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Once every four years, Canada's top petal pushers face off in an Olympic-style competition

Amy Rosen
National Post Saturday, March 04, 2000

The FTD Maple Leaf Cup is Canada's Olympics of floral design. Held only every four years -- and sponsored by FTD (an international organization of floral shops) -- it features the talents of the nation's top floral artists. And while a "flower arranging" competition is ripe for satire, it's deadly serious to the participants.

For this year's day-long competition, held in late January, the seven Canadian finalists arrive the night before at the Toronto International Centre in Mississauga. In the dark, they unload their flowers and floral supplies into the black-curtained cubicles of the centre's French Room. At 9 o'clock the next morning, contestants and their assistants begin scurrying about, draping this, pruning that, and sizing up the competition.

The top seven floral designers in Canada are here: Dawn Ormiston-Stewart from Winnipeg, Anne Leeson from Guelph, Ont., Quebec's Michel Vincent (a legend in the field), Judy Fine of Ottawa, P.E.I.'s Mike Robison, Fred Chlan of Saskatoon (a favourite to win), and Derrick Foss of Toronto. All of them had to win regional events to make it this far; the winner here will go on to the international round, the World Cup in Chicago in March, 2002. "I started unthinkable as she fashions her wedding bouquet almost entirely from greens. It's a gutsy move. But will it pay off?

Time is called and the competitors take a collective deep breath. The bouquets are removed and taken to a separate room where they are marked by a handful of judges, using such criteria as use of space, colour and creativity. Round two starts in 30 minutes.

ROUND TWO: TABLE SETTING COMPETITION

Before the table-setting competition begins, an announcement is made to the 100 or so spectators: Keep the noise level down, stay behind the viewing lines, and no flash photography. The tension mounts.

It appears interpretation is key in this event, as Foss jabs spears of broccoli and Brussels sprouts into his rectangle of water-soaked oasis. Striking red roses, lilies and tiny tea lights play romantic counterpoint to the green veggies. Meanwhile, Ormiston-Stewart is filling an open-topped Plexiglas table with crystals and yellow and purple flowers. Minimalist and modern. I catch a flash of Robison -- the hot colouring in his cheeks subsides as he drapes his centrepiece in green grapes and white tulips. With five minutes to go, everyone spritzes their flowers and sets the dishes.

ROUND THREE: THEME ARRANGEMENT COMPETITION

A full hour is given to complete this, the most difficult round of the competition. The mammoth arrangements may measure up to 4-feet-by-4-feet-by-3-feet, and the contestants are all obviously under the impression that size really does matter, because they're using the maximum space allowed. A crowd grows in Leeson's corner as she cuts a swath of white roses across the length of her shiny tin base. Her "Winter Wonderland" theme takes flight with several tall, faux Christmas trees (fashioned from Spanish moss lashed together with silver wire), while she carves hills and dales out of the oasis base, adding white flowers until they become like rivers of snow.

FINAL ROUND: SURPRISE PACKAGE COMPETITION

At precisely 7:20 p.m., the Surprise Package is announced, and competitors are given 10 minutes to collect their thoughts and their buckets of flowers. They have half an hour to complete a creative bouquet using the "Celtic Crossing" themed supplies they've been given. There are no flowers. It's all greens. "Can we use wire?" Chlan shouts. "Is gold thread allowed?" Robison asks. Through a French translator, Vincent asks if they must use all the materials supplied in the bucket.

Questions out of the way, the competitors get down to work; together they resemble a well-oiled engine with seven cylinders firing. In what seems like too short a time, the final round ends. Time is called and the competitors eye their work one last time. The FTD Maple Leaf Cup is over and the participants are obviously relieved as they mingle with the crowd and happily pose for photos with their handiwork. Then the competitors are told to leave the room; the judges observe each arrangement before disappearing to huddle over their score sheets and come up with the final tally.

Within 30 minutes, the judges reappear to announce the winners: First place goes to Anne Leeson, with Michel Vincent a close second, and Mike Robison third. As he applauds the winners, Foss is philosophical. "I'll survive," he says. "There was absolutely some stunning work here; it was a great competition. I'd do it again in a minute, but maybe not tomorrow."

With a snip and a twist, Anne Leeson ties up first place in the national floral design competition.

Leeson works on her 'Winter Wonderland' theme arrangement; ...

...Michel Vincent, who placed second, positions a tulip; ...

...third-place winner Mike Robison concentrates on the details.

The wedding bouquets are the entries of Leeson...

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