Resendiz Bros. flowers on four Rose Parade floats

Silverleaf flowers from Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers in Rainbow were on four Tournament of Roses Parade floats Jan. 2.

Festival Artists Worldwide/Artistic Entertainment Services used the Resendiz Brothers silverleaf on the China Airlines, Namco Bandai Games America, University of Oregon, and University of Wisconsin floats.

“Scott Lamb, our floral director, had a great vision of where to put the silverleaf on each one of our floats this year, so it turned out great,” said Andrea Zepeda, a floral consultant for Festival Artists/Artistic Entertainment Services.

Festival Artists has been working with Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers since 2008 during preparation for the 2009 floats. In each of the four years at least one float with Resendiz Brothers silverleaf has won an award; this year China Airlines received the International award for the most beautiful entry outside of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia. The China Airlines float was titled “Spirit of Prosperity and Harmony.”

“We were just really pleased with it and it came out great; it was gorgeous,” Zepeda said of the China Airlines float. “It was colorful, animated.”

The silverleaf was used on the dragon’s scales. “On our biggest scales throughout his back, we used the silverleaf,” Zepeda said. “He came out really good.”

The dragon was chosen because 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon. “For China Airlines it is a very good start for them,” Zepeda said of the float’s award.

(The Chinese New Year this year will be on Jan. 23. The Rose Parade was held on Jan. 2 this year due to a 19th-century agreement that the parade will be held on Monday, Jan. 2, if Jan. 1 is a Sunday.)

A three-judge panel assigns scores to the floats based on creative design, floral craftsmanship, artistic merit, floral and color presentation, dramatic impact, and thematic interpretation. The theme for the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade was “Just Imagine”.

Namco Bandai Games America had a Power Rangers float for 2012 which utilized silverleaf pedals. “We used it throughout the float. It was on the megazord (a Power Rangers weapon) and just throughout the float,” Zepeda said.

The Rose Bowl football game featured the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin, and silverleaf flowers were used on the helmet floats of the two teams.

Festival Artists began working with Resendiz Brothers after the previous silverleaf growers the float company used retired. The 2009 Jack in the Box “Jack-O-Licious” float earned the Extraordinaire award for the most spectacular entry over 55 feet in length and used silverleaf pedals for the spinning disco ball while silverleaf stems were placed elsewhere on that float. The 2010 China Airlines float “Taiwan’s Guardian - The Third Prince” used silverleaf pedals on the prince’s spear and won the International award. Namco Bandai Games America’s “Pac-Man’s 30th Anniversary Party” float which had silverleaf pedals on the plate which held Pac-Man’s birthday cake won the 2011 Judges’ Special Award for the most spectacular float in showmanship and dramatic impact while the 2011 Quickrete Companies float “What America’s Made Of” had silverleaf in the mailbox and teapot and won the Bob Hope Humor Award for the most comical and amusing float.

The silverleaf flowers, which are glued to the floats, were not affected by the cold weather of the 2011 parade when temperatures dropped below 40 degrees that morning. The temperature during part of the 2012 parade was estimated to be in the mid-80s, matching temperatures in the days immediately prior to the parade. “The good thing about the silverleaf on all our floats this year is it was so hot, in the 80s, the last few days, that some of the flowers died,” Zepeda said. “The silverleaf really withstood the heat. They still look good today.”

Silverleaf is actually a tree also known as silvertree and officially called leucadendron argentum. “The silverleaf really held the heat very well this year,” Zepeda said. “A lot of other materials will dry up and shrink because of the heat, but we were really pleased that they withstood it.”

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