For most viewers, the Olympic Games are about athletics, competition, and heartfelt back-stories. At Flowers of the World, we’ve been much more interested in the medal ceremonies, as each winning athlete is awarded with bronze, silver, gold…and green!

At this year’s Games, 1,707 bouquets will be awarded to medal-winning Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The bouquet design, which features green chrysanthemums, hypericum berries and aspidistra leaves, was created by June Strandberg of Just Beginnings Flowers in Surrey, British Columbia, who worked with Margitta’s Flowers in North Vancouver to arrange 1,800 bouquets. Strandberg, who also teaches floristry to women who overcome significant obstacles — such as recovering from addiction or spending time in prison — won out over 57 other contending florists, according to press accounts.

Vancouver’s Olympic bouquet design is a new twist on the International Olympic Committee’s protocol for bouquets, which requires flowers to be 20 to 30 centimeters tall and about 25 centimeters wide. At the Beijing Olympics, bouquets featured roses, while in Turin, athletes won a mix of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias.

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