Dear Fellow Flower Enthusiasts,
Do you have your Halloween costumes picked out yet? If not, you had better get on it! We are only a week away from the night of tricks and (mostly) treats. What will you go as? You don’t need to be a kid to dress up on Halloween. In fact, this is one holiday that gives adults an all-day unlimited pass to be a kid again! Growing up doesn’t necessarily mean forfeiting your imagination. Our Master Designer, Nicolas Cogrel would say “no, no, no” to that!
Halloween may be an arachnophobic’s least favorite time of year, but for the rest of us, it’s an opportunity to engage our imaginations into the world of creepy characters and spooky fun! Every year we parade our children around the neighborhood collecting pillow cases stuffed with candy. Then we curb their intake of it throughout the course of the next 6 months, so that they don’t develop diabetes. Or, if we don’t have kids, we get to greet other peoples children at our doorsteps for a couple of hours, and feel like Gods while dealing them unhealthy goodies. Well Halloween is not just an American tradition or custom for childlike festivities and gluttony. Halloween is also a design opportunity to explore appropriate plants and flowers that possess certain traits which create the right atmosphere, in the spirit of Halloween. That being said, we would like to introduce you to an odd, herbaceous plant with peculiar, Halloween type characteristics. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you; heliconia…
Heliconia’s bright colors and textures are unusual in the plant world. When first looking at it, you may be thinking “what is it?” Please allow us to explain! Heliconia is a flowering plant from the South American tropics. It is in the same genus plant family as birds of paradise. In the United States, you may find them in Floridian landscapes, but they mostly exist in the Rain Forest. Due to their size, the way they hang, and their bright red-orange hue, heliconia looks like fire, or something that’s growing on another planet. In terms of Halloween, you may even see a likeness in their appearance to that of something furry with eight legs. Yikes! We didn’t mean to make that comparison! What’s just as spooky about heliconia, is that tropical bats have also been known to reside in their leaves. On a lighter note, you may also be curious to learn that Hummingbirds are their primary pollinators. Who doesn’t love the delicate presence of a beautiful hummingbird in the garden? Sometimes the strangest things attract the most beautiful things. Perhaps it’s time you add heliconia to your flower bed?
L’Atelier Rouge Master Designer, Nicolas Cogrel says “This is lovely for the Fall. It’s a Halloween flower, for sure.”
EEK!
Alas, there is a chic side to heliconia…
We say “boo” on you this weekend,
but in the Halloween sense, of course!
With love,
L’Atelier Rouge
xoxx
by Bernadette Lords