Rockingham florists paint show red with creations
A throne fit for Alice must be draped in red carnations, according to award-winning Baldivis florist Peta Longman.
Years spent entering the IGA Perth Royal Show paid off for flower lover Mrs Longman, who last week claimed another floristry title to her name for her Alice in Wonderland throne.
Adorned in carnations, Mrs Longman's red chair was a stand-out at this year's show for design, colour scape and lasting ability.
She said she used carnations because when combined in a low-padded design, the sheer volume blended to look like one flower.
Mrs Longman said her original idea was to design the Mad Hatter's tea party but kept stumbling across Alice's chair and was hooked.
"I like a lot of Disney films and wanted to make the chair because I could reference a few of the characters subtly," she said.
"I used anthuriums, which are heart-shaped flowers and a chain of heart-shaped foliage to represent the Queen, and tea leaves in flower pots to represent the tea party."
Looking ahead, she said she would love to work on an international level and represent Australia in the Interflora World Cup or publish a book of her designs from the past 13 years as a competing florist.
"Any large-scale project excites me because it tests my knowledge of design principles and I get to create one-off pieces," Mrs Longman said.
Rockingham resident and Murdoch Challenger TAFE floristry student Kiralea Watts placed second in the Smithers-Oasis Designz Cup with her arrangement inspired by the illustrated short story The Red Tree.
"I could really relate to the story, which is about a little girl who views the world in a gloomy way, but at the end of the story finds some red seeds in her bedroom which grows into a big red tree symbolising her hope despite the gloom," she said.
"It feels great but was very unexpected as it was my first competition after taking a break from floristry to travel."
