FLOWERY FLAMINGOS BLOOM AT MACY'S

I'm no ornithologist but I think I spotted a new species of flamingo the other day. 

Not the Caribbean flamingos that raise clouds of pink at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, where the largest flock of the stiletto-legged birds live.

And not the plastic species that most people either love of hate. To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand on those mothers of all lawn ornaments, especially since I have three of them in a box in my garage. But that's another story.

No, the six flamingos that stirred my fancy in a greenhouse in Stony Brook were a different breed altogether. I can say with absolute accuracy that they were birds of a different feather.                   They were made of flowers. Kalanchoe to be exact. You know, the fleshy-leaved succulent that blooms in bouquets of white, pink, scarlet or yellow tubular flowers. It's a perennial in its native Madagascar, but here in the frigid north we nurture it mostly as an easy-care houseplant.  

And it’s a good thing they can’t fly because they were getting ready to strike poses in the aisles of Macy’s in Manhattan for the store’s annual flower show, which runs through April 19.

The flowery flamingos are the stars of the show, which is aptly titled “Dream in Color” and features more than a million plants in 11 different gardens as well as the department store’s famous window display – all of it the handiwork of Long Island’s own Ireland Gannon, the design division of Martin Viette Nurseries in East Norwich. 

When I saw the big birds – each of them fashioned from 3,000 separate kalanchoe plants – they were not in an altogether flattering position with their backsides up in the air and their long curved necks and hooked beaks barely a foot from the ground. 

Two workers – Raul Estrada and Edgar Garcia – were tucking pretty pink kalanchoes in varying states of bloom into the metal frames that form the skeletons of the faux flamingoes.

It was just a few days from show time. “We’re in high gear now,” said Peter Gustafson, the horticultural grand marshal for Ireland Gannon who was overseeing the installation in the Herald Square store and also directed the forcing of hundreds of trees and shrubs from tree peonies and Exbury azaleas to camellias and Chinese redbuds in the firm’s six greenhouses in Stony Brook. Peter also coordinated the production and delivery of everything from astilbes to orchids from other Long Island growers like Otto Keil in Huntington to nurseries in Florida and Maryland and Canada.

The final phase of the show takes place after hours as more than sixty people work all night for five nights to turn the store into a floral showplace. “The flamingoes are among the last things to go into the city,” Peter said as Edgar and Raul took plants out of 4½-inch plastic pots, stripped the leaves, knocked off most of the soil and plugged each kalanchoe into frames devised by the same Macy's designers and artisans who bring you the emporium’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

 

Four of the local birds will rule along the store’s center aisles and two will reign in a fountain – all of them rising nine feet tall from metal stands. Macy’s calls this a “salute to the plastic lawn flamingo and its impact on American gardens.” A clearly fascinating and controversial subject I’d just as soon leave for another blog.

For the first time, Macy’s is running simultaneous flower shows in other branches throughout the country. And when it came to the bird of praise, all eyes turned to Ireland Gannon, which created instructional videos for crews in Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Minneapolis.

As I left the greenhouses, workers were loading plants into the trucks. Corinthian peach trees, rhododendrons, fringe trees, flowering apricot trees, and 14-foot Okame cherry trees forced in the greenhouse were balled and burlapped and showing pink.

“They should pop for the show,” Peter said of the Okames. And there’s a second set timed to pop seven days from opening day for the second week.

The flamingoes, which were among the last things to leave Stony Brook, were already pretty in various shades of pink. “The question was,” Peter said, “how authentic do you want the color to be? It was a balancing act between the authentic color of a real flamingo versus the color of flamingoes you’d see on a front lawn in New Jersey.”

I’m hoping to make a trek into the city to see the flamingos in full color. You might be interested to know that there are 20-minute guided tours so you can learn more about the flowers that make up the flower show. Call 212-494-4495 for information. And you should keep in mind that Macy's is closed on Easter Sunday, April 12.  

As for Peter, it’s back to more flower power. About a week after this year’s extravaganza ends, he’ll be planning the show for 2010.

Keep Kalanchoe Kicking; Chill out with Cyclamen

Finally, the holidays are over. I took down the tree. I packed away the nutcrackers. I ate the last of the panatone and the Christmas cookies.

And I've already managed to break at least three of my New Year's resolutions -- I haven't been to the gym yet, I haven't weeded out my bulging files and okay, you can tell by the date on this posting that I haven't been blogging 24/7.

But there's always tomorrow. Besides, these are personal resolutions, not garden ones. The garden resolutions are easier to keep because they're actually fun -- like buy more plants, order more bulbs. Things like that. Hey, I'm even working on my vegetable seed order -- I'll be telling you what's been tempting me in an upcoming column.

The resolution I'm talking about today is keeping my kalanchoes and cyclamens alive. I've given up on poinsettias -- to me they're the impatiens of the holiday season. Does anyone really bother to keep them going until they turn red next Christmas? I know it's possible; I've done it. I tell people how to do it. But my question is, why? To me, it's like starting impatiens from seeds. What's the point?

But kalanchoes and cyclamens, well, these I can understand. I wrote a column recently rhapsodizing about the pure white kalanchoes and cyclamens that graced my home during the holiday season. I thought I'd tell you how I'm keeping them happy.

Treating Kalanchoe Right
Kalanchoes like bright sunlight, well-drained soil and daytime temperatures in the 70s – although they won’t complain if you turn the thermostat down to 55 at night. I won't either. I like sleeping in a cool room, too. Water with tepid water but let plants partially dry out before watering again. Hey, there's a lesson here -- don't eat if you're not hungry. And like cyclamens, kalanchoes shouldn’t soak – something to remember if your plant is showing off in a decorative pot that doesn’t have a drainage hole. You don’t have to fertilize kalanchoes now but nourish with an all-purpose houseplant food monthly starting in late spring. Let them summer outdoors and bring them in when night temperatures dip to 40 degrees. Then keep them in the dark for 14 hours every night for two weeks, giving them moderate daytime light. They should bloom about six weeks later.

Staying Cool with Cyclamen
Cyclamens grow from a flat corm that’s part of their root system and actually pokes out of the soil. This adds to their charm as well as their challenge. Never water the corm directly. Instead, place the plant in a saucer of water for five minutes. The soil should be dry so the plant quickly absorbs moisture. Don’t let it sit in water, otherwise it will rot. Cyclamens like night temperatures of 50 degrees; daytime temperatures between 60 and 65 keep them blooming longer. Pull gently on the stem to remove both the faded flower and the stem. Bright light for at least three hours keeps your cyclamen happy, so does a drink of houseplant fertilizer at half strength once a month in winter and every other week in spring and fall. Let the leaves die back naturally in summer, but don’t let the corm dry out. When new sprouts appear in fall, give the plant more water.