WildFlowers Australia

‘Beacons of hope’, a striking design for a flamboyant same sex wedding to celebrate marriage equality. Plant materials used are of excellent quality, with each flower chosen and placed for a specific meaning. Excellent design notes – at times a little bit cheeky – explain the meaning of flowers choices, and at the same time describe their use in relation to elements and principles of design. For example: ‘the majestic white Protea cynaroides, pure white beacons of hope, revealing that love is pure and in the end rises above all else. A most resilient plant and flower, they remind us just how strong we as a community must be to achieve lasting societal change – equality for all! Design wise the rule of thirds was applied to the varying heights of the flowers to achieve visual balance and create rhythm across the top of the arrangement’.

‘A winter wonderland’ – a Christmas winter wedding inspired by Narnia. Monochromatic white and silver/blue colour scheme conveys a frosty, misty forest setting. The main focal point features brown Banksias to represent Aslan the king of Narnia. A beautiful branch is cleverly used as the base. This entry incorporates the 6 elements of design – balance, proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast and space.

A romantic, elegant and whimsical arrangement for a wedding, to show that wildflowers offer much more than ‘rustic’ and ‘bush’ elements. This aimed to be a lush springtime ‘field of flowers’ design with flowers grouped to highlight the beauty of each one. A monochromatic colour scheme of pinks, reds and burgundy enhances this harmonious design  celebrating theur scheme of pinks, reds and burgundy specific meaning. Superbly written desgn notes  ‘wild and free’ vibe of wildflowers.

A table centre piece for the National Indigenous Arts Awards Dinner. Inspired by the rich and ancient arts of the aboriginal people, the arrangement uses earthy colours to create a warm and energetic mood for the gathering, while also representing the guests’ culture and connection to the land. For example yellow and orange represent the sun and fire, and are sacred colours. Specific shapes and rhythms that represent this culture and connection to the land have been chosen -   

the round form of the arrangement represents the meanings ‘meeting’ and ‘the sun’. The design also reminds the viewer of ‘dot paintings’.

A commemoration of National Wattle Day, a national  celebration that unites Australia under the banner of our national floral emblem, the golden wattle. The design was inspired by the message that the wattle unites us all in celebrating Australia and being Australian. Different wattles, arranged in different ways, are used to symbolise that ‘Australia is home to almost 1000 species of wattle, in all shapes and sizes, just as we are a variety of human species sharing the land’. Seven custom made perspex containers (one representing each State and Territory – the small cube at the front represents Tasmania) are each filled with a different coloured sand and a different wattle to depict ‘a sculptural abstraction of Australia’. The design notes clearly explain the detailed research behind the design.

Father’s day dinner for Vivian’s husband who is a big fan of bushwalking. This centrepiece is dedicated to the great bushwalking trails of Australia. The two parts of the design are symmetrically opposite each other, and designed to be viewed from both side of the table. They represent the geographic features of our island continent. The gum leaves are neatly layered and create wavy lines to reflect ocean waves, while the banksias create focal points to depict the mountains. The tatami feature connects the two parts of the design to represent the walking path in the mountains. ‘Both the gum and banksias are rough textured and muscular, which is suitable for a Father’s day theme’.

Warm tones of earthy yellow, brown and green were chosen. Contrasting textures are a highlight – the rough textured focal banksias contrast with the smooth textured main foliage (gum), with filler flowers enhance the transition from rough to smooth.

Helen Tremain coordinated this competition in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and has remained on the judging panel ever since. Her floristry career began with a course in floristry at Sydney TAFE Ultimo in 1978.  From there she took up teaching floristry at evening colleges before opening her floristry business, Belrose Florist, in 1982. In 1987 she began her career as a floristry teacher, first at Sydney Institute of TAFE and then at Western Sydney Institute of TAFE. She taught for 21 years and this time brought many experiences and successes.

Helen has always valued the educational experience this competition offers. This year she wishes to recognize additional students for their artistic design and/or construction efforts and is sponsoring a book prize for these 3 students.

A musical garden centrepiece to celebrate music, which inspires and surrounds Katrina every day. Wire mesh was used to create an arch in the container, and musical elements made from copper coloured aluminium wire were hung from it. The flowers were grouped by flower type and therefore colour; in odd numbers to create an appealing but balanced garden feel. Flowers were placed at various heights to create interest, and flow through the arrangement. The addition of Serruria florida, Phylica and Pycnosorus globosus, Acacia and Podocarpus add pops of colour, textural contrast and depth to the arrangement.

This design is for a VIP thank you dinner where the National Library of Australia is hosting the institutions who loaned rare art works to the ‘Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita’ exhibition. It depicts an imagined landscape of a water/river system with city scapes arising here and there. The colours reflect the colours of Australian landscapes on land and in the water. Colour accents represent our native flora and the setting sun on the water’s surface. Marcia has given a lot of thought to creating balance and using materials of contrasting texture, shape and line.

‘The golden hippies meet the green movement’. An arrangement for a surprise golden wedding anniversary, where Ella, the wife, suffers from dementia. The function has been designed to trigger happy memories of the early years of their marriage, during the ‘hippie era’, with guests wearing their seventies clothes and a menu including classic dishes and music. This symmetrical arrangement features an even distribution of flowers and foliage with a perceived single point of emergence. It has been designed to be light, delicate and romantic – a tribute to the lasting romance of the husband and wife and their mutual love of the Australian landscape. The plant material has been well chosen and the design notes well written to explain their meaning in the design – for example fragrant Boronia is included to trigger happy memories of her WA childhood for Ella.