Decorating Rose Parade floats in Pasadena

What it is

The Rose Parade has run through Pasadena, California on New Year's Day since 1890, moving to 2 January when the first falls on a Sunday. Its rule is that every visible surface of a float must be covered in flowers or other natural materials: petals, leaves, seeds, bark, spices. Dry materials go on first. Fresh flowers, many in small water vials, are added in the final days so they last. This takes thousands of hands, and the organisations that build floats take on volunteers each year for the week after Christmas. The public can also buy a ticket to watch the work, and to see the finished floats parked after the parade.

Before you go

• Volunteer places are arranged through individual float builders and fill early in the autumn.
• Wear old clothes. The glue does not wash out.
• If you only want to look, the float viewing after the parade lets you walk right up to them.

The flowers you will see

RoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many coloursChrysanthemumAutumn-blooming flower with thousands of varieties, cherished in East Asia and beyondOrchidA vast family of colourful, often fragrant flowers found almost everywhere on earthCarnationA fragrant flower with ruffled petals, grown worldwide for decoration and meaning

Also part of it, and being written: Gerbera.

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