bright red, orange and yellow whorled flowers, which as the name implies looks like wheels of fire! The flowers resemble several members of the family, like Grevilleas and Leucospermum, but they’re arranged in circular clusters (called inflorescences) and resemble the spokes of a wheel. The name comes from the Greek stenos, meaning “narrow” and carpos meaning “fruit”. The species name is derived from the Latin sinuatus meaning “wavy” referring to the leaves rounded edges.

This evergreen tree can reach up to 30’ tall and 20’wide. The long, shiny green leaves are deeply lobed while the tree is young, but older trees lose that youthful trait. The spectacular flowers are 2 to 3” long, usually appearing in summer and fall, but may show up whenever the tree feels like it.

Nectar-seeking birds pollinate the flowers while bats appreciate the taste of its nectar and tree kangaroos and wombats feast on the leaves.

Winter Bliss

Need a little extra "oomph" during these cold, gloomy winter days? You got it. Plenty of winter proteas bloom during the year's shortest and darkest days, just when you need color the most! It’s easy to capture the beauty of the season with these fabulous florals and there’s such a surprising diversity of varieties and colors to choose from. So why not enjoy all that’s available?

Protea like Andrea, Brenda and Pink Ice are eagerly available and when mixed in an arrangement they’re sure to brighten your sacred space. Surprising foliage like Leucadendron Tricolor, Duet and Salignum can bring unexpected color and lovely texture to a design too. Plus, some varieties of Leucospermum like Sunrise start blooming in early winter and the striking orange hue adds a lovely contrast. Soft silvery-green argenteum or Silver Tree, spiky Grevillea flowers and fragrant eucalyptus Parvifolia with heart shaped leaves can transform a classic design into a cheerful wintry display.

There’s no doubt, the best way to turn the ‘Winter Blues’ into 'Winter Bliss' is to surround yourself with plenty of vivid colors and extraordinary textures. With proteas, it's easy to create a design that takes the chill out of the season and delivers a well-deserved pick-me-up.

Peach Fuzz: Pantone Color of the Year 2024

As has become an annual year-end tradition, the Pantone color of 2024 has finally been revealed. According to Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, “In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”

PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz, as it’s officially called, is described as a “velvety gentle peach tone, whose all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body, and soul.” A shade between pink and orange, this lovely hue with a vintage vibe brings belonging and inspires recalibration. It's warm and cozy, highlighting our desire for togetherness and the feeling of safety.

Sensitive but sweet and airy, Peach Fuzz is described as 'quietly sophisticated' with gentle depth and a 'contemporary ambiance' that evokes a new modernity. It's a color that creates a welcoming and comforting ambience in and around the home, whether appearing in home furnishings, floral designs or even in the garden.

Looking through our collection of floral creations, we have several designs where peach is the focal color.

Laurina: The Pincushion Hakea

There's nothing like discovering new flowers and foliage, and feeling the amazement that their unique colors, forms, and textures bring. Even better is the realization that these unique florals will give you inspiration and enjoyment in the years to come.

The quest to find extraordinary botanicals is part of the learning process for many florists and designers. However, we know that searching for the “new and unusual” can be quite time-consuming. So, our mission has been, and it will always be, to make as many “cool and extraordinary” proteas more accessible to all who want them.

Therefore, if you’re looking for an interesting protea to transform an ordinary arrangement into something spectacular, look no further than the Hakea Laurina. This fabulous botanical will add any extra special touch to any centerpiece with its captivating flowers and beautiful foliage.

With poofy flowers, laurel-shaped leaves, and smooth brown stems, Laurina is truly awe-inspiring and eye-catching. Plus, it has several other fitting nicknames like Pincushion Hakea, Pincushion Flower, Pincushion Tree, and Emu Bush.

The faint, honey-scented blooms are round and measure up to two inches in diameter. Bulging from the reddish balls are 120-190 spikes. The long, white spikes together with the red hue of the flower make a very unusual version of a pincushion. Laurina’s flowering season typically begins during the month of December and runs through March.

If the Laurina’s flowers are not enough to let your love for this Hakea blossom, its beautiful foliage will. The laurel-shaped evergreen leaves are so striking that the plant was named after its foliage’s appearance… hence the name, Hakea Laurina.