Where you at the Montreal Orchid Show?

This weekend, I had the chance to visit the Orchid Exhibit, held at the Cegep Maisonneuve in Montreal, March 25-26th.

Collectors of rare plants and florists from everywhere in Quebec and even parts of Ontario created an impressive display. I admired orchid plants competing in beauty, charm and colors as well as floral arrangements showing the combined talent of floral designers and Mother Nature's marvels.

The orchid family offers an infinite variety of flowers and real blooming butterflies that are worth being discovered. It is also a very good occasion for orchid lovers to acquire specimens directly from the growers. If you were there, please share your comments or publish your best pictures here.

I suggest you to visit the website of Montreal Orchid Society. For complete botanical information and advices for orchid care, consult the Montreal Botanical Garden Green Pages.

St-Patrick's Day parade

Pia Teichmann, president of The Flower Pot, and our floral designer Joanne Laroche had the pleasure of decorating the Volkswagen car of the Grand Marshal for the St-Patrick's Day parade in Montreal. Mollucella, shamrock plants, greeneries, hats and balloons, everything was there to honuor Irish traditions! Who was on Ste-Catherine Street to see the procession?

Dreamers, imagine a car decoration and send me the description of your dream floral car.
For more information on Irish traditions and the history of St-Patrick's parade in Montreal, you may visit www.stpatrickstraditions.com or the site of the Montreal Irish Society.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day (March 8) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. The date, commemorated at the United Nations, is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history, rooted in women’s centuries-old struggle to participate in society on an equal footing. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men to end war. During the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, and fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

The idea of an International Women's Day arose at the turn of the 20th century – a time of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies in the industrialized world. Socialist women in the United States organized the first national Women's Day in 1908 and helped to inspire the international event.

The first International Women's Day was held on March 19, 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and some other European countries. German women chose this date because, on that date in 1848, the Prussian king, faced with an armed uprising, had promised many reforms, including an unfulfilled one of votes for women. A million leaflets calling for action on the right to vote were distributed throughout Germany.

International Women’s Day is now celebrated on March 8 every year.

This article was exerpted from the United Nations website.