Papery Blooms on their way to Pasadena!

In the midst of construction of we have to also start focusing on how each of our floats will be covered with organic material come parade morning! One of the most popular flowers used is the “Helichrysum Bracteatum” also known as the strawflower or paper daisy.

These are amazingly beautiful annual flowers that are befittingly named. They look like they are dried which is something most people think happens once they’re harvested and sent to us. That’s not necessarily the case. We just took a spontaneous trip to visit one of our Northern California growers and found that the bright flowers have the same texture while still growing on the stem in the field!

They have the same texture that most flowers have after they’ve been drying for some time. It is mostly for this reason that strawflowers are used on the floats. Their color is long lasting and they hold up well in all types of conditions, which makes them perfect for parade time, rain or shine!

The petals are vivid in color too. This is why Floral Director Lyn Lofthouse calls for them to be used on every single one of our floats. They truly are the most striking flower provided by nature and come in a variety of colors: red, yellow, orange, pink, purple and creamy white.

On the floats the flowers actually look like they’ve been coated with a fine satin varnish. However, after our trip to the strawflower farm we see that the colorful blooms shimmering in the sun are all natural! No varnish here which means they are good to use on the floats!

The farm is boxing up more than 600,000 flowers right now and sending them our way!