Since I flew 15+ hours to Toronto, I decided I must visit another good friend who lives in the Big Apple.
Fleur-wise, I want to write about the New York Botanical Garden first, which is situated in the Bronx. There was a heat wave a few days before my visit and so a lot of the flowers were past their peak when I went. Nevertheless, I did enjoy my visit.
Lilies in unusual colours. Never like lilies, but that pink one on the right pic, love it as half the petals are ruffled around the edges!!
There was a large greenhouse with lots of different plants inside. Quite amazing how 2 such huge tree trunks can be bent like that and with plants on them.
I think this is quite an interesting flower, they look like baby birds chirping and crying out for food.
On the left is this little red flower which grows on the tree trunk rather than on the stems and pink bougainvillea on the right.
Lovely fragrant gardenia.
A water lily pond...
Noticed dragonflies everywhere I had been, Phuket, Toronto and now New York. A light blue one here, even the eyes are in blue!
Am not particularly interested in using water lilies in floral arrangements but I do love them in ponds as they give off such a serene vibe.
Never seen such huge water lily leaves before.
Quite a nice and well maintained rose garden.
Saw a cute squirrel outside the rose garden, he was eyeing on my every move as I inched closer and closer, but it just sat there and let me snap photos of him. Also noticed these cute acorns on a tree.
Red lilies with petals curl up making them look a bit like gloriosa.
Bells of Ireland and gorgeous multiple-layer petal hydrangea.
And my favourite part in the botanical garden, hydrangeas in prettiest vintage pastel shades.
The colours are just perfect, I was soooo tempted to snip off a few blooms!
Have wanted to try edible flowers for some time, saw some at a farmers' market and grabbed 2 boxes right away. There are 4 different varieties here - borage (small bluish one), impatiens (large yellow one), nasturtium (orange one) and pansy (purple/yellow and orange/burgundy ones).
Borage got a very light cucumber taste and nasturtium has the strongest taste out of the lot, almost a bit spicy. I think these can make great salad and dessert garnishings.
And lastly, one of the highlights of my trip - visiting the flower market on 27th Avenue.
The market is smaller than I imagined and consists of only about 12 or so shops selling flowers, foliage and plants and another 5 shops selling sundries and supplies. But it’s always super exciting to see what flowers are available elsewhere.
Hydrangeas all in nice colours and good size. Notice a dark green shade? I had never seen that before.
Zinnias were in season when I went, this is one of the flowers that seem to be unavailable locally.
I have long been frustrated with the pink roses available locally and just cannot understand why we can 't have roses like these here.
Calla lilies in some very nice pinks too.
One of the best wholesalers at the market displays the flowers sideways on the racks which makes it very easy to see the quality of the flowers.
If we have roses like these at the market, I think I will go bonkers. Love all the spray roses!!! Such a wide array of colours and the quality... no bruises or brown patches or crushed blooms! Sigh...
I always love looking at all the interesting props and containers used by floral designers for weddings in the States, so I was quite hyped when I visited this supplies shop, all the vases, urns, lanterns and other accessories that I really want to work with just lying on the shelves. Urgh, it kills me I couldn't buy and bring some of these home.
And just have to show photos of a ribbon shop that made my jaw dropped to the floor.
Coming up next is a floral class I took at Flower School New York.
Coming up next is a floral class I took at Flower School New York.
