The Inspiration Behind The Clivia Expo Floral Displays

Michael Barrett

Floral display for Helen’s honorary membership meeting

I was approached to write a short article about my floral displays at the Clivia Expo over the past few years. In doing so, I used the MCG website gallery as a handy repository of images and enjoyed looking back at the individual Clivia on display as well. In both instances, it is interesting to see the different styles of presentation, including staging at different venues. For the majority, most elements for the floral art came from generous members, with very little spent buying flowers for the displays.

I have always loved flowers and had an orchid collection while still at school. I had worked on and off as a florist for about fifteen years until 2010 including the department store, David Jones, where there were annual spring shows of huge proportions. Sponsored by a major cosmetic firm, and with a different theme each year, this is where I gained skills in large event style displays. In the past year I’ve returned to freelance florist work, with a large contract at a private members’ club, in addition to garden design and makeover.

I had made a flower arrangement for a meeting on the night that Helen Marriott was awarded a Life Membership of the MCG. This is when most members first knew about my skill and pleasure in arranging flowers.

It was later in 2015, my first year as President, that Peter Haeusler asked me to create a large floral display for

the new Expo venue, Phoenix Park. Having seen the venue, I wanted something large and colourful, and as I had been at Peter’s house often for committee meetings, knew he had tropical looking elements I could use. This included the Southern Africa native, Strelitzia nicolai and Leucadendron. I also had the palm seeds from Trachycarpus fortunei. The container used is a copper kitchen flue (used the other way around), something that was impulse purchased, in a copper collecting period. The orange and yellow Clivia along with the other

elements all seemed to work so well together and made the stage, where auction plants were on display, something to draw one’s attention.

Following the positive feedback to the display, the committee asked for another display the following year. The Clivia Expo was at another great venue, St Scholastica’s Community Centre, for the next three years. The stage was less than a meter from the nicely carpeted room, so not a hall as we had had preciously in that respect.

For the 2016 Clivia Expo I used the same a pot I had from years before, but freshly painted it a ‘zattar’ green. I used buckets to fill the centre and then had a saucer with a pile of foam bricks above the pot line to construct a lemon, yellow and green arrangement. In particular, the majority of yellow Clivia came from Ray and Chee Perks, with more from Helen Marriott. I used Phormium ‘Yellow Wave’ New Zealand flax from my Otway cottage garden, Foxtail asparagus ‘fern’ Asparagus aethiopicus from Terry Edwards and the large leaves, Tetrapanax from my local op shop’s garden. I appreciated Helen Marriott taking so much

care to capture this display so well in her photos.

In 2017, I took my inspiration from a Christian Lacroix fabric ‘Canopy’. I sprayed an expanding bamboo lattice pink and sprayed an old cane basket emerald green. The main colour themed

around hot pinks and orange. I used Rhododendrons, and masses of orange Clivia and Strelitzia reginae from Gerard van Buuren. To all this busyness I had Clivia seedling and small orchids attached to the lattice, and branches of Magnolia, bromeliad and Ficus japonica (kumquats), Ficus elastica (burgundy rubber plant).

The following year, 2018, I chose to do something different to previous years and use a number of glass demijohns, and fewer types of flowers. Orange Clivia, the bulk coming from Gerard van Buuren, were matched with Anthurium and mixed foliages and apples for a simple display.

2019 Clivia Expo was held in another venue, the Mount Waverley Community Centre, and luckily as the plant sales were under cover and it was a very wet September Saturday. The whole plant display was so different, borrowing from South African clubs, the plants were on low tables. The floral art display was on a regular table at the end of the room. I used a variety of different size and shape baskets to make a display that had orange Clivia miniata, and foliage plus a mass of Salix matsudana, corkscrew willow and oranges.

I have enjoyed adding an extra element to the Expo with my displays, however it has always been a huge effort, with sourcing containers or ingredients, and transporting the material there and home again, in addition to a car of display plants. I want to thank my partner David Hales for his assistance throughout, especially as a high school teacher is exhausted as the expo is on the first day of his holidays. Also, a big word of thanks to various members that provided flowers, foliage and support for the displays over the years.

View more of the floral displays created by Michael Barrett on the MCG Gallery website – http://www.melbournecliviagroup.org.au/gallery/gallery-floral-art/