The team at June Floral & Garden was buzzing with excitement after winning the Best Floral Installation award at the first-ever Niagara-on-the-Lake In Bloom Festival last weekend — and landing a surprise morning TV spot.
“We made five bees that were stunningly beautiful,” said flower shop owner Joanne Bassie. “It was really nice to be able to see it all kind of come together.”
The florist team won a glass trophy and a gift bag filled with “all kinds of goodies,” said floral designer Amy Post.
The festival, held from May 9 to 12, was presented by Vintage Hotels, which invited June Floral & Garden to take part in creating a floral arrangement, and the Tourism Partnership of Niagara.
Locations in town were decorated with eye-catching floral displays. The festival featured a bonnet luncheon, a garden fair and a gala dinner hosted by TV personality and gardening expert Frank Ferragine of Frankie Flowers, who led gardening demos as well.
“We were actually invited to be on Breakfast Television with Frankie Flowers,” said Post.
Bassie got the call about the win on May 11 and phoned each of her employees to share the good news.
The next morning, the team appeared on television at 7:15 a.m., where Ferragine and Jennifer Holmes, who leads Clippings Floral Design, handed them the award.
Alexandra Blackadder, marketing director of Lais Hotel Properties Limited, said the award was given to the installation with “exceptional design and outstanding creativity.”
The flower shop opened in November 2022 and changed its name to June Floral & Garden in April last year.
“I think every single one of us touched that project,” said Bassie about her team.
The idea started with Vintage Hotels, whose photos and suggestions helped spark the concept. With “food” as the theme, the team focused on the key role bees play in the food chain.
“Without bees, we don’t have any of our other plants and foods. So, the bees were an integral part of the theme,” said Post.
June Floral & Garden’s bee display, garden and honeycomb were the central installation in the gardens at Pillar and Post Hotel & Spa.
“It was in the middle, so the vantage point was from all sides,” said Bassie. “We knew it had to be something big.”
Post said Bassie’s concept drawing helped the team’s focus and “really brought it all together.”
Her husband welded the bee frames, which were filled with pool noodle foam and covered in floral foam to attach dried flowers.
“We decided that we wanted to go with dried flowers so we could make them earlier,” said Bassie, who sourced them from the wholesaler Botanico.
Getting the design of the first bee right was a challenge — it went through five design iterations, she said.
The team spent a week testing different foam shapes and building techniques before finding a design it liked.
“There was a bit of stress for sure, because you wanted it to be right,” she said. “Seeing that first bee put together — it was like, ‘This is awesome, we’re excited.'”
Post said Bassie built the honeycomb using chicken wire, fabric and resin, then painted it with several coats to get the right colour.
Bassie also planted a 15-foot garden around the bees on setup day using plants sourced from Voogt Greenhouses, Riverview Greenhouses and Maple Leaf Nurseries.
“The garden had to happen,” Bassie said. ”It just brought everything together.”
Her friend Melissa McKerlie, who runs It’s About Thyme Landscaping, came to help with the garden.
The team has done some large projects before, but nothing this big, said Post — and they didn’t know about the awards until setup day.
“We didn’t go into it thinking about awards,” Bassie said.
“We just did it for the joy of doing it,” said Post. “We all love flowers and they bring a lot of joy to people.”
She added that it was a special moment to see Bassie recognized for all her hard work.
“We were all excited for Joanne,” she said.
Blackadder said Ferragine selected the bee installation as the winner for both its creative design and the message behind it.
For Ferragine, it showed how important bees are in gardens, from making honey to pollination, said Blackadder.
“He also appreciated that June Floral & Garden took their installation one step further, in incorporating a sustainable bee garden beneath their installation with intention to help to preserve the bee population,” wrote Blackadder in an email.
Bassie said many businesses put in a lot of effort for the festival, including Vintage Hotels.
“Which I think they did probably the largest amount of work,” she said.
Both Bassie and Post said they hope to take part in next year’s NOTL in Bloom Festival.
“There’s always unforeseen things, but we had a lot of help,” said Bassie. “We’d love to participate again.”
One bee has found a new home — the team donated it to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society, said Bassie.
“They were thrilled to have one. I’m not sure what they will do with it,” Bassie said in a message.
