Bush Flowers

Michael Pavlou, Cassandra Hamilton

Description

Australian flowers are truly unique. Banksias and flannel flowers, wattle and waratahs all offer their own magic of colour, shape and texture. All across this country there is botanical beauty right in front of us.
Native flora and foliage offer a beautiful alternative in the sustainability-challenged cut-flower industry. Our diverse landscape and climate produce incredible flowers that inspire our gardens and fuel our creativity. Here are over 50 plant profiles with notes on growing, cutting, conditioning, arranging and drying, with florists' insights on what makes them so special.
Bush Flowers will give you everything you need to bring Australian native plants into your home, and to see the bush around you in all its beauty.

Sujets

• Loisirs
• Artisanat
• Pottery
• Ceramics
• Crafts
• Hobbies

Informations

• Publié par: Thames & Hudson Australia Pty Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781760764128
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

BUSH
FLOWERS Cassandra Ham ilton and Michael Pav lou

CONTENTS Introduction 08 Sourcing 14 F oraging fl owers 18 I n the garden 20 T o marke t 24 Y o ur floris t 28 Gettin g start ed 30 To ols of the trad e 32 C onditionin g your fl owers 38 Arrang ing 46


Creating an arr angement 52 P rinciples of design 60 C olour 66 V es sels 70 W orki ng sustainably 80 T ox icity and a llergies 84 Drying 86 Plant library 92 H ow to use this section 94 F ocal 96 T ex ture 144 F oliage 194 S culptural el ements 214 D elicate beautie s 228 G umnuts and see d pods 256 Index 268 Chapter 01 Chapter 02 Chapter 03 Chapter 04 Chapter 05
TITLE PA GE— Purpl e Isopo gons, r ed Ri ce Flower ( Ozothamnus diosmifoli a ‘Red G ingh am’ ), Wa ratah s, Banksia ericifo lia , Banksia p raemor sa , Banksia f orm osa (o en referr ed to as Dr yand ra) , pink Kunz ea. PREVIOUS LEFT — Mount ain Daisy ( Ixodia a chillae oides ), wi th Gerald ton Wa x ( Chamelauc ium ) behi nd. OPPOSITE — Yel low Bil ly B utto ns ( Pycnosoru s globosus ) contr ast w it h red Banksia c occinea (b ottom ri ght ) an d pin k B oroni a (b ottom le) . Naming The names used by floris ts and the gener al public can var y f rom place to place so we have used diff ering common n ames for many of the flower s and plants in this bo ok. We hav e also included as many Indi genous plant names as poss ible. Althoug h they vary from language to language , we’v e used the name s we found to be mo st common. We acknowledge these origin al plant names an d will continue to record and acti vely use them as muc h as possible. We wish we could have included them for all varieties bu t unfor tu nately we were not able to fi nd them all. Growers also de velop indiv idual cultivars so they can create stro ng, resilien t flower s. Sometim es these don’t have names or are known by a more general bot anical name. Some flowers ha ve undergo ne a name change or been reclass ified. Th ese changes of te n take some time to fi lter into common use, so p lants might sti ll be referred to by thei r old names for some time. We hav e done our bes t to include as m any names as possible and we welcome any additional inf ormation from our readers to include in future ed itions. We see this book as a share d resource an d hope that we c an grow it, tog ether with the f lower -l oving communit y. ACKNOWLE DGEMENT OF COUNT RY We would like to ackno wledge the T r aditional Owners of Coun try whe re these flow ers and plants originated, where they a re grown, and where we live an d work. We pay our res pects to all owners p ast, present and emerging. The flower s and plants fe atured in th ese pages have bee n used by T r aditional Owners for thousands of ye ars. Their c areful stew ardship of the land has allow ed many v arieties to survive for our generati on to see, and we are ver y grateful to be able to use them today . We encou rage every one to learn as m uch as possible about In digenous history , plant and land use. T r aditional unders tanding of seasonality and s ustainability are much- needed lessons for the planet. It’s import ant to di ffere ntiate be tween South Afr ican fl owers and Austr alian flowe rs. Pr oteas a nd Leu cadendrons a re very lovely f lowers and are oft en labe lled ‘n atives’ in Aust ralia when in fact t hey are S outh Afri can flow ers. They alre ady rec eive a lot of love and atte ntion and are not included in this b ook.

