My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Protea - Protea (but each variety also has a common name)

Protea

This Protea Composite flower with Palm Butterflies is a Bridal Orb Bouquet, to be carried in the hand like a ball. This design was part of my Fusion Flowers Magazine Designer of the year competition portfolio

Common name

Protea (but each variety also has a common name)

Origin

National flower of South Africa. It is also found in the rest of Africa and Australia and cultivated in Israel and America.

Varieties

The family Proteaceae has more than sixty genera and 1400 species

Colors

Dusty pinky red with white inside, green, white, cream, pink, and red

Vase life

up to a month if you arrange the woody stems in deep clean water.

Scent

Slight honey scented. There are often bee hives closed to fynbos plants and fynbos honey is very distinctive.

Uses

Large strong flower heads that dries very well for permanent arrangements. Because the flowers dry so well I like to deconstruct proteas and reconstruct them in different ways.

Conditioning

Regularly clean the vase and change the water. Allow air to circulate around the Proteas.

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Related Designs

31 January 2018 Rock Rest for a heavy Protea Flower Head

Create a contrasting base to lift the heavy flower-head to design in

31 January 2018 Rock, don't Roll

Balance the heavy Protea flower head to lean against a rock.

22 March 2017 Biomimicry Demonstration and Workshop at the Floral Trends Design Group, South African Flower Union

Looking at how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design problems.

22 March 2017 Biomimicry

A design demonstration and workshop at the Floral Trends Design group in South Africa exploring how we emulate nature’s best biological ideas to solve our modern day design...

5 January 2011 Peel a Protea flower

Peel away the tepals and bracts from a Protea flower hear to make a large composite flower orb

11 April 2011 Veiled Sunshine:50th Anniversary of the South African Orchid Society at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bright and sunny cymbidium orchids and roses, lilies, lisianthus and pincushions

2 June 2011 Cymbidium Friendship Arrangement in a Papier Mache Container

The Asian Cymbidium is considered a gift of respect and friendship. The florets are also considered symbols of "virtue" and "morality" in many other cultures.

9 April 2011 Vanilla

Vanilla Design for the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa

20 January 2011 The last Vine Wreath

Every designer knows how to stretch their supplies. We use and re-use our dried plant material until our fellow designers feel like hiding it from us. I formed such an...

5 January 2011 Protea Composite

To create this huge Protea I took apart nine Protea flower heads and glued the tepals and bracts back on to a polystyrene ball to create a large Protea composite flower that is...