The Essence of a Peacock

A client of mine wanted to get something that resembled a peacock or the “essence” of a peacock for her friend’s birthday. Initially, I didn’t know where to start, but I googled “peacock” and I got photos of tons of the peacock with feathers in full show. It makes sense-the pattern on the peacock has come to symbolize the peacock, so I set out to use succulents to mimic the pattern of a peacock.

First Try:

This is what I came up with. The red crassula campfire would be the head of the peacock for it pointy form to mimic the pointiness of the beak. The purple sempervivum hens and chicks would be the eyelets on the feather.

Here is one of the many beautiful photos of peacocks that served as inspiration for my design:

Customer’s Response

Unfortunately, while she thought it was beautiful, she was looking for something different. “It didn’t’ have to look like a peacock, just the essence of it,” she said. She graciously offered a photo of an Aeonium Sunburst to show what she meant. An Aeonium Sunburst was one plant I didn’t have, but I did know where I could get one. There is the house around the corner that is full of succulents. Whenever I walk by, I always wanted to knock on the day and tell them what a lovely succulent garden they have, but never did. Well, this was my opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. One day, on one of my walks with my kids, I knocked on the door, dogs were barking, and an elderly lady yelled out, “who is it?” She came to the screen door and I was able to introduce myself, my kids and I told her how lovely her succulent garden was and that I was wondering if we could trade some plants. She was very quick to say that I could take “whatever I wanted.” She is an elderly lady and proudly told me how old she was-82 years old and that she was the original owner of the house. She began to share how it was back when she first bought her house for $13K. She is such a sweet lady. I brought her some euphoria firesticks and a Kalanchoe thyrsiflora “flapjacks” and planted it in her yard myself.

Some might say that they do not like to deal with picky customers, but I am grateful for the experience. She challenged me and I got to make a special friend. I go back to visit periodically to say hi and to give her new succulents that I have acquired.

Second Try:

This is what I came up with to capture the “essence” of a peacock:

In the center is the acclaimed Aeonium Sunburst. Others in the arrangement include: Aeonium “kiwi,” euphoria “firesticks,” senecio “string of pearls,” crassula “baby jade,” sempervivum hens and chicks, red ruby and desert bloom, and sedum humisifusum “tiny urchin.”

Fortunately, she loved it and I have a happy customer. As for the original peacock creation, it sold shortly after.

As always, we would love to hear your comments. Please let us know if there is a topic you would like us to blog about regarding succulents.