Hop over to Anil’s blog to find out what’s going on with the country once much-acclaimed Penang Botanical Garden.

Eco-stream or eco-tampering? by Anil Netto
…He said he didn’t know what was so “eco” about it when they are clearing the vegetation from the banks of the stream, raising the level of the banks and putting in some kind of matting for the pedestrian walkway…

There’s a new addition to our Vase Bouquets Collection - LeFiores’s Seasonal Lilies!

The same tender loving care applies!

This fabulous cake was one of the main attractions at the fairytale wedding of the two lovebirds, Tony Parker and Eva Longoria, in Paris last year. Created by celebrity cake artisan Sam Godfrey of Perfect Endings in Napa, California, who also made Oprah’s 50th birthday cake, over 1200 sugar-dough handcrafted red roses adorned this edible work of art. Apart from the insanely gorgeous roses, the cake itself was a vanilla-bean pound cake filled with crushed organic raspberry preserves and white buttercream.

This five-tier wedding cake in bold monochromatic red color is softened by its quilted fondant covering and the addition of cascading bows, made of colored white-chocolate fondant. However, pretty cake does not come cheap. This cake reportedly costs the couple a whopping US$40,000, since it was flown with an escort from Los Angeles to Paris - first class!

Source: Spring 2008, InStyle Weddings Magazine (U.S. edition).

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) recently held its 24th International Air Cargo Forum & Exposition (ACF 2008) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center last week. The Air Cargo Forum is the world’s biggest biennial air cargo industry event that rotates every two years between Europe, Americas, and Asia.

I was assigned to design the floral centerpieces for Emirates Sky Cargo and Mercator, the IT division of the Dubai-based Emirates Group. Emirates had one of the most impressive stands at the convention centre, where they built up a 2-storey display booth complete with reception desks, bars, and meeting rooms.

To complement the Emirates’ logo, the color theme of the floral centerpieces for Emirates Sky Cargo is red, white, and green. For the reception desks and bars, I’ve used a mixture of tropical crab claws, red gladiolus, white dendrobium orchids, and some fatsia japonicas in elegant frosted glass vases.

As for the meeting rooms and coffee tables, the main flowers used were red roses, carnations, and Casablanca lilies. The overall look and feel of the floral designs that I wanted to achieve was understated elegance. I refrained from using fancy vases of different colors and shapes, as I wanted the focus to be on the flowers and the round clear vases helped complete the look.

On the left (below): Small round centerpieces for the tables. The texture of the full-bloomed carnations enhanced the visibility of the tiny hypericums.

On the right (below): One of the floral displays for Mercator, a blend of golden ramsies and green dendrobium orchids, and fatsia japonicas.