Floral Decoration

Looking for some blossoms in order to make a good impression? You'd probably contact a florist, or - if you have a green thumb - head for your flower garden. But what if you needed 20 million flowers? And you needed them all in just one week. In the middle of winter. As fresh as a daisy! This is the challenge confronted each year at Rose Parade float builder Phoenix Decorating Co.

The solution is quite similar to yours. However, like the scale of his need, the answer also is larger. Much larger. They contact professional flower brokers with sources around the world. And, as early as May of each year, they place orders for custom grown flowers – blossoms planted and cultivated under exclusive contract for Phoenix-built and decorated floats. When you're building 21 floats for the Rose Parade, and they absolutely have to be fully decorated and looking beautiful at 8 a.m. parade day, there's no room for error – or wilted flowers. Where do these millions and millions of flowers come from? The blossoms are from every continent on Earth – except Antarctica. Roses, the obvious staple of the Rose Parade, come from South America. Primarily Peru, Ecuador and Columbia. Many also are imported from Costa Rica. Orchids are flown in from Asia and Hawaii; hydrangea come from Australia; tulips naturally enough are a product of Holland, and many dry flowers such as the iridescent white everlasting are native to South Africa. The week before the parade, foreign flowers are flown in almost daily in refrigerated containers; locally grown blossoms are trucked to Phoenix' two Pasadena decorating facilities cut and bunched in water-filled buckets. The flowers are then processed and kept at optimum temperature in huge flower tents adjacent to the float "barns" prior to being placed on the floats. How does the float builder know how many flowers to order to cover floats which vary from 35 to 55 or often 100-plus feet long and may range in height from 17 feet to nearly 50 feet in the air? Over decades in the business, Phoenix has developed some general formulae. For instance, for a square foot of float surface - 16 gerbera daisies, 25 roses or 36 marigolds.

By Tournament of Roses regulation, every square inch visible on a float must be covered by organic material. However, that doesn't mean flowers only. Float decorators use a variety of organic items to create those special effects designed to "wow" the audience. Farina and cinnamon contribute to the detail in human faces. Dinosaurs and dragons often feature Brussels sprouts, cranberries and squash; underwater scenes may include kale and cauliflower; halved raw potatoes are ideal for a cobblestone walkway, and broccoli, cauliflower, cactus, apricots, lemons, oranges and limes are just a few of the many vegetables and produce items that find their way to a float. But no spinach, It just doesn't hold up.

AND HERE'S A SURE FIRE - ALTHOUGH DRY - RECIPE FOR ADDITIONAL DECORATION

Take thousands of pounds each of rice, split peas and orange lentil, add a dozen or more cases of Brussels sprouts, a few sacks of kidney and lima beans, and spice it up with several pounds of saffron, curry and bunches of red chili peppers. Sound like a tangy vegetable soup for a small army? No, it's just a small part of the recipe for decorating floats for the Rose Parade. Tournament of Roses rules require that every inch that's visible on a float must be covered with organic material. In the early days of the now 119-year-old New Years spectacular, that meant the obvious - roses. However, floats have changed a great deal since the early horse and buggy days. They have evolved into a unique art form, changing from fussy flower displays to highly detailed sculptural pieces with floral and "dry" decoration. To provide the realistic forms with the lifelike appearance they deserve required an expansion beyond roses, mum and carnation blossoms. Floral directors and decorators cooked up a collection of items that often sounds as if it's a cross between the shopping lists of a vegan and an organic gardener. Each year Phoenix Decorating Co. staff members go to the produce mart with an order list that rivals the colorful variety of the flower orders placed earlier in the year with growers and suppliers around the world. As the floral, vegetable and fruit masterpieces float along, viewers should keep their eyes peeled for such items as cranberries, kumquats, lentils, lima beans, kidney beans, split peas, crushed and powdered rice, corn husks, string beans, dried apricots, Brussels sprouts, cinnamon and farina. There will also be crushed walnut shells, strawflowers, palm fiber, tree bark, silver leaf, eucalyptus and magnolia leaves - as well as a tasteful mix of onion seed, sesame seed, oranges, lemons, limes and potatoes.

Happy New Year and bon appetite.