8 ABOVE — A tr uck ful l of pin k G ungu rru ( Eucalypt us c aesia ), Il lyarr ie or Red -cap ped Gum ( Eucalypt us e rythr ocorys ), Sea Ur chin Hak ea ( Hakea petiola ris ), Banksia prion otes and Banksia ashbyi .
Introduction 9 INTRODUCTIO N Sometimes i t’ s hard to see what’ s right in front of u s. Indeed, many Australians look to o versea s locatio ns for insp iration an d adventu re before thinking o f trav elling around the amazing continen t we cal l home. I t’ s similar with flowe rs – people oft en look to showy , introduce d species t o prov ide them with bo tanical beauty an d Austra lian flow ers are o fte n an aft ert hought. Beauty in th e bush This book is a ce lebration of Au stralian fl owers. With our diverse landscape and climate we ha ve the fl owers to ma tch, a huge ra nge of amazingly beautiful and rare spec ies that many people don’ t kno w about. The se flowers range from large and sculptural to small and delica te and come in e very colour you can imagin e. The Austra lian bush is oft en viewed as a lar ge singular entity bu t look closely an d you will see all sort s of magic within. The vast majori ty of fl ower shops are f illed w ith exo tic and impor te d blooms, a riot of colour an d scent, wit h just a small area reserv ed for Aust ralian flow ers. The idea is that the se flower s are for spe cific cus tomers a nd cert ain occa sions only . At Bush we are the fi rst all-A ustralian fl ower shop and when you see all the diff erent variet ies of fl owers to gether you s ee the incred ible divers ity – there really is som ething for eve ryo ne. We ha ve gathered here a collec tion of our fav ourite native flow ers to use fo r floral design and decorati on. The huge vari ety of colour , text ure and fragra nce is unbelieva ble. Here we share wi th you the tri ed and tes ted bot anicals we know work, and th e ways we work with them. Throug h many yea rs of trial and experim entation and wat ching the sea sons change we hav e created beautiful arrangements wi th these fl owers time and time again. W e feel passionately about their be auty and love to se e them used i n diff erent ways. W e wanted to create this book as a p oint of referen ce for all fl ower love rs and fl orists (profess ional and would- be) . A place to gath er the inform ation toget her and appreciate all the blooms side-b y-side. We are con stantly lear ning and ex perimenti ng with new fl owers as they become av ailable. The co mmercial flowe r industry is all about suppl y and demand: grow ers plant what cus tomers wa nt to buy . Some of these p lants are incredibly r are in the wild and in terest f rom kee n growers has b ought them back from the brink of ex tincti on. An increas e in native plant s is hugely impactful for biodivers ity . More plants and fl owers mean more native birds, more bees, more habitats and a healthier env ironment for eve ryo ne! Our hope is th at this book wil l inspire you t o use Aust ralian flow ers and plant s in new ways. T o decorate yo ur home with the m, use them at yo ur events, pl ant them in your gar den. T o see the bush aroun d you in all its be auty .
10 OPPOSITE — A lovely flower ing bran ch of C hristm as B ush ( Ceratopetalum gummifer um ). Break the rules Floristr y i s an old and est ablished tr ade, with tra ditions, tec hniques and tips that are handed down from fl orist to ap prentice. So mu ch valuable knowledge is shared but sometimes florists s tick to spe cific ide as about Australian f lowers. Notions like all Banksias ha ve to si t up straight like ‘eg gs in eggcups’ , or that all foliage sho uld be remov ed, or th at cert ain flowers ar e weeds and hav e no place in arr angements. We would like t o encourage you to brea k the rules and to look at ev ery stem. Use f lowers in the way that t hey grow in natu re – wild and free . See every part of the plant as wor th y, an oppor tu nity for decoration. T a ke the best of f loristr y – the techniq ues and the skill s – and use your crea tivity to make mag ic and have a good time. See each fl ower’ s individual beau ty . The same goes with gardens: there are ver y s pecific ideas about what plants belong to gether and what c an be mixe d, what’ s best for a perennial border or what const itutes a cotta ge garden. We say , make up y our own mind and ex periment! T a ke landsc ape design principles and make your plant sele ction inspire d. Include unexpec ted and un ique Australi an flowers i n new ways. Many Austr alian native plan ts have not been in comm ercial producti on for very long so they hav e not been widely avai lable and their use has been limited acros s landscape and floral de sign. They ha ve not had broade r exposure so this means that we ha ve an oppor tu nity to create ex citing and inspired work that hasn’ t bee n seen before . A great place to start is to simply subst itute na tive flowe rs in place of more traditional flowers i n floral arr angements and i n gardens. Some of the flowers we’v e included mi ght not be av ailable in yo ur area, but yo u can always subst itute wi th other fl owers with a similar form and c olour . Yo ur florist or nu rsery can of te n make recommendati ons of diff erent varieti es that are comparab le. Our hope is th at by showcasi ng the flowe rs individuall y here they will mo re readily be iden tified, appreciated and incorpo rated int o your lif e. Wor k with the seas ons All the plants fe atured in th is flower lib rary have thei r season list ed. This should be take n as a guide bec ause even th e most exp erienced gro wer can’t tell you precisely when f lowers w ill be in blo om. The vast majority of Australian f lowers ar e grown outside ( as opposed to in controlled environment s like greenhouses ) so they are su sceptible to the elements. Some flowers cannot be p icked when it’ s raining or will require a cer tai n amount of heat or sun shine to bloom . Luckily as more flower farms in dif fer ent locati ons start growing the sam e blooms, the flo wer season ex tends. For ex ample, the fl owering seaso n for Wara tahs used to only last a few wee ks but with a num ber of new

Introduction 13 cultivars and more growers across the coun try the season is a li ttle more predictable a nd has been sign ificantl y exte nded. Grow ers in warm er locations fu rt her nort h tend to see flowe rs firs t, movin g down the coast to southern grow ers. While s till weath er- dependant, the range of sup pliers makes the flower season and quali ty of fl owers a lit tle more reliable, which is very helpful wi