“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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Flax. Smolensk region
Common flax (Linum usitatissimum) is a plant that grows up to about 120 cm tall. Its flowers form an "umbrella," and after blooming, seed capsules appear in their place. Flax is a valuable agricultural crop used in the textile, chemical, and even food industries. For example, strong linen threads are made from its stems and leaves, and its seeds are pressed to produce oil that is extremely beneficial for health and beauty. Additionally, flax is used to make medicines, nutrient substrates, and components of technical mixtures. In recent years, specially bred varieties of flax have become a popular choice for landscape designers.
Flax has been known since ancient times and has always been revered as a symbol of light, purity, and fidelity. High priests of Egypt could enter temples only in linen clothing, and pharaohs' mummies were wrapped in linen fabrics. Herodotus mentioned that among the gifts brought by one of the pharaohs to the temple of Athena in Rhodes, the most valuable gift was linen fabric.
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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.
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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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Adams' rhododendron. Irkutsk region
Adams' rhododendron is a small evergreen shrub with a pleasant scent. The flowers are small and pale pink. It is endemic to Eastern Siberia and is listed in the Red Book of the Irkutsk region. The plant is named after the naturalist and botanist Johann Friedrich (Mikhail Ivanovich) Adams, who first described it in his report following an expedition to Eastern Siberia. It does not grow in artificially created environments and is found only in nature.
For the indigenous peoples of Siberia, sagan dailya — as they call Adams' rhododendron - has always been considered a miraculous plant. They prepare a tizan (herbal drink) from it, which was used in magical rituals and ceremonies at the imperial courts of the Qing dynasty in China. In Buddhist mythology, rhododendron is one of the seven plants surrounding the god of medicine and health. Siberian shamans brewed an aromatic drink from it to communicate with the gods. The plant is shrouded in legends.
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Red-stemmed buckwheat. Penza region
In its development, the Penza region relies on the medical industry and creation of products for health: pharmaceutical goods, biologically active additives, natural cosmetics. At the RUSSIA EXPO, the region is presenting Bashkir red-stemmed buckwheat. The variety was obtained by breeders by selection from various hybrids and is included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements.
Although the birthplace of red-stemmed buckwheat is the Urals region, it is successfully cultivated in the Middle Volga region, which includes the Penza region. Here this unpretentious plant has been cultivated since 2012 and is used as a medicinal raw material. At the moment, red-stemmed buckwheat is cultivated on an industrial scale on 7 hectares of fields located near the villages of Kulyasovo and Mamadysh in the Kameshkirsky district.
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Caucasian rhododendron. Karachay-Cherkess Republic
Caucasian rhododendron, or mountain rose (also known as snow rose), is one of the symbols of Karachay-Cherkessia, which has even found its place on the coat of arms of the region. In early summer, the honey-bearing and healing plant decorates green alpine meadows and the banks of hundreds of crystal-clear mountain rivers and lakes of the republic, located at an altitude of more than 2000 meters, with its blossoms. Having caught the fragrance of the delicate flower once, mountain lovers return to it again and again. Rhododendron is an endemic of the North Caucasus and is listed in the Red Data Book.
Caucasian rhododendron (popularly known as alpine or mountain rose) is an evergreen shrub of the Heather family (Ericaceae). It is the largest species in the heather family, in height reaches 1-1.5 meters. This ancient plant originated on earth several million years ago. Its name comes from the Greek words "ronon" — rose and "dendron" — tree. Italian physician, philosopher and botanist Andrea Cesalpino in 1585 gave a name to plants of this genus - rhododendron. In total, rhododendron counts about a thousand species, there are five of them in the Caucasus.
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.
