Sunday 26 May 2024

Flowers

We did very little during the Passover holiday. There isn't much to celebrate at the moment and anyway it was extremely hot for some of the days of Hol Hamoed, the five days between the first day of Passover and the last day. I had however booked tickets for "Flowers" in Tel Aviv, which was advertised as the largest flower exhibition in Israel. We went to a wonderful flower show in Haifa back in 2012 and I was intrigued to see how this new show would compare. It was cool inside the Expo Tel Aviv complex, where the exhibition took place, though unfortunately we were far from the only visitors! It seems that every Israeli thought to escape the warm weather too and let's just say it was rather crowded.
The "Flowers" displays were created using over two million flowers. Many of these were rare species not native to Israel and were specially imported for the event, along with flowers that were grown in Israel, including in the Gaza Envelope.
Each hall in the exhibition had a different theme. The first hall was the Tropical Hall. It featured floral monkeys, a huge yellow, red and white snake which towered above the crowds, and a peacock with a four metre long tail that stretched out on the floor like a colourful fan. The peacock was made up of a variety of flowers including scabious and lisianthus. Other animals included butterflies, a lion, a zebra and more. 
Next was the Hall of the Planets, which included the sun, the moon and the earth. The earth was woven with beautiful blue lobelia flowers, while the crescent shaped moon was designed using petunia and lobelia. The sun was created in yellow and orange, using bidens, marigolds and chrysanthemum. 
The Hall of Legends covered the world of fairy tales. Alice in Wonderland's tea party table, below, included beautiful tiered cakes and cupcakes sculpted with more than 4,500 flowers such as carnations, Belvedere rose, alstroemeria, Craspedia, orchids and more.
The Yellow Ribbon is a symbol of hope and solidarity, expressing support for bringing home the hostages. More than 250 hostages were taken captive by Hamas following the 7th October terrorist attack. Since the hostage deal between Israel-Hamas in November 2023, 125 remain in captivity.
I wasn't a fan of the next exhibit, the magical Swan Lake. Ten swans covered with 5,000 chrysanthemum and white alstroemeria, which were grown especially for the exhibition, swam on a huge lake. Unfortunately they looked more like little fat ducks than swans to me! I have not included a photo.
The finale of the exhibition was a giant chessboard. The game pieces included a green knight decorated in pink at the base and with a mane made of amaranth flowers. The queen had a green base with 3 rings shaped like crowns, above, all made of alstroemeria flowers, scabiosa and orchid branches. The height of the chess pieces ranged from 2 to 2.5 metres.
How did the exhibition compare to the one we had seen in Haifa all those years ago? There were way too many people inside the buildings, making it impossible to see the flowers properly. While some of the displays were impressive, it was hard to enjoy them while jostling with the crowds. More attention should have been paid to entry times and the number of entrants should have been limited. In addition signage was poor. I would have liked to have read more about the flowers and the meaning of each piece, though frankly I could barely see the signs that were there anyway!
But, the flowers were beautiful, and that's what mattered. With everything going on in Israel today, it was nice to escape into the cool halls for a couple of hours to enjoy the beauty of the displays.

Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs

18 comments:

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

The flowers are beautiful, and the shapes are very creative. I love your photos but would not enjoy a monster crowd. The older I get, the less I like huge crowds. I find it very stressful. Thanks for the photos and taking me on a little trip that didn't feel stressful, but relaxing.

Jayne said...

There are some beautiful displays there Lisa. I love the Alice in Wonderland tea party.
Such a shame it was over crowded. That would have ruined it for me. xx

Debby said...

I don’t do large crowds anymore but the flowers and displays are stunning.

Esme Slabbert said...

Oh wow, these flowers and arrangements and out of this world beautiful. Must have been a treat to see if in person.
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VeggieMummy said...

I'm not a huge fan of crowds either and would have found it quite stressful. Am I the only one who wanted to see the fat ducks? :O) I'm glad that you enjoyed it. After flying in lots of flowers, I was expecting there to be a display about global warming. It's obviously not as hypocritical as The Chelsea Flower Show! xx

Anne said...

Wow, what amazing flower displays, I love the chess board and Alice in Wonderland tea party. I would not have liked the crowds though. What a shame.

Kim Carberry said...

What a great day out, apart from the crowds! The flowers are just beautiful! It is amazing what they can do with them. x

Michelle said...

Large crowds can make events frustrating. But the photos show an impressive display. An absolutely gorgeous event. (Except for maybe the “fat ducks” ;D)

Debra | Gma’sPhoto said...

Absolutely stunning!
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NCSue said...

Such beautiful, artful arrangements! Great photos. I hope their loveliness lightened some of the heaviness you must be feeling with was ongoing. May God keep you safe and bring an end to this horror.
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CraftAtticResources said...

The colors are stunning.

Hels said...

Lisa
I would definitely have gone to the exhibition, had I been in Tel Aviv.

The most beautiful flowers to be exhibited, in my opinion, are those left in their natural state on intact stems. Your top photos are very impressive!

Shaving flowers into the shapes of cartoon characters or animals or foods is clever, but not nearly as breathtaking.

Lillian "sognafaret" said...

Wow amazing, thank you for showing me

EricaSta said...

Wow... there are beautiful flower arrangements. Thank you for sharing.

Rudbekia said...

These flowers are beautiful, but unfortunately the monsters are ugly.

Tamar SB said...

WOW! That is amazing!

Catherine said...

Your photos are beautiful! I love the planets and the Alice in Wonderland tea party. I'm intrigued to see the swan photo after reading this though!

#MMBC

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

So beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.