“FUTURE IN FLOWERS” FESTIVAL
The festival began on 21 May and ended on 8 July, on the last day of the RUSSIA EXPO. This large-scale flower marathon captured the whole VDNKh area, and unique art objects made of flowers were introduced in several locations simultaneously. Guests could witness more than 100 million flowers, flower exhibits from all 89 regions of the country, and designer flower compositions from institutions and state corporations. Future in Flowers workshop held floristry classes, lectures from well-known plant breeders, and fun trivia games. Visitors were shown the best achievements of national plant breeders: about 400 types of peonies, 140 types of lilacs, 120 types of irises, 250 types of roses, 30 types of dahlias, as well as other flowers and plants of Russia.
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Heather. Pskov Region
Heather (Calluna) is a genus of plants in the heather family. The only species is common heather (Calluna vulgaris). It is an evergreen, highly branched shrub about 30–50 cm tall with thin surface roots. Heather is easily recognized by its pinkish-purple flowers, which are gathered in one-sided racemose inflorescences at the ends of the shoots.
Heather is widespread in the forest zone of Eurasia, in northwestern Africa, and in the eastern regions of North America; in Russia, it is found in the European part and in Western Siberia. In the second half of summer, in the pine forests and raised bogs of the Pskov region, one can encounter shrubs covered with delicate light pink flowers, resembling tiny bells in shape. This is the abundant bloom of heather, a wonderful honey plant and a hero of Scandinavian mythology.
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Lotus. Astrakhan region
The lotus is the trademark of the Astrakhan region. This beautiful flower, listed in the Red Book, attracts visitors from all over Russia.
The lotus flower can reach up to 25 centimeters in diameter, and its rhizome grows up to 150 centimeters long and spreads up to 3 meters. It grows in large thickets in bodies of water with silty soil at depths of up to 2 meters.
The lotus fruits—nuts that mature in conical capsules ("kubyshki") - are eaten by swans, geese, and ducks. Boars happily dig up and eat the rhizomes, while terns build their nests under the enormous leaves, using them as umbrellas.
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Alpine aster. Chechen Republic
Alpine aster (Aster alpinus). Under natural conditions, this perennial plant can be found high in the mountains. In the republic, this variety of aster grows at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. This flower embodies the proud spirit of the Chechen people and blooms brightly on mountain slopes in late autumn.
It is a light-loving, unpretentious plant accustomed to poor clay or sandy soils. Places of growth include steppes, rocky placers, cliffs, light-coniferous and mixed forests, edges, alpine meadows.
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Anomalous peony. Kurgan Region
Anomalous peony, known also as Marya's root in Russian (Paeonia anomala L.) is a rare red-listed plant of the Kurgan region. The name of the flower comes from the Greek word paionios - healing, medicinal, in honor of the ancient Greek physician Peon, who was famous for his knowledge of healing herbs.
Peonies are perennial herbaceous summer-green plants. They bloom in May-June and usually grow to a height of 60-100 cm. Peony flowers are large, fragrant, purplish-pink, 8-13 cm in diameter.
Anomalous peony was bred back in the XVIII century as an ornamental plant to decorate gardens and complement floral compositions. Today the plant can be found wild in the region. Peonies grow under the canopy of the relict forest on the territory of the nature monument “Cherry Island Dacha”, whose unique flora regularly attracts biologists and local historians, as well as many tourists - nature lovers. Peonies can also be admired on the peninsulas of the salt water body of the resort “Lake Medvezhye” in the Kurgan region.
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Pansies. Bryansk region
If the beginning of spring was warm and sunny, then as early as in April pansies (called in Russian "Anyuta's eyes") begin to bloom on the meadows and forest edges of the Bryansk region. This is the folk name of the flowers, which botanists call Víola wittrockiána. In the language of flowers, the three colors of the petals have their own meaning: white is a symbol of hope, yellow is for surprise, and purple is for sadness.
Pansies are a long-known, but still popular hybrid of large-flowered European violets.
It is believed that the fashion for pansies in Russia appeared thanks to the work of L. Tolstoy's “Anna Karenina”, in which the main heroine decorated her outfits and hairstyles with these flowers.
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Viola Wittrockiana. Saint Petersburg
Viola Wittrockiana, a plant from the Violet family, was imported from Japan and Central China and blooms from April to October. Its common name is pansy, violet or Anyuta's eyes in Russian.
Viola is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, including in Russia and Saint Petersburg. It is an undemanding and fairly cold-hardy plant that can withstand temperatures down to -1 °C, making it the first to be planted in Saint Petersburg. It delights with its first flowers as early as April. Due to its resilience to the challenging climate conditions of Saint Petersburg, viola has no competitors.
In spring flower arrangements, viola takes the lead role. For Victory Day, the city decorates flowerbeds in commemorative places: around memorials, on squares, in city gardens, and parks.
Along with the RUSSIA EXPO, the flower festival is also coming to an end.
The "Future in Flowers" festival continues at the RUSSIA EXPO, where unique flowerbeds from all regions of our country can be seen at the "Space" pavilion until July 8.
The RUSSIA EXPO concludes on July 8, and with it, the flower festival will also come to an end.
