‘Flower flare’ takes Grove Street Plaza in surprise display
DARIEN — Anyone strolling by Grove Street Plaza over Easter weekend likely noticed a colorful new addition: a 12-foot tall profusion of brightly-hued blooms bedecking the plaza's fountain.
Local garden shop Nielsen's Florists is behind the “flower flash” — a surprise flower display — that popped up late last week.
“We want to celebrate the community, we want to share this with them,” said Raya Ward, the general manager of Nielsen's Florists. “We were very lucky to be open during the lockdown and the community was very supportive. So we wanted to just do something and were like, ‘Let's do something big.'”
But the flower fun won't stop at Grove Street Plaza.
The store has two more surprise displays planned for installation over the next two Thursdays. The flower flashes will go up in separate locations — which will remain a mystery until they are revealed in the daylight somewhere around town, Ward said.
While their longevity depends on the weather, the displays will last at least a few days, giving residents ample time to figure out where they can catch a glimpse of the next installments.
While large floral installations are nothing new, New York City floral designer Lewis
Miller is widely credited for coining the term “flower flash” in recent years. This particular type of spontaneous flower display uses public streets and fixtures like trash cans to create beautiful — and temporary — art.
Putting together that type of display in Darien required a team of seven employees from Nielsen's to start working before dawn, Ward said. They worked for about an hour and a half in the dark, using around 1,200 flowers.
Head designer Bob Sabia had the vision for the display. It was his first time doing an openair installation this large, he said.
“You want to be able to see it from far away,” Sabia said.
Jim McCormick, a longtime Darien resident who lives above Grove Street Plaza, admired the display from his perch on a plaza bench.
“It was perfect timing,” McCormick said, noting that several religions are now celebrating significant springtime holidays.
Residents can check Nielsen's Florists social media accounts to see whether photos of forthcoming displays have been posted yet across the next few weeks.
But Ward said she encourages people to stop by the flower flashes in person.
“It's supposed to be visual and it's supposed to be experienced,” Ward said. “We want people to be surprised by it, to enjoy it, to see flashes of color they didn't before.”